Genesis — Chapter 37

NOW THESE ARE HIS GENERATIONS: JOSEPH, WHEN HE WAS SIXTEEN YEARS OLD, WAS FEEDING THE FLOCK WITH HIS BRETHREN. — The story of Joseph begins: the climactic narrative of Genesis, and the longest biographical section. Joseph = type of Christ: (1) beloved of his father, (2) hated by his brethren, (3) sold for silver, (4) descended into the pit (= death), (5) raised to the right hand of Pharaoh, (6) feeds the hungry world, (7) reconciles himself with his brethren through tears. Lapide develops these parallels in detail throughout Gen. 37-50.

NOW ISRAEL LOVED JOSEPH ABOVE ALL HIS SONS, BECAUSE HE HAD HIM IN HIS OLD AGE: AND HE MADE HIM A COAT OF DIVERS COLOURS. — The coat of many colours = the sign of the father's predilection. Lapide: allegorically, the coat of many colours = the plenitude of grace and charisms with which God the Father clothed Christ (\"full of grace and truth\"); or = the Scriptures, which speak of Christ in many colours of figure and prophecy. The brothers' envy is provoked by this visible mark of preference — as the envy of the devil was provoked by the elevation of human nature in the Incarnation.

AND JOSEPH HAD A DREAM, AND TOLD IT TO HIS BRETHREN: AND THEY HATED HIM THE MORE. — Joseph's two prophetic dreams: (1) the sheaves bowing (v. 7) = his brothers bowing; (2) the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowing (v. 9) = his parents and eleven brothers bowing. Note: dreams can come from God, from the angel, from nature, or from the devil — Joseph's were clearly divine (Lapide). The brothers hate him more for his dreams, as the Jews hated Christ more for His divine claims.

AND WHEN THE MIDIANITE MERCHANTS PASSED BY, THEY DREW HIM OUT OF THE PIT, AND SOLD HIM TO THE ISMAELITES FOR TWENTY PIECES OF SILVER: AND THEY LED HIM INTO EGYPT. — Joseph sold for twenty pieces of silver to the Ismaelites/Midianites — the type of Christ sold for thirty pieces of silver by Judas. Sold by his own brothers = sold by the Jews, His own people. Led into Egypt = led to death on the Cross; yet through this humiliation, the salvation of the world was prepared. Reuben's anguish at finding the pit empty (v. 29) = Judas's remorse. Judah's suggestion to sell rather than kill = the mercy of God restraining the full fury of sin.