Page 16 - Florida Sentinel 9-4-20

The Struggles Of Love GENESIS 37:2-11; 23-24, 28 (KJV)
Scriptures
[2] These are the gener- ations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bil- hah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
[3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was
the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.
[4] And when his brethren saw that their fa- ther loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.
[5] And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
[6] And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you,
this dream which I have dreamed:
[7] For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood up- right; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obei- sance to my sheaf.
[8] And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou in- deed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have do- minion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
[9] And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Be- hold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obei- sance to me.
[10] And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said
unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
[11] And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
[23] And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;
[24] And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
[28] Then there passed by Midianites merchant- men; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
Joseph is honored by his fa- ther but hated by his brothers who, in a jealous rage, sell him into slavery.
In Jacob’s large family, sib- ling conflict was almost assured because of the polygamous at- mosphere in which they grew up. The sons anxiously watched their mothers compete for Jacob’s affection. They watched their father focus his love on Rachel until she died giving birth to the youngest son, Ben- jamin. By then their hearts were bitter.
Jacob himself had grown up in a home where parental par- tiality was evident. He knew firsthand the great harm this caused children, yet he repeated the error in his own home.
In this week’s lesson, we see an example of the kind of fruit that a family produces when it does not follow God’s model for the home.
Jacob, whom God also named Israel, the son of Isaac and brother to Esau had tricked his brother out of his birthright causing Esau to hate him. When Rachel, their mother heard that Esau wanted to kill Jacob, she sent him to live with her brother, Laban in Haran until Esau’s anger subsided.
At the direction of Isaac, Jacob went to Padanaram to
find a wife among Laban’s daughters. Once Jacob arrived, he met and fell in love with Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter, and he offered to work for Laban for seven years for Rachel. After serving Laban for the seven years he agreed upon, Jacob asked Laban for Rachel as his wife. But Laban tricked Jacob when he was drunk and gave him his eldest daughter, Leah instead. As a re- sult, Laban was able to get Jacob to work another seven years for Rachel and he did.
Jacob ended up having chil- dren by both Leah and Rachel as well as by their handmaid- ens, Bilhah and Zilpah, and his family grew with Joseph being born to Rachel.
Sometime later, God or- dered Jacob to return to Bethel. As he was returning to Bethel, Jacob was met by the angel of God who after a wrestling match renamed Jacob Israel. As Jacob and his family contin- ued to travel, they soon met up with Esau, his brother and they reconciled. When Jacob and his family arrived in Bethel, he destroyed all the images of idol gods that they brought with them, and they worshiped Je- hovah and set up a memorial there in Bethel.
After being in Bethel for some time, Jacob and his family moved to Bethlehem where Rachel died giving birth to Ben- jamin. Later, Jacob went to He- bron to be with his father Isaac, who died at the age of 180.
Conclusion
Jacob did a disservice to his family by favoring Joseph over his other children. His other sons resented his favoritism. They also grew to hate Joseph and to be very jealous of him. Negative attitudes turn into negative actions. The bitterness of the brothers caused them to forsake their normal values.
Jealous thoughts had led them to acts of violence and abuse. In every home and fam- ily we will often find the same kind of sibling rivalry that we saw in Joseph’s home. God has a special plan for each of us, and He will make sure that His plans come to pass.
He is absolutely sovereign and can take our many mistakes and turn them into situations that can be used for His glory.
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