Ep 56: Technicolor Dreams and Divine Interventions - Joseph's Saga and the Echoes of Envy and Destiny

"Ever wondered how ancient narratives hold up against the complexities of modern faith? Join us on a captivating journey as we continue to uncover the life of Joseph, starting with the dreams that set a dramatic saga in motion."

We dissect the jealousy-ridden dynamics among Joseph's brothers and contemplate the wisdom—or perhaps folly—in his choice to reveal his dream-inspired destiny. Our exploration digs deep into the layers of envy and destiny and how, despite everything, the presence of a divine 'But God' echo can pivot our darkest tales towards hope.

As we navigate through the pages of biblical history, the echoes of sibling rivalry resonate through time. We're connecting dots from Joseph's harrowing betrayal to New Testament reflections, all while pondering the weighty role of the firstborn—rights, privileges, and the unexpected subversions of that status. Pastor Teddy, from Plays on Word Theater, draws these fascinating comparisons, offering fresh perspectives on stories you thought you knew. Together, we contemplate the profound implications of being sent by a father to one's brethren, a recurring theme with transformative power.

Our gratitude goes out to you, our listeners, for embarking on this scriptural odyssey with us. Until we meet again, may you find solace in the knowledge that the same guiding force present in Joseph's life is ever-present in ours, ready to offer comfort and turn the page to a new chapter in our stories.

Does any of today's podcast resonate with you?
Please let us know here:
https://playsonword.dm.networkforgood.com/forms/podcast-reviews

To Support Plays On Word Radio and Plays On Word Theater, please visit:
https://playsonword.networkforgood.com/

Plays On Word website
Plays On Word YouTube
Plays On Word Instagram
Plays On Word Facebook
Email us: team@playsonword.org

Transcript

Speaker 2: 0:00

Lord, you know you listen on the place of word. The radio is the best. And then he gets sold to Potiphar in chapter 39 with no reason to have hope and it looking very bad for him. He looks up slowly and says but God and I would encourage you and anyone else, you know everybody else listening to this Always leave space for that phrase. But God.

Speaker 1: 0:59

Hello and welcome to plays on word radio, where we discuss, analyze, work and play on the word of God. Thank you for joining us on this excursion. Today let's join Pastor Teddy, also known as Fred David Kenny Jr, the founder of plays on word theater, as he does a deep dive into the word of God.

Speaker 2: 1:20

Okay, plays on word family. My name is Fred David Kenny Jr. Yes, welcome to plays on word radio. We are, oh, and thank you, katie Kenny and Josh Taylor as well. We are still at the Calvary, southport, north Carolina, temporary staging offices. The landlords are Bill and Louise Cole. We want to thank them for letting us use the facility for our broadcasting excursion here. Yeah, I want to say hello to all you and thank you guys for tuning in and checking us out. This is always fun to dive into the word of God and to just reach out and stay in contact with every single one of you. We are so grateful for everybody that is on this ride with us.

Speaker 2: 2:04

So last week we dove into Genesis 37, looking at this whole story of Joseph, because we did Genesis Joe at America's Kessick. It was the last Genesis Joe of the 2023 season, even though it was in 2024. Go figure. We did Genesis Joe in Albania. We went out to Wisconsin in 2023 and we did it throughout the East Coast, many different places, and we saw people come to Christ. We prayed with them, prayed them through into the kingdom, and many believers that were already in the family of God were strengthened in their faith because of this great story of Joseph in the scripture. So we wanted to just drill down and take a look at it and we left off where Jacob made a robe of many colors. Remember, we talked about the long sleeves. And when the brothers saw this expression of love from their dad, jacob, towards Joseph man, they were just like oh, they hated Joseph even more.

Speaker 2: 3:10

So verse five in chapter 37 of Genesis. Here in verse five it says now Joseph had a dream and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. You would think, dude would read the room. You know what I mean. I'm sure, looking back, he probably was like wow, that probably wasn't the wisest thing for me to do to tell them, because his brothers hated him. And he talks about this dream. Listen to this verse six. He says he said here, listen to this dream I had. Behold, we were binding our sheaves in the field and behold, my sheave arose and stood upright. And behold, your, your sheaves, gathered around mine and bowed down to my sheave. His brother said to him are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

Speaker 2: 3:58

Now one of the takeaways. One of the takeaways from this whole situation is later on, joseph is going to tell the cup bearer, when the cup bearer, when he's in prison with the cup bearer and the baker, the cup bearer says we both had dreams and there's nobody here to interpret them. And Joseph says to him. He says doesn't the interpretation of dreams doesn't have to belong to God? And then he says what? What did you dream? And the cup bearer tells him his dream. So here, when Joseph is like when he's a 17 year old kid, he tells his brothers the dream that he had.

Speaker 2: 4:30

And what stands out is that his brothers correctly interpreted this dream. They knew exactly what this dream meant and it's possible they could have just, they could have taken it literally, paid it no attention and I asked just a dream whatever? But they understood the ramifications and what this dream meant. They gave a correct interpretation of this dream and it produced hatred, even more hatred because of his dreams and his words, his telling of the dream, and again, all he did was tell the truth. It's the same thing he did when his father asked him what happened out in the field when you were out there with the sons of Billa and Silva.

Speaker 2: 5:16

When Joseph brought the bad report to his dad and that didn't go over well here all he did was tell them the truth about a dream that he had. Now you would think he would have shown a little tack there and thought about it. And it's these guys, man, these guys already hate me. You know what does this dream mean. But he just went headlong and told them the dream and they were not happy at all. They understood. That always sticks out to me. They understood, you know, they gave a perfect interpretation that he was going to reign over them and he was going to rule them.

Speaker 2: 5:46

And that was the bowing down aspect Verse nine. Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said behold, I've had another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me Verse ten. But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, this time, you know, he told it to pops too. His dad said what is this dream you've had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come and bow down ourselves on the ground before you? He understood too. He had a correct interpretation.

Speaker 2: 6:25

Now, of course, his birth mother was not alive. Rachel died, giving birth to his youngest brother, benjamin. So what's Jacob mean here? He maybe Billa stepped in, stepped up to the plate. I mean there were three women that birthed all those brothers. You know there's totally four women that birthed all the brothers but one died. So there were three women left and Billa was the maid to Rachel who died. So is it possible? Billa I don't want to say adopted him, because the scripture doesn't say that Either way. Jacob says your mother, and clearly his birth mother is in the ground. So who's he talking about?

Speaker 2: 7:05

But look at verse 11,. And his brothers were jealous of him. Jealousy again. So there was jealousy because of the favor that the father was showing to Joseph. You know, there was hatred because daddy loved Joseph more than us. And then, on top of that, there was jealousy of him. And I can't help but wonder could Jacob have alleviated a lot of this jealousy? But it plays into a larger narrative that I'm going to show you here. Look at verse 12,. Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near.

Speaker 2: 7:41

Shechem, and you guys remember the story of Shechem, the young lad named Shechem who defiled their sister Dina. You can find that story in Genesis 34, same area, same town, and Israel said to Joseph are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them. Now we didn't really talk about it much, but in verse 1 of Genesis 37, the souljournings where Abraham lived and stayed and Isaac lived and stayed and then Jacob would live and stay. This episode, when they start out in Genesis 37, they're in a place called Hebron, and Hebron is significant for a few different reasons. Hebron would be the town where King David, centuries later, king David would reign for seven and a half years. They made him King and Hebron first, and then he went to Jerusalem and reigned for 33 and a half years, making a total of 40 that he would reign as King, but he reigned in Hebron. Hebron would also be a town of refuge and I believe Abner was killed in Hebron by Joab. Now that I think about it, I'm going to look it up. In fact, let me look it up now real quick. Let me see if I find it Pretty sure it was Hebron. Let's see Abner. Yep, yep, I was right. So David's commander of his army, joab, who was his listen to this Jerry Springer stuff. So David's sister, right, zeruaya. She had three sons and Asael was one of David's fighters and Joab was one of them and Joab was the commander of David's army and Abner was the commander of Saul's army. Man, how do I go into this without taking up the whole time? Asael basically wouldn't stop and Abner ended up killing him. And Joab got his revenge and killed Abner at Hebron, which was a city of refuge where someone could go. If someone was seeking revenge, somebody could go to a city of refuge, and you were not supposed to. It was a city of refuge where they could find refuge from the person that wanted to kill him. So, yeah, joab got him and David was not happy about it Because he knew that Joab brought guilt on his whole kingdom. This whole story about Joab getting rid of Abner happens in 2 Samuel 3, so if you want to check that out, but Hebron, yeah, city of refuge, and that's where, going back to Genesis 37, that's where Jacob lives.

Speaker 2: 10:24

One of the take note of what we do in the play here is this theological theme of a father, or the father sending the son that he loves to his brothers. Okay, with that in mind, you have a father sending his beloved son to his brothers, and this son of his is full of grace and truth. Are you catching what I'm laying down? Are you picking it up? So he sent them.

Speaker 2: 10:58

Verse in chapter 37 of Genesis. And in verse 15, a man found them wandering around the field and the man asked him what are you seeking? And Joseph said I'm seeking my brothers. And he said tell me please, where are they pastoring a flock? And verse 17, the man said they have gone away. For I heard them say let us go to Dothan. So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan, verse 18,. They saw him from afar and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another here comes that this dreamer. Come now, let's kill him, throw him into one of these pits or cisterns. Some of the translations say Then we will say a fierce animal has devoured him and we'll see what becomes of his dreams. Man, these guys are just. I mean, they're like they're ready to kill him. That's the level of hatred. And you remember back with Esau when my father dies, I will kill my brother, jacob, the level of hatred.

Speaker 2: 12:05

Going back to Cain and Abel, the Lord warned Cain, dude man, sin is waiting at the door, you must master it. And Cain hatred Cain, the farmer, the gardener. Because of sin, he shed the innocent blood of Abel, his brother, who was a shepherd. And Cain was older. Cain was the older brother, so the first son of Adam. Because of sin, the first son of Adam, his job was to be the gardener, the farmer. He grew crops, tended the gardens Not the Garden of Eden, but because they were kicked out by that point. But he was a farmer, a gardener, and because of sin, the first born son killed the second son, abel, who was a shepherd, and his blood spoke to God. And even there we have a picture and a type of the gospel there, because Adam was a gardener, adam being the son of God. And Adam gave up his right to be called first born over all creation. Ironically, he gave it up for a meal, just like Esau, another older brother, gave it up for a meal. When Adam sinned, he gave it up for a meal, gave up his right to be called first born over all creation, not necessarily first born, but he gave up his right to be first, the older will serve the younger.

Speaker 2: 13:41

When Esau and Jacob were in the womb of Rebecca, she was like what is going on here? And the Lord told her the older will serve the younger and that's a reoccurring theme. But not to get lost in that rabbit trail there, we'll address that, if I haven't lost you guys on that, because it's getting a little deeper there. But they saw him from afar verse 18, and they wanted to kill him, man. They were like that's it, we're going to kill this guy, then we're going to see what comes of his dreams. But Reuben verse 21,. But Reuben heard it and he rescued them out of their hands, saying let us not take his life. Reuben said to them shed no blood, throw him into this pit here in this wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him. And he did this because he wanted to rescue him it says in the text and restore him to his father. Because Reuben and we say this in the play Reuben, he was in hot water, he was in hot water with Jacob, the dad. And in the play we can't go into it, we don't have time to go into that whole story. But Reuben, listen to this mess After Joseph's mom dies, when Rachel dies, just outside of Bethlehem. Right, let me go to it, I'll show you, I'll point this out to you After Rachel dies.

Speaker 2: 14:53

In Genesis 35, verse 22, it says while Israel lived in that land, reuben went and lay with Billah, his father's concubine. Here she's called a concubine, but same concept. But an Israel heard of it or Jacob heard of it and that's all you get. But Reuben was the oldest son and he went and slept with Billah, who was the mother of Dan. Now think about this mess. I mean you think about the dysfunction here, absolute dysfunction. Reuben should not have done that. That's what kings would do to cement, or basically let everybody know that they were in charge.

Speaker 2: 15:41

We have that early on in the story of Solomon. His brother was trying to get David's concubine and basically, reading over that, you might be like ah, what's going on here? Man Boy, solomon's kind of harsh, why won't he just let my brother have her? Solomon's response is really what gives it away? What does he want the whole kingdom to? Absalom, david's son, went and slept with David's concubines on the roof. That was a tactic of dominance, letting everybody know they were in charge. So was this just stupidity on Reuben's part, or was he trying to take authority from dad? Who knows? I don't want to go beyond the scripture there, but either way it put him in a bad position.

Speaker 2: 16:30

Here. Reuben is in the story with Joseph. Reuben is trying. He's like he really wants to make things right with his dad. He's like oh man, I want to rescue Joseph here, don't kill him, I'll bring Joseph back and that'll make my dad happy. So either way, jacob was not happy with Reuben and you can kind of see it in the response when Reuben offers to go, take Benjamin down there, jacob's like my son's not going down there with you.

Speaker 2: 16:54

Back to 37 here, so verse 23. So when Joseph came to his brothers and his brothers saw him before he saw them, they stripped him of the robe of many colors that he wore, or the long sleeve robe, and they threw him into the cistern. There wasn't any water in it. The pit, verse 25. Then they sat down to eat and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing gum balm murrin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers listen, judah is the one who really kind of saves his life, in a sense. What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our own flesh and blood. He is our brother. Let us not kill him. I mean, he is our own brother. So Judah played an important role in saving the life of Joseph and his brothers listened to him Verse 28.

Speaker 2: 17:55

Then the Midianite traders passed by and they drew. So I wait, a second Midianite or Ishmaelite? Well, it's a group of Midianites and Ishmaelites, midian and Ishmael. Both were sons of Abraham, joseph's great grandfather. Ishmael was actually the first son of Abraham. Again, the first son is not the one who has the blessing, it was Isaac. The second son, not the first Adam, didn't have the blessing, but the last Adam, christ Jesus, he's the one. It was an Esau who got the blessing, but the next one, jacob. This theme just continues through scripture.

Speaker 2: 18:30

So the Midianites and Ishmaelites. They were descendants of these two men and their family members I mean not immediate family, but they traced their lineage back to Abraham also and they bought him for 20 shekels of silver, the price of a slave, and they took Joseph down into Egypt and just as someone close to Joseph not close to him personally, but family, wise, close to him there was a closeness of familiarity. His brothers sold him for the price of a slave and Christ Jesus was given up for handful of silver by Judas. He sold him out this is blood money, he said, and threw the money back. After he repented or regretted it, he changed his mind and said this is not right. That's a whole other story and we definitely don't have time to get into that right now. But they took Joseph down into Egypt.

Speaker 2: 19:27

You got to keep in mind this kid is 17 years old. He doesn't know the language, he knows no one. He doesn't know anything. He's a 17 year old kid. Think back to when you were 17. Some of you, that's a long time ago. Maybe some of you haven't even gotten there yet, and don't mind me, I'm eating raisins while I'm talking to you. How much did you really know about the world and the way the world works, how to deal with people? At least you had people around you that spoke your language, and that's an assumption on my part. Maybe some of you didn't, but I'd be willing to bet that the majority of people listening to this had, were not in a foreign land, sold as a slave and knew no one and knew, didn't know the language.

Speaker 2: 20:03

And Joseph says in the play he kind of alludes to well, maybe my brothers will come get me. You know, maybe they've taken this kind of far, but they wouldn't do this, they wouldn't steep to the stoop, to this level. And he says the hours turn into days and the days they turn into weeks and the weeks turned into years. It's a low point in the play, not the lowest point, but it is a low point. And these low points in the play that we do and in the text itself, it's not just the play, the play comes from this text.

Speaker 2: 20:33

In the text Joseph is is at a low point in his life and no doubt he feels limited options, he's not happy about his situation and he really has no reason to have any hope. But in that story, when Joseph is sold, and then he gets sold to Potiphar in chapter 39, with no reason to have hope and it looking very bad for him, he looks up slowly and says but God and I would encourage you and anyone else, you know, everybody else listening to this always leave space for for that phrase, but God, god was with Joseph when he was a slave. God never left Joseph and God has never left you. We're the ones that leave his presence, we're the ones that forget who he is and who we are in him. He does not change like shifting shadows. He doesn't change. He's the same yesterday, today and forever.

Speaker 2: 21:43

But God and some of you guys listening right now might be in that position right now, where you're feeling like a little little jammed up maybe, maybe a lot jammed up, maybe discouraged, maybe lacking hope, maybe feeling like you've been sold as a slave in, you know, to the land of Egypt. Whatever it is. You feel like you have no options, you feel discouraged. Let me just say this this story is just beginning and we're going to see God's sovereignty over this entire situation and how God is with Joseph throughout the good and the bad. And Joseph will look back as an older man and an old man in life and be able to say that he lived in the goodness of God even in the bad times. But God was with him and we have that same option, we have that same comfort, we have that same person.

Speaker 2: 22:49

Can you believe that the person that was with Joseph, with him is the same person that comforts you and me, like he knew Joseph. He knows Joseph personally. It's not an academic thing. This is the same God that we call Abba, father, daddy, and if you don't know him, if it's academic for you and you've not given your life to God through Christ Jesus, you are missing out. You are missing out on the blessing and you can't say but God, unfortunately you can't, because there's a major obstacle and that is sin. That needs to be dealt with. And when you come to Christ by faith and say Lord, I believe, forgive me of my sins, come into my life, live through me. When you do that, you've passed from death to life and you are in the family of God. He made it that simple Because we have a way of making things way more difficult than they need to be.

Speaker 2: 23:58

We also make things that are not efficient and we usually don't do things the best possible way. The good thing about God is every decision he makes is perfect, is the right way. If there was another way for you to be saved, if there was another way for you to be saved, believe me, if there was a better way, god would have made a better way, but the way that he has chosen is the best possible way. You can bank on that. This is our great God and Savior. I would encourage you to reach out to him. He's not far from any one of us.

Speaker 2: 24:39

I tell you what we're at a time again. We're going to continue this, I think next week. We have something special for you, though, and then we'll continue with our Genesis Joe breakdown. I'm going to play some of the clips from the play for you. You haven't even got to that yet. So until next week, may the Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Speaker 1: 25:31

This program was made possible by the Plays on Word family of supporters. To find out more, check out our website at PlaysOnWordorg.