Good evening, and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the book of Genesis.  Tonight is study #24 in Genesis 37, and we will read Genesis 37:17-18:

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. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

We are interested in Dothan, and Dothan was a city that is only mentioned three times in the Bible, twice in verse 17, and the third time in 2Kings 6, and we will go there eventually.  We want to understand because we see the spiritual picture of the father Israel sending his son Joseph to his brethren.  We saw that points to Christ being sent by the Father into the world. 

Joseph wandered around in the field, and we saw that the word “wandered” means “to go astray,” and the field represents the world.  So we see Christ entering into the world where all men have gone astray, so it is basically telling us that Christ went with them, although He was without sin.  And yet since He was in human form, so it was as if He had “gone astray.”

Then there was a “certain man” who knew where the brethren were, and when he asked him, the man said they had gone to Dothan.  We also read in verse 16 that Joseph came to seek his brethren, and we spent a little time discussing how Christ came to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

In verse 17, the man, who is a picture of the Spirit of God, has the answer, and he knew where the brethren had gone.  They had departed and gone to Dothan, so Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan.

Again, our question is, “What does Dothan represent?”  They were not in Shechem where they should have been, and we talked about that.  So when we look at 2Kings 6, I think we will get some clear answers, but I mentioned last time that Dothan and the name Dathan are basically the same Hebrew word, just different vowel pointing.  Strong’s indicates that Dothan, #1886, is of “uncertain derivation,” as well as is Dathan, Strong’s #1885.

But I mentioned last time that there is a related word, Strong’s #1881 and #1882, that would be pronounced as  “dāṯ,” and this word is translated as “commandment,” “decree,” and “law,” and that would identify Dothan (as well as the man’s name “Dathan”) with the Law of God, or the commandments of God. So that is something we need to keep in mind as the possible meaning of the name of the city of Dothan.

Now let us see what the Bible has to say about Dathan in Numbers 16:1-3:

Now Korah, the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On, the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men: And they rose up before Moses, with certain of the children of Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous in the congregation, men of renown: And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron, and said unto them, Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and JEHOVAH is among them: wherefore then lift ye up yourselves above the congregation of JEHOVAH?

So they did not like the fact that Moses and Aaron were in charge.  Just look at the historical situation.  It is an incredible historical situation.  God was speaking to Moses.  God was speaking to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend, and Aaron was set up by God as the priest of Israel.  So there was this conferencing between God and Moses, and Moses would use Aaron as his mouthpiece.  Remember when Moses was before Pharoah, God had given him Aaron to speak because Moses did not feel he spoke very well.  They had this close relationship  And yet in Israel there were these famous men, the princes of the assembly that were men of renown, and they were feeling “left out.”  Over the course of the hundreds of years spent in Egypt, they were probably the ones that the people came to, and they would pass judgment, or at least as much as they could while in captivity and bondage.  Yet the people would have had respect toward them.  They were the princes.  They were the one that had authority and power.  Yet now in the wilderness, it was all God speaking to Moses, and Moses to Aaron, and then they would tell the people what God had said.  These princes did not like it at all, and that is why they gathered themselves against Moses and Aaron: “Ye take too much upon you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and JEHOVAH is among them.”  They were not so much concerned about the congregation, but they were concerned about themselves and their perceived lack of power and authority.  They did not feel appreciated, so this was a very prideful and selfish thing.  They wanted to be restored to their former status within the nation of Israel, and a lot of the people probably agreed with them, as these were princes of the various tribes, and they would have wanted the princes of Rueben, or the princes of Gad, or the princes of Ephraim, and so forth, elevated because they would feel that a prince of their respective tribe would hear their case more favorably than anyone else.

Then this became outright rebellion, as we continue to read in Numbers 16:12-13:

And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab: which said, We will not come up: Is it a small thing that thou hast brought us up out of a land that floweth with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, except thou make thyself altogether a prince over us?

It appears that Dathan and Abiram are referring to Egypt as the land that “floweth with milk and honey,” and they have apparently forgotten their bondage and the cruel taskmasters, and so forth.

Then it says in Numbers 16:14:

Moreover thou hast not brought us into a land that floweth with milk and honey, or given us inheritance of fields and vineyards: wilt thou put out the eyes of these men? we will not come up.

They were very obstinate and rebellious, and God got involved, and we read in Numbers 16:23-33:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the congregation, saying, Get you up from about the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Moses rose up and went unto Dathan and Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. And he spake unto the congregation, saying, Depart, I pray you, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest ye be consumed in all their sins.  So they gat up from the tabernacle of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, on every side: and Dathan and Abiram came out, and stood in the door of their tents, and their wives, and their sons, and their little children. And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that JEHOVAH hath sent me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after the visitation of all men; then JEHOVAH hath not sent me. But if JEHOVAH make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth, and swallow them up, with all that appertain unto them, and they go down quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked JEHOVAH. And it came to pass, as he had made an end of speaking all these words, that the ground clave asunder that was under them: And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from JEHOVAH, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.

They would have been those princes of the assembly.  So we see that this did not end well for Dathan and his brother Abiram.  They were in open rebellion against Moses, which meant that they were in open rebellion against God.  They were murmuring, complaining, and trying to usurp the authority that God had given to Moses and Aaron.

You see, God is the one who is in ultimate control.  He is in charge, and if He wants to lift someone up over the congregation, who are others to say it is wrong?  It is God’s congregation and God’s people.  He delivered them, and He could set over them whoever He chose, and He chose Moses and Aaron, and not these other men.  Because of envy, we could say, these men rebelled, and it led to their destruction.  We know it was envy because God tells us that in Psalm 106:16-18:

They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the saint of JEHOVAH. The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram. And a fire was kindled in their company; the flame burned up the wicked.

They envied Moses and Aaron, and as a result of their envy, they were swallowed up.   The earth opened up and swallowed them, and they went down “quick,” or alive, into the pit, and that would certainly represent being under the wrath of God and going down into “hell,” or the grave.  Again, God says they acted this way because of envy.

We spoke about this earlier, but if we go to verse 11 after Joseph dreamed another dream and told the dream to his father and brethren, notice what it says in Genesis 37:11:

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

The brethren, the children of Israel, envied Joseph, a type of Christ, and the dreams are pointing to the revelation of God that is given to Christ, and then Christ gives them to Israel.  And as a result of that, Joseph’s brethren envied him.  And what would become of that envy?  We find out in Genesis 37:18-20:

And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 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.

They were still thinking about those dreams, and now there was envy, and they conspired against him because he was the favored son of their father.  He was the favored one of God.  God was giving him the dreams, and not them, and this caused them to be envious to the point of conspiring to kill him. 

What else does that tie in with in the Bible?  If we turn to the New Testament and the Gospel of Matthew, we read that Pilot observed (correctly) in Matthew 27:12-18:

And when he was accused of the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. Then said Pilate unto him, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against thee? And he answered him to never a word; insomuch that the governor marvelled greatly. Now at that feast the governor was wont to release unto the people a prisoner, whom they would. And they had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ? For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

Of course they cried out that they wanted Barabbas, as they were stirred up by the chief priests to do so.  We read the same thing in Mark 15:9-11:

But Pilate answered them, saying, Will ye that I release unto you the King of the Jews? For he knew that the chief priests had delivered him for envy. But the chief priests moved the people, that he should rather release Barabbas unto them.

The chief priests were in envy.  They were the men of renown.  They were the ones that were famous in the congregation, the princes of the people, so to speak.  They were the ones in charge if anyone had any spiritual questions, or if they wanted to know something about the Law of Moses, or if they wanted counseling.  People would come to the chief priests, and the chief priests would impart their wisdom.  But now had come this “man,” and he ruined everything.  People were not coming to the chief priests, but they were going to Jesus.  They were going to the Wonderful Counselor, the eternal High priest of the people, and the chief priests were envious.  They could not allow this to continue.  Why?  The truth was that they were losing their power and authority over the people.  That is what they craved.  That is what they desired. 

They wanted control, exactly like the leaders in the congregations at the time of the end.  They despised the message that the church age was over as it was brought forth by the Holy Spirit of God when He opened the Scriptures at the time of the end, and the people of God that carried that message were called heretics:  “They are untrained.  They have no skill in interpreting the Bible!”  Why?  It was because of envy as they realized that the people would leave the churches and not listen to them anymore.  Envy is a terrible thing.  It is a terrible thing, especially when it comes to spiritual matters and the Word of God, the Bible, and it has ruined a great many, and it also brings terrible harm.  It brought harm to Joseph, and it brought crucifixion to the Lord Jesus Christ.