GENESIS
November 11, 2017
By Pastor Kim Hickcox
(All Scripture taken from One New Man Bible unless otherwise noted)
“And Jacob settled in the land of his father’s sojourning, in the land of Canaan. 2These are the descendants of Jacob. Joseph, seventeen years old, was tending the flock with his brothers and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought to their father very evil reports about them. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age and he made him a long tunic. 4And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.” Genesis 37:1-4
Quite the introduction for the man to whom we see as an Old Testament picture of Y’shua, don’t you think? But try to remember this opening paragraph, as it will help explain things a little later his life.
The term “very evil reports” suggest dishonesty; perhaps [mere] exaggeration, perhaps slander, but none-the-less not accurate. And there is one other translation change in the One New Man that may seem off or different if you are familiar with this portion of Genesis:
The long tunic in verse 3 refers to what most other translations state as his coat of many colors. It was in fact, what we today call a poncho, the sides of which fell to the wrist and the bottom hem falling to the ground. The term coat of many colors was first found in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation made by seventy to seventy-two scribes in Alexandria, Egypt in 250 BC.
The Septuagint was a grand undertaking and was done for two main reasons: first to educate nominal Hebrews who did not, or could not attend synagogue regularly and secondly, it is the first known written attempt to guide the unbelieving world to know the One True God!
It was also VERY handy after Y’shua’s resurrection, when He told His disciples that “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and upon the Earth. 19Therefore when you go, you must now make disciples of all the heathens, 20teaching them to keep all the things that I have been commanding you: and behold I AM with you all the days until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:18-20) So – hats off to those scribes!!
At any rate, the original Hebrew reads long tunic in Genesis 37:3. Now, perhaps there were some different shades of color or tone in the tunic that was handed down by oral tradition the scribes were referring to, but none that I could find. Not that it makes great deal of difference; I’m just a stickler for details as you know.
So we will now move on to what brought Joseph’s initial downfall as far as his family was concerned, which would perhaps be his teenage cockiness or over confidence in his father’s favor. At any rate, I am speaking of the dreams which, although the Lord gave him, he seemingly unwisely shared.
“And Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him even more. 6And he said to them, ‘Listen, now, to this dream which I have dreamed. 7For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field and then my sheaf rose and also stood upright. Then, behold, your sheaves stood all around, and paid homage to my sheaf.’8And his brothers said to him, ‘Will you indeed reign over us? Or will you indeed have dominion over us?’ And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.9And he dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers and said, ‘Behold, I have dreamed another dream and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars paid homage to me.’ 10And he told his father and his brothers. His father rebuked him and said to him, ‘What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down ourselves to you on the earth?’ 11And brothers envied him, but his father kept the saying in his heart.” Genesis 37:5-11
Poor Joseph, the victim of his own immaturity. Although at the age of 17, he was viewed as a man in the ancient world, he definitely has not been touched with Godly wisdom as of yet. But he will. And one of the things I truly admire about God’s Word is that He does not hide His people’s scars, wounds, flaws or indiscretions. I mean, how discouraging would it be to only know the triumphs of our Bible heroes and none of the setbacks along the way?
For as He told us in 2nd Corinthians 12:9 “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made complete in weakness.” And this, my dear friends, is an eternal truth! And may just as accurately be read: My grace always was, always is and always will be sufficient for you. For My power is made complete in your weakness. Let’s think about that for a while. From Adam to now this is true. And how can it not be? How can God’s power manifest itself in a way that will always accomplish His purpose as He told us it does in Isaiah 55:11, save for our weaknesses on display in one way or the other?
“So My word will go forth out of My mouth: it will not return to Me empty-handed, but it will accomplish that which I please and it will succeed wherever I send it.” And this includes our hearts. Be they personalized or printed for the whole Body or prophesied to one of His or a whole group, HIS WORDS will succeed wherever He sends them!
Now, as sure as I know and believe that, I can also tell you with the same confidence that:
1. When you are waiting on the Lord, He will NEVER come when you think or want Him to. I’ve been waiting 27 years since He first told me that I would go into full time ministry. But then am I?...
2. More than likely, He neither come how nor in the way you expect Him to. …Because on the other hand, I instantly started teaching Sunday School, will be His as often as I can, and have been in a field for years that has opened up all kinds of opportunities to show His love to the least of these. So am I waiting for the picture that only I am expecting or is it still coming and all this is prep for the grand finale?
3. And things could very well get much worse before they get better. Life lived for the Lord is much more of a roller coaster than life lived without Him. Getting saved puts an instant target on our back! We are now on the devil’s hate list. But what better place to be! We will soon look at everything Joseph went through before he got his ‘breakthrough’.
But all that being said – what we [also] need to remember is that WE (believers) are the only ones on earth who can safely hang on to our hope – because ours is the only eternal hope that is real.
So no matter how dark it gets we know:
“There will not be any man able to stand before you all the days of your life: as I was with Moses, so shall I be with you. I shall not fail you or forsake you….Have I not commanded you? Be strong! Be of good courage! Do not tremble! Do not be in dismayed! For the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:5&9
So “you must now hold to our Lord the Messiah in reverence in your hearts, always prepared with a reply for everyone who questions your report about the hope within you.” 1st Peter 3:15
Because “The LORD your God is mighty in your midst! He will deliver! He will rejoice enthusiastically over you with joy! He will rest in His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.” Zephaniah 3:17
Be of good cheer – Jesus LOVES you!!! Always has – always will!! He holds all of creation in His hands by the power of His word! He will NOT let you down!
SHALOM
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