This is really so interesting. It's one of my favorite stories. One of my favorite topics, one of my favorite men in the Bible, is one of my favorite lessons to have learned in the Bible.
So I'll say a really short prayer, and then we'll start. Thank you, God, for your word. Thank you, God, that you love us, and that you hear my voice.
Thank you, God, that you are always there for us. I ask you, God, to help us to understand what we, read what, and that it hits our hearts in a way that it touches things that we need to understand. In Jesus Christ's name, I pray. Amen.
We're gonna read from starting in verse 12.
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Okay, here we go. 37:12. And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
(Joseph was the youngest at the time of all of the brothers and that's why he wasn't with the brothers doing this work. So the dad, he just wanted to make sure everything was okay, you know, like, they're your brothers. They've been out there for a while. Go check out, and make sure everything's all right. Okay? So that's what's going on.)
15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan.
(So, so he went to Shaham and he is like, my brothers aren't here. And so there was a man there who saw him and said, what are you looking for, buddy?)
And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan.
(So now he's there doing what his dad told him to do.)
18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
(Now, the reason for this is because they were really jealous of Joseph. Joseph was the the f child of his father, of his old age. He, his father was married to two women. This was legal at the time, and it was the, his wife that he loved. Not that he didn't love both of them, but you have to read this part of it, that this is a different story where he, it was originally Jacob and then God changed his name to Israel.
He wanted to marry a woman, I forgot her name. Israel went to her father to say, I wanna marry your daughter.
And he said, okay, but you know, you have to work for me first. And he said, all right, I'll do that.
And he worked for him for I think 12 years or something like that.
And he married the daughter, but it was the first daughter, not the daughter that he wanted to marry.
And then he said, how could you do this to me? He didn't know it wasn’t her because there was a vail over her face.
He said, how could you do this to me?
The father said to him, yeah, but the first daughter's gotta get married first.
So he worked another 12 years for his other wife (Lea and Rachel) and the wife that he loved had Joseph and that is why he favors Joseph and the brothers were jealous of him, very jealous.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
(Okay. So Joseph had a dream and he told the father the dream and the way the dream was, was as if all the brothers, and the father was going to bow their knee to him someday. And so now they're like, oh, another thing to hate him for. Like, really buddy? So that's what was going on and that's why they're like, you know what, here comes the dreamer. Let's kill him.
I know it sounds horrible and while brothers might not like each other, but killing them? That's what these people were thinking. These people were taught The word of God. just goes to show you nobody's perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. That's why we have a savior.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
(So he, so he's saying, oh my goodness, we can't let this happen. What? This is craziness. So he said, all right, look. - I think Ruben was the eldest. He said look, no, don't kill him. Don't let blood be on our hands. Put him in this pit and just leave him there, in the back of his mind as soon as he could, he'd get him out of the pit and bring him back home.)
23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they strip Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him;
24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
(Now, if anybody knows the story about Joseph, his father, to show his great admiration for his youngest son made him a coat of many colors, which was a symbol of his favor. Really is that the way you wanna have harmony in the home to show everybody, I like this kid the best.
Probably wasn't the wisest thing that he did, but it is what he did.
24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
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.
(So the traveling salesman were coming by, the brothers were sitting next to the pit and they were eating lunch. Joseph was screaming, Why! He had to be screaming “Let me outta here! What are you doing? This is crazy, please let me outta here!” They were just eating, they were ignoring him.
26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
(So now suddenly they're getting, I don't know, family oriented here. Oh, you know what? He is our brother. We really shouldn't kill him. Let's just sell him as a slave to these people. And his brothers consented.)
28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
(Note, the parallel of Jesus selling Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders.
Many Jews did not want him killed. Speaking of Jesus the Pharisees and Sadducees, the leaders of that time that stood to lose so much, that's why they wanted Jesus dead.
And so it was 20 pieces of silver that they betrayed Jesus for, that what Judas betrayed Jesus for.
They said what do you want me to give you? And they gave him 20 pieces of silver.
And this is what they did with Joseph. They sold him for 20 pieces of silver, lots of parallels between what happened to Joseph, and Pharaoh and the relationship of God and Jesus and Gods family.)
That's really not the topic of this, but I just want you to mention that.
So they sold him. You know, that he had to be screaming to them, don't do this to me. Don't do this to me.
My father, my father, you can't take me away from my father. They put him on the back of their carriage.
They had to have him tied because otherwise he would've jumped off and ran. And they just sat there eating their lunch while they drove away with this young boy.
29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
That was a sign that they used to show mourning, to show distress and despair. And he returned onto his brothers and he said, the child is not in the pit.
31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
32 And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Here they're referring to him as Jacob and Jacob rent his clothes and put on sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son.
34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
(What a horrible thing to have done to your father.)
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.
36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.
So, Joseph goes into a prominent household as a slave of Potipher, an officer of Pharaoh’s who was the captain of the guard.
Now we are reading chapter 39, because 38 they're talking about something else like a little parenthesis.
So we'll go to 39 verses 1 to 23.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned into a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.
2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
(Something I want to note here, wait, I'm just gonna read a little bit more before I say this.)
3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
(So what's happening with Joseph, the master of the house, Podifer, is noticing Joseph. He's noticing that whatever he touches prospers. And right before this, we saw that the Lord was with Joseph. We're looking at the character here.
We're looking at the whole big picture here. What's going on?
Did Joseph have every right to be upset? mortified?
He came from a well-off family. Now he's a slave. He misses his father. He was wrongfully taken and sold. He had an attitude of, “Well, this is the way it is now, I'm gonna have to do the very best I have with what I've got right now, I will always serve God to the best of my ability no matter where I am or what I'm doing.”
Because if he wasn't doing that, if he was angry, bitter and feeling sorry for himself, his work would have reflected that.
And also the whole thing about God was with him. God can't overstep, his laws. We, have to give him something to work with.
18:49 So he changed his attitude. He changed it right away.
You, have to know that because no one would've noticed a bitter, angry, sorry ass of a person. They would've just skipped right by him. Go ahead and like scrub the floor. Who cares? Just do that and shut up.
So his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper his hand.
4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
So now the Podifer sees this guy is like so cool. He's got his stuff together. I trust him. He's great. It was not uncommon for slaves to be taken in this time and day as if they were part of the family.
So now, he didn't only take him, notice him and see how good he was and all, he now put him as overseer of his entire home.
Everything that he had, people could go to Joseph instead of him for answers to things. He became the head of whatever slaves, were there and people that worked for Podifer.
5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.
Look at that. That's huge. Now, was the Egyptian somebody that believed God? No. This Egyptian believed in many gods. He, he was not a child of God. He believed in Zeus and Isis and whoever else they had at that time. But what did God do for Joseph's sake?
He blessed this man's home, everything that he had. Now, what does that tell us as believers, as people that love God?
If we serve the Lord, will he bless our country for our sake? Will he bless the company we work for, for our sake? Will he bless our business for our sake? Will he bless our family for our sake? Will he bless our country for our sake, our government, for our sake? This is huge.
Now, I'll say this as a side note, at the time of this reading here, it, it's after a pandemic.
It's 2022. 2020 was a crazy year. There is a lot of division in our country.
People who hate Joe Biden, people who hate Donald Trump, Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, they're at odds with each other. It it's, it's a crazy time in our history. What are the believers doing? Are the believers speaking ill of each other? Are the believers talking horribly about our country? Are we doing the best we can for what we've got right now?
Well, maybe I don't agree with what's going on right here. but what do I have to do as a child of God?
We need to do what Joseph did. Do you think that Joseph agreed with what Podifer believed in? What the rulers were doing at that time?
Do you think he agreed with the people that were enslaving him? Of course not. But what did he do?
He did the best that he could according to the word of God. So if we are back-biting each other, if all we're saying how horrible people are, well that's not walking on the word of God, is it?
And so can we get that blessing from God that we need for our country? If that's what we're doing? We can’t. We absolutely can't. It, it's totally contrary to the way things work.
So let's keep reading. Thank you for being here, if you can help with a donation I can get the help I need to continue on with this ministry as I should. I need help getting the podcast video transcribed. I do this myself, I need help. Thank you in advance for helping me. Anyone I help you will also get the credit for. All the work I do, you will also get credit for. That is a good deal :) https://donorbox.org/what-does-god-say-to-you
This is really so interesting. It's one of my favorite stories. One of my favorite topics, one of my favorite men in the Bible, is one of my favorite lessons to have learned in the Bible.
So I'll say a really short prayer, and then we'll start. Thank you, God, for your word. Thank you, God, that you love us, and that you hear my voice.
Thank you, God, that you are always there for us. I ask you, God, to help us to understand what we, read what, and that it hits our hearts in a way that it touches things that we need to understand. In Jesus Christ's name, I pray. Amen.
We're gonna read from starting in verse 12.
You can CLICK HERE to donate
Okay, here we go. 37:12. And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
(Joseph was the youngest at the time of all of the brothers and that's why he wasn't with the brothers doing this work. So the dad, he just wanted to make sure everything was okay, you know, like, they're your brothers. They've been out there for a while. Go check out, and make sure everything's all right. Okay? So that's what's going on.)
15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan.
(So, so he went to Shaham and he is like, my brothers aren't here. And so there was a man there who saw him and said, what are you looking for, buddy?)
And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan.
(So now he's there doing what his dad told him to do.)
18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
(Now, the reason for this is because they were really jealous of Joseph. Joseph was the the f child of his father, of his old age. He, his father was married to two women. This was legal at the time, and it was the, his wife that he loved. Not that he didn't love both of them, but you have to read this part of it, that this is a different story where he, it was originally Jacob and then God changed his name to Israel.
He wanted to marry a woman, I forgot her name. Israel went to her father to say, I wanna marry your daughter.
And he said, okay, but you know, you have to work for me first. And he said, all right, I'll do that.
And he worked for him for I think 12 years or something like that.
And he married the daughter, but it was the first daughter, not the daughter that he wanted to marry.
And then he said, how could you do this to me? He didn't know it wasn’t her because there was a vail over her face.
He said, how could you do this to me?
The father said to him, yeah, but the first daughter's gotta get married first.
So he worked another 12 years for his other wife (Lea and Rachel) and the wife that he loved had Joseph and that is why he favors Joseph and the brothers were jealous of him, very jealous.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
(Okay. So Joseph had a dream and he told the father the dream and the way the dream was, was as if all the brothers, and the father was going to bow their knee to him someday. And so now they're like, oh, another thing to hate him for. Like, really buddy? So that's what was going on and that's why they're like, you know what, here comes the dreamer. Let's kill him.
I know it sounds horrible and while brothers might not like each other, but killing them? That's what these people were thinking. These people were taught The word of God. just goes to show you nobody's perfect. Everybody makes mistakes. That's why we have a savior.
19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
(So he, so he's saying, oh my goodness, we can't let this happen. What? This is craziness. So he said, all right, look. - I think Ruben was the eldest. He said look, no, don't kill him. Don't let blood be on our hands. Put him in this pit and just leave him there, in the back of his mind as soon as he could, he'd get him out of the pit and bring him back home.)
23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they strip Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him;
24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
(Now, if anybody knows the story about Joseph, his father, to show his great admiration for his youngest son made him a coat of many colors, which was a symbol of his favor. Really is that the way you wanna have harmony in the home to show everybody, I like this kid the best.
Probably wasn't the wisest thing that he did, but it is what he did.
24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
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.
(So the traveling salesman were coming by, the brothers were sitting next to the pit and they were eating lunch. Joseph was screaming, Why! He had to be screaming “Let me outta here! What are you doing? This is crazy, please let me outta here!” They were just eating, they were ignoring him.
26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.
28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
(So now suddenly they're getting, I don't know, family oriented here. Oh, you know what? He is our brother. We really shouldn't kill him. Let's just sell him as a slave to these people. And his brothers consented.)
28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
(Note, the parallel of Jesus selling Jesus to the Jewish religious leaders.
Many Jews did not want him killed. Speaking of Jesus the Pharisees and Sadducees, the leaders of that time that stood to lose so much, that's why they wanted Jesus dead.
And so it was 20 pieces of silver that they betrayed Jesus for, that what Judas betrayed Jesus for.
They said what do you want me to give you? And they gave him 20 pieces of silver.
And this is what they did with Joseph. They sold him for 20 pieces of silver, lots of parallels between what happened to Joseph, and Pharaoh and the relationship of God and Jesus and Gods family.)
That's really not the topic of this, but I just want you to mention that.
So they sold him. You know, that he had to be screaming to them, don't do this to me. Don't do this to me.
My father, my father, you can't take me away from my father. They put him on the back of their carriage.
They had to have him tied because otherwise he would've jumped off and ran. And they just sat there eating their lunch while they drove away with this young boy.
29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
That was a sign that they used to show mourning, to show distress and despair. And he returned onto his brothers and he said, the child is not in the pit.
31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
32 And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Here they're referring to him as Jacob and Jacob rent his clothes and put on sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son.
34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
(What a horrible thing to have done to your father.)
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.
36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.
So, Joseph goes into a prominent household as a slave of Potipher, an officer of Pharaoh’s who was the captain of the guard.
Now we are reading chapter 39, because 38 they're talking about something else like a little parenthesis.
So we'll go to 39 verses 1 to 23.
And it came to pass at that time, that Judah went down from his brethren, and turned into a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
2 And Judah saw there a daughter of a certain Canaanite, whose name was Shuah; and he took her, and went in unto her.
And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him of the hands of the Ishmeelites, which had brought him down thither.
2 And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.
(Something I want to note here, wait, I'm just gonna read a little bit more before I say this.)
3 And his master saw that the Lord was with him, and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper in his hand.
4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
(So what's happening with Joseph, the master of the house, Podifer, is noticing Joseph. He's noticing that whatever he touches prospers. And right before this, we saw that the Lord was with Joseph. We're looking at the character here.
We're looking at the whole big picture here. What's going on?
Did Joseph have every right to be upset? mortified?
He came from a well-off family. Now he's a slave. He misses his father. He was wrongfully taken and sold. He had an attitude of, “Well, this is the way it is now, I'm gonna have to do the very best I have with what I've got right now, I will always serve God to the best of my ability no matter where I am or what I'm doing.”
Because if he wasn't doing that, if he was angry, bitter and feeling sorry for himself, his work would have reflected that.
And also the whole thing about God was with him. God can't overstep, his laws. We, have to give him something to work with.
18:49 So he changed his attitude. He changed it right away.
You, have to know that because no one would've noticed a bitter, angry, sorry ass of a person. They would've just skipped right by him. Go ahead and like scrub the floor. Who cares? Just do that and shut up.
So his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to prosper his hand.
4 And Joseph found grace in his sight, and he served him: and he made him overseer over his house, and all that he had he put into his hand.
So now the Podifer sees this guy is like so cool. He's got his stuff together. I trust him. He's great. It was not uncommon for slaves to be taken in this time and day as if they were part of the family.
So now, he didn't only take him, notice him and see how good he was and all, he now put him as overseer of his entire home.
Everything that he had, people could go to Joseph instead of him for answers to things. He became the head of whatever slaves, were there and people that worked for Podifer.
5 And it came to pass from the time that he had made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake; and the blessing of the Lord was upon all that he had in the house, and in the field.
Look at that. That's huge. Now, was the Egyptian somebody that believed God? No. This Egyptian believed in many gods. He, he was not a child of God. He believed in Zeus and Isis and whoever else they had at that time. But what did God do for Joseph's sake?
He blessed this man's home, everything that he had. Now, what does that tell us as believers, as people that love God?
If we serve the Lord, will he bless our country for our sake? Will he bless the company we work for, for our sake? Will he bless our business for our sake? Will he bless our family for our sake? Will he bless our country for our sake, our government, for our sake? This is huge.
Now, I'll say this as a side note, at the time of this reading here, it, it's after a pandemic.
It's 2022. 2020 was a crazy year. There is a lot of division in our country.
People who hate Joe Biden, people who hate Donald Trump, Democrats, Republicans, conservatives, liberals, they're at odds with each other. It it's, it's a crazy time in our history. What are the believers doing? Are the believers speaking ill of each other? Are the believers talking horribly about our country? Are we doing the best we can for what we've got right now?
Well, maybe I don't agree with what's going on right here. but what do I have to do as a child of God?
We need to do what Joseph did. Do you think that Joseph agreed with what Podifer believed in? What the rulers were doing at that time?
Do you think he agreed with the people that were enslaving him? Of course not. But what did he do?
He did the best that he could according to the word of God. So if we are back-biting each other, if all we're saying how horrible people are, well that's not walking on the word of God, is it?
And so can we get that blessing from God that we need for our country? If that's what we're doing? We can’t. We absolutely can't. It, it's totally contrary to the way things work.
So let's keep reading. Thank you for being here, if you can help with a donation I can get the help I need to continue on with this ministry as I should. I need help getting the podcast video transcribed. I do this myself, I need help. Thank you in advance for helping me. Anyone I help you will also get the credit for. All the work I do, you will also get credit for. That is a good deal :) https://donorbox.org/what-does-god-say-to-you