Joseph: Sold Into Slavery
Rev. Lee Ann Bryce
Community Christian Church
August 7, 2011
Text: Genesis 37
Our lectionary text for today begins the story of Joseph and his brothers. As Barbara Brown Taylor says, it may be the most satisfying tale in all of Hebrew scripture. “With a plot worthy of Shakespeare, it has everything in it: passion, foreign intrigue, reversal, revenge.” (Taylor). In fact, it’s such a good story that we’re going to spend at least two weeks on it, maybe even three. And for those visual learners out there, we’ll begin with a film clip from the Broadway show, “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,” to provide a quick recap of the part of the story which is our focus today (and the words go by fast, so the lyrics are provided in your bulletin.) “Poor, Poor Joseph” tells the story of the golden boy, Joseph (played by Donny Osmond!) Joseph is the favorite of his father, Jacob, and therefore the object of resentment from his brothers. Our scripture for today and the film clip is of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers. [clip]
Maybe you can’t remember how the story of Joseph turns out. Let me just say -spoiler alert! - that through all the adversity Joseph faces, he blossoms like some ancient Cinderella. Sold into slavery by his jealous half-brothers, he winds up ruler of Egypt. But we’ll get to all that soon enough.
As I said, the words to “Poor, Poor Joseph” went by fast and as good as the lyrics are, they’re no substitute for the Bible, so let’s go back and look at this story a bit closer. We begin reading in Genesis chapter 37. We’ll be looking at the entire chapter, though we won’t read every single verse. I’ll summarize portions as we go along.
The chapter begins with telling the story of Jacob, Joseph’s father. It is within the story of Jacob that the story of Joseph unfolds. Joseph is a teenager, a shepherd helping his four older brothers out in the field. We begin reading in v. 3:
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children,
Jacob is also known as Israel, so this is saying that of all his sons, Jacob had a favorite, Joseph. Joseph is the baby of the family and Jacob loves him the most. Back to verse 3:
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves.
Jacob’s favoritism was no secret. He even made him a coat. Our version describes it, not as a coat of many colors, but as a “long robe with sleeves.” (Maybe it had many colors, too!) This coat, we are told, had “long sleeves.” That is meant to describe a tunic that extends to the wrists and the ankles, as opposed to a shorter one. The point is that this was not what a working man wore. It was a garment of privilege and status. Verse 4:
But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
I’ve known some families in which one child is favored above all the others and, in my experience, shall we say it doesn’t go well. Jacob’s family is no different. Jacob’s favoritism of Joseph is an obvious source of conflict in the family. And honestly, Joseph doesn’t handle his role with much humility. Back to verse 5:
Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I dreamed. There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf. ”His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.
At best, Joseph shows a lack of tact here. “I had a dream that you will all bow down to me!” Really, Joseph? It’s also significant that this dream involves sheaves of wheat. Later in the story, wheat comes back into play. In verses 9-11, Joseph has another dream that he tells to his brothers. Suffice to say that it’s more of the same. Joseph seems to be afflicted with the sort of pride often apparent among the favored. He is so focused on how great his dreams are for him, he doesn’t begin to consider how the dreams will sound to others. We’ll pick up reading in v. 12:
Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” He answered, “Here I am.” So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
Honestly, does Jacob violate every rule of good parenting? Not only does he favor one son and make no secret about it, but then he sends the favored baby brother out to check up on his big brothers. Really Jacob? And it turns out, for all Joseph’s self-confidence and dreams of lording it over everyone else, Joe is not great with directions and he gets lost. We’ll pick it up right before v. 15:
He came to Shechem, and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” “I am seeking my brothers,” he said; “tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” The man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’“ So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan.
So Joseph wanders lost until this stranger has mercy on him and helps him find his way. And that’s the last good thing that will happen to Joseph for quite a while. I’ll summarize the next few verses. The brothers see Joseph coming from a distance and they say, “Here comes the dreamer!” (and it’s not a complement. Maybe it wasn’t so wise for Joseph to share his dreams so freely.) They decide to let him know what they think of his dreams by killing him.
One of the brothers, Rueben, doesn’t like the way things are going, so he persuades them not to kill Joseph, but to throw him in a pit instead. Then later, Reuben can return Joseph to his father. While this sounds great, wouldn’t it have been better if Reuben had said, “This is wrong! Let’s not do this!” Instead he plays along enough that the plan continues to toss Joseph into the pit. Let’s pick up the reading in v. 23:
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat;
The heartless character of the brothers is so apparent here. They’ve just taken a boy and thrown him in a pit to die and they could then sit down nearby and eat a meal. They could sit down and enjoy food while their hearts were bent on murdering their brother. Back to v. 25:
and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
Should we think more highly of Joseph’s brothers because they decided to spare his life or less highly of them because they figured they could get rid of him and make a few bucks at the same time? Historically, there was a lively slave trade between Canaan and Egypt and the brothers decide to cash in and sell Joseph into slavery. Back to verse 29:
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. He returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone; and I, where can I turn?”
Reuben tore his clothes as an expression of utter horror and mourning. Things had not gone as Rueben planned. His weak stand for doing the right thing accomplished nothing. Joseph may as well be dead, because his father who loved him so would never see him again. Continuing with verse 31:
Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, “This we have found; see now whether it is your son’s robe or not.” He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”
These brothers, the sons of Israel, are cruel men. Their resentment is apparently not only directed at the favored son, Joseph, but also at the father who favored him. This was a heartless way to bring the news to their father, as well as an unconscionable lie. Verse 34:
Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father bewailed him.
This is a powerful illustration of the principle that if we believe something to be so, then it might as well be. Joseph was not dead, but as long as Jacob believed he was, then as far as Jacob is concerned, Joseph is dead. And Jacob responds with understandable grief. (Reader seated)
Though our lectionary passage ends here, it is difficult to stop here and sit with this part of the story. There is real betrayal. Real human jeopardy. Real weeping. And did you notice that not a single time in this entire narrative is God mentioned. Amidst the injustice done to Joseph – God is silent. And we don’t have to go back thousands of years to know what that feels like. We might feel like Joseph in the pit, alone, betrayed by those who should have loved us. Or perhaps we can uncomfortably admit to understanding some of the brother’s resentment toward a tattletale brat who thinks he’s better than the rest of the family. Jacob’s family quarrel seems to live in every age.
Our story ends for today with Joseph sold into slavery, on his way to Egypt. And in the context of that family’s struggles and Joseph’s suffering, the question of “why?” arises, not just for Joseph, but for us, for our struggles and our suffering, too. Today’s ending, which leaves us on that frightening journey to Egypt, alone and with no hope in sight, leaves us too with the questions of meaning and of God’s presence, of God’s intention amid betrayal and despair, not just for Joseph, but for us all.
And so we wait until next week for the story to continue. Perhaps all appears to be lost, but for
Joseph and for us, there is so much more to the story.
Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment