Joseph’s Dreams

“And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: for, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 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? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.”

Genesis‬ ‭37‬:‭5‬-‭11‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Joseph was the second youngest son of the 12 Israelite boys, and was highly favored by not only his father, but also God himself. Joseph story actually begins not when he’s born, even though his birth was a victory for his mother Rachel. But his story actually begins with his father Jacob, who is now called Israel, favored Joseph over his brothers. And to show this affection he actually gave Joseph a coat of many colors, and this is where Joseph story begins, with favoritism and an elevation that actually that should have belonged to the firstborn.

In the Israelite culture it is very common that you will hear that the first born in every family seems to always receive a lot of the blessings from their parents, and we still do this today. But the Lord doesn’t actually work that way and we’ll see this time and time again where the second born will be elevated over the first born. For example: Kane and Abel, Abraham and Haran, Perez and Zara, and Adam and Yahusha. You can see time and time again that the Lord will choose the next in line over the first. So it’s not a shock that Joseph was actually chosen over all his brothers, and he was destined for something great.

Joseph actually had two dreams that he told to his brothers and his father. The first dream was of him and his brothers standing in a wheat field, and they were gathering wheat and making bales of wheat. The wheat of the brothers would fall over and bow down to Joseph’s wheat that stood upright and did not fall down to the ground. This burned his brothers and made them very angry at him because they said are you telling us that you are going to be elevated over us and over the first born. The second dream was a dream that focused on the stars, and all the stars that actually represented his family surrounded his star that was bigger and brighter than all of theirs. And when he told his father about that dream, he also told his brothers. And it made them even angrier at him, and it made them hate him even more. After a while, Joseph Brothers could not find it in their heart to say a kind word to him.

“And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”

Genesis‬ ‭37‬:‭18‬-‭20‬ ‭KJV‬‬

But Joseph’s brothers could not stand the favoring that he had on his life. And so the brothers decided to to take their anger and frustration out on their brother Joseph. And they beat him up and threw him into a cistern, not knowing what was going to happen to him. But they soon came to an understanding amongst themselves that they had to deal with their brother, so two merchants showed up on their way to Egypt to do business. They sold Joseph to the merchants for 20 pieces of silver. As time went on Joseph’s brother had to live with the guilt of what they did to their own kin. But Joseph was sold to a man named Potipher, an Egyptian, who was an officer of Pharaoh. And Joseph was added to Potiphers household, and overtime was seen for his many good qualities, that he was resourceful, reliable, and honest. Anything that Joseph worked on or touched prospered, this is because the Lord was with him even though he was sold into slavery. Joseph did very well for himself being in Potipher’s household. He was raised over everybody else in the house and he was given dominion over all things except for Porter‘s wife, because she was a reflection of Potipher. Potipher’s wife seem to have an interest in Joseph in desiring him and wanting him, and she made sure to let him know that. Joseph denied his flesh and told his mistress know that he could not go against Potipher knowing that his kindness elevated him in such a way, that he wanted for nothing. This angered Potipher wife and she tried to force herself on him, and Joseph ran and left his clothes in her hands as he took off and ran away from the temptation. This was a test for Joseph because he was elevated so high that he could have just simply been with her and things would’ve been hush-hush, probably for a while, but instead he kept his honor because he elevated his Lord in his heart over the desires of the world. We would think that Joseph would win the victory and nothing bad would happen to him, but no, Potipher’s wife screamed and shouted until he was thrown in jail.

“And it came to pass, when his master heard the words of his wife, which she spake unto him, saying, After this manner did thy servant to me; that his wrath was kindled. And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison. But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.”

Genesis‬ ‭39‬:‭19‬-‭23‬ ‭KJV‬‬

Although Joseph was thrown in jail he was not left to his pain nor was he abandoned, the Lord was still with him there in the prison. Even though it devastated him to be thrown in prison and to be left in a place that was so low that he probably cried out in pain and in supplication to Yahweh. But eventually after his pain and sorrow subsided, he looked to his heavenly father, and he began to move and live again for the Lord even in jail. Joseph still worked very hard when he was in jail. He did everything that he was taught by his heavenly father to do and to live up and right, that he caught the eye of the prison guard. The prison guard saw that everything that Joseph touched prosper even in jail . And because of this, the prison guard put everything in Joseph hands to watch over . Any task that was given to any of the inmates was given to them by Joseph. And the guard did not worry about a thing just like Potipher didn’t have to worry about a thing when Joseph was over his household. We can definitely see that Joseph was a man who kept to his morals, no matter what position he was in. This is something for all of us to pay attention to. Because we are all followers in Christ, and we are to reflect him in the world. This is why a lot of of Yahusha’s teachings we’re always about, still doing what you’re supposed to do on behalf of the father and representing him despite what other people do to you. We are to keep our eyes on Yahusha and not on the world. This keeps us in alignment with The Heavenly Father, and this is why he begins to elevate us, because we stay in his glory and in his presence.Soon after there was two people who were sent to Pharaoh’s jail, the bread baker and the cup bearer. These two people become very important characters in Joseph story, as they also begin to have dreams. Once again, Joseph is faced with the Lord‘s dreams and instead of turning a blind eye to the pain and the confusion of these two men, Joseph interprets their dreams. And the Lord is still with Joseph.

This writing of Joseph’s Dreams, is actually the first of two videos that have come out on my podcast: Bible Study Ministries. If you enjoyed this writing then perhaps you will enjoy the Bible study ministries video of this blog post. If you are interested, please click the link and enjoy the video: Joseph’s Dreams

 Stay tuned for the second episode.