Psalm 14:2-3 says, “The Lord looks down from heaven on the human race to see if there is one who is wise, one who seeks God. All have turned away; all alike have become corrupt. There is no one who does good, not even one.” Any? Any? All? All? No one! Not even one! Not Adam or Eve? Not Cain or Abel or Seth? Not Noah? Not his three sons? Not Abraham or Lot? Not Isaac or Ishmael? Not Jacob or Esau?
Whenever someone “seems” to be good, they get taken. Abel seemed pretty good, but Cain killed him. Enoch walked with God, but then he was taken. The best that was said of Noah and Abraham was that their “faith” was credited as righteousness. Yes, Noah preached righteousness. Yes, Abraham learned obedience. But their lives were rollercoasters.
Don’t you think we're a lot like God? Looking down upon mankind, generation after generation, hoping against hope, that some hero will emerge? Over the past year a glut of books, written by younger evangelicals, have topped the sales charts. I see colleagues, professors, and students raving about these books. But without mentioning names… it’s becoming trendy to “deconstruct” evangelical Christianity.
You know all these great iconic “Christian” leaders we’ve celebrated? People like Billy Graham, or James Dobson? John Piper, Billy Sunday, RC Sproul, Al Mohler, Bill Bright, Josh McDowell, Tony Evans. . . The charge levied by younger evangelicals is … “Well, every last one of them has skeletons in their closet! American Christianity has been nothing more than a cult of sexism, racism, tokenism, patriarchism, misogyny, americanism, nationalism, imperialism, militarism (God, Country, Guns), greedy capitalism, victorianism, biblicism (bibliolatry), fundamentalism, conservatism, Trumpism, mental and emotional toxicity, traditionalism, moral exceptionalism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, elitism, fear mongering. . .”
I’ve read these books holding my jaw in my lap! Do these young evangelicals not think anyone understands? Anyone seeks God? They think all have turned away from the true faith? All have become corrupted? No one does good! Not even one! I’ve got news for these younger evangelicals. If Genesis is any indicator of the human state of affairs, you’ll be next in line for deconstruction, condemnation, and cancellation! All of you. Not one of you exempt.
As every new generation emerges, we think there will be a shining star, a hero of mankind, a true Satan-crusher, an offspring of Eve, a messianic savior. But each generation gives birth to some new “ism.”
So alas, we come to Genesis 35, and a man formerly known as “Jacob the Deceiver” has assumed a new God-assigned identity. Jacob’s new name is Israel. Jacob (Israel) gives birth to twelve promising sons. Each son would establish their own names, and families, and grow into the Twelve Tribes (nations) of Israel. Don’t forget, through all these generations from Seth, to Noah, down through Abraham, Isaac, and now Jacob. . . God promised to send forth a hero, a Christ, a Messiah.
Genesis 35:23-26, “The sons of Leah: Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachel’s servant Bilhah: Dan and Naphtali. The sons of Leah’s servant Zilpah: Gad and Asher.” Gosh, how do you even keep track? Genesis 36… Esau’s family tree is just as erratic.
So here we go again. Next Generation. Twelve sons. Genesis 37. If ever a righteous person were to be found in Genesis, it would be Joseph. Finally, after all these generations, a good man comes along. Genesis 37:2-11, “2 These are the family records of Jacob. At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended sheep with his brothers. The young man was working with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought a bad report about them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons because Joseph was a son born to him in his old age, and he made a long-sleeved robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him. 5 Then Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 There we were, binding sheaves of grain in the field. Suddenly my sheaf stood up, and your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 “Are you really going to reign over us?” his brothers asked him. “Are you really going to rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and what he had said. 9 Then he had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun, moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 He told his father and brothers, and his father rebuked him. “What kind of dream is this that you have had?” he said. “Am I and your mother and your brothers really going to come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.”
Remember how Jacob wrestled with that angel in a dream, and wouldn’t let the angel free until the angel blessed him? These were some pretty fantastic dreams. . . yet God did promise Adam, Eve, Noah, Seth, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob . . . that some remarkable hero was coming through whom all nations would be blessed.
So here is Joseph. Robed by his father in splendor. Clothed in a coat of many colors! Favored. Blessed. Beloved. Destined to become some kind of king. Descendent of the godly line of Seth. In Genesis 37, Joseph is sent from his father Israel out to the fields, to check on his brothers, to check on the men who themselves would become nations. Genesis 37:14a, “Go and see how your brothers and the flocks are doing, and bring word back to me.”
In Genesis 37 Joseph’s brothers see him approaching. On that day, all the bitterness… all the resentment… all the jealousy and hate and rage that had been quietly building, boiled over the edges. Like Cain, they plotted how they might kill their brother. “Here comes the ‘dream expert’… the ‘spoiled brat.’.. ‘lets kill him and throw him in a pit and see what comes of his stupid dreams.”
You know, everybody has a sad story. Soon Adele’s much anticipated album is set to release. But critics are unimpressed, “Is she wasting her voice?” Her album is filled with lament about her divorce, guilt, drinking, depression loneliness, and self-doubt. She sings, “How can we become so bounded by choices that somebody else makes? How come we’ve both become a version of a person we don’t even like?” It’s the same old trope, “We sons of Jacob hate who we’ve become and its because everyone loves Joseph, and nobody loves us.”
Jacob’s sons had no trouble cataloging their complaints. I bet it's much the same for you. You don’t have any trouble crying along with Adele, or crying along with brothers, about all the ways you’ve been hurt, wounded, disadvantaged, underprivileged, unloved. Boy if you could take a knife and kill the person who killed your dreams would you do it Cain?
Cain killed Abel, but fortunately, cooler heads prevailed amongst Joseph’s brothers. Instead of killing him, first Reuben, then Judah, persuaded them to spare his life. They stripped Joseph of his glorious robe, they threw him into a pit, they sold him into slavery to some Midianite traders, betraying their brother for twenty pieces of silver. They slaughtered a lamb, covered his robe in blood, and lied to their father about what happened. Genesis 37:33, “His father recognized it. “It is my son’s robe,” he said. “A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has been torn to pieces!”” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days.” He refused to be comforted. “I’d rather go down into the grave to be with my son than to be here on this earth” Jacob wailed.
Genesis 38. Judah and Tamar. Tamar, Judah’s widowed daughter in law, disguises herself as a cult prostitute, and becomes pregnant with twins. Ugh. This is a bad batch of sons. Next generation please. Fast forward. Why do we care about Judah? Because Judah is going to become the “Tribe of Judah.” And out of the Tribe of Judah is going to come a lion, a king of kings, a lord of lords, a Christ who will crush the head of the Satan. And not because Judah was some righteous saint, he is not! But only because God is faithful.
But back to Joseph. Genesis 39. This beloved son of promise, stripped of his glory, stripped of his ornate garment, thrown into the pit of hell, betrayed for twenty pieces of silver, sold a slave, victimized by his own brethren. . . finds himself in an Egypt, a slave in the house of Potiphar.
Allow me to give you a Reader's Digest summary of Joseph’s life. Joseph was well-built, handsome, lovable, intelligent, just uber-competent. In everything he did, he continually found favor and was promoted. In Potiphar’s household, he found himself tempted in every way. Or shall we say, Potiphar’s wife found herself tempted in every way. She begged Joseph to sleep with her—the Bible just puts it right out there! You read Josephus’ account of Joseph and Potiphar's wife you wonder how he managed to concentrate—she was a spectacularly beautiful woman. But Joseph refused her advances. He refused to betray not just his master Potiphar, but also His God. In Genesis 39:9 he asks Potiphar’s wife, “How could I do this immense evil, and how could I sin against God?”
Day after day things escalate until one day she seizes Joseph. When he refused yet again, she screamed, and grabbed hold of Joseph’s robe. Joseph ran outside, was accused of sexual assault, thrown into a dark dungeon. Boy this guy cannot get a break right? Thrown into a pit? Thrown into a dungeon?
Let me tell you something that is radically different about Joseph. His brother’s were filled with bitterness, envy, and strife. They had their boo-hoo stories of how they’d been disadvantaged by their brother Joseph. If it wasn’t Joseph it would have been some other thing. Joseph found himself a slave in Potiphar’s household “BUT” Genesis 39:2a says, “The Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. . .” Pretty soon Joseph was running Potiphar's household! Joseph found himself thrown into a dark dungeon, falsely accused, “BUT” Genesis 39:21 says, “But the Lord was with Joseph and extended kindness to him. He granted him favor with the prison warden.” Pretty soon Joseph found himself in charge of all the prisoners and the prison itself!
You can look at your life and cry, “Boo-Hoo”; Or you can look at your life and ask, “But where was God? How was God present? How was God at work there?”
Genesis 40. While in prison, Joseph interprets the dreams of a cupbearer and a baker. These were high profile prisoners. It was the duty of a cupbearer to test every drink offered to a king like Pharoah, to test if it was poisoned. The cupbearers were the first ever Secret Service! These two men had dreams that deeply troubled, and mystified them. Joseph believed all dreams were of God, and that only God could interpret their dreams. So he seeks God on behalf of these men. The cupbearer's dream was favorable, he would be restored to his high position in the royal palace. But the baker’s dream was fatal, he would be hung from a tree by the king! Everything plays out exactly as Joseph interpreted.
Years later, the cupbearer is standing in Pharaoh's court when news comes that Pharaoh has had a dream. Pharaoh is as distressed and mystified as the Baker and Cupbearer were years earlier. But nobody can interpret Pharaoh's dream. Genesis 41:2-4, “. . . seven healthy-looking, well-fed cows came up from the Nile and began to graze among the reeds. After them, seven other cows, sickly and thin, came up from the Nile and stood beside those cows. . . then the sickly cows ate the health well-fed cows.” Then Pharoah has the same dream, only with seven heads of grain. Genesis 41:5-7 “Seven heads of grain, plump and good grow from one stalk. But then seven heads of grain, thin and scorched sprout up. The thin heads of grain swallow up the seven plump, full ones…”
This is like a Daniel moment. No one, no magician, no wise man, in all of Egypt can interpret the dream. But suddenly the cupbearer recalls a Hebrew slave named Joseph, from prison, who with insight from his God, could interpret all dreams. Genesis 41:29-30 “Seven years of abundance” were coming only to be followed by “seven years of severe famine!” Genesis 41:33, “Let Pharoah look for a discerning and wise man and set him over the land of Egypt” And by the way,… here is what that man might do! “You ruthlessly store up food for the first seven years so you can survive the last seven years! Then the country won’t be wiped out!”
Pharoah immediately recognized in Joseph, what centuries later King after King would recognize in Daniel. Genesis 41:37-40, “The proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants and he said to them, ‘Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?’ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “. . . you will be over my house, and all my people will obey your commands. Only I as King will be greater than you…” Genesis 41:42. “The King then put his signet ring on Joseph’s finger, giving him all authority over his kingdom. The King clothed him in fine garments, and place a gold chain around his neck.” Genesis 41:46. Joseph was thirty years old when he entered King’s service.
Joseph was indeed one of greatest heroes of Israel—but he wasn’t “THE HERO”—just a hint of the glorious King of Kings yet to come, who would be sent by his Heavenly Father to the twelve nations or tribes or sons of Israel… he who from age thirty would be rejected, mocked, insulted, made a slave, betrayed for thirty pieces of silver, the “just” suffering because of the “unjust”. But one on whom God’s Spirit would rest, one upon whom God’s authority would be conferred, that every knee bow and tongue confess him as Savior and Lord. [READ PHILIPPIANS 2:5-11]