Have you ever felt that God's plan didn't make sense until much later? when you notice that you'd been in His perfect will the whole time. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah explains why you're in good company. Joseph had the same experience.
If your life today isn't smooth sailing like you were expecting, Listen as David introduces today's message, betrayed by his brothers.
Well, I don't know who I would ever go to to have them write a drama or a short story. is intriguing as the story of Joseph. It is filled with emotion and surprise. And if you've not studied his life before, you're in for a real treat. Today, the plot thickens as Joseph is betrayed by his brothers.
And we're going to follow that through. Starting in just a few moments from the 37th chapter of the book of Genesis. During the month of September, when you send a gift to help us at Turning Point, we'd love to send you our September resource, which is a beautiful 2026 calendar. And the title of the calendar is Following in His Footsteps. It is uh Exclusive 14-month calendar starting in November.
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People still love calendars they can hang on the wall. And this is one you'll be pleased to display anyplace in your house. It's our way of saying thank you for your September gift, and we look forward to hearing from you soon. Here is part one. of betrayed by his brothers from the life of Joseph.
At the beginning of the 20th century, a tale of brotherly betrayal unfolded. that would change the American breakfast table forever. John Kellogg, the older brother by eight years, was a renowned physician. He was a health guru and he was running the star-studded Battle Creek Sanitarium. Many famous people went to that place to get help.
People like President Howard Taft. Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, and Amelia Earhart all sought treatment from the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
Meanwhile, John's younger brother Will, toiled in his shadow He was underpaid and underappreciated, and John treated him as his lackey. In fact, John mandated that we'll follow him around with a notebook and write down all of his thoughts and ideas. He even required his own brother to refer to him as Dr. Kellogg. John's obsession with health led him to experiment with wheat flakes as a breakfast cereal.
But one day Will tried something else. He substituted corn for wheat. And it was an instant success. Kellogg's cornflakes.
Soon, he agreed to start the Sanitus Food Company with will to meet the increasing demand for the cereal, but in 1906, Will decided to take the company in a different direction and he offered to buy John out. And at that time, John was in debt, and he gladly took the deal. In 1908, John, feeling betrayed by his own flesh and blood, retaliated by launching a rival company, igniting a bitter legal battle that tore the family apart. In a twist of fate, the court favored Will, giving him the rights to use the Kellogg name on a box of cereal. and the ruling left their relationship in tatters.
Reconciliation attempts failed on every point. There was such betrayal and angst in the family. As John lay on his deathbed in 1943, Will reflected on their fractured bond with regret. The Brothers' Legacy, a breakfast empire built on innovation and sibling rivalry. Forever changing how America starts its day.
And this story of betrayal and envy. It's just one of many I could have shared with you. And it's echoed throughout our culture, and it is found in the pages of Scripture. In the book of Judges, we witness a cycle of betrayal. not just among individuals, but between the Israelites and God.
Samson was betrayed by Delilah. And repeatedly the Israelites forsake their covenant with Yahweh for foreign gods and customs. Despite their infidelity, God's mercy leads him to continually rescue his wayward people. Then you come to the story of David. David is the testament to the pain and power of envy.
His son Absalom's lust for power almost toppled the kingdom. Just as heartbreaking is the betrayal of Ahithophel, David's trusted advisor, who turned against him out of resentment for David's past sins. The Psalms capture the strong emotions stirred by betrayal. Psalm 27 offers hope to those abandoned by their own parents. Psalm 55 speaks to the anguish felt.
when we're betrayed by a close friend. I need to tell you something that we probably all know if we stop and think about it for a moment. Few things in life hurt us worse. than personal betrayal. If you ask me if anyone has ever betrayed me, I'd answer with a cautious yes.
Would you? Have you ever been betrayed? Betrayal is one of the strongest words on the emotional scale. We don't use it lightly. What makes betrayal so raw and painful is that it comes not from our enemies.
but from those who are close to us, from our families, from our friends. People can't betray us unless we've allowed them into our life. unless we've let down our guard and trusted them.
So betrayal exposes and exploits our vulnerability. It wounds because it makes us the subject of a double cross. Perhaps you've shared your most private thoughts. With someone, only to discover they betrayed your confidence and told someone else. Maybe you've paid someone in advance for work or equipment without getting what you bargained for, or more painful is discovering that your spouse is cheating on you.
or a sibling has lied to you. Many people feel betrayed by a dad or mom who failed to love or respect them, or by a business partner. did them dirty. David said this on one occasion. I think he captured the essence of what I've been saying.
He said, It is not an enemy who taunts me. then I could bear it. It is not an adversary who deals insolently with me that I could hide from him, but it is you. A man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. Did you know that even Jesus was not immune to all of this?
You know what happened to him at the Hand of Judas. And then of course Peter who denied him three times. He was also denied by the religious leaders of his day. He felt the sting of betrayal. But I want to talk to you today about one of the most famous stories in the Bible about betrayal, and it happens to be in the life of Joseph.
Now, I'm going to tell you this story the best I can. I'm not going to spend a lot of time telling you the story because some of it you know, some of it you don't, but the whole story is in the 37th chapter of Genesis. Joseph formative years. were linked to his father Jacob's journeys. Joseph and his brothers traveled alongside their dad.
and they witnessed the increasing prosperity of the family. Genesis 30 and verse 43. says that Jacob became exceedingly prosperous and had large flocks and female and male servants and camels and donkeys. In other words, Jacob was a wealthy, rich aristocrat. While working for his father-in-law in Hebron, Jacob became very wealthy.
In fact, his flocks had become so great that there was no longer any room in Hebron to grace them, so he eventually dispatched his ten older boys To Shechem. to graze the flocks in a larger area. One day Jacob asked young Joseph, to go see how his brothers and the flocks were doing in that part of the land. Israel said to Joseph, Genesis 37, 13, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.
Now It's not hard to understand. why Jacob was concerned about his boys. First, They were grazing near Shechem. Where his daughter Dinah had been raped, and his boys had committed murder in defending her honor. Genesis 34 says, Now it came to pass on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword and came boldly upon the city and killed all the males.
So that happened there where the boys were with the sheep. Second, his boys had been involved in flagrant evil in the past, and on one occasion Joseph had witnessed them and reported the incident to his father. He snitched on them, which made him even more popular than his dreams. The fact is, Jacob's sons weren't very good boys.
So he wanted to see what they were up to. I have to also tell you that probably Jacob was no saint either. In fact, his nickname was Trickster. He was a deceiver who got in a lot of trouble because he could never tell the truth about much. He was pretty sneaky and manipulative when he was younger.
And I think the thing that worried Jacob most about his sons was probably the things he remembered that he had done himself.
So Jacob sends him, and the story continues. And Jacob said, please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks. and bring back word to me.
So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. The Bible says that Joseph looked high and low when he got to Shechem, and he couldn't find his brothers. Where were they? A stranger explained To Joseph, that they had moved on to Dofan, another town close by.
So Genesis 37, 17 says, Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dofan. Let me pause and Tell you two interesting things about Joseph in this regard. First of all, He was courageously obedient. Joseph had to have known that he wasn't popular with the rest of the boys. It was no secret that his brothers hated him and he could feel the tension with them, yet he knew that his job was to do what his father told him to do.
So he went to check out his brothers 50 miles away in a place far from his father's protection. He immediately obeyed. There was no questioning, no complaining, just obedience. He did what his father asked him to do. Point number one.
But number two, he was not just courageously obedient. He was completely obedient. Get this. He gets to Shechem. And his brothers aren't there.
Now, if I'm Joseph and I know how they feel about me, here's how I reason. My dad told me to go to Shechem and find my brothers. They're not in Shechem. I'm going home. But not Joseph.
The Bible says when he found out. that they'd gone to Dotham, which was 24 miles down the road. He went to Dothan to find them. He knew that his father's desire was to find out how the boys were doing. He went the extra mile to be obedient because he knew his father's heart.
His promptness and thoroughness reveal his character. Joseph's response was one of courageous and complete obedience. Yeah. The interesting thing is how he's going to be received by his brothers. How will they receive him?
The next verses in our passage tell us that they come up with an evil scheme against Joseph. Let's read about this in verses 18 through 20.
Now when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near them. They conspired against him to kill him. Then they said to one another, look, this dreamer is coming. Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit. And we shall say A wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams when we do that.
I mean a little sarcasm there shows if the dreamer is about to have his dreams buried in a pit, according to his brothers.
So they saw him coming. You say, how did they know it was Joseph? Because he was wearing his special coat. Of many colors, the coat that represented the fact that he would be the heir to the family. one of the reasons why he was so hated by his brothers.
He was the heir and they hated him. They also noticed that they were afar off, far away from anyone who could witness their actions. And their minds immediately began to conspire how they might get rid of this pest in their family. this dreamer who made their life so miserable. Their plan was to throw him into a pit.
A term referring to a deep hole with a wide bottom and a very narrow top. designed to ensure that once someone was placed there, Climbing out. would be impossible because of the way the the pit was constructed. And Genesis 42, 21, we read, and they said to one another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother. For we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear.
What does that mean? This is several years later, 20 years exactly later, after they did this terrible thing, and it's still plaguing them in their minds and in their hearts. They couldn't forget what they had done, because they knew it was evil. And this wasn't a moment of passion that took Joseph from his family. This was a premeditated crime on the part of his brothers.
They were going to kill him and throw him into a pit. But the story becomes more intriguing because of a couple of the brothers. One by the name of Reuben, who was the oldest. should have been the head of the tribe. In the midst of all of this, he comes up with a proposal.
Because he He's uncomfortable with killing Joseph. And we read in verses 21 and 22 of Genesis 37. But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, Let us not kill him. And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him. And the Bible tells us that he said that so that he could come and deliver him out of their hands and bring him back to his father when they weren't paying attention.
He thought if he could get his brothers to put him in the pit, They would pay no attention. He'd come back and get Joseph and rescue him. Joseph's older brother worked to save him. He convinced the other boys not to kill Joseph, and he came up with the idea of putting Joseph into the cistern alive.
so he could come and take him out.
So it came to pass, verse 23, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped him of his tunic. The tunic of many colors. that was on him, and they took him and cast him into a pit, And the pit was empty, and there was no water in it.
Now, watch this. And they sat down to eat a meal. Here's their brother in this pit. probably crying out to get out of the pit in anguish. and the boys sit down and have lunch.
In earshot. of what they've done. to Joseph. The callousness of these guys is amazing. Evil men Want to kill the one who speaks God's truth, and so this is what's happening.
Joseph is a victim of his evil brothers. But the story continues. Another brother gets involved. This brother is named Judah. And Reuben wanted to save his brother, but he wouldn't have the chance because Judah comes up with a new plan.
Now, let me just tell you about Judah. He seems to be the materialist. in the family. Because he figures a way he can get something out of Joseph. Watch this.
Verse 25, and they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh on their way to carry them down to Egypt.
So Judas said to his brothers, What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Let's sell them to the Ishmaelites. And let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brothers listened, and the Midianite traders passed by.
So the brothers pulled Joseph up out of the pit. and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver, And the Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt. Those brothers sold Joseph for the equivalent of $9. And Judah, apparently, the materialist in the family wondered how they could make a buck on their brother, so they sold him as a slave. And they patted themselves on the back for not killing him.
We didn't kill Joseph, we just sold him as a slave. They took an evil and tried to make it seem like a good. which is a common occurrence among people who do things like this. Apparently Reuben wasn't present when all the scheming took place, for when he rejoined his brothers, Joseph was gone. And Genesis 37 records what happened next.
Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit, and he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, The lad is no more, and where shall I go?
Now watch this. He comes back to the pit, and Joseph isn't there, and he's somewhat worried about Joseph, but he's more worried about himself. He says, the lad is not here, and where shall I go? Because he's got to give a report to his dad. And he knows that his father is going to be very upset when he doesn't come back with Joseph.
rather than being vindictive, he was ready to save his brother, yet He had to sneak around to do it because he didn't have the courage to say, this is what we're going to do. He was the head of the brothers. When he found Joseph missing, Reuben was terrified. He knew he was in hot water with his father. And if you go back and read the story, Reuben had earlier made the mistake of sleeping with one of his father's concubines.
So their relationship was already strained. And you know that because in chapter 49 of Genesis, when Jacob is blessing all of his sons, Here's what he says about Reuben. Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father's bed. and you defiled it.
So Reuben was not in a good place. We're Jacob. He didn't have a strong character. And maybe he didn't have a strong character because his father didn't have a strong character. But for whatever reason, in the midst of the great wrong that had been perpetuated against Joseph, Reuben had one thought.
Not about Joseph. but about himself. What is going to happen? to me.
So The Bible says they took Joseph's tunic. They killed a kid of the goats and dipped the tunic in the blood. And they sent the tunic of many colours, and they brought it to their father, and said, We have found this. Do you know whether this is your son's tunic or not? And he recognized it and said, It is my son's tunic.
A wild beast has devoured him. without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces. With Joseph on his way to Egypt as a slave, The boys purposefully deceived their father.
Somebody said they weren't willing to lie to their father, but they didn't have any problem deceiving him. as if there's a difference between the two. It is ironic that Jacob was deceived by a goat. Since he himself had used the skin of a goat to deceive. his own father.
What he did came back to haunt him. The Bible says we reap what we sow and Jacob reaped a lifetime of deception.
So the Lord allowed him to be deceived in the same way he had deceived his father. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son for many days. And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and he said, I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning. and his father wept for him. It is interesting to note men and women that years later.
Jacob was still mourning. for his son. thinking that he was dead. And Jacob their father, Genesis 42, 36, said to them, You have bereaved me. Joseph is no more.
Simeon is no more. And you want to take Benjamin. It's evident as you read the story. But Jacob believed that Joseph was dead throughout all of his adult life. and his whole world was colored by the fact that he had lost his son.
He thought about it every day. It was never far from his mind. What a sad story. for a man to lose his beloved son in such a way, and what hardness there must have been in the hearts of his boys. Who allowed their own father to go through such awful grief when they knew?
What was going on was not the real story.
So There you go. I told you the story as fast as I could. Showing you where it was in the scripture. And you remember it because most of you have read it before. One of the great betrayals of the Bible, the betrayal.
I'm Jacob. by his own sons. We'll have more of this tomorrow as this story continues to unfold from the book of Genesis. You know, the story of Joseph covers from chapter 37 to chapter 50 of Genesis, one of the longest narratives in the Bible about any one character, which should tell you how important Joseph is and why we should be studying him. We have the study guides for this series.
And we also have a CD package which will give you all the audio teaching that you listen to every day on the radio, and it will preserve it for you to listen to again or use in a small group or in a Sunday school class, or however you go about studying the Bible. We make these resources available through davidjeremiah.org. You can get all the information you need there, have these resources sent to wherever you want them to be sent, and we're happy to make that happen. We're so blessed to be able to teach the Word of God, which is forever. It is forever, friends.
God promises it's forever. And it's for today. We'll see you again tomorrow right here on this good station. For more information on Dr. Jeremiah's series, God Meant It for Good.
Please visit our website where we also offer two free ways to help you stay connected. our monthly Turning Points magazine and our daily email devotional. Sign up today at davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call us at 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of our beautiful new 14-month calendar, following in his footsteps and deepen your faith daily throughout 2026.
It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions. Available in your choice of durable and attractive cover options. Get all the details when you visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series God Meant It for Good: The Story of Joseph on Turning Point.
