Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #14 in Genesis 37, and we will read Genesis 37:7-11:

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. 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. 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. 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? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

I will stop reading there.  As we continue to look into this passage, we find the word “obeisance” used a couple times, and it is also translated as “bow down.”  This Hebrew word is used in verse 7, and it is also used in verse 10 when Jacob responded, “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?”  And it is also used at the end of verse 9: “and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.” 

We see this Hebrew word translated as “obeisance” has to do with “bowing down.”  As far as Joseph is concerned, historically, this verse was fulfilled when Joseph became prime minister over Egypt, in Genesis 42:5-6:

And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

His brethren were bowing down to him.  They were doing obeisance before Joseph.  Then it says in Genesis 42:7-9:

And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

He remembered the dreams we read about in Genesis 37 when he excitedly went to his brethren, and he told them the dream that his sheaf arose, and their sheaves made obeisance to his sheaves.  They were stunned, and they said in Genesis 37:8:

And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?

The word translated as “reign” is commonly translated that way as far as kings are concerned.  Let us go to 2Chronicles 9:30:

And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.

So it is a word that has to do with a king ruling over his subjects, and we read of God Himself in Exodus 15:18:

JEHOVAH shall reign for ever and ever.

This word “reign” is also translated as “king” at least a couple of times.  Turn to 2Chronicles 33:25:

But the people of the land slew all them that had conspired against king Amon; and the people of the land made Josiah his son king in his stead.

They made him to reign, and those who reign are kings.   So we can see the shock of Joseph’s brethren as they said, “Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?”

The word “dominion” was used of Joseph in Genesis 45, after he had been lifted up out of prison by Pharaoh to rule in Egypt at the time he was revealing his identity to his brethren, and it is translated as “ruler,” in Genesis 45:8:

So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

The word “ruler” is the same word translated as “dominion,” Strong’s #4910.  It is also used in Genesis 45:26:

And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.

The word “governor” is the same word translated as “ruler.”  This is the word that the sons of Israel used as they questioned Joseph’s dream: “Shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?”  “Will you be our governor?  Will you be our ruler?”  Of course Joseph was a type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ, and what do we read of the Lord Jesus Christ in relationship to this word?  We read in Micah 5:2:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.

The Messiah, Jesus Christ, was foretold and declared to be the One who would be “ruler in Israel.”  He would rule over Israel, and Israel would bow the knee to Him.  They would submit themselves to the Messiah whose going forth was from of old, from everlasting.  The Bible declares, without any doubt, that God would be the Messiah that would enter into the world, made manifest in the flesh.  It was the Lord Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, and He was the ruler of spiritual Israel.  But we could also say that in establishing Old Testament Israel, as well as the New Testament churches, He was in that sense the ruler of Israel, but Old Testament Israel rejected Him as such: “We have no king but Caesar.”  Caesar was the king of “natural” Israel, the physical descendants, because they are like all the other people of the world that remain in their sins, and they are ruled over by the prince of this world, Satan, because they are in rebellion against the true King of heaven, Almighty God.  And they were in rebellion against Christ who is Almighty God Himself, as One Person in the Trinity.  This is what the Bible teaches.

So when we think of the historical fulfillment of Joseph’s first dream regarding his eleven brothers bowing down to him, it appeared to be fulfilled in Genesis 42, except for one problem: Benjamin was not with them.  Benjamin had stayed behind because his father Jacob would not allow him to travel to Egypt, so all the other brothers appeared, except for Benjamin.  Then Joseph orchestrated events by taking prisoner one of the brothers until the rest of the brothers would return with Benjamin.  After a period of time they did return, and we read in Genesis 43:26:

And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth.

Now it was all the brethren of Joseph that were bowing themselves to him to the earth.  Then it says in Genesis 43:27-29:

And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son.

Here, all the brothers, including Benjamin, were bowing down and making obeisance to Joseph.  So we do see the historical fulfillment of the dream.  The spiritual fulfillment would come when Jesus entered into the world after 11,000 years of earth’s history.  His 11 brothers’ sheaves bowing down to Joseph’s sheaf would point us to the entry of Christ into the world, just as did Micah 5:2: “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” 

The Lord Jesus was born into the tribe of Judah, one of the sons of Israel, and he became the ruler, just as when the wise men came to worship (bow down) him.  “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.”   Spiritual Israel, as represented by the wise men, were bowing the knee to their king, the King of the Jews, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is King over spiritual Israel.  But the outward representation of God’s kingdom on earth, the Israelites that were physical descendants of Abraham, refused to bow the knee to Him, but they fought against Him and sought to have Him killed.  And they were successful, but it was all according to God’s permissive will because it had to be that Christ would go to the cross to fulfill the determinate counsel of God.  And so it was.

Let us go back to Genesis 37, and let us again read Genesis 37:9-11:

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. 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? And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

Joseph had a second dream about his family, but this time it included his father and his mother.  God wanted us to get the point.   The Lord was the One who gave Joseph the dream – it was divine revelation.  So God did not say, “The sun and the moon and the stars made obeisance to me.”  He did not say that.  But He said, “The sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.”   We see the number “eleven,” and that helps us with the first dream to confirm that when the sheaves of the brothers made obeisance to Joseph’s sheaves, there were all eleven of them.  But now we have a number for the second dream, which is the 11 stars, plus the sun, and the moon, and Jacob did relate this to himself and Joseph’s mother: “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee…”   So we must add all those together to include Jacob, the mother, and the 11 brothers, which adds up to a total of “13.”

And it is identified with the sun, moon, and stars, or the celestial bodies that we see when we look up into the sky above the earth.  The sun shines brightly during the day, and the moon reflects the light of the sun and shines at night, and there are also the stars in the night sky.  So this is very significant.  Joseph had two dreams that he told to his brethren, and they hated him for his dream.  These are all the dreams we are told of that he told them to his brethren.  Then shortly thereafter, they would attempt to kill him, and then they settled for selling him as a slave to some slave traders that were passing by.  So these two dreams are all that God records for us concerning the dreams that Joseph dreamed, and it happens to identify with the numbers “11” and “13.”  And we can pinpoint through very accurate biblical history that the Lord Jesus came the first time after 11,000 years plus six years (very likely 2,300 days); and we know that He came the second time after 13,000 years of earth’s history had passed.  And He officially began His judgment on the world in 1994, so we could say that would mark the official point in time of Christ’s second coming.  Therefore, from creation to 1994, it was 13,000, plus six years, or 2,300 days.  It is amazing.  There were two comings of Christ from the starting point of creation, as the creation was in 11,013 B. C.  So from 11,013 B. C. to 13 B. C. is 11,000 complete years, and then six year brings us to 7 B. C. (when Christ was born).  Then His second coming happened in 1988, exactly 13,000 years of earth’s history, plus six years, and that bring us to 1994.

And God also connects the two outpourings of the Holy Spirit to the two comings of Christ.  With His first coming, the Holy Spirit was poured out in 33 A. D., and with His second coming, the Holy Spirit was poured out a second time in the Jubilee Year of 1994.  So this is very interesting.  We know that Christ comes the second time as Judge.  Did he come to judge the world in 1994?  No – He came to judge the churches, as judgment must begin at the house of God.  And yet we could say that 1994 was the official start of the Lord Jesus Christ’s judgment program beginning with the churches, and then expanding judgment to all the world beginning on May 21, 2011.  And when He came to judge the churches, He put out the light of the sun, moon, and stars, spiritually.  According to Revelation 8, the third part of the stars fell, and the “third part” identifies with the churches and congregations.  Then on May 21, 2011, judgment began on the entire world: “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven…”  When the stars fall, it is a coming down, just as Joseph’s brethren fell down and made obeisance to him, and they are likened to “eleven stars,” the stars coming down in worship and submission to the Judge of all the earth. 

We will try to look at this a little bit more, but God does tell us that when Christ comes the second time, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord.  Every knee shall bow, and that fits in with all 13, and it fits in with what happens in the heavens, spiritually, as far as the sun, moon, and stars are concerned.  There is a definite reaction, and it is a spiritual reaction.  The literal sun, moon, and stars are still in place, but spiritually, there was a definite reaction to the time when the Lord Jesus Christ would come to judge the world.