Stripped
View daily reading plan: Genesis 37.23-25
The first thing that the brothers did was to strip Joseph of his coat. It symbolised everything that they resented about him, his favour with his father, the good behaviour that exposed their wickedness, and the dreams anticipating his authority over them. Removing the coat was their first priority.
Here again, there is a definite parallel with the experience of the Saviour. “They stripped him” (Mt 27.28). He became the plaything of soldiers who removed His clothing and arrayed Him in a scarlet robe. At the cross He was stripped again and His seamless robe became the property of what they would have called a “lucky” gambler (v.35) so, the prediction of Psalm 22.18 was fulfilled.
The intention had been to throw Joseph’s corpse into a pit (Gen 37.20). Reuben negotiated the compromise that saw him cast alive into the pit (v.22). There is no record here of a struggle on Joseph’s part, and no mention of appeals for mercy, but many years later the brothers acknowledged to each other, “we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us” (Gen 42.21). Their sense of guilt had not been erased with the passing of the years, and the sowing and reaping principle came into play.
Saturday, 3 February, 2024