Genesis 37:5

Jacob continues to sojourn in Canaan, Gen 37:1. Joseph, being seventeen years of age, is employed in feeding the flocks of his father, Gen 37:2. Is loved by his father more than the rest of his brethren, Gen 37:3. His brethren envy him, Gen 37:4. His dream of the sheaves, Gen 37:5-7. His brethren interpret it, and hate him on the account, Gen 37:8. His dream of the sun, moon, and eleven stars, Gen 37:9-12. Jacob sends him to visit his brethren, who were with the flock in Shechem, Gen 37:13, Gen 37:14. He wanders in the field, and is directed to go to Dothan, whither his brethren had removed the flocks, Gen 37:15-17. Seeing him coming they conspire to destroy him, Gen 37:18-20. Reuben, secretly intending to deliver him, counsels his brethren not to kill, but to put him into a pit, Gen 37:21, Gen 37:22. They strip Joseph of his coat of many colors, and put him into a pit, Gen 37:23, Gen 37:24. They afterwards draw him out, and sell him to a company of Ishmaelite merchants for twenty pieces of silver, who carry him into Egypt, Gen 37:25-28. Reuben returns to the pit, and not finding Joseph, is greatly affected, Gen 37:29, Gen 37:30. Joseph's brethren dip his coat in goat's blood to persuade his father that he had been devoured by a wild beast, Gen 37:31-33. Jacob is greatly distressed, Gen 37:34, Gen 37:35. Joseph is sold in Egypt to Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard, Gen 37:36.

THE DREAMS OF JOSEPH. (Gen. 37:5-36) Joseph dreamed a dream--Dreams in ancient times were much attended to, and hence the dream of Joseph, though but a mere boy, engaged the serious consideration of his family. But this dream was evidently symbolical. The meaning was easily discerned, and, from its being repeated under different emblems, the fulfilment was considered certain (compare Gen 41:32), whence it was that "his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying" [Gen 37:11].

And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren,.... As a dream, in the simplicity of his heart; not understanding it, or imagining there was any meaning in it; he told it not with any design to affront them, but as an amusement, and for their diversion, there being something in it odd and ridiculous, as he himself might think: and they hated him yet the more; not only because he had carried an ill report of them to his father, and because he loved him more than they, but still more because of this dream; the meaning of which they at once understood, though he did not, which yet they supposed he did, and that he told them it in a boasting manner, and to irritate them.

This hatred was increased when Joseph told them of two dreams that he had had: viz., that as they were binding sheaves in the field, his sheaf "stood and remained standing," but their sheaves placed themselves round it and bowed down to it; and that the sun (his father), and the moon (his mother, "not Leah, but Rachel, who was neither forgotten nor lost"), and eleven stars (his eleven brethren) bowed down before him. These dreams pointed in an unmistakeable way to the supremacy of Joseph; the first to supremacy over his brethren, the second over the whole house of Israel. The repetition seemed to establish the thing as certain (cf. Gen 41:32); so that not only did his brethren hate him still more "on account of his dreams and words" (Gen 37:8), i.e., the substance of the dreams and the open interpretation of them, and become jealous and envious, but his father gave him a sharp reproof for the second, though he preserved the matter, i.e., retained it in his memory (שׁמר lxx διετήρησε, cf. συνετήρει, Luk 2:19). The brothers with their ill-will could not see anything in the creams but the suggestions of his own ambition and pride of heart; and even the father, notwithstanding his partiality, was grieved by the second dream. The dreams are not represented as divine revelations; yet they are not to be regarded as pure flights of fancy from an ambitious heart, but as the presentiments of deep inward feelings, which were not produced without some divine influence being exerted upon Joseph's mind, and therefore were of prophetic significance, though they were not inspired directly by God, inasmuch as the purposes of God were still to remain hidden from the eyes of men for the saving good of all concerned.

Here, I. Joseph relates the prophetical dreams he had, Gen 37:6, Gen 37:7, Gen 37:9, Gen 37:10. Though he was now very young (about seventeen years old), yet he was pious and devout, and well-inclined, and this fitted him for God's gracious discoveries of himself to him. Joseph had a great deal of trouble before him, and therefore God gave him betimes this prospect of his advancement, to support and comfort him under the long and grievous troubles with which he was to be exercised. Thus Christ had a joy set before him, and so have Christians. Note, God has ways of preparing his people beforehand for the trials which they cannot foresee, but which he has an eye to in the comforts with which he furnishes them. His dreams were, 1. That his brethren's sheaves all bowed to his, intimating upon what occasion they should be brought to do homage to him, namely, in seeking to him for corn; their empty sheaves should bow to his full one. 2. That the sun, and moon, and eleven stars, did obeisance to him, Gen 37:9. Joseph was more of a prophet than a politician, else he would have kept this to himself, when he could not but know that his brethren did already hate him and that this would but the more exasperate them. But, if he told it in his simplicity, yet God directed it for the mortification of his brethren. Observe, Joseph dreamed of his preferment, but he did not dream of his imprisonment. Thus many young people, when they are setting out in the world, think of nothing but prosperity and pleasure, and never dream of trouble. II. His brethren take it very ill, and are more and more enraged against him (Gen 37:8): Shalt thou indeed reign over us? See here, 1. How truly they interpreted his dream, that he should reign over them. Those become the expositors of his dream who were e…

37:5-11 God confirmed his choice of this faithful son as the eventual leader of the whole family through two symbolic dreams. This is the first of three dream sequences in chs 37–50 (see 40:1–41:36; cp. 15:13; 20:3; 28:12-15; 31:24). Dreams carried weight as a form of divine communication, especially if the dream revelation was given twice.