"They Conspired Against Him"

Well, it's certainly good to be back. I feel a little more comfortable here, in some ways, although I do miss Gaga being a few yards away. That was quite fun. But it certainly is wonderful to be back, and not only are we back in the familiar setting here in Berry, but we're also back in a familiar book, in the book of Genesis, as we continue forward this morning in chapter 37.

A few weeks ago, we began chapter 37 with Joseph's dreams, the two dreams that he had, as well as the highlighted jealousy of his brothers, which we're going to see in further detail this morning in verses 12 through 20.

We already concluded two weeks ago with verse 11, his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the word. His father kept the matter in mind. So we have this kind of subplot of the brothers' jealousy, which has been bubbling underneath the time span between verse 11 and the events of verses 12 through 20.

It's hard to say how much time has passed, not too much time. We're given some age ranges, but a murder plot doesn't hatch overnight, generally speaking. There's been further opportunity for them to become more provoked, more jealous, more outraged as they were aware of the revelation from the dream, and as they had time to observe their father's affection for Joseph, and as they saw his outstanding character, his almost goody-two-shoes demure, I think they were brought further and further into rage.

And so it's perhaps an understatement to say his brothers were jealous of him, just like it's an understatement to say the scribes were envious that the whole world was going out to Jesus. Envy isn't even the half of it.

They had hatred, they had murder in their hearts. This morning we want to look at these verses really in three parts. First, we want to notice how they conspire against Joseph. They conspire against Joseph.

Secondly, in sort of our thematic look at the typology, two weeks ago we defined typology, what it means for a type and what it means for that type to represent the anti-type, the corresponding fulfillment, and we said Joseph is perhaps the premier type of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so we want to consider first how they conspire against Joseph, but secondly how they conspire against Jesus. So we're looking at it typologically. And then for application, we'll do application on the way, but thirdly they conspire against us as followers of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So they conspire against Joseph, against Jesus, against us. Beginning in verse 12. And his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem?

Come, I will send you to them. So he said to him, Here I am. Then he said to him, Please go and see if it's well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron and he went to Shechem.

It's ironic. You'll notice in verse 14, Please go and see if it is well with your brothers. There in the Hebrew, see if it is at peace with your brothers. The word there is shalom, which is, it's a good translation.

Is it well? Is it safe? It's a sort of Swiss Army word in the Hebrew language. And the context here is, is it well with them? Are they whole? Are they healthy? Are they safe? But of course the connotation of peace here is ironic given the fact that while they're in Dothan, they're plotting the murder of their brother.

And so they're not at peace. In fact, they're at rage. Now Jacob, you'll notice as we begin verse 12, he's concerned about his sons. We've seen the affection he has uniquely for Joseph and perhaps that was a fault, a stain on Jacob's parenting.

But at the same time you could not say he has no concern at all for his other sons. We see that in verse 12. All of a sudden he is concerned about his other sons. He doesn't say, well, at least I've got my Joseph.

I don't really care what happens to them. At least I've got my favorite. In fact, he's willing to send his favorite son out of concern for his other 11 sons. And so that tells us something about Jacob's concern for his whole household and perhaps this concern is being triggered by the fact that he knows his sons were headed toward Shechem.

And it's been a while. The phone calls stopped coming through. They usually only call when they need money or laundry or groceries, but that stopped coming. The postcard stopped coming. I haven't heard from them in a while.

Don't we have a lot of enemies in Shechem? Aren't there some wanted posters of Simeon and Levi posted on the telephone poles around that city? So maybe he's thinking, really in a panic, what if our enemies took revenge upon my sons?

What if now, out of revenge for that massacre and assault of my daughter, now they've finally obliterated my sons? Joseph, you need to go. Let me know if they're safe. Let me know if they're well. Or maybe he's even thinking, what if Simeon and Levi did it again?

What if they massacred another people group out there? You better go check if they're at peace. Joseph is willing to go and that's the emphasis here in verses 12 through 14. Here I am. You see the father, he doesn't even command it.

This is translated so well in verse 14. Please go and see. Please. He doesn't say, go and see. It's not a command. It's actually an entreaty in Hebrew. Please go. Are you willing to go? I'm willing. Here I am.

Notice what Joseph does not say. He does not say, am I my brother's keeper? They can fend for themselves. They certainly treat me all the wrong ways. I'm not gonna go seek after them. I don't really care if things are going well for them or not.

I hope things are going hard. He's not of the spirit of Cain in other words. Here I am. I will go after my brothers. You see the prompt obedience of Joseph's heart. He doesn't question his father's request.

He doesn't compromise when he actually makes it there and they're not to be found. He doesn't say, well, you know, technically I did what he asked me to do. I went to check him. Looks like I'm going home now.

He keeps going further following after the intent of his father's request. And so we see this integrity in Joseph's life. He's a righteous man and we see that just in the prompt obedience he shows to his father.

Here's a good application. Children, do you promptly obey the commands of your parents? That's part of what makes you righteous. That's part of what approves you before God. If you don't show prompt obedience to the authority of your parent, you will not show prompt obedience to the authority of the Lord.

So you can't have it both ways. You can't introduce hypocrisy here. If you're going to show obedience to the Lord, you must show obedience to your parents. It's good for us parents to set that bar and make that an expectation.

To not hear, to not respond, to dwindle and to linger and to do it, you know, a week later, that's not righteous. That's not having integrity. That's not demonstrating what God requires of his people.

Joseph is a righteous young man. Talk about a rare breed. What kind of 17 year old is this? Prompt obedience? And this isn't like go in your backyard and check or do a FaceTime call and see if they're okay.

This is about a 60 mile journey. At least from the Vale of Hebron to Shechem. So it's like pack your tent, load up some granola bars and hit the road. This is going to be a long journey to see if things are well with your brothers.

Verse 15, he gets to Shechem and there's no brothers to be found, but he finds a certain man. Interestingly, Jewish interpreters, and they have no reason to claim this, think this is the angel Gabriel.

But they find a certain man and there he was wandering in the field. That is, there Joseph was wandering in the field. And the man asked him saying, what are you seeking? And so he said, I'm seeking my brothers.

Please tell me where they're feeding their flocks. And the man happened to know. Verse 17, he said, they've departed from here. And I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

So this is now setting up all of the events that we're not quite moving toward this morning. Next week we'll actually get to the plot as it's fulfilled. But just look at Joseph's prompt obedience. The fact that he doesn't just end his pursuit in Shechem.

He follows his father's desire and seeks them until he finds them. I will go because my father has sent me. I go willingly and I will pursue them until they are found. The ones that my father has sent me to retrieve.

Please keep that in mind when we get to the second part. This man in the field touches on a theme, doesn't it? This man providentially knows exactly where Joseph ought to go. The Promised Land is a pretty big open space.

Dothan is a pretty remote area. It becomes built up in the days of Samuel as we'll see. But at this point, it's just more area to graze. There's not much more than perhaps a village or two in the vicinity.

And yet this man is there providentially to point Joseph toward his brothers. Providentially to put Joseph in the sights of his brother's rage. Providentially to set Joseph on this irreversible path for God's blessing and glory, though it will lead first through a cross.

And this theme of providence we're going to see not only this week and next week, but also as we move to this little moment with Judah and Tamar. Again, in the Joseph cycle, this theme of God's providential control over every aspect of life comes to the fore.

Joseph seeks his brother. He presses forward in the pursuit. He doesn't back down. And we even detect a note of tragedy when he says, I'm seeking my brothers. It's like, if only he knew what what he would find.

When he found them.

I'm seeking my brothers. There's almost a, they're in Dothan, and he he hits the road. There's a jump in his step. Maybe as they saw him from afar, his heart was all excited. My brothers, is it well with you?

I'm seeking them. But verse 18, when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. Maybe he was out of sight, out of mind, and they were just tending to the busyness of the flocks and the needs around them.

We don't know why they left Shechem. Maybe there was a reason that they had to get out of that place. Maybe the food supply wasn't good, or maybe there was some heat, some pressure from the locals, and they were starting to get the heebie-jeebies around the campfire at night.

For whatever reason, they're found in Dothan. Joseph's perhaps not a concern, but once they see him, and not even up close, once they see the glint of that colorful robe coming toward him, murder begins to sprout in their heart.

John Gill says, they knew him as soon as they saw him by his stature, and especially his coat. The distances remarked here particularly, not to show that they're keen of sight, but to show how their passions were raised instantaneously, how intense their malice, how quick they were to devise a way to destroy him.

Do you see? As soon as they saw him, they're like, how can we kill him? How can we be rid of him? This is the perfect place, the perfect setting. Only we would know about this. And so they say to each other, verse 19 and following, Look, this dreamer is coming.

A.

Literal translation, this master of dreams is coming. Oh, here comes the dreamer, the keeper of dreams. Does he have another dream to tell us about how we're all going to worship him someday? Come therefore now.

This is like, you know, should we tease him? Should we bully him? Look at, look at, let us kill him. Let us kill him and cast him into some pit. Right, we don't even have all the details worked out. All we really want to do is kill him and then let's just find a pit to throw him into.

Complete disdain for the life of their brother. We're just gonna, we're not gonna give him a proper burial. We're just gonna throw him into some pit after we murder him. And then let's say this, some wild beast has devoured him.

Then we'll see what becomes of his dream. You see the hatred in the hearts of the patriarchs of.

Israel.

They slighted the dreamer. And of course for them, that is something to be mocked, the dreamer. Here comes this dream. But as we said, they should have known that this is a way that God has communicated his purpose and his power in the lives of their own father Jacob.

At Bethel, when he was revealed in that dream, they as boys would have crowded around to that pillar at Bethel. Twice, twice he erected in worship of God a pillar at the site of Bethel. And they would have recounted in vivid detail all the words of their father about the dream that he saw when God spoke and then fulfilled all that he revealed to.

Jacob.

And so it's not so much that they're slighting the dreamer Joseph, but slighting the one who gave Joseph the dreams. In other words, they're slighting the revelation of God. They don't like the words of that revelation when it flows from his lips, when it's glowing through his life, when it's evident in his coat and in the beaming approval of his father.

And so the only answer for them is to kill him. Well for Simeon and Levi, this is just another Tuesday, right? They're already mass murderers.

We know how to do it.

We've done it before. We'll skip the circumcision and just go right to it. Their consciences were already seared in the fields of Shechem. Jewish tradition interestingly says it was likely Simeon that proposed to murder Joseph because remember in Genesis 42, it was Joseph who first bound Simeon when all the brothers were there in Egypt.

So perhaps that was telling of who was really leading that suggestion. It certainly wasn't Reuben, as we'll see next week. Reuben is the one trying to find a way out. But all the other brothers seem to consent.

Yes, let us kill him. The unity of the brothers is held in their mutual hatred for Joseph. Not only do they hate Joseph, but in a way they hate their own father. You could say, what do you mean? They love their father.

In fact, their love and need for their father's approval is part of all the events of Genesis 37. But they hate their father in that they're willing to deceive him. They know how much he loves Joseph, and this is how little they think of Jacob.

Let's tell him that his precious boy, his favorite son, was torn apart by some wild animals. He doesn't need to know that we actually murdered him and threw him into a pit. You see here, brothers and sisters, that sin is almost always a package deal.

The only sin they really want to commit is murder, but if they commit murder, they also have to lie. So now they have to deceive their fathers. They also introduce this guilt and this shame into their conscience, which we'll see by the time they get to Egypt.

They had to live with the remorse and the guilt and the shame of what they had done. Sin always comes with consequences. Sin always comes with unintended consequences and other sins. There's one willful exercise of a sin, and then what comes with it is many unwilling, unintended sins.

Deceit and a web of lies and hypocrisy and all sorts of other sins. Begin to compound that one act, that one sin, that was the only thing you intended. But sin is a package deal. Verse 20, look at the disdain.

Then we'll see what becomes of his dreams. This isn't again so much about Joseph, but it really is about the revelation of God. They might as well have said, then we'll see if God's revelation actually comes true.

It's just like Esau's plan to murder Jacob after he had been blessed. You will surely be blessed. And it's like Esau, I'll see about that. Let's see how blessed he is when I kill him. And that's essentially what the brothers are doing here.

Let's see if we bow down to him as a dead man. We will see who will be Lord over us. We will see who reigns us. We will see who exercises dominion upon the family. And so John Calvin, in his commentary, talks about how they mock, not Joseph, but the revelation of God.

What God has revealed is what will be true. And they will not be able to circumvent it, though they will try. These words were unpleasant to hear, as sometimes God's revelation is unpleasant to hear. To sinners ears, God's law.

It's like the rumbling thunder. It's unpleasant to hear, but do we bless it as the revelation of God? The warnings of God to sinners ears are sometimes unpleasant. But do we tremble and humble ourselves before that word?

Because it's a divine word. It's a divinely revealed word. The brothers not only hate the revelation that comes through Joseph's mouth, but they hate the impact of Joseph's life. It exposes all the ways that they're crooked and corrupt.

It exposes their guilt and their shame. He's righteous. He has integrity. He is loved. And so, ultimately, they hate Joseph's actions, but beyond that, they hate the revelation concerning Joseph. And they think in this act of evil that they can actually derail God's purpose, God's revelation.

And in the irony of the story, in the beauty of God's providence, it will be in their very attempt to derail the purpose of God that they fulfill it. In the very act of evil that they will launch into, as we'll see next week, they will unwittingly hoist Joseph to the throne of Egypt and bow down to him.

So let's consider how this relates to Jesus typologically. We saw how they conspired against Joseph. Well, how does that relate to Jesus? And they not being these specific eleven brothers, but what they represent.

Fallen man's response to the Lord Jesus. Well, we touched on that last week, the unique affection that Jacob showed to his son, enigmatic of the unique way in which the son who is eternally begotten from the Father is most blessed, most loved.

This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. And we see this father sending his son to seek out his brethren. Jacob sends Joseph just as the father sends Jesus, the son of his love, the son of his affection.

And he says, will you go? Will you go and seek out your brethren? Will you go and seek out they who are lost? Here I am. I will go. I will pursue them until they are found. Of all that you've given to me, I will not let one of them perish, Father.

I will return them to you. Though Jacob has a special love for Joseph, he sends him out of a loving concern for his other children. That's gospel. That's gospel. Though none of these other children could compare in the Father's eyes.

All of these other children are warped, stained, rebellious, trying to undermine and usurp the Father's authority, going to the couch of Bilhah, trying to take over the family in hostility, mass murdering, committing all sorts of evil and deceit, doing wicked things in the field that Joseph reports to his father, bringing back that bad report.

Though they're wretched and rebellious, not loyal, not loving, not children to be proud of, unlike Joseph, this son of integrity, this righteous son, the son whom I love, this blessed son, the Father says, will you go for them?

Will you go and seek them? And so in this way, Joseph willingly saying, yes, I will go. He's acting as it were as a mediator between his father and his brothers. He is, as it were, the emissary, the mediator to say, my father wants to know, are you at peace?

Is it well with you? My father has a concern for you and he has sent me and I'm the only one that can communicate between you and the Father. I am the one he has sent. And we see this enigmatically. He's wandering in the field.

Isn't that an interesting little detail in this narrative that was composed thousands of years before Jesus entered into the fullness of time? There he was, that is, Joseph, wandering in the field. There's Jesus, wandering in the wilderness, walking through the cities and the villages, seeking the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

I'm seeking my brothers, he says, the son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost and his willingness. He wasn't put up to this. He didn't do this begrudgingly. He didn't do this half-heartedly.

He ran to do his father's will. Come, I will send you to them. Here I am. My food, he says in John 4, is to do the will of him who sent me. Father, this is my meat and this is my drink. This is my life.

This is my strength to do your will. What does he say in Hebrews 10? It's quoted, here I am. It is written about me in the scroll. Here I am. I have come to do your will, my God. And he understood exactly what that meant.

Joseph unwittingly was led to seek out his brothers, not knowing that he would be cast into a pit. But Jesus went to seek the lost, knowing that the only way he could find them would be if he was cast into the pit of judgment.

And as soon as they see him from afar, the one who comes with the symbol of his father's love, the symbol of his father's authority, when men in the fullness of time see him coming from afar, not even seeing him up close, not even hearing the words, when they just see that light, men love darkness rather than light, he came to his own and they would not receive him.

What John Gill said about Joseph is certainly true about Jesus. See how soon their passions were raised, how intense their malice, how quick they were to devise a way to destroy him. Men loved darkness rather than light.

And so they reject him. It's amazing. We're meant to just like, why? What happened? He just shows up, he's trying to find them, and now they're just going to kill him? It seems so arbitrary, so needless, so pointless, so cruel.

It's just evil. And that's the point, isn't it? Because this is ultimately bringing us to the story of Jesus and his fulfillment. And so we're meant to say, why? As in that great hymn from Samuel Crossman written in the mid -17th century.

Why? What has my Savior done? Why do you want to kill him? Why do you hate him? What makes this rage? What makes this spite? He made the lame to walk, he gave the blind their sight. Why do you want to kill him?

Look at what he's doing, look at the mercy, look at the truth, look at the grace, look at his preaching, look at his integrity, look at his righteousness. What makes for this rage? What makes for this evil scheme?

The brothers reject him as the righteous stone which the builders reject. The brothers reject him as the son who the master sends into the vineyard, Matthew 22, saying, surely they've killed righteous able, they've slaughtered the prophets, but surely they will respect my son.

But when they saw the son, Matthew 22, when they saw him from afar, when they saw the son, they said among themselves, this is the heir, come, let us kill him. Jesus picking up language here from Genesis 37 to say, this is what you're doing to me.

If you want to understand who I am and who you are and what God intends, you need to read the story of Joseph carefully. Come, let us kill him. And they caught him, and they cast him out, and they slew him.

And so the brothers' rejection shows this rebellion to God's sovereignty, to God's revelation, to God's purpose. It's sinful fallen man at every juncture of God's light saying, no, no. Fallen man mocks the revelation of God.

They're saying no to what God has revealed as true, and the scent of that truth is odious because they are perishing. And Jesus says in John 7, the world cannot hate you, but it hates me because I testify of it that its works are evil.

And so the brothers' wickedness here in Genesis 37 is the world's wickedness all around us. The church is hated when it testifies that the works of the world are evil. If the world does not hate the church, could it be that the church is failing to testify that the works of the world are evil?

The brothers could not tolerate Joseph's holiness. He was separate from them, and they knew it. And the world cannot tolerate the church's holiness. What does Paul say in Romans 8? The mind of flesh is at enmity with the law of God.

It is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can it be. The mind of flesh is at enmity with the Lord, with the Lord's ways, with the Lord's revelation. The mind of flesh cannot do any other. It must be against.

Indeed, it cannot become subject, cannot be humbled to receive the revelation of God. That is the mind of flesh. That is what composes the old fallen nature of men and women and children. They will not willingly subject themselves to the Lord.

We have a description in Romans 8 that's illustrated well by Genesis 37. Human inability to receive the revelation of God unless there is an initiating grace of God. And apart from the grace of God, ears cannot hear, eyes cannot see, hearts of stone cannot become hearts of flesh.

There is not a single person in this world who can respond to the Lord Jesus Christ in faith unless the Spirit of God makes him new, births him anew, gives him eyes to see and a heart to respond. There is no faithful response from fallen flesh.

We have to be crystal clear on that. So then what is the response of fallen flesh when the Son of Man, when the Beloved of the Father is seen from afar, is heard of from afar, is testified on the lips of his followers?

There is something that rises deep within human nature in furious resistance saying, no, let us kill him, let us resist him, let us be done with him, let us flee from him, let us have anything but him.

And Paul could say, such were some of you. You know that's part of your testimony. Maybe not every Christian has had that exact conscious experience. The Lord is merciful and in some ways that experience of coming to faith and coming to life in the Lord is very different, but there are some who know exactly what it's like to furiously resist the Lord Jesus and then be brought in subjection to bow down to him.

There are people who have blasphemed his name saying, I will never follow Jesus, who now worship him joyfully and freely all over the world this morning. The brothers hated Joseph because of the righteousness he displayed, because of the Father's love set upon him, because he exposed their guilt and their shame.

They hated him ultimately because they hated the Word of God concerning him. And an identical event will occur with the Lord Jesus. They hate him for all the same reasons and they come to the same conclusion, let us kill him, crucify him.

The crowds shout, seeing this righteous one from afar, give us Barabbas, give us murderers and rapists, you know, give us people we're comfortable with, people like us, but this righteous one, get rid of him, crucify him.

And just like Joseph, just like the hateful brothers thinking that in this attempt to derail the purpose and the plan of God, they will somehow prevent him from having authority over them, in their very act of evil, in the very conscription to the cross, in the very act of crucifixion, they are ultimately enthroning the Lord Jesus.

And out of this great act of evil, the most horrific event in human history, God has brought forth the most glorious reality imaginable, the Lord Jesus risen and enthroned. And all will now be brought in subjection underneath his feet.

He reigns even now until all of his enemies are put beneath his footstool. And on that day, as we recite in the great Christ hymn of Philippians 2, every knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess.

They thought they could be rid of him, and in their very act of trying to be rid of him, they only brought him to power and glory and endless dominion. Who will be the Lord? Who will reign over us? Who will have dominion?

This sounds just like Psalm 2, doesn't it? Why do the nations conspire in people's plot in vain? Remember we said last week when you approach a psalm, you ask, what's the mood? You know, how is this being written?

How is it to be recited? How is it to be sung? What's the mood of Psalm 2? Why do the nations conspire in the people's plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and against his anointing saying, let us break their chains, throw off their shackles.

What's the mood? Is it lament? Why do they conspire in rage? Why do they try to break off the shackles? Oh Lord, deliver us. Is that the mood? That's not the mood. The mood is incredulity. The mood is mockery.

The one enthroned in heaven, he scoffs at them. They're mocking my authority? He rebukes them in his anger, terrifies them in his wrath, saying, nevertheless I have set my king in Zion. So against that rage, against that spite, against that conspiring and scheming, against the murder in their hearts, he who sits in the heavens laughs.

He holds them in derision and he says, nevertheless I've set my king in Zion. Nevertheless, cast him into a pit, nevertheless I've set my king over Egypt. Crucify him on the cross, nevertheless I've set my king over all the world.

And so Genesis 37 shows us typologically the glory of the Lord Jesus as the nevertheless moment over against the plotting and conspiring of fallen man, the man who hates the light and rejects the light, the man who conspires to be rid of him, to put him away, to kill the son that was sent into the vineyard.

But also importantly, as we'll see not only this morning but heading into next week, Genesis 37 also shows us that before the holy hill of Zion there must be the pit, before the glory there must be the suffering, before the enthronement there must be the cross, and the life of Joseph shows us that.

The blessing, the fulfillment of the dream will not float down from heaven like manna to all of a sudden be fulfilled in the life of Joseph. He will have to walk by faith day by day and year by year, possessing his vessel, maintaining his righteousness, walking in integrity in the fear and admonition of the Lord until the Lord sees fit to vindicate him and fulfill all that was coming to him in that prophecy.

Before the enthronement there must be the cross. That was what Satan was trying to subvert Jesus from, wasn't it? He gave him a glimpse as it were of the whole world, all of the nations, all of that potential power, and all you have to do is just bend your knee to me, just two seconds, not even two seconds.

I'll just say the word A and then you can rise up. It'll be like it never happened. Half the angels won't even notice it, just bend your knee real quick, glory, power, authority, that's all before you now.

No cross, no suffering, no shame, no guilt, no rejection, no derision, none of that. By the way, is your father really that good? Boy, as I started listing these things, he wants you to go down that path.

Are you sure he loves you? You're righteous and he wants you to go through that? Look carefully at the life of Joseph. I love what Macintosh says here. I'm redeeming Macintosh because he was the one in chapter 36 that said, there's many interesting things here but we're not going to rehearse them.

We're moving on. Well here, he redeems himself in chapter 37. Earth and heaven were at issue in reference to Christ and they're at issue still. Man crucified him but God raised him from the dead. Man placed him on a cross between two thieves.

God set him at his own right hand in the heavens. Man cast him to the lowest place on earth. God gave him the very highest place in heaven. When we look at Joseph in the pit and in the prison but then afterward as ruler over all the land of Egypt, we see the difference between the thoughts of men and the thoughts of God.