Jacob is a good man and a man that seeks after God. He inherited the blessings of Abraham and was chosen of God to be the seed in which Christ was to come into the world. In spite of this we see that the faults and weaknesses of Jacob cause much trouble for him. His favoritism of Joseph causes him to be robbed of Joseph for many years. Yet in all this God uses Joseph to save many lives.

Gen 37:1 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

Joseph was the one who was sent to see how his brothers were doing and he brought his father a bad report of this brethren. This made his brothers hate him for being a tattle tale.

Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.

He plainly shows his favoritism here and this same coat is used to deceive him later on.

Gen 37:4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

This type of jealousy could have been avoided but it seems that Jacob did not favor the other sons and was not close to them as he was Joseph and Benjamin.

Gen 37:5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
Gen 37:6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

Perhaps Joseph should have kept quiet about this but he didn't. This dream caused them to hate him even more.

Gen 37:7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.
Gen 37:8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

We who know the story of Joseph can see clearly that this will come to pass and Joseph will rule over his brethren but also will save their lives.

Gen 37:9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.
Gen 37:10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

Little did Jacob realize this was indeed a prophecy that will soon come to pass but not until he suffers much sorrow thinking his favorite son is dead.

Gen 37:11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Even though he rebuked Joseph for this dream, he probably thought on this and wondered what it meant and whether it was just a dream or a prophecy from the Lord. The Lord spoke to people in dreams many times. This was the day before the outpouring of the Holy Spirit recorded in the book of Acts. Now, those of us who believe in Jesus Christ can be filled with the Holy Spirit and God speaks to us by that same spirit. We also have the written word so that God can speak to us in that way.  Yet, in fulfillment of the prophesies in Joel, we know God occasionally still speaks through prophetic dreams. We have a responsibility though to never put the dreams and interpretations ahead of the written word of God that has been given to us. If it is by the Holy Spirit and if it is from God, it will not contradict His written word. After Christ came nothing from God will take away from the deity of Jesus Christ and the message of salvation through Jesus. There is no other prophet or messenger that we trust in for our salvation. All prophets, preachers, teachers etc that come after Christ is equal to any ordinary believer and is not to be exalted above others.  We do need leaders but a true leader will realize that he is a man totally dependent and reliable on God.  He actually is a servant rather than an exalted ruler.  This practice of making men bishops after passing tests and serving for years actually makes me wonder whether it is right or not.  Usually the most highly educated ones are made bishops.  Something is wrong here.  Why do we feel we have to do these things when we all should be equal before God.  That was the whole purpose of the washing of the disciples feet in recorded in the book of John.  Some churches have made this a yearly ritual which if fine but it is of no value if we forget the reason behind the feet washing.  If any man is chief among you, let him be his servant.  By love serve one another.  Hierarchy is not a practice the church needs to be engaged in.

Gen 37:12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

This is the place where Jacob commanded his family to give up all idolatry.

Gen 37:13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
Gen 37:14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

Perhaps Jacob found that he couldn't trust his other sons like he did Joseph. He other sons were more likely to get into trouble.

Gen 37:15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?
Gen 37:16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
Gen 37:17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.
Gen 37:18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

Seeing Joseph out of the safety of his father's care was the only chance they had to get rid of Joseph. I guess they wanted to make sure his dreams did not come true.

Gen 37:19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
Gen 37:20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.
Gen 37:21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.
Gen 37:22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

Rueben the oldest, had compassion and wanted to secretly deliver Joseph back to his father. This was commendable. He had a little of Jacob in him because he was smart enough to know he couldn't just oppose what they intended to do for he was outnumbered so he had to pretend to go along with them in order to get Joseph back to safety.

Gen 37:23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him;

Reuben had to pretend to go along with this temporarily.

Gen 37:24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
Gen 37:25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
Gen 37:26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?

Judah didn't want to actually kill his brother but thought of this idea to save his life.

Gen 37:27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

This satisfied the cruel intent of the other brothers and they thought surely no dream could come to pass if Joseph was made a slave.

Gen 37:28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Jesus was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver and Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver. The Ishmaelites were children of Ishmael the son of Abraham and Hagar. It is strange that Abraham went to Egypt to escape a famine thereby bring Hagar away with them back to Canaan and this Hagar had a son whose descendants brought Joseph into Egypt and later the other brothers to escape famine. I wonder sometimes if Abraham had not have gone into Egypt would all these things have been avoided.

Gen 37:29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.

Reuben being the oldest really felt responsible. Perhaps he left hoping they also would leave and he could then rescue Joseph.  Perhaps the others didn't leave because they suspected that Reuben would do just that and then perhaps they wanted to stay and hear the cries of Joseph.

Gen 37:30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
Gen 37:31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;
Gen 37:32 And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
Gen 37:33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.
Gen 37:34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

I wonder how the other brothers felt knowing they deceived his father like this. Here is another incidence where Jacob's earlier deception came back to haunt him. He kids inherited this tendency to deceive. The law of reaping and sowing is still in effect today. We get what we give. The blood of Jesus will cancel out our sins and cause our souls to be saved. We will inherit eternal life by our faith in Christ. However, our actions in this life will effect how we are treated even though our sins are forgiven by God, our children may have already been influenced by the life we lived before we came to Christ and our mistakes we make after coming to Christ. We still may reap what we sow in this life unless we really make a complete change and turn around to be obedient in thought, word and deeds by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Gen 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

This is one of the most heartbreaking stories of the bible.

Gen 37:36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.

Even though things look bad for Joseph at the present time, It would be better to experience the fate of Joseph than to be one of the brothers that surely would be suffering guilt over these deeds. They were free physically but in bondage to guilt and the fear of Jacob finding out what they had done.

Sin does bring pleasure temporarily but in the end is death. It is just not worth it. Joseph made them uncomfortable and they just wanted to cut him off, seeking only their own comfort. Look at the price they would pay for this. They had to live for years with this deed.

Genesis 38