seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 37:9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
This gets confusing. How could Joseph have both his mother [Rachel or the moon] and eleven brothers [eleven stars] when Rachel died in childbirth? Either this dream happened before Rachel passed away and Dinah is counted as one of the children, or it's totally out of sequence. Rachel passed away before Joseph was 17 didn't she?
Studylight.org might clear it up.
This portion of Genesis possibly isn't in strict chronological order. Back in Genesis 35:16-20, Josephs mother Rachel died. This portion of Genesis seems to backtrack somewhat.
Probably, the transition point is in Genesis 37:2: This is the genealogy of Jacob. This likely ends the record preserved by Jacob himself (who recounted the death of Rachel), and the next line begins the record preserved by Joseph himself. These same kinds of transitions are found in Genesis 5:1, 6:9, and 25:19.
Probably, the transition point is in Genesis 37:2: This is the genealogy of Jacob. This likely ends the record preserved by Jacob himself (who recounted the death of Rachel), and the next line begins the record preserved by Joseph himself. These same kinds of transitions are found in Genesis 5:1, 6:9, and 25:19.
It doesn't matter much, to me, if the dreams were out of sequence. It's significant that Joseph was having these dreams and remembering them well enough to tell others about them while awake. It's significant that he's having dreams at all, as a matter of fact. After all, God contacted his father and his grandfather while they were asleep. It's an apparent gift.
Gifts aren't always easy to deal with. Joseph should have confided in his father, IMHO. When he blurted these dreams out, it only made his brothers angrier. So apparently Joseph was either really, really, naive or he was simply spoiled rotten, being the favorite son.
