Most people are somewhat familiar with the story of
Joseph. Here's a young man about 17
years of age whose brothers will ultimately turn on him. They will assault him. They will attack him. Then they will throw him into a pit and
eventually sell him into Egypt where this teenage boy will become a prisoner
and a slave. What caused his brothers to
do such a despicable act?
The CAUSE of Betrayal
Let’s begin by talking about the causes of betrayal, which in
its very essence, will all bottle down to jealousy. Jealousy is one of those things that
unfortunately today we view as “no big deal.”
It has become one of those respected sins. In our minds, it's not a big sin so who
cares?
However, jealousy always leads to something worse. It never stays at simple jealousy. Once it runs its course, jealousy will
ultimately turn into envy. There's a big
difference between jealousy and envy.
When you're jealous, that means somebody has something that you wish was
yours. When you're envious, you want to
deprive that person of having that item since you can't have it either.
For example, if you purchased a brand new fully loaded SUV, an
$80,000 vehicle, and I wished it were mine that would be jealousy. But if while you were away I slashed the
tires and poured sugar in the gas tank so you couldn't drive it either, that
would be envy. Jealousy, if left
unchecked, always leads to envy. But it
doesn’t stop there either. Envy will always
lead to hatred and hatred will always lead to malice. But it all begins with jealousy and we’ll see
that in the life of Joseph's brothers.
In Joseph’s case there were three causes of the betrayal that
took place at the hands of his brothers.
Cause number one is seen in Genesis 37:2:
“Joseph was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a
youth along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives,
and Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.”
A lot of people look at this verse and see it as Joseph bringing
this betrayal on himself. After all,
look at him. He was a tattle tale,
right? No one likes a tattle tale. But is that really the case? I don't think so. I see the first cause for Joseph's betrayal
as his FAITH.
Yes, Joseph brought a bad report back to his father about
his other brothers but keep in mind the character of his brothers. What kind of men were they? They were rotten. They were evil. It was his brothers in the city of Shechem that,
when their sister was assaulted, tricked all the men into coming into a state
of weakness though being circumcised and then murdered all of them taking their
wives, children and possessions for their own.
These were evil men.
Remember, Reuben, the oldest? He had an affair with one of Jacob's concubines
who was the mother to two of his step brothers.
These were wicked men. So when it
says that Joseph brought back a bad report, I don't think Joseph came home and
said, “Dad, Reuben stole my lunch box.” It
is more likely that his brothers were doing something very wicked, very evil,
something that would damage the family name and even bring danger upon
themselves.
Now, is that tattling?
I don't think so. If you had a
child and that child was doing something very evil, something dangerous, and
your other child knew about it, wouldn't you want them to tell you? I don't think it was a simple case of
tattling. This young man, Joseph, had a
character of obedience. He had a desire
for righteousness. Later in his life he
would end up in Egypt where he would be seduced by a beautiful and powerful woman. Though he would have every reason to
rationalize away why it would be okay to have that moment of pleasure, he will
resist giving into that temptation. Joseph
was a man of character and righteousness.
It was his faith that his brothers despised. It was his righteousness that caused jealousy
within their life.
So we see that one cause of his betrayal was his faith. In Genesis 37:3-4, we see the second
cause.
“Now, Israel (that's Jacob, their father), loved Joseph more than all
of his sons because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a very colored tunic. His brothers saw that their father loved him
more than all their brothers and so they hated him and could not speak to him
on friendly terms.”
Do you see how their jealousy has not only gone to envy but
to hatred? And one of the chief reasons for
this was his FAVORISTISM. That's cause number two for his
betrayal.
We see from the text that his dad made a grave mistake. He not only loved Joseph more than he loved
his other sons, he showed it. He displayed
it. This was a learned trait. Isaac did the same thing. Jacob had a twin brother named Esau and Isaac
loved Esau more than he loved Jacob and now Jacob does the same thing. Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons. Why was this so? First, it was because Joseph was the son of
his old age. Jacob was 91 years old when
Rachel gave birth to Joseph. And not
only that, but when his beloved Rachel was giving birth to his last son,
Benjamin, she died in childbirth and for those reasons Jacob loved Joseph more
than the others and he showed it.
One of the ways he showed this favoritism was to have made
for Joseph a multicolored coat. In the
culture of that day one of the ways you showed your wealth was through
extravagant dress. This very colored
tunic was extravagant. It would have
been very expensive to make. It was
tailor made and the very wording of the text showed that that it was a tunic
that went right down to his wrists and all the way down to his ankles. In other words, it wasn't a working
tunic. Joseph didn't have to do much
work. He was daddy's favorite. And he now has this coat of many colors that reminded
his brothers how much their dad loved Joseph more than he loved them.
This doesn’t mean that Joseph is without fault in his
relationship with his brothers. As we
will soon see, when Joseph goes to find his brothers when they end up taking
him and throwing him into the pit, he will be wearing his coat of many colors. I don't think he was wearing it in order to
rub it into his brothers' face. I don't
think he was even thinking through the fact that his wearing that coat in front
of his brothers would just infuriate them more.
Without realizing it, wearing that coat in front of them was like
pouring salt in the wound. Sometimes
when we find ourselves in the pit of betrayal, though what was done to us was
evil and wrong, chances are really good that if we are honest with ourselves we
will be able see things we did to make matters even worse. And there's no doubt Joseph did this when he
wore that very coat in front of his brothers.
So reason number one for his betrayal was his faith. Reason number two was his favoritism. There's a third reason that his brothers end
up betraying him and that was because of his FUTURE. We see this in Genesis
37:5:
“Then Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they
hated him even more.”
Joseph had two dreams that he shared with his family. In dream number one he's out in the field
with his brothers and they're binding sheaves and Joseph's sheaf stands up
straight and his brothers' sheaves all bow down to Joseph's sheaf. When Joseph tells his brothers about this
dream it infuriates them. “What are you
saying, Joseph, that we're one day going to bow down to you?” Then he has another dream where the sun, the moon
and 11 stars all bow down to him and again his brothers are infuriated. Their jealousy turns to anger. “How could you say that one day we're going
to bow down to you?”
Obviously, we know the rest of the story. We know that's exactly what will happen. We know that at the end of the story his
brothers will bow down to him. But his
brothers didn't know it at the time. And
when Joseph told them the dream it made them even angrier. Some would say that what Joseph was doing was
bragging. Why did he tell them about the
dream?
I don't think he was bragging. Who put the dream into Joseph's mind? Who put the dream into his heart? Who caused him to have the dream to begin
with? It was God, wasn't it? God was showing Joseph his future. God was showing Joseph the great ways that He
was going to use him. Folks, listen, when
God puts a passion in your life, you can't keep it silent. And those who dream big dreams for God often
become the target of betrayal. And
that's what happened to Joseph. His
faith, his favoritism, and his future all take the jealousy that was birthed in
the heart of his brothers and turn it to envy which then turned into hatred and
ultimately took on the form of malice in which they do the unthinkable.
The CRIME of Betrayal
“His brothers went to pasture their father's flock in Shechem and
Israel (that's Jacob) said to Joseph, are not your brothers pasturing the flock
in Shechem? Come and I'll send you to
them and he said to his father, I will go.” (Genesis 37:12-13)
Notice first of all the PLACE
of the crime involved. The Bible says that his brothers have the father's flock
over in the region of Shechem. Does that
name ring a bell to you? Shechem was the
location where their sister, Dinah, was assaulted and all of the brothers
tricked the men in the city to a moment of weakness and slaughtered all of them
taking their wives, their children and their possessions as their own.
Let me ask you something.
If you lived at that time in the region around Shechem, what would be
your opinion of Jacob's family? You
probably wouldn't think very highly of them.
So when Jacob hears that his sons have the sheep over in Shechem, over
60 miles away from the homestead, he becomes concerned. As a result he sends Joseph to go check on
them. This tells me that, though he might
have loved Joseph more than the others, Jacob still did care for his other
sons. He sends Joseph to find them. When Joseph gets there, they've already moved
north another 15 miles to Dothan so they're now 75 miles away from their
homestead and here's what happens. Genesis
37:18-19 then says:
“When his brothers saw Joseph from a distance before he came close to
them, they plotted against him to put him to death.”
There's a PLOT
that's involved in this crime. As his
brothers see him coming, while he's still a distance off, they begin to plot
against him. They begin to conspire to
do something evil, even to kill him. Here
we see a very important principle.
Folks, listen, betrayal always involves recruitment to a conspiracy. That's what happens. They all get together and they conspire
against him. Betrayal never happens out
in the open. Betrayal doesn't happen by
just one person. There's always recruitment
to the conspiracy.
What does that teach us?
It teaches us that any time someone comes up to you and begins to talk
to you negatively about another person behind their back, all kinds of red
flags and warning bells ought to go off in your mind and in your spirit. Betrayal is done behind the back. Betrayal always involves recruitment to
conspiracy.
Nowhere in the New Testament will you find one example where
God tells us that this is the way to deal with people. Not one.
The Bible says if you have something against someone you're to go to
that person. The Bible says if you know
a brother who's in sin, you're to go to that brother. Nowhere in scripture do we ever find any
foundation for getting together in secret and talking about someone else behind
their back. Always avoid the secret
conspirator.
“So it came about when Joseph reached his brothers that they stripped
Joseph of his tunic, the very colored tunic that was on him, and they took him
and threw him into the pit. Now, the pit
was empty without any water in it.” (Genesis 37:23)
We've seen the place and we've seen the plot. Now notice the PIT. Notice what the
brothers do. They conspire while he's
away to kill him. Reuben, the oldest, steps
in and says, “No, let's not kill him. We
don't want his blood on our hands.” So
they decide that when he gets to them, they would lure him over towards the pit
and there they would do the unthinkable.
So as Joseph made his way to them, obeying his father's
command to check on them, his brothers assault him. They attack him and this attack would have
been very violent. Remember, they originally
wanted to kill him – that’s violent. The
Bible says they strip off his coat of many colors. They strip it off because this is the symbol
of their hatred. This is the symbol of
their jealousy. This reminds them of
their father's favoritism. And Reuben
convinces them instead of killing him to take him and throw him in a pit.
A pit in those days would have held water during the rainy
season. It would have had a very, very
narrow opening and would have been shaped like a vase with a larger
bottom. There was no way to crawl out. They take Joseph and they throw him into the
pit. When Reuben, the oldest, stood up
to his defense and said, “No, let's not kill him, let's throw him in the pit,” he
had a plan. If you read the whole text,
Reuben's plan was to come back and to rescue Joseph later. There was at least one of these ten older
brothers who still had some conscience about them. He knew what they were doing was wrong. He knew it was evil. And he had a plan to stop it.
For some reason, however, Reuben will leave and while he's
gone his brothers will take Joseph, pull him out of the pit and they will sell
him into slavery into Egypt. When Reuben
comes back, he'll find out what they've done.
After that, Reuben will then go along with the plot. He'll go along with the cover-up. He'll join them in faking the whole thing to
their father and convincing Jacob that Joseph was dead. There's something else about betrayal you
need to understand. Even though there
might be a few who see what's happening is wrong, at the end of the day they
will most likely succumb to the pressure and they will cave in and be part of the
plot.
We learn something more as we carefully notice just the
beginning of Genesis 37:25, “Then they sat
down to eat a meal.” What did these
brothers do? After they took Joseph and
threw him in the pit, while he's at the bottom of the pit all alone screaming
out in fear and pain, they sit down next to the pit and they have lunch. They have a feast. They laugh and they eat. This is a striking principle. Those who are involved in the act of betrayal
often feel a sense of satisfaction afterwards as they rationalize in their mind
a justification to their hurtful actions.
This is seen as Joseph's brothers sit down to a meal while their brother
screams in the pit.
The CONSEQUENCE of Betrayal
We have seen the cause of betrayal. We have seen the crime of betrayal. The final point is the consequences. What happens next? Look at Genesis 37:28:
“Then some Midianite traders passed by so they pulled Joseph
up. They lifted him out of the pit and
they sold him to Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver. Thus, they brought Joseph into Egypt.”
As they're having lunch together, with Joseph screaming in
the pit, a group of Midianites and Ishmaelites come by who are on their way to
Egypt. They're traders. What do they do for a living? They buy things from you and take it
somewhere else and try to make money off of it.
So his brothers come up with a brilliant idea. They say, “Reuben's right. Let's not kill our brother. We don't want his blood on our hands.
Instead, let's make some money. Let's
sell him to the Midianites, to the Ishmaelites.
Let them take him into Egypt where we'll never see him again. We'll never have to deal with him again. We'll never have to see his face. We'll never have to see his coat. We'll never have to hear about his dreams. We'll be rid of the goody two shoes forever.”
And that's exactly what they do. They sell Joseph. It says they sell him for 20 pieces of
silver. That was the price in that day
of a handicapped slave. That's how much
they thought of Joseph. That was the
price you would get for a slave that had no value. And that's what they sell him for - hardly what
you would call a profit. There are ten
of these brothers. That means they each
get two pieces of silver. Big deal. It’s obvious that the real issue to them
wasn't the money, it was getting rid of Joseph.
“So his brothers took Joseph's tunic.
They slaughtered a male goat and they dipped the tunic in the
blood. And they sent the very colored
tunic to their father. And said, we
found this. Please examine it to see
whether it's your son's tunic or not.” (Genesis 37:31-32)
They have to cover up their betrayal. They have to cover up their wrongdoing. They have to convince their father something
happened to Joseph. So they take that
coat of many colors that they hated so much and soak it in the blood. Remember, they are 75 miles away from home
with the sheep so they send the blood stained coat back to their father with a
note saying we found this coat. Please
tell us, is it your son's? And Jacob
becomes convinced his precious favored son is dead.
Betrayal always involves falsehood. It always involves some sort of lie. And betrayal always hurts more individuals
than the person who gets betrayed.
Joseph wasn't the only person who got hurt in this story. Jacob, who at this time is well over 100
years old, is now living in daily grief and daily sorrow convinced that his son
is dead.
The pit of betrayal is a horrible place. Chances are really good that many of you know
what it's like to be in the pit. Chances
are very good that many of you reading this have found yourself at some point
in your life in the pit of betrayal.
Maybe you were betrayed by a mate, a friend, a parent, a sibling, a
child, a co-worker, or a ministry partner.
Chances are good that some of you are in the pit right now. Every day when you wake up you're living in
the pit. For some of you, the pit is
just ahead of you in your journey. Because
of this let me share four truths that we learn about the pit of betrayal.
The PAIN in Betrayal
Truth number one involves the PAIN in betrayal and it says that
the pain that comes from betrayal often gets worse before it gets better. That's what will happen to Joseph. Many people say, “Joseph is a great story
that shows how he went from the pit to the palace.” Yes, ultimately, he'll get to the palace. Yes, ultimately he'll be the Prime Minister
of Egypt. Yes, ultimately he'll save
Egypt from starvation. But let me remind
you that for Joseph the path from the pit to the palace was not a direct
route.
He didn't go from the pit directly to the palace. He first went to the prison. He only spent a few hours in the pit but he
would spend years in the prison, waking up every morning in an Egyptian dungeon
because he would be falsely accused. For
years he would never see the light of day.
In reality, the pain from the betrayal got worse for Joseph before it
ever got better.
Many people find themselves in the pit of betrayal and they
cry out to God to rectify their problem and things get worse and you know what
they do? They turn their back on
God. They think God's abandoned them and
I need you to know something. The pain
that comes from the pit of betrayal often gets worse before it gets
better. That does not mean that God has
forsaken you. That does not mean that
God has abandoned you. And the worst
thing you can do when you're in the pit of betrayal is to turn your back on
God.
I remember a time in my life when I was in the pit of
betrayal. I remember how tempting that
was. I remember every day while in that
pit praying the same prayer. Every day, I
would pray, “God, when this is over, no matter what it looks like and no matter
where I'm at, my prayer is that I will be more in love with Jesus than I am
today; more in love with my wife than I am today; and more in love with the
local church than I am today.” By the
grace of God, He answered every single one of those prayers.
The PURPOSE in Betrayal
The second truth deals with the PURPOSE in betrayal. God has a purpose that He's fulfilling in
your life even in the midst of betrayal's pain.
He has a purpose. God will never
lead you through pain, heartache and hurt for nothing? He'll never do that. Every time you experience pain and heart ache
and trials and affliction and hurt, every time you find yourself in the pit of
betrayal, God has a purpose.
Think about it in the life of Joseph. You know where Joseph will end up,
right? He'll end up being the Prime Minister
of Egypt. He will manage the entire
country and he will save the country from starvation. I have a question for you. Where did Joseph learn to manage like
that? He didn't learn it at home. He was spoiled rotten at home, the favored
son of his dad who never had to do a thing.
Where did Joseph learn the lessons, the skills needed to manage the
country of Egypt?
Because of his being thrown in the pit, he's sold into
slavery where he becomes a slave to a powerful man named Potiphar and
Potiphar puts him in charge of his entire home and there Joseph learns the
skills of how to manage. After he's
falsely accused and he's thrown into prison, you know what happens next? In prison he will find grace in the eyes of
the jailer who will put him in charge of the entire prison and for over a
decade he will manage the entire prison system.
Joseph, while in the pit and the prison, learned the very skills needed
to manage all of Egypt when he became the Prime Minister. I can tell you from experience the greatest
lessons I have ever learned in my life I learned in the pit of betrayal. God has a purpose for every pain.
The PRESENCE in Betrayal
Truth number three deals with the PRESENCE in betrayal. God's presence is with you through every
painful moment of betrayal. I love this.
In Genesis 39:2, when Joseph is taken into Egypt, the Bible says, “But the Lord was with Joseph in Egypt.” When he's falsely accused and thrown in
the prison, the Bible says in Genesis 39:21, “The Lord was with Joseph in the prison.”
Folks, listen, God's presence is with you through every
painful moment of betrayal. When my wife
and I went through our time in the pit, that's what kept us going. Every evening, after living through a day of
hurt and pain, we'd sit on the back porch with a cup of coffee and we'd answer
this question – “How did we see the fingerprints of God in our lives today?” Sometimes those fingerprints were very little
but those were the things that we clung to because they showed us that God was
with us in our pain.
The PATIENCE in Betrayal
The final truth deals with the PATIENCE in betrayal. The healing of the pain caused by betrayal
often takes many years to complete. It
doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't
happen in a week. It doesn't happen in a
month. It doesn't even happen in a
year. But over time, it does happen.
Think about
Joseph. The first 17 years of his life
he's the favored son of Jacob. For the
next many years he's a slave and a prisoner in a strange land. Finally, he becomes the prime minister of
Egypt. In this position he gets married
and has a son. As we will see, he will
name his first son a name that means "God has removed the sting of the
memory." It took many years but finally
Joseph was able to say that though he remembered every detail of the betrayal,
God had removed the sting from the memory.
What now?
The pit of betrayal is not a fun place. But if you find yourself in it, there's a
simple question you need to ask. Most
people in the pit like to cry out to God with the question, “Why me?” That’s the wrong question to ask. When you're in the pit of betrayal, the
question you need to ask God is, “What
now?”
What are You trying to teach me now, Lord?
What are You trying to show me now?
What are You preparing me for now, God?
Amen... great insight....lots to chew on...
ReplyDelete