Thru the Bible

Host: What single person gets more chapters in Genesis than anyone else? Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, or is it Joseph? Welcome to Through the Bible as we continue our journey through the whole word of God. We begin one of the finest stories in history, a story of a man who is more like Jesus in his person and experiences than anyone else in scripture.

I'm talking of course about Joseph. Dr. McGee will definitely show the parallels, dozens of them, between his life and Christ's as we begin in Genesis 37 and study the life of Joseph until the end. We'll start the story in a home in Canaan with a tragic tale of jealousy, favoritism, and just plain evil. But first, here's Dr. McGee reading a letter from a listener in Amarillo, Texas.

Dr. McGee: And this party says, I've written to you before, but never told you how God directed you into my life. I'm forever grateful. And now she says, it begins with October 1977. My father-in-law came to live with us. He was 87 years old at the time, wonderful father, but was an agnostic. Believed only in himself and his money. Very brilliant man, alert to all his surroundings and the stock market.

One day in February 1978, you were teaching Isaiah the 58th chapter. I was at the end of my rope, my prayer seemed only to be lip. And I felt like I was in a satanic coma, if there is such a thing. It was then I turned you on. And from that day forward, you have been that ray of sunshine in my life. You light up my life. Not only did I walk closer with my Lord and Savior, but you told Dad about him. Praise the Lord. He called you Fiver McGee and looked forward to you each day.

Dad passed away in April in 1979 at the ripe age of 89. Thank you for telling him about Jesus. It's truly hard to witness to those you love.

Host: It's true, sharing God's truth with the people we love most can be difficult. And sometimes the simplest step is just inviting them to listen alongside us and allowing God's word to do what only it can do. Eddie in Bangladesh did just that and she told us this story. For a long time, my husband had no interest in going to church. I attended services and prayer meetings on my own, but he didn't want to read the Bible or be involved at all. Everything began to change when I listened to your programs. Soon, he became interested and we started listening together at home. He then began going to church and his attitude and behavior changed in such a positive way. I truly believe this transformation came through hearing the word of God.

And then Gina in the US shares this. I give God the glory. After I introduced one of my daughters to Through the Bible, she had been caught up in some unhealthy choices, I began to see a real change in her life. This had been a heavy burden for our family for a long time. My daughter has accepted Christ and now even goes to church with us. Thank you so much for bringing us God's word.

We'll praise God for these lives changed by his word. You know, one of the most frequent prayer requests that we receive is for the salvation of family members. And if you'd like to join our World Prayer Team in lifting them and millions of others before the Lord, you can sign up over at ttb.org. Now, let's bow our heads in prayer. Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and how it points us to Jesus, the lover and savior of our souls. Help us now to see him as we study the life of Joseph. We pray in Jesus name. Amen. Open to Genesis 37 as we go through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. McGee: Now today, friends, we come to the 37th chapter of the Book of Genesis and when we do, we resume the story of the line of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and now we come to the fourth one, Joseph. And from here all the way through the book of Genesis, we'll be centered upon Joseph. Now, it is true, we are dealing with the family of Jacob, and that's what's resumed in this chapter.

But the story of Joseph is begun here. And somebody might say, well, there's more tension given here to Joseph than to Abraham or Isaac or to anything else. certainly more this than is even given to the first 11 chapters in Genesis. How do you explain that? Well, I think there are several reasons. I would suggest two, one is the life of Joseph is a good and honorable life. We are told in scripture, finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Now, God wants us to have this that is good and virtuous and great before us. And Joseph's life is just that. Then there's a second reason here. And this is a great reason. Nowhere in the New Testament is Joseph given to us as a type of Christ. Yet no one is more like Christ in his person and experiences than Joseph. All of this cannot be accidental. Now, we're going to see that as we go through his life.

And I think that I've got listed in a book somewhere, in fact, the matter is it's in our book on Genesis. At least 20 some odd parallels, and there's more than 20. I suspect there must be around 30, and we'll mention that later on when we get farther into his story. But now you will recall that last time, we almost got a laugh and there's a lot of laughs in the Bible, by the way, it depicts human life. And there's a lot of humor, God has a sense of humor.

And we met all the Dukes and kings, all the royalty in the family of Esau. And where in the world did they come from? Well, they took these titles, and men have been going for titles and that sort of thing from that day to this. Every now and then, I get a letter from some brother, I always feel like he's way out in left field. That rebukes me for having a doctor's degree. Well, I earned mine, I don't mind having it. But I'll be honest with you.

I sweat blood and tears to get the degrees that I have hanging in my study. But I wouldn't give you five cents for them if I didn't have them. The thing is that it's what they represent. And titles today are quite meaningless, really. They are. And it's not the office, it's the individual that makes it. Great many people say they respect the office of president, but not the president. Well, God have mercy on America if we've come to that.

Because it's the person who makes the office and if we don't have a man in that it makes it in a way that we can respect him. And frankly, it's been difficult for the past two decades, and maybe a little longer than that, in fact, three decades to have men in the office that you can respect. And the office is certainly suffered, but the man makes the office. And so these fellows all had to get him a title, and if you belong to the family of Esau, you need a title. because of the type of folk that they really were.

We're going to pick up now the family of Jacob again. And there were several things that we did not call attention to that were in this chapter 35. One is this place of Bethlehem, first time it's mentioned and here's where Rachel died and we sing, O Little Town of Bethlehem. Well, if Jacob was here to sing it with us, I can assure you several things. One thing is, he'd never think of a birth there, he'd think of a death. He'd think of beautiful Rachel died there. Then after that, he would remember, this is where Benjamin was born. You see, Benjamin was born in the same place that Jesus was born.

That brings this place of Bethlehem now onto the page of scripture. And the amazing thing is not that Bethlehem was picked as the birthplace of the Messiah. The thing that's amazing is that how could it ever have been fulfilled, and that's the wonder of it all. We didn't call any attention to the sin of Reuben that's mentioned here because that'll come before us again and we need to keep that in mind.

And we recognize now that we have left the family of Esau, now we are going to follow on through in the family of Jacob. That is the one and Joseph now becomes all prominent here before us, and we're going to follow his story. So, let's pick up now, chapter 37 and this is the method of the Spirit of God, that when the rejected line is given, then he returns to take the line that's going to lead to Christ, and that story is resumed.

And so we have here this story of Jacob. And I begin reading at chapter 37, verse 1, And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger in the land of Canaan. Now, he's moved down apparently south of Bethlehem and he's come down to Hebron, that's where you'll recall that Abraham had made his home. And so, he comes to this place of fellowship, communion with God.

And verse two, these are the generations of Jacob. We had the generations of Esau, these are the generations of Jacob. But we only have this boy Joseph mentioned. Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren and the lad was with the sons of Billah, and with the son of Zilpa, his father's wives, and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report. And I want to tell you, that bunch of boys that Jacob had, they were problem children, every one of them with the exception of Joseph and Benjamin.

And it took these men a long time to really learn anything at all. And the emphasis now, you see, is going to be switched from actually Jacob to Joseph. We'll follow him down to the land of Egypt. He was 17 years old when this incident took place that's recorded here. Just a teenage boy, who was one of the youngest, you see, out there feeding the flock, Benjamin is too young to be out there.

And this boy, he came home and told his father their evil report. And the boys didn't like it, of course they didn't like it. They I'm sure called him a tattletale. Verse three, 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 colors. Now, Jacob should have learned the lesson in his own home that to play a favorite will cause trouble in a family. His own father had favored the elder brother, and this boy knew what it was to be discriminated against. And now he practices the very same thing.

And, of course, we begin to excuse him because we say, well, after all, it was Rachel who really was his wife, who really was the one he loved, one fine thing in his life. And this boy is a fine boy as well as Benjamin, and he loved this boy. Well, that's all true, by the way. But he shouldn't have bought him that coat of many colors. Now, the coat of many colors, that may not be the accurate translation. There are those that translate this, a coat with sleeves in it. You see, in that day, putting sleeves and coats just wasn't the popular thing to do, it wasn't the latest style. Hart Schaffner and Marx were not making coats like that then with sleeves in them.

And it was difficult, after all, the thing they did was to take a long strip of goods in the middle ways in it. That take about 12 feet or maybe 10 feet. And they would put a hole right in the middle of it, stick their head through it, half of it dropped down in front and half in the back, and they just tied it together, or they'd sew it together, and that was the clothes of the day. They didn't have sleeves. Apparently, this was a garment had sleeves in it. That, of course, set him apart, but maybe not quite as much as if it had many colors.

And verse four, when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him. And they certainly did hate him, they could not speak peaceably unto him. Now, we look into this family again, and you notice the strife that's been in all of these families. I tell you, I don't care what family it is, sin today, friends, not only ruins lives, it ruins families. Not only ruins families, it'll ruin a community. It'll ruin a city, it's ruining our cities today, they say, this thing and that thing and another thing's ruining our cities.

Just one thing, God calls it sin, S I N, sin, and it ruins nations. And so this boy Joseph, he's being discriminated by both the father and now the brethren. The father loves him, the brethren hate him. And verse five, and Joseph dreamed a dream and he told it his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. Anything that Joseph did certainly didn't bring the love of his brethren for him. And he said unto them, hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed.

Now, I have a feeling that this 17-year-old boy at this time, who has been kept, I'm sure as long as Rachel lived, on her apron string, very much like Jacob had been reared at first. Generally, when a fellow like this, who's been raised tied to his mama's apron string, does finally break loose from the apron string, he's apt to go any direction. In fact, he's apt to go every direction. Jacob did, but Joseph won't. Joseph is a remarkable individual.

Now, how do you explain though this conduct here? Why would he go and tattle on his brethren when he knew it would incur their hatred, and why would he tell them this dream? Well, I think that there's one explanation for it, he's been tied to his mama's apron string so long, he doesn't know how bad this world can be. And he doesn't know how bad his brothers can be. I'm of the opinion, he's a rather gullible boy at this time. And you'll find out that it took him a long time to find out about the ways of the world. And when he did, he probably knew as much about the ways of the world as anyone later on. But not at this time, he's a 17-year-old boy raised as he was raised in that day.

And a favorite of his father, his father now centers all of the affection that he had for Rachel. And you can understand, there's a tremendous background here. And how human we all are. Old Jacob as a young man went out there and saw Rachel, boy, fell in love with her, love at first sight, she was a beautiful thing. He had to work 14 years for her, and then there was several years before a child was born and finally Joseph is born. And my Rachel's gone now, so what does he do, he just centers all of his affection in his boy. He shouldn't have done it, he's got live more of them around there, but he centers his affection in this boy here.

But listen at the dream that he has. And he just tells it right out. I'm reading verse seven now. He says, for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field. And lo, my sheaf rose and also stood up right, and behold your sheaves stood round about and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brethren said to him, shall thou indeed reign over us, or shall thou indeed have dominion over us. And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words.

They asked probably in a sneering, cynical way, you really think that you're going to reign over us. And they hated him though because he had this dream. But that doesn't end the dreams. He has another one. He dreamed yet another dream and told it his brethren and said, behold, I've dreamed a dream more, and behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made a bees 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 has dreamed? Shall I and thy mother, thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee in the earth. And he told this dream.

They understood what he was talking about then. Those who study the book of Revelation today don't seem to know when they find a woman mentioned in the 12th chapter of Revelation with the sun, moon and stars under her feet, that that means the nation Israel. These brethren understood that it's the sons of Israel that we're talking about. And it's the nation Israel as it was there at the beginning. You see, what's given in Genesis is like a bud to a flower, and that opens up as you go through scripture.

Now, here's one that's not going to open up till you get to the book of Revelation, it's a late bloomer by the way. But it's going to open up there and we ought to understand what is being said there and not attempt to guess, don't need to guess when it's made this clear here. Old Jacob understood it exactly. He says, what does this mean that your father, your mother, your brethren are going to bow down to you. Well, this boy all he could say, well, this is what I dreamed and this is it.

Verse 11, and his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying. Brethren just dismissed it. They paid no attention to it, they thought this was certainly in the realm of impossibility, and far as those 10 brethren were concerned, not one of them was going to bow down to him. And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. Now, you see, Jacob is moved way down around Hebron and these boys are keeping the sheep. Now they've gone way north, they're up about as far north of Jerusalem as they lived at Hebron, south of Jerusalem. I don't know how far it to be, 30 or 40 miles each way, so that you've got about 80 miles and they probably got as far as 100 miles from home. So you can see that they graze their sheep over that entire area.

And they took the flock way up to Shechem. And Israel said unto Joseph, do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem, come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said unto him, here am I. Joseph said, yes, I'll go, he's very obedient to his father, you notice. And he said to him, go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren and well with the flocks, and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. You see, all the way from Hebron, up to Shechem.

And a certain man found him and behold, he was wandering in the field. When he got up by Shechem, he began to look around everywhere, that's rugged terrain up there, by the way. And this boy Joseph, he couldn't find them. The man asked him saying, what seekest thou? I think the man said, well, you passed my tent here half a dozen times, who are you looking for? And he said, I seek my brethren, tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks. And the man said, they have departed hence, for I heard them say, let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan.

Now Dothan is a long ways north of Shechem, by the way. Dothan is right near the valley of Esdraelon, this is where they had gone. And so Joseph went up there and he found them. And when they saw him, afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. Now, they certainly hated him. And they say now, we're going to get rid of him, after all, they're probably 100 miles from home, and they say, we're going to get rid of him now.

And they said one to another, behold, this dreamer coming. Well, here comes the dreamer, and we're going to see about those dreams whether they'll come to pass or not. We're going to leave off our story at that particular place, but let me begin even here to call your attention to the comparison of this boy to the Lord Jesus. The analogy, you just can't miss it. To begin with, the birth of this boy Joseph, you see, was practically miraculous. In fact, it was miraculous in his case. And the Lord Jesus is virgin born, his is miraculous. Joseph was loved by his father, the Lord Jesus was loved by his father. He said, this is my beloved son.

And Joseph had the coat of many colors that set him apart, and Christ was separate from sinners. Joseph announced he was to rule over his brethren, the Lord Jesus presented himself as the Messiah. And you remember they ridiculed him, in fact, that was put in ridicule on his cross, Jesus of Nazareth, the king of the Jews. Notice the analogy. And Joseph was sent to his brethren, and Jesus came to his brethren. First to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Joseph was hated by his brethren without a cause, the Lord Jesus was hated by his brethren without a cause. Tremendous parallel, you see, friends. We'll follow that on down as we follow the story now of Joseph. So until next time, my beloved, may God richly bless you.

Host: As we continue Joseph's story, those parallels become more obvious. You just can't help but see God's hand in Joseph's life. Well, our next stop on the Bible bus is the New Testament Gospel of Matthew. To prepare, check out Dr. McGee's booklet, Why Four Gospels, and discover how the four Gospels correspond to the four ways people of every generation approach the good news of Jesus Christ. Which gospel suits you? Find out when you download Why Four Gospels from our app or at ttb.org. And if you need help locating it, just call us at 1-800-65 Bible. And then join me this weekend, won't you, for Dr. McGee's Sunday sermon, Chickens Come Home to Roost. Listen anytime online or use our search tool to find a station that carries it, just go to ttb.org. Until next time, I'm Steve Swetz, for all of us at Through the Bible, we're thanking God for your company on the Bible bus.

Host: Today's study with Dr. J. Vernon McGee is brought to you by Through the Bible, and it's made possible by the generous prayer and financial investments from listeners like you on the Bible bus all around the world.