Chapter 37 of Genesis. We're gonna look at one through four this morning. If you find that there, I'll just read the first verse. Jacob lived in the land of his father's soldiering, in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. We're beginning a new section in Genesis here. This is the account of the generation of the records of Jacob. We last saw this phrase in chapter 25, verse 19, and it referred to Isaac there. These are the generations of Isaac. Then chapter 36 was all about the generations of Esau. So this makes a break from Esau's family, begins the record of Jacob, and it's a whole new section, the next 14 chapters. we will see is about Jacob, but the main person is going to be Joseph in all of this. In fact, he's mentioned twice as often as Jacob is in these chapters. In chapter 35, verse 29, we saw the death of Isaac. So Isaac has died. Jacob and his sons are living in Hebron. And we see that in verse 14, we also see that in 35, 29, because it says there where Jacob and Esau, where Jacob comes to Hebron, where his father is, and then he dies, and Isaac, or excuse me, Isaac dies, and then Esau and Jacob bury their father. As I said, Joseph will be center stage in these chapters, And in this, I think pastors talked about the reign of grace in the sermons lately. We're going to see the reign of grace in all that happens here. It's God's hand that's at work, even though men are doing what men do, sometimes sinful things. But in all of that, God weaves together his plan. I thought that Proverbs 19.21 summed this up pretty well. Proverbs 19.21 says, many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. And indeed, we'll see that in these chapters. Jacob, also Israel, go back and forth with his name Jacob and Israel. Seemingly, as one pastor taught this earlier, it seems like when Jacob is being old Jacob, that's how he's referred to. When he is acting more in the ways of the Lord in his direction, he's referred to as Israel. They're in the land of Canaan where his father soldiered, specifically in the Hebron Valley. They're still aliens in the promised land. They are in the land, but they do not possess it at this time. In the will of God, that will change in his own timing. But in the meantime, they're to remain faithful. In this time of soldiering, we will see not all is peaceful and loving in this family. In fact, conflict is going to be one of the first things that we see. There's favoritism and jealousy, envy, that's revealed in these verses. As I thought about that, I thought, how much is what they're living like where we're at? We have the promise of heaven. All who trust in Christ have a home in heaven. But yet, the already not yet, we're still here. We're soldiering in a land that really, we should be thinking, is not our home. This is where we are in that time of soldiering, much like they are. As you see, it seems like that they've come into the land, they're not possessing it, they're just kind of in a holding pattern. And in that holding pattern, God is working. And I think we have to remember that. Many times life can be monotonous, It seemed long, even though scripture tells us that our time is like the grass, it withers. But in our perspective, many times, it seems like it's long, we're plodding along, maybe we don't see God working. But we have to remember that he is. We have the perspective here of seeing a whole generation so we can see how God worked. Our perspective, we're in that. generation. We don't always get to see that end result. But what you do does have an effect. So we should be doing it for the Lord's glory, not for our own. Let's go on with the other three verses of this, or I'll just read all four here. Jacob lived in the land of his father's soldiering in the land of Canaan. These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being 17 years old, was pastoring the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the son of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought a bad report to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. So right from the get-go, we see there is conflict in this family. Thinking about Jacob, having lived what he's gone through with wives that were vying for each other's to outdo the other, loving one wife more than he did the other, that he would see the effects of favoritism. But it doesn't seem that he does. And many times we don't see our own foibles, our own failings, because we're in the midst of them. And I think that's what it is with Jacob. This favoritism is going to cause division, it's going to cause strife, and indeed it's fomenting hatred that we will see here. We see conflict right at the beginning of this chapter. As I thought about that, think about your own family dynamics. None of us live in idyllic families. There's none of us that have the perfect family. We all have conflicts within our family. We all have things that maybe someone in your family that's difficult to get along with. That you, just in spite of how much you try, it's just a difficult thing. Maybe you have outright, have to fight that there's outright hatred that comes here. And indeed, as Christians, we can't let that stay in our hearts. We have to forgive. We have to let that go and not let Satan get a hold on us using that. But in your own family, we have conflicts. So we can see that what happens here, though it is accentuated, is not uncommon. It's common to man. These things are going to happen. So don't look at this chapter and think, oh, my family is not like that. Well, your family is like that to a degree. Maybe not to the degree that it is here. There's no one, hopefully, in your family that has kidnapped and sold one of your relatives or thought to kill them. Jacob had experienced conflict and rivaling in his own life, and this likely affected the family children too. Joseph was about six years old when they leave Laban in that time frame. So you can imagine what it's like for really all the family when Jacob comes and says, hey, we're going to pack up and we're leaving out of here. The wives know what's going on, but they're probably telling the children, your father said we're leaving. Get your stuff together. They've lived with Laban and his family all their lives. And now, like that, they're departing. So that has to be something of a shock to the family. They all see what Jacob does when they're meeting Esau. Who goes in front? The least of the family all the way to the back to the favorite wife and the favorite son at the very back of the line. That undoubtedly had some effect on the family. Circumstances that God allows in our lives are in his control. How we deal with them is not. Just because you had a difficult time, as these children obviously did, doesn't excuse behavior. And we have to remember that. I think sometimes it's easy to look at a situation that you're put in and think, oh, woe is me. That you're not, quote, you're unlucky. No. God allows everything that he puts in your life for his purposes and for his glory. So how we deal with them is the main issue, not what we've encountered, but rather how we take what we encounter. Do we see it from God's perspective that he's allowed this for his purposes? What can we learn? Or do we see it as, why has this happened to me? There's no benefit in the, why has this happened to me? There is benefit in looking at it from God's perspective and seeing that he's done this. So Joseph is now 17 years old. He's said to be the son of Jacob's old age. Would somebody read Genesis 30, 22 through 25? Yes. May God remember Rachel and Gabe. God listened to her and opened her womb. And she conceived and bore a son and said, God has taken away my reproach. She called his name Joseph, saying, may the Lord add to me another son. As soon as Rachel had born Joseph, Jacob said to Laban, send me away that I may go to my own home in the country. Give me my wives and my children for whom I have served you, that I may go where you know the service that I have given you. But Laban said to him, if I have found favor in your sight, I have learned by divination that the Lord has blessed me because of you. Name your wages, and I will give you. Jacob said to him--" How far are you going? Oh, 25? No, 25. I thought, I don't remember us having that part in there. Joseph is born, and soon after that, Jacob's fortunes began to change. You remember that during that time period, they separate out the sheep, and the Lord blesses, and the sheep and goats that Jacob gets is greater than what Laban's is. The Lord blesses him, and he leaves much more prosperous than when he came. He came with nothing, he leaves with two wives, 11 children, and much sheep and goats. His prosperity changed greatly. You can see why Jacob looks at Joseph probably the way he does. It's when his fortunes turned. It's when his favorite wife finally bore a child. And I wonder if for Jacob, who, when he first saw Rachel, was taken by her. That was the wife that he wanted. And of course, Jacob the deceiver gets deceived by Laban and gets Leah. And it's not till finally that the wife that he wanted bears the son that he hoped for. It doesn't necessarily make what Jacob does right, but maybe it kind of puts in perspective why Jacob sees Joseph the way he does. And that's shown in what he does with the coat that he puts on. So he's pastoring sheep with Dan and Naphtali, sons of Bilhah, Gad and Asher, sons of Zilpah. He's the 17-year-old with the older boys out there pasturing the sheep, probably he's being tutored in a way. He's learning what it is to keep sheep. And so he's with them, and then it says he brought a bad report. How do you take that? That's the first thing that comes to mind, isn't it? That he's the bratty 17-year-old younger brother who tattles on his older brothers. Now, he is young, so we'll give him that. But look at the rest of Joseph's life. He shows a lot of integrity, doesn't he? What if we give him the benefit of the doubt and think, that as the favorite son, the youngest son, probably still in the house with Jacob, is the one that he talks to the most, is the one that he has the conversations with more than the others. And he says, Jacob, what's going on out there in the field? What's happening? And Jacob says, Maybe what comes out is a bad report. Maybe he says, well, Dad, they're actually selling sheep on the side out there. They're profiting off of what you've done. They're not keeping the sheep just for you. Or, Dad, they're acting more like the Canaanites that we live around. They're not behaving the way that you've taught us. They're not walking the way that we should be. We don't know the conversation. We really don't. All we know is that a bad report comes to Joseph's ears, I mean to Jacob's ears. And undoubtedly, he probably addresses it with the boys because they don't like it. So did Jacob query him? We really don't know. And, as I said, do we need to doubt Joseph's integrity, looking at what the rest of his life is? It's a question. We don't know. Maybe he was the tattletale. That's true. He could have said, hey, Dad, there's some things going on out there. Tell me more, son. Yeah, good points. In fact, there is a lot of comparisons that we'll see in Joseph that kind of mirror the life of Christ. He is going to be a savior, as it is, of the nation of Israel. So at any rate, it's not the bad report that's cited for the hatred of the brothers. It's the favored status that Jacob has bestowed upon Joseph. 3 and 4 says, now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons. And I'm sure they knew it. Because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. It's the robe that designates Joseph as special. The only other place that we see that picture or that word is in 2 Samuel 3.18, where Tamar says that she tears the robe that the king's virgin daughters wear. So it was some kind of robe that designated her as the king's daughter. Long sleeve robe it's sometimes described. I think that's how it's described there as a long sleeve robe. Yeah, a robe with long sleeves. We've seen it put as vericolor, coat of many colors, robe with long sleeves. Whatever it looked like, it was a designation to the others that Joseph bore a special place in the family. Again, did Joseph justify, or Jacob, excuse me, I'll use these back and forth, sorry. Did Jacob justify what he did because he was the wife of Rachel, the first wife that he wanted, and the first son? Did he see it? Think about what Reuben has done. Reuben, who is the firstborn, has gone into Bilhah one of Jacob's wives. He's forfeited his position as the son. Levi and Simeon, what did they do? They were the ones that killed all the sons of Shechem, set up that ambush, had them get circumcised, and then went in on the, I forget what day it is, but goes in at their sorest point, and basically slaughters them all. And Jacob says, you've made us odious in the sight of the people that we're around. What are you doing? Of course, Jacob isn't trusting the Lord there either. So, it says that Verse four, but when his brothers saw that their fathers loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak kindly to him or peacefully to him. What they saw made them angry, made them envious, and that envy and jealousy led to hatred. Envy and jealousy puts in our minds that we're not being treated fairly. It causes us to wish bad upon the person that is being treated kindly. And that can lead to hatred, as it does here. We have to be very careful, be on guard, and keep short accounts that things do not fester from anger into hatred. which is what happens here. We see the result of it as we go on. But what I thought about as I read that made me think of Peter's words, or instruction to us in 1 Peter chapter 5, 5b through 10. Close yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another. For God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, unto the mighty hand of God, so that at the proper time, he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. I think the devil was prowling around in the family of Jacob. He found some people that he devoured, the sons of Israel. And they're going to do what would seem hideous and would not be done to a brother. Goes on, resist him firm in your faith, knowing that the same kind of sufferings are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. After you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, and strengthen you. Again, as I thought about this picture of how this family is, they're in the promised land, but yet not there. They don't possess it. They're lingering. And in that time frame, How you handle that and what you do speaks of what will become. But in all of that, God still overrules and overrides, which gives us hope. If you see something in your family that is terribly disturbing, there's hope. You pray, you trust God, know that in the end, he can use that for his purposes. And again, the thing is how you deal with it. Not the circumstance you're in, but how you handle the circumstances that you're in. Trusting the Lord, resisting the adversary, your devil, which goes about as a roaring lion seeking someone to devour. And I finished up much earlier than I intended. In my mind, when I go through these things, they're much longer. So thoughts, comments? Yeah. Honestly, until my study, I had not seen that either. But it is interesting. As Pastor said, there's nothing that's ever stated bad about Joseph. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, as far as his father's concerned, he's dead. You know, that's the other thing that we're going to, you know, you think about, well, we're getting ahead, but you think about what all the children know that they keep from Jacob. So I don't know. You might have covered this because I was trying to get kids into the new Sunday school classrooms. But I always get a kick out of the fact that verse 2 says, each are the generations of Jacob. Many people don't like Joseph. Yeah. It's not Joseph so much as it is Jacob. And then you were talking about the three older brothers messing up. Well, the fourth brother was who? Judah, yeah. We're going to see in 38. Although, through God's sovereignty, Judah will be used. Again, the reign of grace, God working to do his plan. As I said from Proverbs, many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand. Any other thoughts or comments? Yeah, what you noted is, yeah, typically when it says these are the generations of, and then it starts telling a little bit about it, but this goes immediately into Joseph. And as I said, he's mentioned twice as often as what Jacob is in these next chapters, 14 chapters. It's gonna take us all the way to the end of Jacob's life, and the beginning of the nation of Israel. So I think it'll be a good study through the rest of this. I hope so. If nothing else, you have about 10 minutes of free time. All right, let's close in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you that you are sovereign over all things. that in spite of our own sin, you use it for your glory. It doesn't mean that we don't suffer the consequences. It doesn't mean that there aren't difficulties that come because of it. But overall, you rule and reign, and we thank you for that. We pray that this hope would go with us as we go through our coming week. we would realize that you are sovereign over all things, that this difficulty, this challenge, this obligation, whatever, you've allowed it. Help us to take it as from your hand, and then help us to glorify you through it. And we can only do that by your grace and by your working in our hearts. Use your word, we pray, Cause us to reflect on that goodness, to reflect on our own sinfulness, to confess, rejoice in the forgiveness that you provide. Again, be with all these prayer requests that were mentioned earlier. Work as only you can. In Jesus' name, amen.