Coincidence? I Think Not!

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Genesis chapter 37. Genesis chapter 37. Our text for this morning is Genesis 37, 12 through 36. But before we look at that text, let's pray and ask God to work in our hearts. God of heaven, our Father. it's too easy for us to think this is just a time when we hear a sermon and that's part of our religious experience rather than thinking that here is the very word of God that he speaks to us here that this is intended to address us, to change us to help us be more like Christ we know that this passage that we are looking at today was intended to teach us, convict us, correct us, and train us in righteousness so that we would be thoroughly equipped for every good work.

And so we ask that your Spirit would accomplish that. We are entirely dependent on Him. We cannot come with any great cleverness or wisdom to this passage, but recognize that if you're going to speak to us, it's going to require your spirit. Break through all our defenses. Address us now, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.

Joseph's brothers hate him. And that's putting it in the best light. They hate him because he's God, he's dad's obvious favorite. And with that coat, he has been designated as the clan ruler, the leader. But worst of all, he's had those cursed dreams. Dreams that seem to validate God's choice of him as the head of the family.

They hate the very idea that they will bow down before this little spoiled brat and give him their allegiance and honor. These ten brothers despise, detest, abhor, hate with every ounce of their being their brother. Well, having been introduced to the main characters, especially these guys, last week, the story continues with the ten brothers getting to work.

So let's take our Bibles and let's read the rest of this narrative of Joseph's relationship with his brothers. Chapter 37, beginning in verse 12. Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock 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 to him, Here I am.

So he said to him, 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 fields, and the man asked him, What are you seeking? I'm seeking my brothers, he said. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock. And the man said, They have gone away, for I heard them say, 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 these pits or cistern 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 from 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 but 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 war. And they took him and threw him into a cistern.

The cistern was empty. There was no water in it. Then 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 Judah 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 listened to him. Then Midianite traders passed by, and they drew Joseph up, and lifted him out of the cistern, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not in the cistern, 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 garments 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.

Nobody could write this story, could they? this is an amazing amazing story Jacob sends the boys to pastor their huge flocks no doubt he's a very wealthy man at Shechem this is a big investment right he's got to take care of these things and so he sends his boys to the pastors around Shechem and then concerned about I think his investment he sends Joseph to find out what's going on and to come back and to report to him. Now he knew he could count on Joseph. As we read earlier, Joseph had brought back a bad report on his brothers.

Whether it's good or bad, his dad knew he could count on him to bring back a report. Now the boys have moved on from Shechem and Joseph is wandering around the field. He's trying to find them. So he wanders around the field and some guy happens to come by and say, Hey man, what in the world are you doing wandering around here in the fields? And he replies, well, my brothers should be pastoring their flocks around here somewhere, but I can't find them.

There's ten of them. The flocks are huge, and they speak Hebrew. Have you seen them? And this guy says, funny you should mention that. I did see them, and I happened to overhear that they're going to Dothan. That's where they are.

So Joseph heads for Dothan. And sure enough, there they are. However, they see him coming over the hill. They see him coming, and they could see him off in the distance. I mean, I'm sure his coat drew their attention. Remember what we said last week?

He's going on this work job, and he's wearing his best clothes, right? So they see him coming. And before he can get to them, they hatch this conspiracy. They start talking. There's the dreamer. here's our chance to end those dreams of his bow down to that brat not if we kill him first and then it'll never happen let's throw him in one of these cisterns let's kill him throw him in the cistern and tell dad that an animal devoured him but Ruben who's probably on a hill let's say a quarter mile away, he comes walking up at the end of this conversation.

And he starts to protest. And he comes to Joseph's rescue. It is not a good idea to kill the boy. Instead, let's throw him in one of these cisterns. Now, Reuben doesn't love Joseph any more than the rest of them. Right?

He hates him just as much as the rest of them do. But you see, Reuben has a plan. He's going to rescue Joseph, not because he loves him, but because he's fallen out of his father's good graces. And he wants to get back into good standing with his dad, Jacob. Imagine this unsuspecting 17-year-old approaching the huddle, only to have, let's say, four of them break out suddenly, tackle him to the ground, rip off his coat, and a couple more of his brothers drag him over to the cistern and throws him in.

It's a dry cistern. There's no water in it at this point. You want to know how much they hated him? You want to know how much they hated him? Just look at the callousness displayed at this point. Okay?

Later on as we proceed in the story, when we come to chapter 42, we're going to hear these guys mention that we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us and we did not listen. He's in a cistern pleading for his life. You know what they do? They sit down and break out the pita bread and the hummus and start eating lunch. That's how callous they are to this young guy.

They don't care. Let him cry. Let him yell. Let him shout. Let him plead all he wants. It's lunchtime.

It's time to eat. While they eat, a caravan of Ishmaelites appears on the horizon. These are men who bring products to trade in Egypt. And now Judah gets an idea. We can't let the boy die down in that discerning. I still think they want to kill him.

Reuben's convinced them not to shed his blood, not to actually do something to him, but let him die. At least, he's convinced him of that, although Reuben has other plans to rescue him. So, Judah is saying at this point, why let him die? Why let him die? We can get rid of this dreamer and make some money. And I love this part.

After all, he is our brother. Right? After all. Let's be kind of kind at least. he is our brother, let's not do something horrible to him. So they haul him out of the cistern. They get paid the 20 shekels of a slave in the second millennium.

They were going for that much back then. And continue to eat their lunch. Well, Joseph finds himself tied to a camel looking over his shoulder and at the moment probably figuring that he will never again see those men you will never again see his father he won't see his little brother and never will he ever see his homeland again Everything familiar to him is gone forever You think about that.

You are ripped out of your home, hauled away, and you know, as far as you know, you will never, ever see your homeland or your family again. enter Reuben he evidently missed the dinner bell he wasn't there when they broke for lunch maybe he was running down some stray or maybe he was tending to some other animal necessity but when he returns to find Joseph gone he is beside himself and he tears his garment now if his concern was for Joseph he could have gone after that caravan but his concern is not for Joseph if his concern is for himself. That's evident in verse 30. Look at it.

The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go? It's all about him. I remember Levi telling this story. No, no, it wasn't Levi. I think it was Annie. Telling the story of one of her classmates. and two of her classmates are sitting in the classroom and one turns to the other and says, you would not believe what happened to me this weekend.

And the other girl says, what? She says, my neighbor's house burned down. You don't get it, do you? Do you get it? That's Reuben. That's Reuben at this point.

Oh no, the boy's gone. what am I going to do? Right? It's not about Joseph at all. It's all about Reuben. He's motivated not by love in this rescue operation. He is motivated by self-interest.

Well, they have to have some kind of story. So let's go with the fierce animal story. And they get some, they slaughter a goat. They get the coat bloody and they take it home to their dad. Now, I think the writer wants you to see irony here at this point. You know why?

Don't miss it. A goat and a coat was how Jacob deceived his father. Do you remember? Killed the goat, made it taste like wild game, put on his brother's clothes, and deceived his father. That's exactly what happens to him. Well, they return home and they show the coat to dad.

And even when they do that, you can still see contempt for their brother. When you look at verse 32, notice what they say to their dad. This we have found, please identify whether it is your son's robe or not. Okay? Please, do you think this is Joseph's robe? No, please identify, is it your son's robe?

And Jacob is inconsolable in his grief. Acting as if Joseph was the only son he ever had. Even in his grief, he shows favoritism. He grieves in a way that says, Joseph, Joseph, Joseph. He doesn't care about anybody else. The only thing he cares about is his son Joseph.

And then look at the hypocrisy. Did you notice the unbelievable hypocrisy of the ten brothers? Notice what the text said. all his sons and daughters what? Tried to console him. What hypocrisy! They don't care?

Joseph's gone. That's all they care about. And while Jacob believes that Joseph has gone down to Sheol, the writer makes it clear he's actually gone down to Egypt. Now, if you were hearing this story for the first time, and I've tried to put it in a way that it might seem like you're hearing it for the first time, what you ought to be asking is, what a messed up bunch of people.

What evil, what wickedness, what intrigue, what horrible things. How will God possibly fulfill his purpose given these circumstances? And that's what the writer wants you to be asking. He wants you to be asking yourself that question. How in the world is God going to do what He says He's going to do, given this group of people, given these events, it looks like the whole thing is over.

Especially that part about the dreams. And that's exactly, I think that's exactly what He's driving you to. Wait a minute, Joseph had these dreams, and now those dreams are totally wiped out. That's what He wants you to think? How can God accomplish what he told Joseph through those dreams? How is he going to accomplish that?

You could say we've come across a whole slew of coincidences, couldn't you? Wow, that was really coincidental. Coincidence? I think not. For this was actually God at work. This was actually God at work.

He was at work in giving Joseph the dreams. He was at work in the murderous intentions of his brothers. He was at work in the events that seemed to kill the dream. He was at work in all of it. This is all a God thing. This is all a God thing.

If Jacob had come up over the hill at that point, maybe following Joseph. And Jacob had come up over the hill, and all of a sudden he walks over the hill and sees his brothers, or his sons, dangling Joseph over the pit at that moment and saying hey what are you doing to your brother Everyone would say that a God thing right If God had appeared in a fiery pillar in the midst of the family camp and with a voice that they couldn't mistake, say to them, look, work real hard over the next 7 to 10 years, because there's a big famine coming, and you need to be ready to go to Egypt when the famine strikes. We would all say, that's a God thing. this is a god thing it's called providence it's called providence now you see god can fulfill his purpose in two ways god can accomplish his purpose with miraculous things or in miraculous ways.

That is, God intervenes directly in the affairs of men. Like a declaration from a fiery pillar. Okay? Or God can accomplish His purposes by providence. That is, He uses created things to get His will done. In this case, dreams, hatred, traitors, even the things that seem to contradict what he wants to do.

But he uses those things to accomplish his purpose so that if God intervenes miraculously, that's God at work. If God works through providence, that's God at work. It's all a God thing. alright at the end of the day we don't say God said go to Egypt that was God's will or we might say well what an interesting bunch of coincidences they ended up in Egypt when a famine struck no God's intention is to save the family but he doesn't do it miraculously he does it providentially and by the way that's the way God works most of the time it's all a God thing okay let's see how God sets in motion the very things this is what the writer wants you to see God sets in motion the very things that will fulfill Joseph's dreams and rescue his people alright you see God's providence in Jacob's actions Jacob sends Joseph on this ill fated errand probably because he knew he could count on him Joseph could be counted on to bring back a report Jacob knew Joseph would give his loyalty to his father first he probably could count on the fact that Joseph was not going to cover for his brothers.

If they were messing around with his investment, he'd be able to tell his dad about it. And he knew he could count on him to bring back a report, and Joseph was willing to go. He should have known that these ten brothers absolutely detested Joseph. He should have known that. But maybe he didn't know that. Either way, his actions delivered Joseph into the hands of his brother.

Coincidence? I think not. Providence. It's a God thing. See God's providence in Joseph's experience. Joseph sets off, but he cannot find his brothers because for some reason they move the flocks elsewhere.

Why? I don't know. Maybe there wasn't enough rain. Maybe they had exhausted all the resources there with those flocks and had to move to other pastures. We don't know. But for some reason, they had left.

And now because they're gone, Joseph ends up wandering around in the fields outside Shechem trying to find his brothers. Looking here, looking there, checking over this hill, going into this little valley. Where are they? But what's interesting is because he wandered around the fields, he was delayed long enough so that when he got to the camp, his arrival would coincide with the arrival of those traders, those Ishmaelite traders.

He's delayed enough to get there at the right time. and then of all things I love this you have this chance meeting with a guy who happens to overhear his brother's conversation did that strike you as strange you got this kid wandering around the fields and suddenly he meets a guy out of nowhere and the guy says oh yeah I overheard your brothers I mean just think about that now remember God did not come to this unnamed man and whisper in his ear hey those Hebrew shepherds they're going to go to Dothan and their little brother is going to show up and you need to go out there tomorrow at 10 and tell him that his brothers have gone to Dothan now do that God could have done that but did he do that no he did not at all let's imagine this for a moment and this is what you call sanctified imagination Got to be a little careful with it. Got to be a little careful with it. But this is what I think we need to be thinking.

Two days ago, he had approached these guys to make a deal. He had a goat he didn't want anymore. His resources were running out. He couldn't feed this goat. Let's make some money. There's a bunch of Hebrew shepherds over here.

I'm going to go and see if they'll buy the goat. So he goes over there and he makes a deal. And while he's there, he hears them talking. They're going to go to Dothan. Thank you. Well, he goes home.

But two days later, he realizes, hey, wait a minute. Where's my staff? What did I do with that thing? Ah, it's at that well where I met those shepherds. I need to head out there and get that. I need that today.

So he starts out walking out, and he looks behind him, and he sees that his little five-year-old daughter is following him. Well, he could take her with him, but he decides, no, no, I'm going to take her back home. So he takes that amount of time to get her back home. And then he heads out of town. He arrives at the well and notices a 17-year-old kid wandering around with a puzzled look on his face.

And they get into a conversation. And Joseph mentions that he's looking for his brother. and so he tells him well I've heard these guys a couple days ago they went to Dothan now let me ask you something what would have happened if he hadn't left his staff there what would have happened if he had not delayed to take his little girl back home I mean these are all speculations but you've got to see that something was going on something happened in this man's life to get him to those fields and those pastures at the moment when the shepherds were there so he could overhear their conversation and he was back there again when their brother happened to come into the field and looking for him. God was doing something.

There were things that happened in those days that caused him to be there at that spot at the right time with the right information. You think that's coincidence? I think not. it's providence now most of all you see God's providence in these brothers intrigues this is the hinge on which the entire story turns I believe this conspiracy to kill Joseph is the major hinge of this story the major thing that propels the story on to their rescue some years later.

Look at the motive for murdering Joseph for a moment. Verses 19 and 20. They said to one another, note, here comes this what? Dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him and we will see what will become of his dreams.

Now that's interesting. They didn't say, let's kill him and show dad what happens to his favorite boy. I hate that guy. He's dad's favorite. Let's get rid of him. Maybe dad will pay attention to us.

No. Let's kill him. because if we kill him, we kill the dreams. Do you see that? That is so important in this story. We've got to kill him because the last thing we want to do is bow down to this guy. Kill him now.

The dreams are not an issue. now this plot and these actions set the events in motion that saved the family from starvation in years to come but notice he does not die he becomes a slave in Egypt and that's because of Reuben Reuben hates Joseph just as much as his other brothers but Reuben is out of the good graces of his father. He'd gotten himself in trouble earlier when he went with his brothers and massacred the town of Shechem. You remember how Jacob responded to that?

What are you guys doing? Right? Now we're odious. We're, we're a stench in the nostrils of the Canaanites. We got to get out of here now. Right?

So at least on that front, Reuben's not, Reuben's not in good standing, but to top it all off, you remember a few chapters back that in an attempt to gain in a bid for clan leader, he'd slept with his father's concubine. That really got him in trouble. So he needs to get back in dad's favor, especially if he's going to regain the privileges of the first born.

He's got to get back in dad's good graces. and because of Reuben's selfishness the stage is set for Judah's part in the play let use our imagination again Reuben not around when they break for lunch He somewhere else We don know where he is We don know why Maybe a lamb or one of the goats got separated from the flock or maybe he needed to go to Dothan for some food or or maybe he was scouting for better pastures. We don't know. He's not there.

But because he was not there his plan to take Joseph back home is foiled, is it not? They can't get Joseph back home. He can't use him as a pawn in his strategy. Why? Because Judah instigates his intrigue to get his brother sold to these traitors. Originally, they wanted to kill him so they wouldn't have to bow down to him.

But they're going to accomplish the same thing anyway by selling him to the traitors. Because frankly, slavery is just a slower form of dying. Right? Why kill him? We'll send him into slavery, make money, and he'll die anyway. And so they send him on his way.

They keep the coat and bring it back to Jacob, keeping a conspiracy of silence the whole time. Do you realize that these brothers kept that secret for years? Nobody cracked. Think about that. Those ten brothers, not one of them, not one ever confessed to the deed. You talk about a conspiracy.

That's incredible. What might have happened if one of them cracked? What might have happened? this rich man could have gone to Egypt and if he could find his son he could redeem him he could buy him he could get him back so Joseph because of that is as good as dead and you see God's providence here the many intrigues of the brothers some of them working at cross purposes to others right?

Judah's got this plan or Reuben has they all have this plan Then Reuben has this plan. Then Judah has this plan. They're all working. They're all working even against each other. But the whole thing ends up with Joseph in Egypt, the place of their future rescue. I ask the question again.

Coincidence? No. No. but you see that God doesn't just want you to see his providence in their lives you need to see God's providence in all the events of your life you see Moses did not write this story that we'd have good Sunday school material he didn't write this story so that we would be able to tell our children about this one young boy who was slowed into slavery and everything turned out okay that isn't the purpose of this story the purpose of this narrative is to reveal God that's the purpose you see Joseph is not the hero of this story God is it reveals the nature of God it reveals a God who is faithful to keep His promises and to accomplish His will again, quick review this whole story is about the seed and how God is going to protect that seed that will someday bless the nations of the world.

The seed that's supposed to come through Abraham. They cannot, that seed will never come to bless the nations if that family dies in a famine. So, he is working the details out so that the family is rescued and God keeps His promise to Abraham that through Him there's coming a seed that will bless all the nations. You've got to see that God is faithful in keeping His promises.

Is He going to keep His promises to you? Is He? In light of this story, how can you argue with that? It reveals a God who will accomplish that purpose in hidden, providential ways. stop looking for the God thing and start realizing that God is working in all the events of your life every day in order to bring you to the place He wants you to go And in order to fulfill His gracious purposes for you.

That's why this is here. Every event in your life, good or evil, reflects the fact that there is a God who is working through them to fulfill His purposes for you. What's going on in your life? It may be physical. It may be physical pain. Some of you are in intense physical pain.

Things are not easy for you physically. Does God have a purpose in that? did you know that what happened at work on Thursday or for that matter on every day was God working behind the scenes there the answer is yeah yeah even the fact that you have some co-workers who hate you Even the fact that you have a boss whose clear intent, because he's told you, is to make your life miserable. Is God behind that?

Yeah. Some of you here today can look back on your life. And if you would tell us your story, we would be horrified at the things that other people did to you. Was God looking the other way when those things happened? Or did he have a purpose in it? See, this story actually gets us to ask the question, is God at work when there is abuse and mistreatment and hardship.

I don't say that lightly, but even the horrific things, horrific things that happen in your life is God working. What happens when you don't see the end of the story? All of us, most of us, if not all of us here know the end of this story. We know the end of this story. but in your life, you don't know the end of the story yet, do you? You don't know what's coming from that mistreatment from your boss.

You don't know what's happening because of that physical pain. The end of the story is not here yet. Do you still believe God's at work? Do you still believe He's at work? I had a conversation with a dear, dear friend of mine this last week who's going through and experiencing incredible hardship. he has stood faithfully for God's truth in a church that did not want to hear what God said they ought to believe and what they ought to do and he labored for years in that church and finally finally had to leave began another ministry and this week he told me it's over it's done not for lack of commitment on his part there's no one more committed than this guy that it wasn't going to go anywhere one of the last things he said to me was this I feel all alone one of the last things I said to him was this don't lose heart God has not finished your story yet God hasn't finished your story yet either but he's writing a story with his purposes in mind and he's accomplishing those purposes in everything that's happening to you there isn't one thing in your life that's beyond the providence of God it's all part of his providence it's all part of his providence God is not done writing your story yet you say well that's fine that's fine you've just told us no matter what happens to us no matter what's going on in the world God has a gracious purpose that he's fulfilling how do I know that? oh yeah I hear this story but how do I know that's just not the only time he did it? well you can have confidence that's the case if you look to Jesus just as Jacob sent his son to hostile men so our Heavenly Father sent his son into the midst of a wicked world he sent him on an errand when Jacob sent his son God restrained them from killing him But when he sent his own son God did not restrain the sin of those who hated Jesus He surrendered his son into the hands of wicked men, who stripped him not of a royal robe, but stripped him of a simple pleasant garb, beat him brutally, and executed him. the heavenly father's response to the death of his son was different than that of Jacob Jacob believed that his eyes told the whole story Joseph was dead all his dreams are gone all of Jacob's dreams are gone but the divine father knew that his son's death was not evidence that God's purposes had failed but that his purpose had triumphed.

Most of all, see this. The very actions of these men which were intended to kill the dreamer and kill the dreams were the very things that caused the fulfillment of those dreams. Let me say it again. Those murderous intentions to keep the dreams from being fulfilled, those very intentions were what God used to fulfill the dreams. Don't lose that. It looks to many like the cross.

You talk to many, they'll talk about Jesus, this great man who was crucified too bad, weeping tears, right? you know, poor, pitiful Jesus. Right? Many people look at the cross as that which frustrated the purpose of God in producing followers of Jesus. But guess what? The very thing that looks like it frustrated the purposes of God was the very instrument of causing God to redeem a people and gather them to Himself to become followers of Jesus.

How do we end? How do we end this? I think the only way we can end this is saying what Paul said. What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?

See? God's at work. How do I know? Because of His Son. Thank You, Father, for Your Word today. I would ask, Lord, that even when we are close to despair, and we will get there, and there will be things in our lives that will cause us to feel all alone and to want to give up and to ask why.

At those points, Father, I beg you, help us to remember that you are at work in a gracious way to accomplish good things for your people and glory for yourself. Father, right now we can all give assent to this. We can all say, yes, I believe that, but when it gets very, very, very difficult, our feet might come close to slipping. My prayer, Father, is that this word from you, Would encourage us and help us so that we we will glorify Christ.

We will glorify the one who did and lived that very experience. All alone. Even without your presence. Even without your favor. Dying alone and yet accomplishing by your grace your great purposes. When we despair, help us to look to your Son who, like us, had every experience.

Thank you for your word today. In Jesus' name, Amen.