A Sin Concealed

Coming up next on Renewing Your Mind a dream that outrageous gift and extremely jealous brothers of the depth of their hypocrisy on this occasion they are the ones who stripped Joseph of his coat, dip it in the blood of a kid and then present this tunic that they know very well is Joseph's tunic and they're saying, do you think this is your sons. Maybe a familiar story, but instructing every time we hear Joseph's brothers knowingly sold them into slavery.

We also lied to their father about the whole thing today on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. RC Sproul Texas back to Israel 2000 years before the birth of Christ. We will see how our sovereign God preserves his people and set the stage for the Messiah as we continue now with our study of the life of Joseph. We turn our attention to chapter 37 of Genesis beginning at verse 12. This, of course, follows the incidents in which Joseph had dreams. The first of which he announced to his brothers that would indicate that sometime in the future they would be bowing down before him, and then his second dream involved bowing down not only of his brothers but his parents as well. Verse 12 picks up the narrative. At this point. Then his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem and Israel. Remember, that's Jacob. Israel said to Joseph or not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem, I will send you to them. So he said to him, here I am, and he said to him, please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks and bring back word to me.

So he sent him out of the valley of the Hebrew on and he went to Shechem now. Just as a historical note here geographical note might get the impression from reading this that Jacob is sending Joseph down the road apiece. Maybe 1/2 a mile or mile to the fields where the flocks would be grazing and the brothers would be attending after the flock, but remember that the Jewish people were semi nomads and they were nomadic because they would move living in tents as their livestock found fertile pastures in which to graze. And as the land were somewhat sparse with the grazing land and were also given to seasonal fluctuations. This was the main reason why these people moved around so much.

But now when we get to the case of the semi nomads. In some cases, the people would find a place to live, and then would have servants or sons. In this case, taking care of the sheep and they would follow the sheep into sometimes distant areas.

While the main family remained rooted in one place. Now we are told that Jacob sends Joseph to Shechem from the Valley of he brought and I don't know the exact mileage between the Hebrew on and Shechem, but it's about 40 some miles distance so for a 17-year-old boy at this time traveling alone. This is quite a journey to make. He didn't have a train ride and he would go on this journey in danger of bandits and so on and so he was going to search for his brothers and for the flocks so that Jacob could get a report from the brothers not now you see why he would be interested in hearing from them because they wouldn't be reporting in every night because they were so far removed following after the sheep. So then we read that the Joseph set out in verse 15 we read a certain man found him.

And there he was wandering in the field and the man asked him, saying, what are you seeking I'm presuming that at this point Joseph had made it to Shechem and were in the neighborhood of Shechem and was wandering around in the fields looking for his brothers and for his father's flocks, and hadn't been able to find them. So this certain man finds that Joseph and asked him what are you seeking any set I'm seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks and the man said they have departed from here for. I heard them say let us go to Dothan and so Joseph went after his brothers and found them, and though thin, mild though thin is about 10 miles or so further north of the Valley of April and so and all this trip was over 50 miles Joseph undertook in order to find his brothers and the flock now in verse 18 we read know when they saw him a far off even before he came near them. They conspired against him to kill him. So we see that the even though they have been removed from a distance from their brother the raging jealousy had built up to them and to such a degree that now they were conspiring with one another on how to do away with them and then they said to one another look. This dreamer is coming, therefore let us not kill him and cast him in the sump pit and we shall say some wild beast has divided and we shall see what will become of his dream. So again them in the. The hostility that has arisen in the hearts of his brothers over these dreams is an incredible thing and there's a way to show him about his dreams were in a killing or enthralled into a pit barium and will go home and tell her father that he was devoured by a wild beast and that'll be the end of his coat and his dreams.

But Reuben heard it and he delivered him out of there hand and said let us not kill him and Ruben said to them shed no blood, but cast them into this pit which is in the wilderness and do not lay a hand on him that he might deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his flock. So Ruben intercedes at this point in behalf of his brother and he comes up with a counter scheme. He said let's not kill lamb so that his blood is on our hands.

Let's just throw them into the pit and leave them there is thinking that he can satisfy their brother's vengeful rage by deserting the brother in the pit and Ruben's of the mind that after the brothers leave Joseph in the pit.

He can sneak back and rescue him and take him back safely to his father so it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, tunic of many colors that was on him, and then they took him and cast him into a pit and the pit was empty. There was no water in it is a significant little detail. Remember that were talking here about the desert region of the Middle East works as I said had very sparse growth upon which to graze livestock and it was necessary in those days as it would be today for those shepherds who would be working out in the heat and so on to carry an abundance of water with them. We remember how important wells were in Jacob's day and to throw a young man into this pit which is exposed to the beating sun and not provide him any water is to guarantee is certain death, and they sat down to eat a meal. Again, this seems like an insignificant detail of the narrative, but it's one that talks volumes about the hardness of the hearts of Joseph's brothers that they could put their young brother in a pit like this, exposing him to certain death, and then sit down and devour a meal. I don't know how you are, but whenever I feel guilty.

It always hits me in my stomach. There's nothing worse than that. That upset stomach that comes from feeling awful about one's sin, but it didn't bother these men. They sat down and gorge themselves with a meal and they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels bearing spices all in murder on their way to carry them down to Egypt what they see in the distance is a caravan convulsing movies of camel caravans. Caravans were used to transport the goods of the merchants from commercial center to commercial center in this particular caravan was laden with precious spices and ointments, and they were taking them from the northern regions down into Egypt where there would be a lucrative market for these goods so Judah said to his brothers. What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh, and his brothers listened. Now these two brothers Ruben and Judah are two of the elder brothers of this group of men and we would expect them to have a little bit more wisdom and also a little more sense of purpose active care for their younger brother and they both now Ruben and Judah had interceded against the original conspiracy simply to kill Joseph now again Judah when he makes his suggestion apparently does not know of Ruben's secret plan to rescue Joseph. After the brothers leave him in the pit and Judah takes his own tack of trying to persuade the brothers not to kill Joseph. However, it's hardly as compassionate as the plan of Ruben and we don't know for sure whether he is acting out of some kind of concern for Joseph or if he's only aggravating the plot by seeking to find some profit in it. In the meantime but he's explaining his plan is a better deal. He said, look here, some traders coming instead of killing Joseph we can get rid of him just as easily if we sell him to the this caravan at the Ishmaelites and will get up, make a profit will be rid of Joseph and his blood will not be on our ants and then Midianite traders passed by, so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 shekels of silver, and they took Joseph to Egypt. Now we remember the beginning of our study of Joseph that I mentioned that many commentators in church history have seen in Joseph a type and Old Testament type of Christ. And here's again one of the reasons for that tip a logical interpretation of the story of Joseph and that Joseph is now betrayed and sold into slavery for 20 pieces of silver. Just as Jesus had been betrayed by his brothers as it were his disciples into the hands of a Jesus enemies by so many pieces of silver and then Ruben returned to the pit and indeed Joseph was not in the pit and he tore his clothes and he returned to his brothers and said the lad is no more, and I where shall I go now apparently what's going on here is that Ruben must've been absent during the further discussions and in the change of plans and so his plan of rescuing Joseph from the pit runs awry. And so in any case, he tears his own clothes and returned, saying the lad is no more, and I where shall I go, so they took Joseph tunic killed a kid of the goats and dipped the tunic in the blood. Then they sent the tunic of many colors and they brought it to their father and said, we have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not. The depth of their hypocrisy on this occasion they are the ones who stripped Joseph of his coat, dip it in the blood of a kid and then present this tunic that they know very well is Joseph tunic and they can hardly mistake this tunic for it since it was extraordinary in the first place and unique and they show it to Jacob when they get home and they see the scope covered with blood.

No sign of Joseph and they're saying, do you think this is your son's whose tunic is this now we remember the O.J. Simpson trial in which the people of America were treated or mistreated to laborious hours of technical information about blood analysis and DNA testing methods that we have in the modern day. If somebody tried to pull this caper in today's world, it wouldn't take long for the detectives to discern that the blood on the garment was not human blood. But in antiquity of course there was no such blood analysis available or DNA testing that could implicate the brothers in their crime and so we read in verse 33 and he that is Jacob recognized it and said it is my son's tunic, a wild beast has devoured him without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces so Jacob is reacting to the evidence that he has and the evidence proves to him beyond a reasonable doubt that his son has been killed by an animal, then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist and mourned for his son many days and all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and he said, for I shall go down into the grave to my son in morning. Thus his father wept for him.

Now when we again seek to read between the lines of what's going on here. It's striking to me that the father of this lost son is tortured by grief. A grief that had to be mixed with a sense of guilt part of the grief. Obviously the lion share of the grief was his morning over the obvious death of the son that was so beloved to him, but he also had to mix in with that grief, the knowledge that it was his idea to send Joseph on this arduous journey as a young boy and put Joseph at risk for his life again, we want to be careful that we don't overdo the typical logical references from Joseph to Jesus, but we do see that when Jesus was put to death.

He was put to death because he was sent by his father on that mission.

I don't want to include in this a heresy called posture posse and-ism by which the father suffers in the death of the son on the cross, but certainly in this human relationship. The father suffers enormously in his perception of the loss of the son, but the other details of the text that I find egregious is that we are told that when Jacob is beside himself with grief and he won't stop morning and day after day he is devastated by the loss of his son. We are told that the other sons and his daughters came to him to comfort him.

Now I'm assuming at this point at least, that the daughters did not know what really had taken place. Although it's possible that the brothers had let the cat out of the bag to some of them but they were probably tightlipped in their own attempt to conceal their crime, but all of the passion of Jacob was not enough to move the brothers to repentance. They had to watch the consequences of their crime in the pain of their father, their own father every day so you see that they have sinned not only against their brother, but they have committed a dreadful sin against their father as well and they compound this by hypocritically bringing comfort or trying to bring comfort to their father.

There still trying to get in his good graces probably still harboring the resentment that they had formerly had the drove them to their crime against their brother also Jacob said, for I shall go down into the grave to my son in morning. You know that one of the techniques that mystery writers use and novelists in general is foreshadowing and they will set up a sequence and kind of alert the reader to a danger that's about to take place, and in this case, the foreshadowing is Jacobs self prediction is saying there's not going to be any end to my grief on this that I will go to my own grave and join Joseph in the grave grieving every we know the story and know the outcome of the schooling. No Jacobs conclusion is wrong, but it adds to the drama and we have to understand that at this point he has no home. We can feel the grief that Jacob was experiencing their camp unit makes his shake our heads and wonder at the cruelty of Joseph's brothers, the life of Joseph is our focus on this Saturday addition of Renewing Your Mind. I'm Lee Webb and were glad you joined us today. Each Saturday we returned to doctors, groceries from the book of Exodus and we would like for you to have every lesson of the series for your own library when you give a donation of any amount to leader ministries. We will send them to you as part of a special resource. We put together that includes several teaching series. It's a collection that contains four complete DVD series, including knowing Christ knowing Scripture and the parables of Jesus. Plus, you receive four complete audio series including the message we heard today from the life of Joseph, recalling at the RC Sproul teaching collection and we encourage you to call us today with your gift of any amount to request to reach us online@renewingyourmind.org or you can call us at 800-435-4343 were grateful for your financial gifts leader ministries is expanding our work around the world responding to an amazing rise in demand for sound biblical teaching.

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When you give a gift today of any amount we will say thank you by sending you RC Sproles teaching collection request. These eight teaching series when you call us at 800-435-4343 web address again is Renewing Your Mind.work before we go today. Let's return Darcy's lesson on Joseph for a final thought crime begets crime. Few of us have been guilty of killing a brother or sister but all of us have been guilty of sin, and when we commit sin we do several things. One of which is to try to justify our sin to ourselves to rationalize to use to make it seem that our sin was actually the right thing to do at the time the right thing to do at the time. Obviously the brothers in their conspiracy had comforted each other that they were only doing what was right that Joseph was in the wrong.

He had to go and that they were justified in selling him into slavery, but the next thing that happens with our sin. After we attempt to justify it is, we try to conceal it, and we see that these men had gone to great lengths to conceal their sin and not only did they try to conceal it in the first instance. One lie leads to another lie and another lie and another lie and so the pattern that were watching unfolding here in the brothers of Joseph is our pattern. It's the human pattern.

It's the way we sin, and so less. We stand in total judgment of these men we need to be careful to learn from their pattern lest we continue to duplicate next Saturday.

We will follow Joseph to Egypt for another amazing event in his life he will be sold to a very important man. Please join us again next week for Renewing Your Mind