Sermons

Genesis 36-37 - The Good Unraveling

November 4, 2012 Speaker: Series: Genesis

Topic: Sunday Worship Passage: Genesis 36:1–37:36

[Text: Gen. 36-37] “The Good Unraveling”

We won’t spend a lot of time looking at it because Moses simply presents the information and then moves on, but Chapter 36 tells the story of Jacob and Esau parting ways because the land couldn’t support them both. Esau’s family moved southeast to Seir, outside of Canaan. They grew and quickly gained control of their new land (and that was, I would argue, by the blessing of God). Within just a couple of generations they became chiefs and kings over the original inhabitants. By the end of chapter 36 they have their own land, their own possession and have it easily, it seems. Moses includes this to compare the ease of their inheritance with what follows in Chapter 37, which opens with these words, “Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan….” While Esau’s family is coming into their own and will be well established and in power even when Israel comes out of Egypt some 400 years later, Jacob and his family remain strangers in the land – no citizenship, no rights, no recognized power. They remain sojourners…but they are sojourners who have the promises of Yahweh. And although the promises of God will not come quickly (as men consider time), the inheritance Yahweh means to give to his people will outlast Esau’s inheritance not merely by years or decades or centuries, but by an unending age of millennia after millennia. But the promised redemption from God will not come easily, either. As the Story unravels, the people of God will be rescued not through “magnificent splendor, but [through] death and the grave.”[1]

[Pray – Father, please illuminate our hearts and minds to hear and understand your Word. You gave it to form and grow faith in your people so that we could walk into our lives with confidence in You. For the sake of your Son, our Savior, please do that work in us now. Amen.]

[Read Gen. 37]

Genesis 37 opens the last section of the book of Genesis. Although v. 2 says “these are the generations of Jacob,” the focus immediately leaves Jacob and falls on his son, Joseph. This is the story of Yahweh making promises to him through these dreams, promises for which Joseph will have to wait to come into reality as the story unravels.

But as the story goes on, we see this is also a story about men hearing the word of Yahweh (through Joseph’s dreams), rejecting the word of Yahweh and then trying to stop it from coming about because it disagreed with their wishes.

So, a tension is introduced between the word of Yahweh and the desires of men. And in this beginning we see the depths to which man is willing to go in their rejection of Yahweh. The question becomes this: “In the end, when the story unravels, what will stand? The word of Yahweh or the desires of men?”

Do you hear in this story the echo of the larger Story of Redemption? That question of “how will the Story unravel?” has reverberated in human hearts ever since Adam rejected the word of Yahweh in the Garden of Eden in favor of his own desire to rule his life. That question resonates with us as we hear God promising redemption in the Scriptures, but we see the sin of mankind challenging that promise all the time.

And so, this story echoes the question of our lives: how will our story unravel, especially when it begins so darkly with sin and continues in still deeper darkness?

The answer to our question is beginning to be answered here in Joseph’s story. Because although this is the story of men living and wanting to live in opposition to Yahweh, it is also part of a larger story illustrating mankind’s utter inability to stop the redemptive purposes of Yahweh. And that is either infuriating or immensely comforting, depending on what you believe. Because what we see is that when the story unravels and all has come to light, the purposes of God stand and all that has been done, including the darkest acts of human rebellion, will have been turned to serve Yahweh’s rescue of His people.

So listen to how the rescue of the people of God begins in the grave only to turn and end, by the grace of Yahweh, in life.

Joseph was the second youngest son of Jacob. He once brought a bad report about some of his brothers to his father and from that moment on, it seems, his brothers never forgave him and hated him, even though the Hebrew for “bad report” indicates he was only telling the truth about them.

Joseph was also his father’s favorite. The text doesn’t indicate that it was his truth telling that endeared him to his father, but rather he was his father’s favorite because Joseph was “the son of (Jacob’s) old age.” And Jacob wasn’t afraid to show it either. He gave Joseph a coat made especially for him. Of course, that wasn’t Joseph’s fault. If someone freely gives you a gift, why should others be jealous as if you won it for yourself? But as Joseph’s brothers saw how much more their father loved Joseph than them, their hate only grew.

And then Joseph had these two dreams. Look again at the story and notice the repetition of the word “more” that first appears in v. 4. In verse 5 and 8, they hate him even more after he tells them about his dreams.

Now dreams were, at this time, the way Yahweh often communicated with His people. They were the word of God, so to speak, given to tell His people what He intended to do so that when it came to pass, it would be recognized as no mere coincidence – Yahweh was the one doing it. And when a dream came twice, like to Joseph, it only confirmed that it was from the LORD and that it was sure to happen.

And what was the substance of the dreams, the word of Yahweh given through Joseph? Even his brothers recognize that the dreams meant Joseph would rule over his brothers and they, along with Joseph’s mother and father, would bow down in humility to Joseph. The word of Yahweh said that Joseph would be honored and would rule over his family. It doesn’t say “how” or “why” that would happen, only that Yahweh intends it to be so.

But rather than submitting themselves to the word of Yahweh, listen to his family. His father rebuked Joseph in v. 10 (but later kept the saying in mind). His brothers, however, were jealous that their younger brother was chosen by Yahweh instead of them and, as v. 8 indicates, their hatred for Joseph only grew.

But why should they hate Joseph? Did he set himself over his brothers or did Yahweh? Did he write his own dreams or were they the word of God for his family? As the story goes on and the brothers plot Joseph’s death, their murderous intentions are simply the expression of their contempt of Yahweh and their rejection of His word. But if their rage can’t reach the Sovereign God in the heavens, they will murder His chosen one on the earth.

In vv. 12 and following, Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers and bring back a report to Jacob, probably like he had done back in v. 2. As he searches for his brother near Shechem (where they were supposed to be), he finds a man who says they went to Dothan, about 15 miles to the north.

So Joseph is sent from his father…to search out his brothers…and is willing to do everything it takes in order to honor and obey his father.

But in v. 18, his brothers see him coming and their words reveal their hearts. They say, “Here comes this dreamer…” and lay out their plan to murder him and throw him into a pit so that he could never be found by their father. And they’ll cover their sin with a lie about him being eaten by a fierce animal and then – listen to this, their words reveal their hope of how the story will unravel – they say, “…we will see what will become of his dreams.” The word of Yahweh didn’t agree with their wishes, and they hoped that by destroying the dreamer, they could stop the word of Yahweh from coming true. They would never have to bow down to Joseph.

From this point on, however, when the plan was agreed upon and Joseph was already dead in their hearts, their plans to bring the word of Yahweh to nothing are frustrated and everything that follows only serves the plan of Yahweh to rescue His people. Make no mistake; that does nothing to excuse their sin and guilt and responsibility! Rather, the power of Yahweh to take truly evil things and turn them to serve His good purposes is on display as the actions of Joseph’s brothers – in seeking to get rid of Joseph – only send him to the place where Yahweh will establish him as the ruler to whom the brothers will bow, just as the word of Yahweh had said in Joseph’s dreams.

In v. 21, Reuben, the oldest brother, saves Joseph’s life as he becomes a sort of conscience for his brothers. He suggests that they themselves don’t spill his blood, but rather they should just throw him in the pit to leave Joseph to die. His actions are commendable, because he means to rescue his brother later from the pit and restore him to their father. But consider his possible motive. He’d certainly lost favor in the eyes of his father because just a little earlier he’d slept with his father’s wife, his “step-mother” of sorts. True, he might be acting out of compassion toward Joseph, but there seems to be a healthy dose of self-service mixed in. Listen to his words when his plan to rescue his brother fails in v. 30 as Joseph is already sold and gone. He says, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” (emphasis mine.) Yes, the boy is gone, but so is his chance of getting back into his father’s favor. Gone is his opportunity to win back the blessing of his father that will pass over him (as well as over Simeon and Levi, the murderers of the men of Shechem) to fall upon Judah later in the Genesis. It is possible that his “compassion” is more self-serving than truly compassionate.

And anyhow, Reuben’s plan to restore Joseph fails. After the brothers throw Joseph into the pit, they coldly sit down nearby to eat a meal. But as they eat they see some traders, a caravan on its way to Egypt, and decide that there is little money to be made in the business of jealous murder. So, with Reuben away for some reason, they sell Joseph to the caravan who carried Joseph away to Egypt.

So, with Joseph gone and Reuben in dismay, the brothers return to their original lie. They killed a goat and used the blood to stain Joseph’s special coat, which their father was sure to recognize. They sent it to their father and with it sent a grief that would carry Jacob into a mourning he says would carry him into the grave. There was no comfort for him.

So, Genesis 37 ends with the brothers thinking they’ve stopped the word of Yahweh from coming true and Jacob in mourning over his son, whom he believes to be torn to pieces by a fierce animal. And in a way, he was. Joseph was devoured by the jealousy of his brothers. He was as good as dead – murdered in the hearts of his brothers, lost to his family, sold to Gentiles by his own brothers and living in Egypt as Potiphar’s slave.

But when mankind thinks they succeed in their rebellion against Yahweh, Yahweh remains at work to turn their evil to serve His purposes. And when His people grieve the darkness of this world and find no comfort for their grief, still Yahweh is at work to turn their sorrow into joy in the end. We have to look ahead a little to see it, because God often allows the darkness to have the appearance of victory before He reveals His glory in the unraveling. So, turn with me to Genesis 45 and see how Yahweh has brought His word into reality.

After Joseph had come down to Egypt, Yahweh had blessed him and made him second in command only to Pharaoh himself. Then his brothers had come down to Egypt because of a famine and bowed down to Joseph to ask for food. The dreams, the very word of Yahweh, had come true. Then Joseph revealed himself to his brothers and said this: [Read Gen. 45:4-15]

Joseph understood that behind everything that had happened, Yahweh was at work turning all of it to His purposes to rescue the people of God and keep the Story of Redemption moving forward. At the end of Genesis (in 50:19), Joseph would even be able to say to his brothers, “…As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

That means the obedience of Joseph to his father’s command led to the rescue of the people of God but so did the jealousy of his brothers. The mixed motives of Reuben led to the rescue. The greed of Joseph’s brothers in selling him to the caravan led to the rescue. Reuben “just happening to be gone” when they sell Joseph to the traders led to the rescue. The destination of the caravan, Egypt, led to the rescue. The selling of Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and a captain of the guard, led to the rescue of the people of God. The story that begins and continues in darkness, filled with more evil deeds than we can count, is turned by the power of Yahweh to rescue his people. Joy conquers grief.

J.R.R. Tolkien coined a word that captures the essence of this story of God taking the dark beginning and the deeper darkness of the rising action and turning it, in a single moment, into a story of great joy. He calls that moment of turning the eucatastrophe (combining the Greek prefix eu – meaning “good” – with the word catastrophe – literally meaning “unraveling”). The eucatastrophe is the moment when the story is fully unraveled but instead of the darkness winning and the story descending into despair and hopelessness, it turns and a sudden joy strikes the heart of the hearer as the rescue comes and all the darkness is carried away by the light of the dawn, the birth of a new age.

The raising up of Joseph, out of the grave, out of death to reign over Egypt and rescue the people of God is a eucatastrophe, a good unraveling, that no one would have expected and no one but Yahweh could have brought about. But as joyful as this unraveling is, it is a pattern, a shadow of the good unraveling that Yahweh had in store for the larger Story of Redemption.

Since the Fall, mankind was in rebellion against the word of Yahweh and the darkness of that story only grew deeper and deeper until the turn, of the Story, when God broke into the Story in the person of Jesus and the Word of God put on flesh and lived among us. That was the moment of turning in our story.

And of that moment, Tolkien has this to say:

“The Birth of Christ is the eucatastrophe of Man's history. The Resurrection is the eucatastrophe of the story of the Incarnation. This story begins and ends in joy…There is no tale ever told that men would rather find was true, and none which so many sceptical men have accepted as true on its own merits…To reject it leads either to sadness or to wrath.”[2]

When Yahweh acted in our story by sending the Son, the “good unraveling” came not in magnificent splendor, but in the same way as it came in Joseph’s story – through death and the grave.

When Jesus came, he came like Joseph, as the beloved Son of the Father searching out his brothers. But he was hated and despised because he spoke the truth. He was rejected by his own people and handed over to Gentiles because his brothers wanted to kill the Dreamer who said that he spoke with the authority of Yahweh Himself. He was beaten and stripped. But where Joseph’s life was spared and a goat was killed in his place, Jesus was crucified and buried. Because in Jesus, Yahweh was ready to act finally and decisively to turn the Story of Redemption once and for all time – to unravel our story of sin and darkness and make possible the arrival of the dawn.

That is Peter’s message in Acts 4, which we read earlier. While he affirms that the religious leaders were responsible for crucifying the Chosen One of God, he and the believers of that day recognized that they did nothing but what Yahweh’s hand and plan had predestined to take place (Acts 4:28)

Their hope – both looking backward in the Story and looking forward to what they were called to do – their hope was that even if the whole earth were united in opposition to the word of God, still they had no reason to fear that the purposes of Yahweh would fail. They knew and rested in the reality that, in Jesus, the eucatastrophe had already happened and that all darkness would have to give way to the Light.

Sometimes it’s is hard to embrace that truth when you’re in the pit, or when your sin is staring you in the face and accusing you. But when we look in faith to Jesus, then we can rest in the reality that through his death and resurrection the good unraveling has already happened. In Jesus, Yahweh has turned our story from one of death into one of life. He has turned our slavery into sonship, our fear into confidence, our condemnation into forgiveness and acceptance.

And if the good unraveling has already happened in Christ, if the word and plan of Yahweh has stood firm even in the face of our sin and all human opposition, then why should we doubt that the final unraveling will be less glorious?

Can an election change it? Can your sin stop it?

So, what will you have – will you hold on to the sadness and wrath that the darkness offers by rejecting the word of the Lord? Or will you embrace the joy of Christ’s death and resurrection and the joy of forgiveness and the joy of peace with God and the joy of a clean conscience? In Christ alone is the joy that you were made for.

The Gospel we believe is God’s word to us that the eucatastrophe, the good unraveling of our Story, has already happened. Jesus is the turn in our story that surprises our hearts with unexpected joy. Although our story begins in the grave of sin and death, Jesus himself died and was raised from the dead to assure us that we who believe and hope and rest in him will be raise from the grave into life with him. God has promised it and nothing can stop it.

[Transition to the Lord’s Supper – And each time we celebrate the Lord’s Supper we celebrating that promise and reality. By eating this bread and drinking this cup, we are looking back to the good unraveling of our Story, proclaiming that the death and resurrection of Jesus has changed everything forever. And in this meal we are met by our Savior through his Spirit and strengthened with the promise that he is coming again and in the meantime, he will take care of us, keeping us for himself. The turn has already happened. Nothing can separate him from his people.]

[Benediction - “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” (Hebrews 13:20-21 ESV)]

 

 

[1] John Calvin, Genesis, vol. 2, 261.

[2] J.R.R. Tolkien in his essay, “On Fairy-Stories”

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