In the book of Genesis we find the story of Jacob and his family. Jacob was married to two sisters, Leah and Rachel and had twelve sons. Out of these 12 sons, six sons were birthed by Leah and two by Rachel and the remaining four were born out of the maids of Leah and Rachel. Leah did not have any trouble conceiving and she gave birth to sons year after year while Rachel struggled with infertility.
But, out of his two wives, Jacob had always loved Rachel more than Leah. The scripture says that Rachel was beautiful in appearance and form while Leah was dull looking and had weak eyes. But after many years, God opened Rachel’s womb and she also conceived and gave birth to two sons who were named Joseph and Benjamin. Unfortunately Rachel died while giving birth to Benjamin.
Out of his twelve sons, Jacob loved Joseph and Benjamin more than the others because they were the children of Rachel and also because they were born to him in his old age. In fact Jacob loved and preferred Joseph over his other sons so much that he even gave him a coat of many colors which made him stand out and distinct from the other sons. However, this favoritism had a profound impact on the family and drove the narrative of their lives.
To top it all, Joseph dreamed two dreams which seemed to suggest that Joseph would one day rise to prominence above his brothers. In the first dream, when Joseph and his brothers were gathering and binding wheat in the harvest field , suddenly Joseph’s bundle of grain stood up straight while his brothers’ bundles gathered around and bowed down to it. In the second dream, the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed down to him.
Joseph should have been more discreet and kept these dreams to himself by keeping them private and buried in his heart. But Joseph made a big mistake by sharing these dreams with his brothers. His brothers were already jealous of him because he was their father’s favorite.
One day Jacob entrusted Joseph to visit his brothers who were watching over the herd in the fields. Joseph readily and happily agreed as he was excited to see his brothers. Joseph was obviously unaware of the hatred, jealousy and murderous intent that had crept into his brothers’ hearts.
When his brothers saw Joseph coming happily to them, the brothers saw it as their chance to finally get rid of him once and for all. In fact, the moment the brothers saw Joseph coming towards them, they said to one another “HERE COMES THE DREAMER”. Yes, they now hated him so much that they could no longer refer to him by his name also and they called him the dreamer. For the brothers, the moment they heard his dreams, Joseph had become their biggest threat and rival.
That day, the hatred for their younger brother made them one team and they conspired against their naïve and unsuspecting brother. First they threw him into a deep pit from where it was impossible to come out and they wanted to leave him there till he dies. But they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites passing by and they decided to sell Joseph to them.
After selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites, the brothers smeared Joseph’s clothes with animal blood and showed it to their father Jacob and told him that Joseph had been killed by wild animals. After coming to know that his favorite son Joseph was no more, Jacob wept uncontrollably and bitterly and mourned the loss of Joseph for many years.
The Ishmaelites who bought Joseph were on their way to Egypt and they finally sold Joseph to a man in Egypt named Potiphar. Potiphar was an influential and busy man. And seeing the integrity of Joseph, Potiphar entrusted his whole household to him and Joseph excelled in every responsibility that was entrusted to him.
However, Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of sexual assault and Joseph was thrown into prison. However, even in prison, Joseph excelled and outshone everybody that he was made the in-charge. While in prison, Joseph interpreted the dreams of the Pharaoh’s cupbearer and chief baker and made an unforgettable impression as someone who had the power to interpret dreams. As interpreted by Joseph, the baker was executed three days later while the cupbearer was released and restored back to his position in the palace.
Then one night the Pharaoh also had two dreams and when he asked for its meanings from all the wise men in the kingdom, none could interpret the dreams. Then the cupbearer suddenly remembered Joseph and told the pharaoh that there was a man in prison who could interpret dreams.
Joseph was brought before the pharaoh and upon hearing the dreams, Joseph gave its interpretations which pleased and impressed the pharaoh so much that he made Joseph the prime minister of the nation. That was the amazing story of Joseph. Just a few hours back Joseph was trailing in a prison as a slave, a foreigner and a condemned man and now he was the prime minister of the most powerful nation in his times.
As interpreted by Joseph, the severe famine hit and engulfed the whole land across the ancient Near East and the Mediterranean basin. The famine reached even the land of Canaan where Jacob was living with his family. Jacob also learnt about the abundance of food in Egypt and he sent his children there to buy food.
Joseph was in charge of the food supply in Egypt and the moment his brothers came and stood in front of him begging for food, Joseph recognized them though his brothers had not even an iota of thought that the powerful man standing in front of them was none other than their brother whom they had sold into slavery years ago. And when Joseph saw his brothers, he “remembered his dream”.
Joseph had no ill feelings towards his brothers for the injustice they did to him. He forgave them and invited them to Egypt where there was abundance of food so that they could survive the famine.
After going through so many struggles, injustices and hardships for many years, Joseph must have probably forgotten the dreams which he had as a young boy. He probably thought they were just dreams which had no relevance to his life. But the moment he saw his brothers standing in front of him begging for food, the scripture says that Joseph “remembered his dream”.
Likewise, in my own life, many of the thoughts and ideas which I had as a young boy, I had also discarded them as childish thoughts and aspirations. But in my later years, I saw and experienced things which were the exact replicas of these thoughts and dreams which I had during my boyish and teenaged years. So now I conclude that all the thoughts and ideas which I had as a young boy or teenager were not at all irrelevant or absurd.
Many a times we have the tendency to brush aside those dreams and aspirations as childish and immature. But now I realize that it is not so because the moment we came out of our mother’s womb our journey begins and every thought and idea that crop up in our mind even as a child or a teenager will ultimately go on to impact our lives and shape our destiny. If we look at the lives of Biblical heroes like Joseph, Daniel, David etc, we realize that the decisions and the actions which they took during their teenaged years went on to impact their whole lives in a profound way. So I now realize that underestimating ourselves or others just because of their young age would be a thunderous blunder.
Through Joseph’s story I also realize that some things are best when kept to yourself because others will never understand what you are experiencing inwardly or what God has dropped into your heart. Instead of keeping his dreams to himself, Joseph shared it with his brothers which changed the trajectory of his life.
Psalms 37:4 has called these dreams and ideas as the secret petitions of your heart. These may be things which God whispers in your ears in the middle of the night or in the quietness of the morning when you were sipping your morning coffee or in the coolness of the breeze when you were all alone lost in your thoughts. These should be kept confidential between you and God. This is so because even if you share with others whom you think are your friends or well wishers, they may never understand and they may start saying “HERE COMES THE DREAMER” every time they see you.
