Genesis 37:5 - Meaning and Application

Here, Joseph tells the dreams that came to him from God (Genesis 37:6-7, 9-10). He was still very young, about seventeen years old, but he was godly, devoted, and well disposed. That made him fit to receive these gracious signs from God. Joseph had much suffering ahead of him, so God gave him an early glimpse of his future honor. This was meant to support and comfort him through the long and painful troubles he would face. In the same way, Christ had the joy set before Him, and Christians do as well.

God often prepares His people in advance for trials they cannot yet see. He gives comforts that fit the troubles He knows are coming. Joseph’s dreams showed this. In one dream, his brothers’ sheaves of grain bowed to his sheaf, pointing to a time when they would honor him by coming to him for food, with their empty sheaves bowing to his full one. In the other dream, the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed to him (Genesis 37:9). Joseph showed more of a prophet’s simplicity than a politician’s caution, because he told what he had seen. He must have known his brothers already hated him, so this would only anger them more. Still, if he spoke honestly and simply, God used it to humble his brothers. Joseph dreamed of being lifted up, but he did not dream of prison. Many young people begin life thinking only of success and pleasure, and never imagine trouble.

His brothers took the dreams very badly and grew even more angry with him (Genesis 37:8). “Will you really reign over us?” they said. They understood the dream correctly, that Joseph would rule over them. In this, even his enemies became interpreters of his dream, as in Gideon’s story (Judges 7:13-14), and as Jesus’ hearers understood that He spoke about them (Matthew 21:45). The later events matched that meaning exactly (Genesis 42:6 and following). But they mocked the idea with contempt: “Will you, who are only one, rule over us, who are many? Will you, the youngest, rule over us, the older ones?” This is how the rule of Jesus Christ, our Joseph, has been despised and resisted by worldly, unbelieving people. They cannot bear the thought that this man should reign over them. Even the authority of the righteous in the morning of the resurrection is often treated with scorn.

Jacob gave Joseph a mild rebuke, but he also kept the matter in mind (Genesis 37:10-11). He likely corrected Joseph to keep his brothers from taking greater offense. Even so, he paid more attention to the dreams than he seemed to at first. He may have hinted that it was only an empty dream, because Joseph’s mother was named in it even though she had died long before. Yet the sun, moon, and eleven stars simply pointed to the whole family, who would depend on Joseph and be glad to receive help from him. God’s people often struggle in their faith because they misunderstand His promises and then point to the obstacles that seem to make them impossible. But God is doing His own work, and He will bring it to pass, whether we understand it rightly or not. Jacob, like Mary (Luke 2:51), kept these things in his heart, and he surely remembered them later when the promise came true.