Genesis 37:12-18 - They plotted to kill him

37:12-14

We now see the effects of Joseph’s boasting, and the evil reaction of his brothers. Joseph was responsible for his boastful attitude, but his brothers were responsible for their reaction to it. People may treat us badly, but we are responsible for how we react. We should also note that while we see the outworkings of man’s sin, we also see that through it all God was working out His plan. Indeed, earlier He had told Abraham that the move to Egypt and the enslavement would take place (Gen 15:13). This foreshadowed the ultimate outworking of evil and the outworking of God’s plans for salvation at Calvary.

Jacob doesn’t seem to have that strong a grasp on what is happening, what his sons are up to, and send Joseph to find out. This does not seem to be the wisest of decisions? Yet it was all part of God’s plan.

37:15-18

Joseph seems to be a little lost, and a man comes to his aid. For some reason the man seems to know where the brothers had gone to, heading towards Dothan. The journey he had to make was about 20 miles.

When the brothers see Joseph from afar they are not best pleased and conspired to kill him. There is a parallel with Jesus here. Joseph was destined to be their “king”, but the brothers did not want him to rule over them, so they conspired to kill him. The Jews did not want Jesus to be their king, so they too conspired to kill Him, and succeeded. In both cases, despite the evil of man, the will of God prevailed, and salvation came.