“HATED HIM EVEN MORE!”

 Genesis 37:5-11

[5] Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they “HATED HIM EVEN MORE”. [6] He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: [7] Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” [8] His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they “HATED HIM EVEN MORE” for his dreams and for his words.

[9] Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” [10] But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” [11] And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Genesis 41:46-52

[46] Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. [47] During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, [48] and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. [49] And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

[50] Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. [51] Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” [52] The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For GOD has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

When I recall the story of Joseph I remember how his own brothers sold him into slavery at the ripe age of 17!  So he was “in captivity” for 13 years until he was elevated to the second in command, answering only to Pharaoh.  

Initially my mind recalls the “brothers” who “HATED HIM EVEN MORE” because of the dreams that GOD had given Joseph.  Should Joseph had kept the dreams to himself?  Should the “brothers” have been more understanding of where the dreams came from?  Ultimately where did Joseph wind up?  Exodus 13:19 Scripture tells us that Moses took “the bones of Joseph” with him as the Children of Israel departed Egypt.  

Did the “brothers” of Joseph despise him so badly because he was mean to them?  Did the “brothers” of Joseph despise him so badly because he was wealthier than them?  Then WHY DID the “brothers” of Joseph despise him so badly?  GOD’s PLAN HAD TO BE FULFILLED and the “brothers” were a part of GOD’s PLAN!  We all remember the triumph of Joseph, but we MUST remember that his “brothers” “HATED HIM EVEN MORE” and sold him into slavery or the Red Sea crossing wouldn’t have happened!!!