Favor and Hatred Genesis 37:1-17
JR Miller said, “When a story of providence begins – we never know what the end will be.” Often, we live so much in the present, we forget where we have come from, what God has led us through. We are like the Israelites who forgot that they were slaves and had their children murdered when we get out into the wilderness and all we have is mana. But an honest remembering of past events will help drive us toward thankfulness and bring us encouragement for the trials of the day. As we begin chapter 37 of Genesis, we open the last book of the book of beginnings. We began with God in the beginning and have traced the curse and the promises as they progressed through time. And we have finally arrived at the story of Joseph and how God providentially leads his people into Egypt. We begin by looking at the first 17 verses of chapter 37. In verses 1-4 we find an introduction to Joseph. We have only heard of his birth up until this point and now we will get to meet this young man. In verses 5-11, we find the dreamer and Joseph is given two dreams by God and we are told of the response of his family because of those dreams. Finally, in 12-17 we find God providentially setting the stage for Joseph’s entry into Egypt.
