Joseph the dreamer

Joseph dreamed, but isn’t this what people who are called by God do? All people who are called by God to dream. All people dream but some seem to have a special ability or talent in dreaming. This seems to be the case of Joseph. Joseph was born to dream not to herd sheep.

The narrator of the Joseph story understands that dreams are a gift from God. Did Joseph receive this gift from Jacob as well as being encouraged along the way? To support Joseph, we find a boy with eleven brothers; the elder brothers had occupied places of service in the family, leaving him without a traditional place. Joseph finds that being a dreamer is a wide open field in the family.

The negative side of dreams is they cause conflicts in the family. Joseph’s dreams have destroyed the pecking order in the family. The elder brothers in following tradition would be the one with authority. Even Jacob’s authority is challenged.

We fast forward to the end of the story to interpret the dream to mean that God had a plan for Joseph. This plan included bringing the family back together as well as saving it from the famine. The even larger plan is to save all of Israel. The story changes at this point from Israel as an individual to Israel as a nation.

Did Joseph have any idea of how he would be used by God? Can we interpret events in our life today in relationship of how God will be using us in the future?