Genesis 37:7
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We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
At this chapter begins the story of Joseph, who, in every subsequent chapter but one to the end of this book, makes the greatest figure. He was Jacob's eldest son by his beloved wife Rachel, born, as many eminent men were, of a mother that had been long barren. His story is so remarkably divided between his humiliation and his exaltation that we cannot avoid seeing something of Christ in it, who was first humbled and then exalted, and, in many instances, so as to answer the type of Joseph. It also shows the lot of Christians, who must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom. In this chapter we have, I. The malice his brethren bore against him. They hated him, 1. Because he informed his father of their wickedness (Gen 37:1, Gen 37:2). 2. Because his father loved him (Gen 37:3, Gen 37:4). 3. Because he dreamed of his dominion over them (Gen 37:5-11). II. The mischiefs his brethren designed and did to him. 1. The kind visit he made them gave an opportunity (Gen 37:12-17). 2. They designed to slay him, but determined to starve him (Gen 37:18-24). 3. They changed their purpose, and sold him for a slave (Gen 37:25-28). 4. They made their father believe that he was torn in pieces (Gen 37:29-35). 5. He was sold into Egypt to Potiphar (Gen 37:36). And all this was working together for good.
Open source ↗37:7 The bundles of grain hint at how Joseph’s authority over his family would be achieved (see 42:1-3).
Open source ↗Original language
The Hebrew and Greek words behind this passage, with Strong's numbers — from openscriptures (CC BY-SA).
Cross-references
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Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.
When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought, and they bowed to the ground before him.
Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
And He is the head of the body, the church; He is the beginning and firstborn from among the dead, so that in all things He may have preeminence.
My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’