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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Genesis 37:5 - 37:11
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The Dreams of Joseph
v. 5. And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren; and they hated him yet the more. Joseph, not realizing the situation in its full gravity, told his dream with boyish eagerness and frankness, the result being, however, that he poured oil upon the flames of the hatred against him.
v. 6. And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed.
v. 7. For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. As Isaac had tilled the soil in addition to grazing his herds and flocks, Gen_26:12, so Jacob had at least some land under cultivation, and Joseph was familiar with the work, having been called upon to assist his brothers in binding the loose grain-stalks into sheaves, or bundles. The interpretation of his dream was obvious, namely, that he would be exalted above his brothers.
v. 8. And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us, or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us, lord it over us as king?And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. They added to their hatred of him, partly on account of the dream itself, which made them feel uneasy, partly because he told them of it.
v. 9. And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more: And, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. Here Joseph was also entirely ingenuous, being half puzzled and half delighted, since the repetition of the same idea in the dream made its fulfillment probable.
v. 10. And he told it to his father and to his brethren; and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother, either Bilhah or Leah, and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? There is a note of uneasiness in Jacob's stern reproof, as if he could not quite persuade himself that the dream was merely the result of false ambition.
v. 11. And his brethren envied him; they continued their attitude of hateful aloofness;but his father observed the saying, he kept and remembered the words, recalling them, probably, when he was told of Joseph's remarkable elevation some twenty-two years later. It was nothing unusual in those days for the Lord to make known His plans by means of dreams, and He often provided reliable interpreters as well. It is foolish for people in our days to set up arbitrary explanations of dreams.