Monster of Envy: Betraying Everything You Know

Shared on October 16, 2024

There is a monster of a spirit that you should not want growing within you. Watch this week’s study as Pastor McCrary tackles the inner demon of envy and what can come from it. This is the first part of three studies that will be taking a look at the betrayal of Joseph.

Introduction

This study is going to be a three part study as we’ll study multiple sides of one of the most saddest scenes recorded in scripture.  There is a monster of a spirit – a demon – that if it makes a home in you, can completely corrupt your soul.  This demon made a home in Joseph’s brothers as we’ll see them take action against their brother.  What is this demon that we’ll be focusing on?  The monster of envy.

Joseph’s brothers taking actions against him because they were envious of him will serve as a warning for us.  While it may be human of us to envy others, we must not let envy dwell in us.  So, these studies will serve as a warning about envy. 

Joseph’s Obedience and Love

After Joseph had shared his dreams of greatness with his family, we should remember that Israel, his dad, rebuked him (Gen. 37:10).  Though Israel rebuked him, he chose to keep Joseph’s dreams, and what they meant, in mind (Gen. 37:11).  On the other hand, after Joseph had shared his first dream with his brothers, they ridiculed the thought of Joseph  being greater than them and hated him (Gen. 37:8).  After the second dream, Joseph’s brothers envied him (Gen. 37:11).

In Genesis 37:12-14, we are told that Joseph’s older brothers had gone to Shechem to tend to Jacob’s flock.  Joseph, still being home, was given the task by Israel to go check on his brothers.   Now, little did Jacob know that this would be the last time he would see Joseph for years.

Now, before we get going into the meat of our study, I do want to say that these opening verses, I believe, give us more insight on Joseph’s character.  What I mean by this is that we see, once again, Joseph’s obedience.  We get a taste for Joseph’s obedience when he brought a bad report about a few of his older brothers to Israel (Gen. 37:2).  Some of us would probably say that Joseph was a goody two-shoes.   

Another characteristic that we’ll begin to see shine through is Joseph’s love for his dad and for his brothers as well.  Consider that after his brothers had mocked him,  Joseph could have chosen not to do as he was requested to do.  Yet, he loved his dad and so, he wasn’t going to disobey him.  

When he arrived at Shechem, his older brothers were nowhere to be seen.  Scripture tells us that he was found by a certain man wandering in the field looking for them (Gen. 37:15).  When Joseph was told that they had moved on to Dothan, he could have easily turned around and gone back home, yet, he didn’t do that.  Scripture tells us that Joseph made his way to Dothan to find them (Gen. 37:16-17).

While many people like to mischaracterize Joseph as being ego and pride driven, I can’t let you think that way about him.  Joseph was a good kid.  We see that he was obedient.  More so, we see that he is moving from a place of love for both his dad and for his brothers, despite how they acted towards him after he shared his dreams with them.  Keep Joseph’s character in mind because we’re going to circle back around to this point later in this study.

Betrayal in Dothan

Genesis 37:18 will begin to set the tone for this stone as the scripture tells us that Joseph’s brothers could see him coming afar off.  Rather than being pleased to see him coming or even knowing why he was coming, we see that they are greatly displeased.  Even worse is that the scripture tells us that they all conspired together to kill Joseph (Gen. 37:18).

Now, when we see that they “all” conspired to kill Joseph, let’s understand that means most of them wanted to kill Joseph.  We’re told that Reuben tried to stop his brothers from killing Joseph by suggesting he be thrown in a pit (Gen. 37:21-22).  That scripture even shows us that Reuben had the plan of getting Joseph away from his brothers and back home.

So, why were the rest of them filled with the desire to kill Joseph?  Take a look at what they said as they saw him coming.  “Look, this dreamer (master of dreams) is coming,” they said (Gen. 37:19).  There is a hint of sarcasm, but Joseph’s dreams certainly played a role in their desire.  Again, we’ll see that they said, “we shall see what will become of his dreams (Gen. 37:20)!”  

These thoughts and feelings got put into action as we are told they ganged up on their brother, stripped him of his tunic, and threw him into an empty pit (Gen. 37:23-24).  Why do you think they took his tunic?  Well, that tunic was the tunic of many colors that Israel had given to Joseph.  Because Israel loved Joseph more than his brothers, scripture tells us that they hated him and could not speak “peaceably” to him (Gen. 37:4).

May I suggest to you that Joseph’s dreams were just the icing on the cake for their moving against him?  Deep down, his brothers hated him because he was favored by Israel over them.  Then, when you add on Joseph’s dreams and the thought that one day they would bow down to ‘baby brother’, an evil flame was ignited.

What Can Come From Envy?

Do you realize that their envy caused them to betray everything?  Think about it –  they betrayed Joseph’s love by conspiring against him, right?  I will tell you that they not only betrayed Joseph, but they also betrayed their dad, Israel.  How so?  Israel loved Joseph and he sent Joseph to check up on them.  Don’t think that Jacob didn’t love his other children!  

Might I also add that they also betrayed the Lord as well?  You may begin to wonder, how did they betray God?  Think about it:  their intent of killing Joseph was to remove him from the picture.  So, their betrayal would take Joseph away from Jacob.  Then, had they gone through killing Joseph, they would have killed Joseph’s dreams.  Remember, Joseph’s dreams were dreams that came from God and not of his own mind!

Do you realize their envy could have caused them to go against God in what could have been blasphemy?  Let us remember blasphemy of the Spirit is to move against God’s works.  The Spirit, I believe, delivered those dreams to Joseph in the first place.  So, do you see just how dangerous the monster of envy can be?  Envy can literally be the death of the soul.