5 One night Joseph had a dream, and when he told his brothers
about it, they hated him more than ever. 6 “Listen to this dream,” he said. 7 “We were out in the field, tying up bundles of grain. Suddenly
my bundle stood up, and your bundles all gathered around and bowed low before
mine!”
8 His brothers responded, “So you think you will be our king, do
you? Do you actually think you will reign over us?” And they hated him all the
more because of his dreams and the way he talked about them. Genesis 37:5-6 NLT New Living Translation
The jealousy fuelled by the coat of many colours was again
compounded by Joseph’s seemingly grandiose dreams. He had two dreams which he
recounted to his brothers. Rather than blame him for telling his brothers, it
may be more profitable for us to note that his confession was preceded by
belief. Several people may claim to believe, but the authenticity of a man’s
belief is reflected by his words. It is noteworthy that Joseph believed enough in his dream to
have actually mentioned it to more than one person. The man on the way to the Palace is one
who believes what God has spoken concerning him.
Joseph was not careless but was meticulous and had the details of dreams he dreamt. He thought well enough of
them to remember clearly and if he had a diary, I am really tempted to
say he must have written them down.
In this first dream, the grain(sheaves) of Joseph’s brothers gathered
round his and bowed down to it. His brothers rightly offered the correct
interpretation to this dream but sneered at the fact of the possibility of
their younger brother ruling over them(Genesis 37:8). This was something that they
could not fathom as they chose to follow
the natural order of things as their yardstick for elevation .They failed to realise
that the dreams were not self-generated and that Joseph had been chosen by God.
This choice was what made Joseph different from his brothers.
Perhaps it was not difficult for them to relate to the fact that their
father loved Joseph more than them all(after all, he was the son of the
favourite wife) but with these dreams, God also seemed to be favouring Joseph
and this was a cause of jealousy. Although they envied him, judging the end
point of glory, they did not know the path that he was going to have to take, The man on the
way to the Palace is chosen and with this comes a cross
that he must carry daily.
The man on the way to the Palace is one that has been chosen and not necessarily by the natural order of
things. This could cause others to envy him.
We also have been chosen by God (Ephesians 1:4) and the path to which he
has called us is one that would ensure that we eventually become as priests and kings (Revelation 1:6)like his son.(Romans
8:29;2 Corinthians 3:18). Although this is glorious, it is not without rigorous
training and discipline which for the present may not be attractive (Hebrews
12:1 ) but the whole journey will be worth it( Romans 8:18 ) .
Yours in His Service,
Grace Tom-Lawyer.
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