Genesis 37 The Big Mouth of Little Joe

Joseph’s Bad Report, Jacob’s Favoritism, and the Brothers’ Hatred

Welcome to the podcast of Recast Church in Madawan, Michigan, where you can grow in faith, community, and service. This message is by Lead Pastor Don Filsack and is a part of the series Beginning with God, Walking Through the Book of Genesis.

If you would like to contact us, please visit us on the web at recastchurch .com. Here's Pastor Don.

Well, good morning. Welcome to Recast Church. I'm Don Filsack. I'm the Lead Pastor here and want to say thank you for coming together on this wonderful Sunday morning. Remember that it is Mother's Day this morning, and I would encourage everyone who is able to do something kind for your mother today, even if it's just giving her a call to say thank you for being my mom.

So be sure to do that for your mom this morning, and we definitely think that motherhood is a pretty neat thing. And the reality of it is all of us are the beneficiaries of having a mother. Be sure to fill out the connection cards that you received when you walked in.

There's a black box back there on the table with the the red tablecloth on it. In that black box is where you put anything that you would that you would like for us to know of in there. If it's your first time filling out a connection card and sharing your information with us, then we ask that you please also take a free coffee mug that's on that table back there.

Just our way of saying thanks and glad that you joined with us this morning. And then remember any offerings you would choose to give also go in that same black box. An envelope's been provided for you.

We don't pass an offering plate. We don't want anybody to feel pressured to give, and this is the method that God has taken care of our church from day one is just by people getting up and putting some money in that black box at the end of the service or whatever.

It's not paying for a service. We don't want anybody to have that mindset. It is a spiritual act between you and God, recognizing what he's given to you. And if you're not going to use that envelope this morning, that's fine.

There's a place to recycle that right next to that black box so that we can reuse those envelopes next week as well. We are going right through the book of Genesis, and my conviction is, I mean, I know that a lot of churches this morning are intentionally preaching, looking for a specific text to try to talk to moms, and I don't tend to do that.

I don't do that on Father's Day. I don't do that on Mother's Day, and some of you are kind of going, yeah, I know you don't do that. I mean, and if you're, it's a little too late now, right? But at this point, I just want to clarify that I have the strong conviction that all of God's Word speaks to all of us at all times, and so I don't really, I don't really feel that that compulsion to give a message for the moms or a message just for the children, but a message that God is bringing to all of us.

And so I continue to just march through the book of the Bible of Genesis, and we're going to be looking at Genesis chapter 37, which I believe applies to moms and dads and single people and teenagers and children, and it applies to all of us this morning.

And it's a very familiar story that we're going to be looking at this morning, okay? It's one that probably a lot of you know. Some of you have seen a musical that's written about this, and some have called this one of the most American of all biblical stories.

They say the most American, Joseph, the most American. What is this about? The little guy who is given a poor lot in life. He's pushed down by everyone around him, but against all odds he rises up, overcomes to become one of the most powerful men in his generation.

Sounds like the makings of a Chevy commercial to me, okay? So does that sound American to you? The spirit of a person who can just thrive against all odds and overcome and... But as we're introduced to Joseph and his Technicolor dream coat this morning, we need to be sure that we take our cues from Scripture and not from our culture at large about what this message is saying to us.

What is it that it's speaking about? Because the Bible corrects our culture. We must work hard to not read our own culture back into the text, but instead we need to understand this ancient document in light of that ancient culture, and what is it that God is trying to communicate to us through this story.

We need to recognize that all Scripture is theologizing. I think I just invented that word. But it's all pertaining to who God is and telling us something about Him, and it's using real-life history and stories of humanity to tell us that.

All of Scripture is telling us something about God, and it often challenges the way that we think God works. Joseph's brothers are jealous. Joseph's dad fuels that jealousy. But in the end, we see how quickly the human heart turns to evil.

But God is not absent in the story of Joseph, even in these early chapters. Joseph is not abandoned. But we find an amazing response later in Joseph's life that these very events we will read about in our text this morning, God meant for good.

God meant for a much bigger picture. So I want you to open your Bibles, please, to Genesis chapter 37. We're gonna read it in its entirety. And so if you could follow along in a Bible. Mark's got some here.

If anybody doesn't have a Bible with you, you can just raise your hand and he'll bring you one. And you can turn to Genesis chapter 37, or you can use a Bible app or, you know, I say turn, but you can navigate there or whatever you do.

But follow along. I'm gonna be reading in the English Standard Version. By the way, if you don't own a copy of the Bible, you can take one of those paperback Bibles with you. And we want that to be a gift to you.

We give away a dozen, dozens of those Bibles every year. So we've got plenty in a box to replace those. Genesis 37, the Word of God to us this morning, recast. Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

Now Joseph had a dream. And when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, hear this dream that I have dreamed. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and behold my sheaf arose and stood upright and behold your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.

His brother said to him, are you indeed going to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dream and for his words. Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, behold, I have dreamed another dream.

Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me. But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, what is this dream of dreams? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?

And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind. Now his brothers went to pasture their flocks near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?

Come, I will send you to them. And he said, here I am. So he said to them, go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock and bring me word. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron and he came to Shechem.

And a man found him wandering in the field and the man asked him, what are you seeking? I am seeking my brothers. He said, tell me please, where are they pasturing the flock? And the man said, they have gone away for I heard them saying, let us go to Dothan.

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from afar and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, here comes this dreamer.

Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what will become of his dreams. But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands saying, let us not take his life.

And Reuben said to them, shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in the wilderness. Do not lay a hand on him that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore, and they took him and threw him into a pit.

The pit was empty, there was no water in it. And they sat down to eat and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

Then Judas said to his brothers, what profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh, and his brothers listen to him.

The Midianite traders passed by and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, the boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?

Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood and they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, this we have found. Please identify whether it is your son's robe or not.

And he identified it and said, it is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces. Then Jacob tore his garment and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.

All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, no, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning. Thus, his father wept for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

God's Providence in the Sojourning of Jacob and the Rise of Joseph

Let's pray as the band comes to lead us in worship this morning. Father, we come to this text. It's a familiar text. It's one that many of us have heard this story, that many of us were raised in a church that was faithful to teach these Old Testament stories to us.

And yet, Father, it's quite possible that we've read this story over and over again and not contemplated or considered your role in this. What are you accomplishing? And we see certainly in this story devastation and we see difficulty and we see human depravity and we see brokenness.

And Father, I pray that you would prevent us from thinking more highly of ourselves than we see of these brothers in this text, but we would recognize in our own hearts our own depravity, our own brokenness, our own fallenness, our own need for a rescuer.

And then to catch a glimpse of that being exactly what you're doing through Joseph here. He is suffering that his generations and his people might be saved. And we see just a glimpse of that awesome and glorious sacrifice of Jesus Christ on our behalf.

One who was punished and pushed out and rejected by his own for the cause of saving others. And so, Father, I pray that you would move in our hearts as we have an opportunity to sing some songs that once again, I ask that this would be so much more than an exercise of our vocal cords and trying to sound good to those around us or just trying to sing along and make a make some noise.

But Father, in the end that this would be recognizing who you are, glorious, majestic, seated on your throne, sovereign ruler over all, and our glorious Savior. And that we would rejoice and sing with hearts of gladness this morning in Jesus name.

Amen. Amen. Thanks a lot to the band for leading us and I hope that it was your heart to step before the throne of God in worship this morning. Remember that any time during the message you can feel free to get up and get more coffee or donuts or juice or you know if the seats get comfortable you can step up in the back and stretch out or whatever and restrooms are out the door to the end.

Men's downstairs, women's upstairs if you need to. Other way around, sorry. Men's upstairs, women's downstairs. Yeah, they're labeled but if you need those at any time. It is my desire to have your Bible open in front of you to Genesis chapter 37.

So if you lost your place maybe in the shuffle jump back in there. Genesis 37. The text is my outline as those of you who attend here regularly know and so I'm having that open lets you see that what I'm saying is coming from the text and I'm not just making this stuff up as we go and I'd encourage you to be checking up on me and making sure that that's the case.

But last week we saw Jacob bury his father Isaac and that closed a period of history that opens up with this statement then in verse 1 that Jacob remained in that area where his father and grandfather had sojourned.

Now the word sojourned is one of a temporary residence and we know that that that Abraham Jacob's grandfather had that mindset that attitude that this world was not his home, but he was longing for a place whose maker and founder was God.

And so he did not put his stock in this place or in this planet or in this world but his stock was all completely invested in an eternal kingdom that God had for him. And so the word sojourn whenever you see that it's a picture it's an image of a temporary residence a place of wandering so to speak and I think it's a beautiful picture for the way that the Christian lives their life.

Yes, indeed. Are we in some way connected to this world? Yeah, we breathe its air. We eat the food from here. We are connected with others in relationship here and there's value in that I don't want to minimize that but there's a reality in which our life here is a sojourn.

It is a wandering of sorts heading back to what is indeed our home. So Jacob stayed around that area where his father and grandfather had sojourned around the area of Canaan and the story tells us it's going to be focusing on his offspring where we were seeing a shift in the entirety of the book of Genesis here in chapter 37 when it uses the word offspring it uses the word Generations of Jacob we're gonna focus on his kids in other words.

Um, so it's no wonder that now the kids of Jacob become the focus moving forward throughout the remainder of this book. We all know most of you know that from Sunday school class and stuff. The remainder of this book is about one person.

Can anybody say it? Who's it gonna be about who's gonna be the remainder of this? The main character in Genesis moving forward Joseph. Joseph is going to be the main character. So we know that but primarily what God is gonna do amongst the kids of Jacob has Joseph has significance in that and so we see the next two chapters highlighting two aspects of his family.

You're probably more comfortable being here this week than you are next week if you know what's coming in Genesis chapter 38. But they are two stories both about Jacob's sons the story of Joseph that we're gonna see.

Initiated here and then picked back up in a couple of weeks. Highlights one of the sons being rejected by his family being rejected by his siblings. The other son Judah that we're gonna see next week is shown to be rejecting family.

So we see both aspects or both angles of the brokenness within this family in these next two weeks. But we have we've heard very little about Joseph up to this point. So those of you that been here, would you agree with me?

Those of you who have read Genesis and all of a sudden Joseph suddenly shows up and he's gonna be a main character. And and so far we've known just very little about him. He's the youngest of the eleven sons of Jacob.

But now we find out in verse 2 that he was raised primarily in his childhood. Along with Bilhah and Zilpah sons now so age-wise remember that that Jacob Jacob had four wives. Okay, and all different kinds of kids with the different wives and due to his age due to Joseph's age.

The children of Bilhah and Zilpah were his peers in the family just like you can imagine any large family. It's going to end up having some kids that are more clumped in. Like likeness in age some are gonna be teens if you have a if you have a family with ten kids some of them are Gonna be teens together and others of them are not gonna be teens with those same ones.

And so it's basically saying Joseph was closer with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah in relationship. And he was a child a childhood cohort of them going through. That would be Dan Asher Naftali and Gad in case you're wondering which kids that is talking about.

But many assume that Joseph was adopted by either Bilhah and Zilpah after his mother passed away. We saw that happen last last week. And so it's likely that he was assimilated into their closer-knit portion of the family at this time.

But the end of verse 2 tells us something about how close-knit this actually was. His verse 2 is the first indication that not all was well between little Joe and his bros. Okay, not all was healthy from the beginning.

It says in the text that Joseph brought a bad report of his brothers to his father. Now how many of you are like me that you've read this story a few times? But that kind of you've missed that before and everybody else has been like keyed in on that and that's been like a main point.

You've been like, yeah, okay, like could you have told me that Joseph was a tattletale? That's what the text says. Okay. He is he was he was prone to bring a poor report of his siblings to his daddy. Okay, some of you know exactly what I'm talking about.

You have a child who has a tendency once in a while to try to get their siblings in trouble. The phrase for bad report in this text indicates his brothers were indeed doing something wrong in the context.

But also it points out that Joseph had no problem reporting it to daddy. He had no problem going to his father with what his siblings were doing wrong. He was that kind of kid and I want to suggest to you that in this we find a minor application to our own lives.

I hope that it is not your tendency as an adult sitting in here listening to me to be a tattletale. Okay, like that's probably not a struggle for many of us. You're probably not trying to go. You know at family reunions you get together or you know Holidays you get together with your dad and you're reporting on what your brother and sister are doing to him.

That would look a little weird as an adult. And maybe that happens. But I would suggest to you we're not as prone to be tattletales. But I'd like us to take a moment to consider the relationship between the concept of tattletaling and gossiping.

Okay, what's the relationship what are the what are those what's the difference between those two now. Tattling among children has the nuance of trying to get someone in trouble, right? That's part of the motivation as you want to see yours.

You want to see what's what our mom and dad gonna do about this or what? You know, can I get him in trouble? But I would suggest that tattletaling is primarily motivated out of a desire to look better than others a Desire to lift ourselves up and and make ourselves stand head and shoulders above the rest and I would suggest to you that that's the common thread of gossip as well a primary motive between us telling stories about others passing along the sorted stories of the lives of others is to both make them look bad and Therefore in turn to make ourselves look better.

Gossip is an issue. Gossip is a problem. Gossip runs in Christian circles more often than not through prayer requests. Oh, did you hear about this? I just wanted to make sure you knew how to pray for them when what you really meant was I wanted to tell you the story.

So we need to be careful. Do we need to be cautious? We see that this is going to be the initial the initial crack in the relationship between Between Joseph and his brothers. This is the initial thing.

But boy, is it gonna get wide quick fast and in a hurry? Joseph started out as the big-mouthed little brother who is always getting his brothers into trouble and It's gonna get worse. Verse 3 shows a stark and horrible reality of family sin.

Something dark and sinister has been boiling in the family of God early on. Favoritism is that darkness that problem that struggle that just carries on with this family everywhere that they go. From Isaac loving Esau More than Jacob to Jacob loving Rachel more than Leah.

The text is abundantly clear that this is a Comparison game in this family and it's a problem that they carry with them. All kinds of problems rise up in families due to favoritism. But the text outright declares now here in our text that Israel that is Jacob.

Remember his name has been changed. Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons. Does that sound like troubles come in does that sound like a problem is brewing he loved him more than any of his other sons.

The reason is because he was the son of Jacob's old old age. That's technically what the text says and and and so that like what does that mean? And you might have some questions remembering that Benjamin was Benjamin was born when Jacob was the oldest.

So what how can how can Joseph be the the son of his old age when Benjamin is already on the scene? We'll see that he talks about 11 stars bowing down to him. Benjamin has already been born. His mother is already gone.

But the fact of the matter is you've got to remember the circumstances of Benjamin's death that might I mean Benjamin's life and birth that might Cause some problems for him and put him a little bit behind Joseph in the sense of being the favorite son or being on par there were Significant difficulties with the death of Rachel coming with Benjamin's birth that I'm sure made it made it difficult for Jacob to draw close to Benjamin.

Joseph however was born at happy times when Rachel was Delighted to give birth to a son and when his wife Rachel was was happy and Jacob was more mature. And so he says you are my favorite and so Jacob Shows that favoritism he demonstrates it to everybody around.

Great call right anybody. I mean, oh, that's that's a great idea show your favoritism by by Making for Joseph a special robe or purchasing for him a special robe basically say that's my favorite here.

Let me show everyone. This is my favorite one. The text is clear that this was a special robe only given to Joseph and yet there are ancient Egyptian drawings that show Semitic Shepherds coming from the east into Egypt into Pharaoh's presence with multicolored tunics on and it's very clear that they're past their Pastoral shepherds with shepherds crooks and things like that and they're coming with all these multicolored tunics demonstrating that date from around this time demonstrating that that was a pretty normal type of clothing.

In common, but might have been more expensive. This favoritism fuels hatred and animosity between Joseph and his brothers. Can you imagine how that might like stoke a little bit of anger amongst the brothers there?

Notice that in verse 4 the brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than them. They saw it. Favoritism favoritism need not be stated verbally. As a matter of fact, I would suggest to you that it's rarely stated verbally.

But it can be observed. It can be seen. It can be clearly seen in the context of a family that lives together under the same roof and that ought to that reality. Ought to give us a pause to consider what we are communicating maybe even inadvertently to our children.

Now some of you are like sweating a little bit. You're like this is you know, what are you trying to say here Don? Where are we going with this? Because how how can I show complete equity is any of you parents raise your hand if you've struggled with this in the past like How do I show equity to my children?

Like I mean, is it possible to get exactly down to the penny fair? Is that is that possible? No, we know that that's not possible. So you're kind of looking at this one. What kind of a task is this that I'm calling us to.

I'm just calling us to make sure That we show love and attention and affection to all of our children and they have different love languages, don't they? I mean get to learn your kids and what speaks to their heart and what shows them affection and what shows them that you love Them and it might be different for each child, but learn them get to know them understand them.

Favoritism is one of those things you don't hear talked about very often. I don't recall hearing a sermon ever on Favoritism in the family when I when I when I came home from the hospital with my first son Adam.

The owner's manual that they gave me at the hospital was missing a chapter on favoritism. Okay, they didn't really give me an owner's manual. I was joking guys lighten up a little bit. I mean you can laugh.

It's okay. They don't really give an owner an owner's manual do they and so you can find yourself falling into patterns and falling into behaviors and kind Of stumbling your way through parenthood going.

I have never done this before. This is new and and so scripture is giving us some evidence as things that could break your family. Things that could destroy your family if you if you allow this to be a way that you operate.

Getting all the special favors for one of your children. I'm convinced I am convinced that favoritism is a genuine problem in households even here in recast just like it was in Jacob's family and Joseph's brothers the text says in as Clear it just wants to be abundantly clear that Joseph's brothers hate him.

Okay, it's it's trying to be over-the-top clear that hatred is the primary Way that they relate together. They could not even peacefully speak to each other. Without it escalating to argument and anger.

Hate is a strong word, but I mean the text is indicating that they could not have a civil conversation with Joseph. And just when we find out how bad things truly are. Things are about to get worse yet.

And they just keep and he get they hate him more and then they hate him more and then they hate him more as if hate Isn't a strong enough word to begin with. Joseph has two dreams. Great and to Joseph's credit.

We don't get much control over our dreams right are you. Are you in control of what you dream? No, I mean what comes into your mind. And how your mind is defragmenting the hard drive in the middle of the night who knows how that process works.

We study dreams. We just don't really even understand What's working and what's going on in there and REM and all this stuff and so you've got all of this stuff going on in Your head and you're not in control.

But you are in control of who you tell your dreams to. What you convey, right. God has the right to call out who he wants to call. Would you agree with me? God has the right to give dreams to whoever he chooses to give dreams.

And it's abundantly clear as we go through from Genesis 37 onward to Genesis 50 the very end of the book. We're gonna see that God is indeed in these events. God is calling out Joseph for a purpose and he has that right and that prerogative.

So having these dreams is fine and dandy. But Joseph cannot keep his mouth shut to those he knows already hate him. He's antagonistic and unwise in this and telling his brothers his dreams the text tells us they hate him even more in His first dream he and his brothers are bundling stalks of grain.

He's asleep on the bed. And he's seeing these things in his mind and they're bundling stalks of grain when all of his brother's stalks bow down to his stock. The second dream is even more explicit than that one.

Remember, they're bowing their sheaves are bowing to his sheaves in the first dream. But in the second dream it gets more clear. The Sun Moon and 11 stars all bow down to now. He's no longer symbolized.

It's him. He is the one in the center of the ring. He is the one that everyone is bowing down to in his second dream. Now years from now Joseph will interpret two dreams for Pharaoh and he will outright state that the fact that the dreams came in pairs Indicates how assured the thing is to actually come to pass.

And what do we see here a dream come in pairs? And so he interprets that later dream saying because Pharaoh you had two dreams. It's assured. It's locked tight. This is going to happen. God is trying to communicate to you.

This is for sure and he has these two dreams about his family bowing before him. I don't know about you. I don't know what your dream life is like. But my dreams are like I was swimming in the orange sherbet when the elves showed up riding unicycles, right?

I mean, I don't know and I don't really have a problem sharing those kinds of dreams with my brothers or with my wife or. Anybody, you know, it's kind of like that's kind of anybody with me on that. It's just kind of like just obnoxious weird strange dreams.

It's like there just does not seem to be a lot of significance. But it seems like the dream of Joseph had some pretty clear significance when he opened his mouth to tell his brothers. Do you think he had a clue what he was talking to them about?

Do you think he had some indication and some inkling already the one who has got the power later proven to be able to? Interpret dreams. I think he had a pretty good indication and he tells them anyways.

The brothers are furious at both the dream and his words. They are furious about the dream, but they are furious that he told them as well. Some things are better left unsaid. Even Jacob rebukes his son after the second dream.

He knows that it implies that he and Joseph's mom that now you've got to understand that that could very well be Zilpah or Bilhah at this point his his adopted mom since his mother has passed away and his 11 brothers will bow down to Joseph.

Again, noticing the the 11 stars indicating that he has 11 siblings. It has to include Benjamin as well. Joseph has gone too far on this one and Jacob rebukes him but Also keeps it in mind and ponders it.

But the dream incites even further beyond hatred it incites jealousy among the brothers as well. So a summary of Joseph's relationship to his brothers up to this point in the text. He was a tattletale looking to always get them in trouble.

He was daddy's favorite showing off his colorful coat. He had dreams of grandiose power and authority and he was quick to tell his family about these amazing dreams in this amazing future. He had in store for him.

His brothers then in further in the text they went off to tend the sheep. All of a sudden it's just him and dad and the adults at home. And they travel about 50 miles north to the area of Shechem. Now we saw Shechem a couple of weeks ago and since Shechem had been destroyed.

It's possible that Jacob retained some of the property up in that area of that former village or at least his homestead that he had built in that vicinity and. So that may account for why the sons would range so far to care for the flocks and the sheep that they would go 50 miles north To find an area for pasturage.

Maybe the flocks were actually kept up in that northern area. But Joseph didn't go with them and it's possible that his status his favorite son. Gave him some extra privileges that he didn't have to go out with the flocks like the other Sons, have you ever wondered why he didn't go in the first place?

Probably he may have even been given a responsibility or a role like foreman over his brothers. We see at least that Jacob is gonna send Joseph to go check on them. He's gonna he's his responsibilities to go report back to dad how your brothers are up to.

So he's he's been placed in some kind of a position of authority over them. It would be reasonable for Jacob to be concerned for his sons if they're up 50 miles north and in the vicinity of Shechem the Last time they were in that area.

They got themselves into some significant trouble, didn't they? Looking back at Genesis 34. And so Joseph takes off and after wandering around Providence guides him to a man who knows the whereabouts of his brothers.

They are several miles further north yet at Dothan pasturing the sheep and Immediately the narrator of the text takes us into that camp with the other brothers as Joseph is coming across the field. It seems likely that he's recognizable if he's a ways off and they see him coming and how do you think they recognize that it was?

Him he's got a coat a Cloak that he wears wherever he goes that indicates favorite. I'm sure just seeing that cloak was a reminder of their hatred and jealousy towards him. They immediately are incited when they see this.