The Story of Joseph & Judah: The Coat

Joseph’s Coat: The Story of Joseph & Judah
Or, Brothers & Friends

CENTRAL IDEA OF THE SERIES: God transformed a broken family into a nation that was useful in extending the blessing of God to all.
Resources: Tim Keller’s sermon, The Hiddeness of God
John Piper’s sermon, The Sale of Joseph and the Son of God
Sidney Greidanus, Preaching Christ in Genesis
Robert Alter, The Art of Biblical Narrative
et al

I. The Story
a. Joseph was Jacob’s favoured son, by Rachel.
i. Jacob had been disfavoured by his father, Isaac.
1. So he tried to fill the gap in his soul with Rachel. No doubt, he had seen her and thought, “Life will be good if I could have her as a wife.” And he did.
2. It wasn’t enough.
ii. Jacob did not learn from his pain; he favoured Joseph, the only son of Rachel, among all the sons of Leah.
1. This inappropriate favouritism wounded Joseph and
a. Joseph became something of a gossip.
i. V.2--“bad report”-- whispering, defamation, evil report
ii. The utterance of ‏דִּבָּה‎ marks the fool (Prov 10:18).
iii. Not merely “telling it like it is.”
b. Joseph actually WORE the special gift from his father, which set him above his brothers.
c. Joseph’s dreams, which were clearly prophetic, he used against his brothers.
i. God gave them.
ii. God intended them to be constructive!!
d. Things got so bad that even Jacob noticed and rebuked his favoured son!
Ga’ar--to rebuke, speak insultingly to
2. This inappropriate favoritism DAMAGED the other sons.
Notice how often the word “HATED” occurs in the story: vv. 4, 5, 8.
Gen. 37:4 His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.
Gen. 37:5 Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.
Gen. 37:8 Then his brothers said to him, “Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
3. Note that this hatred led them to plot murder, against their own brother! This was no mere family spat.
a. Joseph was seized, stripped, and imprisoned.
i. Strip—violently.
ii. Used for stripping armour off a foe.
iii. Used for skinning, or flaying.
b. Murder was threatened and deferred.
c. Quick sale was arranged—sold for a slave.
d. The deed was covered by the blood of a GOAT.
i. Goat skin was used by Jacob to deceive his father Isaac, when he stole the blessing.
II. The Meaning of the Story God’s grace in our lives is unrelenting.

a. Favouritism: Anything that we look to for love and happiness is the object of our worship.
i. God wants to be the object of our worship, the source of our Love, Happiness and Ultimate satisfaction.
ii. No husband, no wife, no child, no friend, no roommate can ever give us all the Love we need, nor the happiness that we are made for.

b. Brokenness: we are not only what we choose to be.
i. We are made by the choices of others.
1. Either because we follow their pattern of life, or
2. Because we invest lots of energy in becoming the OPPOSITE OF WHAT THEY WERE.
a. My dad was so coercive, I’m not going to make that mistake with my son.
b. So, you fail to discipline my own son, and he becomes a social problem; no one can deal with him.
ii. We are not as good as we think we are.
iii. We cannot repair ourselves, or even identify our greatest weaknesses!

c. Grace: God intervenes on our behalf, even if…
i. If any of these circumstances had not occurred in this way, the family might have starved in Palestine.
1. The brothers are in Dothan, not Shechem.
2. The stranger appears to redirect Joseph. Vv. 15-17
3. Reuben is there to prevent a quick and bloody end to Joseph.
4. Reuben is not there when the slavers came by, to prevent the sale.
ii. God superintended such that Joseph is sent off to Egypt as a slave.
iii. The brothers who hated their young, favoured brother will later see him as their saviour from a severe famine.

Gospel—another man came to his own people, but was rejected, betrayed for a slavers fee, stripped, and left for dead.

Series Overview:
God transformed a self-absorbed man into a family man.
a. God, knowing the heart condition of Jacob’s offspring, keeps his promise to Abraham by reconditioning the family for blessing.
b. God restores broken families.
i. Isaac preferred Esau/Rebekkah preferred Jacob.
ii. Jacob preferred Joseph.
c. God uses restored families to his good ends.