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Text to read: Genesis 37:18 They spotted him in the distance, and before he had arrived where they were, they had already plotted to kill him. 19 They said to each other, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 So come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we’ll say some wild animal devoured him. We’ll see then what becomes of his dreams!” 21 But when Re’uven heard this, he saved him from being destroyed by them. He said, “We shouldn’t take his life. 22 Don’t shed blood,” Re’uven added. “Throw him into this cistern here in the wilds, but don’t lay hands on him yourselves.” He intended to rescue him from them later and restore him to his father.
(iii) 23 So it was that when Yosef arrived to be with his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the long-sleeved robe he was wearing, 24 and took him and threw him into the cistern (the cistern was empty; without any water in it). 25 Then they sat down to eat their meal; but as they looked up, they saw in front of them a caravan of Yishma‘elim coming from Gil‘ad, their camels loaded with aromatic gum, healing resin and opium, on their way down to Egypt. 26 Y’hudah said to his brothers, “What advantage is it to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Yishma‘elim, instead of putting him to death with our own hands. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers paid attention to him. 28 So when the Midyanim, merchants, passed by, they drew and lifted Yosef up out of the cistern and sold him for half a pound of silver shekels to the Yishma‘elim, who took Yosef on to Egypt.
29 Re’uven returned to the cistern, and, upon seeing that Yosef wasn’t in it, tore his clothes in mourning. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I go now?”
31 They took Yosef’s robe, killed a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 Then they sent the long-sleeved robe and brought it to their father, saying, “We found this. Do you know if it’s your son’s robe or not?” 33 He recognized it and cried, “It’s my son’s robe! Some wild animal has torn Yosef in pieces and eaten him!” 34 Ya‘akov tore his clothes and, putting sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days. 35 Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all consolation, saying, “No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
36 In Egypt the Midyanim sold Yosef to Potifar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard.
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John Wesley's Notes-Commentary for Genesis 37:18-36
Verse 18
[18] And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
And when they saw him afar off they conspired against him — It was not in a heat, or upon a sudden provocation, that they thought to slay him, but from malice propense, and in cold blood.
Verse 21
[21] And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
And Reuben heard it — God can raise up friends for his people, even among their enemies. Reuben of all the brothers had most reason to be jealous of Joseph, for he was the first-born, and so entitled to those distinguishing favours which Jacob was conferring on Joseph, yet he proves his best friend. Reuben's temper seems to have been soft and effeminate, which had betrayed him to the sin of uncleanness, while the temper of the two next brothers, Simeon and Levi, was fierce, which betrayed them to the sin of murder, a sin which Reuben startled at the thought of. He made a proposal which they thought would effectually destroy Joseph, and yet which he designed should answer his intention of rescuing Joseph out of their hands, probably hoping thereby to recover his father's favour which he had lately lost; but God over-ruled all to serve his own purpose of making Joseph an instrument to save much people alive. Joseph was here a type of Christ. Though he was the beloved Son of his Father, and hated by a wicked world; yet the Father sent him out of his bosom to visit us; he came from heaven to earth to seek and save us; yet then malicious plots were laid against him; he came to his own, and his own not only received him not, but consulted, This is the heir, come let us kill him. This he submitted to, in pursuance of his design to save us.
Verse 24
[24] And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
They call him into a pit — To perish there with hunger and cold; so cruel were their tender mercies.
Verse 25
[25] And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
They sat down to eat bread — They felt no remorse of conscience, which if they had, would have spoiled their stomach to their meat. A great force put upon conscience commonly stupifies it, and for the time deprives it both of sense and speech.
Verse 26
[26] And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
What profit is it if we slay our brother? — It will be less guilt and more gain to sell him. They all agreed to this. And as Joseph was sold by the contrivance of Judah for twenty pieces of silver, so was our Lord Jesus for thirty, and by one of the same name too, Judas. Reuben it seems, was gone away from his brethren when they sold Joseph, intending to come round some other way to the pit, and to help Joseph out of it. But had this taken effect, what had become of God's purpose concerning his preferment, in Egypt? There are many devices of the enemies of God's people to destroy them, and of their friends to help them, which perhaps are both disappointed, as these here; but the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. Reuben thought himself undone because the child was sold; I, whither shall I go? He being the eldest, his father would expect from him an account of him; but it proved they had all been undone, if he had not been sold.
Verse 35
[35] And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
He refused to be comforted — He resolved to go down to the grave mourning; Great affection to any creature doth but prepare for so much the greater affliction, when it is either removed from us, or embittered to us: inordinate love commonly ends in immoderate grief.
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Daily Devotions:
Monday, August 24, 2015
Text to read: Genesis 37:18-36
- How do you differentiate a lie from a white lie?
- Is there a difference?
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Text to read:Genesis 37:18-36
- Read the story in Genesis 37[Genesis 37:1
- Ya‘akov continued living in the land where his father had lived as a foreigner, the land of Kena‘an. 2 Here is the history of Ya‘akov. When Yosef was seventeen years old he used to pasture the flock with his brothers, even though he was still a boy. Once when he was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, he brought a bad report about them to their father. 3 Now Isra’el loved Yosef the most of all his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long-sleeved robe. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they began to hate him and reached the point where they couldn’t even talk with him in a civil manner. 5 Yosef had a dream which he told his brothers, and that made them hate him all the more. 6 He said to them, “Listen while I tell you about this dream of mine. 7 We were tying up bundles of wheat in the field when suddenly my bundle got up by itself and stood upright; then your bundles came, gathered around mine and prostrated themselves before it.” 8 His brothers retorted, “Yes, you will certainly be our king. You’ll do a great job of bossing us around!” And they hated him still more for his dreams and for what he said. 9 He had another dream which he told his brothers: “Here, I had another dream, and there were the sun, the moon and eleven stars prostrating themselves before me.” 10 He told his father too, as well as his brothers, but his father rebuked him: “What is this dream you have had? Do you really expect me, your mother and your brothers to come and prostrate ourselves before you on the ground?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. (ii) 12 After this, when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s sheep in Sh’khem, 13 Isra’el asked Yosef, “Aren’t your brothers pasturing the sheep in Sh’khem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” 14 He said to him, “Go now, see whether things are going well with your brothers and with the sheep, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him away from the Hevron Valley, and he went to Sh’khem, 15 where a man found him wandering around in the countryside. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?” 16 “I’m looking for my brothers,” he answered. “Tell me, please, where are they pasturing the sheep?” 17 The man said, “They’ve left here; because I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dotan.’” Yosef went after his brothers and found them in Dotan. 18 They spotted him in the distance, and before he had arrived where they were, they had already plotted to kill him. 19 They said to each other, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 So come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we’ll say some wild animal devoured him. We’ll see then what becomes of his dreams!” 21 But when Re’uven heard this, he saved him from being destroyed by them. He said, “We shouldn’t take his life. 22 Don’t shed blood,” Re’uven added. “Throw him into this cistern here in the wilds, but don’t lay hands on him yourselves.” He intended to rescue him from them later and restore him to his father. (iii) 23 So it was that when Yosef arrived to be with his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the long-sleeved robe he was wearing, 24 and took him and threw him into the cistern (the cistern was empty; without any water in it). 25 Then they sat down to eat their meal; but as they looked up, they saw in front of them a caravan of Yishma‘elim coming from Gil‘ad, their camels loaded with aromatic gum, healing resin and opium, on their way down to Egypt. 26 Y’hudah said to his brothers, “What advantage is it to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Yishma‘elim, instead of putting him to death with our own hands. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers paid attention to him. 28 So when the Midyanim, merchants, passed by, they drew and lifted Yosef up out of the cistern and sold him for half a pound of silver shekels to the Yishma‘elim, who took Yosef on to Egypt. 29 Re’uven returned to the cistern, and, upon seeing that Yosef wasn’t in it, tore his clothes in mourning. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I go now?” 31 They took Yosef’s robe, killed a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 Then they sent the long-sleeved robe and brought it to their father, saying, “We found this. Do you know if it’s your son’s robe or not?” 33 He recognized it and cried, “It’s my son’s robe! Some wild animal has torn Yosef in pieces and eaten him!” 34 Ya‘akov tore his clothes and, putting sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days. 35 Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all consolation, saying, “No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him. 36 In Egypt the Midyanim sold Yosef to Potifar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard.].
- Describe the false “witness” happening here.
Wednesday, August 26, 2015
Text to read: Genesis 37:18-36
- What drives Joseph’s brothers to do what they have done?
- To what lengths?
Thursday, August 27, 2015
Text to read: Genesis 37:18-36
- What fuels the temptation to be a false witness?
- What are the ramifications?
Friday, August 28, 2015
Text to read: Genesis 37:18-36
- When have you been a victim like Joseph?
- When have you been a violator like his brothers?
Saturday, August 29, 2015
Text to read: Genesis 37:18-36
- What social ills come from being a false witness?
Sunday, August 30, 2015
Text to read: Genesis 37:18-36
- Pray for those falsely accused and wrongfully imprisoned.
The First Unied Methodist Church
2111 Camino del Rio South
San Diego, California, 92108 United States
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Sermon Story "Dreamers/Visionaries" by Gary Lee Parker for Sunday, 30 August 2015 with Scripture: Genesis 37:18 They spotted him in the distance, and before he had arrived where they were, they had already plotted to kill him. 19 They said to each other, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 So come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these water cisterns here. Then we’ll say some wild animal devoured him. We’ll see then what becomes of his dreams!” 21 But when Re’uven heard this, he saved him from being destroyed by them. He said, “We shouldn’t take his life. 22 Don’t shed blood,” Re’uven added. “Throw him into this cistern here in the wilds, but don’t lay hands on him yourselves.” He intended to rescue him from them later and restore him to his father.
(iii) 23 So it was that when Yosef arrived to be with his brothers, they stripped off his robe, the long-sleeved robe he was wearing, 24 and took him and threw him into the cistern (the cistern was empty; without any water in it). 25 Then they sat down to eat their meal; but as they looked up, they saw in front of them a caravan of Yishma‘elim coming from Gil‘ad, their camels loaded with aromatic gum, healing resin and opium, on their way down to Egypt. 26 Y’hudah said to his brothers, “What advantage is it to us if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Yishma‘elim, instead of putting him to death with our own hands. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.” His brothers paid attention to him. 28 So when the Midyanim, merchants, passed by, they drew and lifted Yosef up out of the cistern and sold him for half a pound of silver shekels to the Yishma‘elim, who took Yosef on to Egypt.
29 Re’uven returned to the cistern, and, upon seeing that Yosef wasn’t in it, tore his clothes in mourning. 30 He returned to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I go now?”
31 They took Yosef’s robe, killed a male goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 Then they sent the long-sleeved robe and brought it to their father, saying, “We found this. Do you know if it’s your son’s robe or not?” 33 He recognized it and cried, “It’s my son’s robe! Some wild animal has torn Yosef in pieces and eaten him!” 34 Ya‘akov tore his clothes and, putting sackcloth around his waist, mourned his son for many days. 35 Though all his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, he refused all consolation, saying, “No, I will go down to the grave, to my son, mourning.” And his father wept for him.
36 In Egypt the Midyanim sold Yosef to Potifar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, a captain of the guard.
Sibling rivalry can be dangerous or at least not very pleasant, but here we have sibling rivalry gone to the extremes. Joseph was the eldest son of Rachael and Jacob, but was not the eldest son of Jacob due to the trickery of the father of Rachael and Leah. Jacob loved Joseph and his brother Benjamin because they were born in his old age due to the timing of God at their birth. Joseph was so loved more by Jacob, his father, than his other brothers even though they were older than Joseph was. He was so loved that Joseph did not shepherd the sheep as the other brothers did, but remained close to home and did other chores for his father including checking on his brothers. Joseph was given dreams that were prophetic in nature concerning Joseph being the leader of family in ruling over them. One day his brothers were out shepherding the flocks and his father sent Joseph to check on his brothers and bring back word of his brothers actions. As Joseph was walking along to his brothers, his brothers saw Joseph their brother the dreamer and most favored by their father because of the expensive multi-colored coat was given to Jospeh as a gift. This was a long time plan to get rid of Joseph and they planted to kill him, but the oldest brother saved Joseph's life by convincing his brother to through him into a dry well than rescue him later. The brtohers did this while Rueben went off and the other brothers sat down to a meal with no remorse for what they just did to their brother Joseph. As they were eating their meal, they saw some traders who appened to be their relatives of the tribe of Ishamel their grandfather Abraham's son by a slave woman. Judah said to thme that there was no benefit for them to kill Joseph when they could sell him to the Ismaelites for some money. They did for Twenty pieces of silver. This is similar to Jesus story when He came to life and the religious leaders were jealous of Jesus and planned to kill him paying Judas thity pieces of silver for the opportunity to arrest, have a trial, convict, and have Jesus killed by the Roman goverment. Throughout the history of Israel after it became a nation and the Israelites continued to disobey God and God sent his prophets to bring them back to repentance to God to be obedient people of God. The Israelites too often beat up or even killed the prophets instead of returning to God. Even today, we have had ways to keep dreamers and visiionaries who called the church to be the church of God's love for all people, not just the elite. Some churches have excommunicated these people or not allowed these people to preach in their churches. Yet, there have been people who believe tht the church should be the first to bring the people who are differently abled into full and active inclusion into the church as full and active participants as laity or clergy to build God's Kingdom on earth as it is in Heaven. How have you treated or viewed the people who are differently abled? How would the church look with people who are differently abled using their God-given gifts for His church? We may search our hearts and minds and see where we have sinned against God in the exclusion of people who God is calling us to fully included as we come to eat the Body of Jesus and drink His Blood in the Holy Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. We come to receive God's Loving Spirit to be His bearers of His love singing the Hymn "Reaching for You" by Hillsong
"I can't believe the way
1. Your love has got a hold on me
Each morning I wake to find You near
You lift me above my fears
And set my feet on solid ground
All of my days belong to You
Chorus: And I breathe in Your breath of life that fills my heart
You are my all consuming fire
2. I stand here before You
In wide opened wonder
Amazed at the glory of You
The power of heaven
Revealing Your purpose in me
As I'm reaching for You"
--and--
"Fear" by Casting Crowns
1. Oh, what I would do
To have the kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves
To step out of my comfort zone
Into the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is,
And He's holding out His hand
2. But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win,
You'll never win,
You'll never win."
3. Oh, what I would do to have
the kind of strength it takes
To stand before a giant
With just a sling and stone
Surrounded by the sound
Of a thousand warriors
Shaking in their armour
Wishing they'd have had the strength to stand
4. But the giant's calling out
My name and he laughs at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The giant keeps on telling me
Time and time again
"Boy, you'll never win,
You'll never win,
You'll never win."
5. But the stone was just the right size
To take the giant down
And the waves don't seem so high
When I'm standing on top of them looking down
And I'd soar with the wings of eagles
If I could just ignore the sound
Of the waves and the giants,
The waves and the giants in my mind
6. Lord, you've not given me a spirit of fear
But of power and of love,
And of a sound mind
So from now on,
I won't let the tempter's lies
Turn my eyes away from the prize
That you have set before me,
That you have set before me.
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Gary Lee Parker
4147 Idaho Street, Apt. 1
San Diego, California 92104-1844 United States
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