13 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 to him, Here am I14 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.15 And a certain man found him, and,
behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What
seekest thou?16 And he said, I seek my
brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.17 And
the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to
Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. (Genesis 37:13-17) New Living
Translation
17 “They have moved on from here,”
the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.-New
International Version NIV
Joseph was called and asked by to
his father to go and check the welfare of his brothers .They were living
in Hebron which was about 50miles away from Shechem. This must have been of
great inconvenience to him but this man on the way to the palace was ready to
do so.When Joseph got to Shechem, he however did not find his brothers. It appears
that as he continued the search for his brothers, he may have gotten himself lost.
The next verse introduces Joseph as wandering when he was found by a
certain man(Genesis 37:15). Although this man is unnamed, he proves to be of immense help to
Joseph as we are told that he was found by him.
This certain man then asked Joseph the million dollar that we sometimes
not want to be asked so we do not look at stupid but when Joseph was asked, he answered truthfully and
said he was looking for his brothers.
The man on the way to the Palace is a man that is vulnerable enough to ask questions.He is not afraid to admit he does
not know. Pride does not get in the way . It takes humility to learn anything(Proverbs 11:2,Psalms 25:9). Sometimes
rather than simply admitting our ignorance, we subtly avoid it by giving
spiritual answers. But for Joseph, the man on the Way to the Palace he
was not ashamed to ask and because he asked, he was redirected. This saved him
the many hours and time he would have spent in vain searching all over Shechem
especially as his brothers had left for Dotham. Joseph must have thanked the
man while he redirected his search.
Joseph
did not ignore the certain man because he was unknown, he reckoned that the man
was God sent.The man on the Way to the palace is a man that recognizes
destiny helpers. That certain man was a destiny helper whose conversation with
Joseph helped him to redirect his steps. This certain man told Joseph that his brothers had moved to Dotham(Genesis
37:17).
Now
Dothan was another 15 miles up north from Shechem. We see the heart of Joseph
here as he moves further on to find his brothers.
It
is easy to gloss over these facts but it takes a servant’s heart and one who
really wants to do something to go another 15 miles. Joseph may have had his
plans for the week when he left Hebron from Shechem, he may have calculated how
long it would take and made some appointments which would all probably have
gotten cancelled because he still had to travel further north. Let us also remember
that all of this travelling was not to get to a sale of coats of many colours. It was all to
go and check the welfare of his brothers who had not hidden their dislike of
him.
The
man on the Way to the palace is also someone
who moves with the present word of God. When Joseph left home, his father had
told him to go to Shechem(Genesis 37:14) but when he got to Shechem and did not find them, he
was flexible enough to get the next word to move him to accomplish his mission.
There are so many times we may be running with a word we heard several months
ago forgetting that faith comes from hearing which is a present continuous tense(Hebrews
11:1). The man on the Way to the Palace must be ready at any time to check on
what God is saying .
Joseph
was also not dissuaded by the fact that the brothers had moved from Shechem. He
was determined to fulfil the mission his father had given(Genesis 37:17). The man on the way to the
Palace is a finisher. It does not matter the task at hand but once it
has been committed to his hands, he can be trusted to get the job done. He does
not allow seemingly obstacles to stop him from accomplishing his goals.
In
this post, we have seen that the man on the way to
the Palace is one that is vulnerable enough to ask questions,is one who hears a present word from God ,a man that
recognizes destiny helpers and certainly a finisher.
Yours in His Service,
Grace Tom-Lawyer.
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