Advanced Level, Block 3, Week 25: Reaction to Joseph’s Dream

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Advanced Level, Block 3—Outcomes of Jacob and Joseph

Week 25
Reaction to Joseph’s Dream

Point to Emphasize: We should never act in anger.

Reference Reading: Genesis 37:5-36, footnote 181; Life-study of Genesis, msg. 92

Memory Verse: …Do not let the sun go down on your indignation. (Ephesians 4:26b)

Story Sample

Today we will talk about the two dreams God gave Joseph and his brothers’ reactions when he shared his dreams with them. In his first dream, Joseph dreamed that he and his brothers were all sheaves of wheat in a field and all the sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. In his second dream, there were the sun and the moon (Joseph’s parents), and eleven stars (his brothers), bowing down to him. The Bible tells us about his brothers’ reaction to these dreams. “And his brothers said to him, Will you indeed reign over us and actually be a ruler among us?” (Genesis 37:8). His brothers resented him because he was their father’s favorite son. Well, now they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Joseph’s brothers went to shepherd their father’s flock in Shechem, which was some distance away. After a while, Jacob sent Joseph to see how his brothers were doing. Now when his brothers saw him from a distance, they conspired against him and even planned to put him to death. How hateful! When he was coming closer, the brothers called out, “Here comes this master of dreams” (v. 19). Their feelings against him could be heard in their voices. Among themselves they were saying, “Let us slay him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, A wild beast has devoured him; then we will see what will become of his dreams” (v. 20). Oh, how they hated him. Their hatred was not reasonable. This is what anger and hatred do, it takes over our reasoning.

I know you may think, “Oh, I am nothing like those ten brothers!”, but I want you to know that you could easily be filled with anger and hate towards someone. When I was about your age, I really detested a neighborhood girl. I could not stand her, but she was part of the group of friends that I had. One day, we were all at the park, and there were some older teenagers sliding down a high dome-shaped structure. Some among us started to dare each other to do the same thing, even though it wasn’t safe for us since we were so much smaller. Now, it was a very high dome, and I was scared to go that high. But of course, I wasn’t going to let anyone know that. Because of my anger towards this girl, I bullied her into trying it. My resentment towards her hardened me to the point that I bullied her into doing something I knew was not safe. She went up the dome and slid down, but she landed poorly, breaking her leg. I am telling you this shameful story about myself because I don’t want you to think that you are not bad like Joseph’s brothers. [Storyteller, use your own personal story.]

This is why the Bible tells us not to let the sun go down on our anger and hatred. Anger leads to hatred and that floods our reasoning and overtakes us.

Now, Reuben, his oldest brother, tried to deliver Joseph out of their hand because he wanted to save his life and send him back to their father. Reuben had not lost his reasoning to his anger. He could still consider their father’s love for this son, so he told his brothers not to kill Joseph.

So, they took hold of Joseph and stripped him of his coat of many colors, the gift from his father, and threw him into the pit. Then they sat down to eat. Can you see how cold-hearted they were? All his brothers, except Rueben, could sit down and eat while they considered killing Joseph. This is what anger and hatred can do to our hearts. They could consider something so evil as they ate.

As they ate, a caravan with goods for sale headed to Egypt was passing by. “Then Judah said to his brothers, What gain is there if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him…” (vv. 27-28). And that is what they did. Reuben returned to the pit thinking that Joseph was still there. When he did not find him in the pit he was in despair! What would he tell his father about his favorite son? Reuben then found out what his brothers had done.

After selling their brother, they slaughtered a goat, took his coat, and dipped the coat in the blood so that they could send it back to their father. That made Jacob believed that Joseph must have been torn to pieces by a wild beast before he ever made it to.

I don’t want you to think that resentment and anger could never harden your heart or take your reasoning over. It can and it will unless we practice what the Bible says. We need to not go to bed until we have emptied any anger, hatred, jealously and resentment out of our heart. When we have these kinds of feelings, rather than keeping them hidden and allowing them to overtake us, the best thing we can do is talk to our parents about them.

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