Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

A New Study For A New Year: Personalities

Genesis 37:12- 36

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.

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. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

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.

23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours 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.

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.

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.

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?

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 colours, 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.

34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

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.

The King James Version

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In the movie "Lawrence of Arabia", the main Character is given the white robes of an Arab Chieftain. He is so excited with the outfit that he prances around, posing in his new robe. In the course of the movie, the pure white robe becomes horribly soiled and spattered in blood. This parallels the changes that take place in Lawrence's Personality, as the bloody conflict changes him inside and out.

Joseph's Coat of Many Colors also undergoes a change, and so does Joseph. The Coat symbolized Joseph's being his dad's Favorite, now Joseph was a slave, bought and paid for. The Coat symbolized Joseph's Authority, now Joseph was about to be stripped and shown off, and sold to the highest bidder. Both Coats were covered in Blood, and symbolized Death. The Blood on Joseph's Coat deceived Jacob into thinking that his son was dead. The Blood on Lawrence's robes symbolized the Death of his own SOUL.

Here's something I wrote about this Chapter, many years ago:

A half century ago, America was buzzing with horror and shame about "Watergate". It made such an impact on our culture and language that, for the next 50 years, every government or corporate scandal got the suffix "gate" attached to it. There has been Contragate, Irangate, Monicagate, Pizzagate, and so on, ad absurdium. Now there are so many scandals and crimes in both Government and Business that the "gate" suffix no longer has any meaning. However, most of you will agree with me that, like the original Watergate, the COVERUP is even worse than the crime itself.

The callous cruelty exhibited by Joseph's brothers, not only to Joseph, but to their own father, is exhibited graphically in this chapter. Their hatred and jealousy must have been all-consuming for them to have committed this act. It could have been even worse. They were quite prepared to kill him until Reuben convinced them otherwise. Instead, they sold Joseph into slavery, which some may argue, was just as bad. Then, they slaughtered a goat and dipped the "Coat Of Many Colors" into the blood and presented it to Jacob, claiming Joseph had been torn apart by a wild animal. Hideous! What a horrible thing to do. Jacob's grief was so intense that it could have caused him to die of a stroke or heart-attack, and it would have been his sons' fault. It may have even caused some of the brothers to have second thoughts about what they did, but now they were in so deep into the COVERUP that they had to keep silent, and watch their father suffer.

Once again, we have both similarities and contrasts with the Life of Christ:

1. The Betrayal: Scholars and revisionists have all kinds of excuses for Judas. Some say he was a Zealot who was disappointed that Jesus didn't overthrow the Romans. Others say he was eagerly waiting for a Victorious Messiah to set up His Kingdom on Earth, and Jesus wasn't it. John the Evangelist would have none of these theories. He stated plainly that Judas was a thief and would help himself to the moneybag that contained the funds for the ministry. (See John's account of the Woman anointing Jesus' feet). Joseph's brothers weren't motivated by greed, but by another sin, jealousy. They were fully prepared to murder Joseph, and wouldn't have gotten a penny in return. Both Greed and Jealousy (Envy) are listed by Thomas Aquinas as "Deadly Sins". Even though, technically, all sins are "deadly", Aquinas singled out seven as particularly bad. All of them are sins of the heart that lead to other actual physical sins. And so, it all starts in one place, the heart. What is born in the heart leads to action, and all that proceeds from that.

2. The Murder: Jesus was actually murdered. Joseph almost got murdered, but instead was sold into slavery. However, the brothers dipped Joseph's Ornate Robe into the blood of a sacrificed goat, and presented it to their father. Jacob believed Joseph was dead, and so, in a sense, the brothers had indeed "murdered" Joseph. In any case, they thought that he was out of their lives forever.

3. The Coverup: This event took place during the Time of the Patriarchs. The System of Substitutionary Atonement had not yet been codified, and Moses would not be born for another 400 years. And yet, the brothers slaughtered a goat to "cover" their sin. As we can see from the story, it worked for a little while, but their sin would eventually find them out. Jacob, upon seeing the blood on the Joseph's robe, did not suspect the brothers, but was so grieved that it would haunt him for the rest of his life, until...

4. The Resurrection: I know you probably know the story, so I am not giving anything away. We will read how Jacob is eventually reunited with Joseph and the brothers reconciled. What the enemy used for evil, God used for good. Stay Tuned!

I hope you don't mind my little forays into past writings. It's just that Joseph is my all-Time FAVORITE Old Testament "personality".

Come and Pray For the Peace of Jerusalem, For Our FRiends in Need, For Persecuted Believers, and For Our Beloved Nation.

”Let us acknowledge the LORD; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth.” (Hosea 6:3 NIV)

Blessings To All Who Visit This Garden of Prayer.

!עם ישראל חי
(The Spirit of Israel Lives!)

☘️Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me… (Prayer of St. Patrick)☘️

ML/LTOS

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Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem

Pray For The Peace of Jerusalem