??"Here comes that dreamer again! He is beginning to tell father another dream that he's had. Come on, let's go hear what it's all about, one of Joseph's ten brothers might have said. They crowded around to hear yet another dream their younger brother Joseph had dreamed. Let's listen in to see what Joseph is telling his father："Father! Reuben! Judah! Listen to my dream that I had. I have dreamed another dream and the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."

??Oh, this time even Joseph's father was upset. His father rebuked him, the Bible says, and said to him, "What is this dream you have dreamed？Do you really think that I and your mother and your brothers will indeed come to bow down ourselves to you？" Oh, you can imagine how very, very jealous Joseph's brothers were.

??The Bible tells us that one day the brothers were out feeding the flock in a town called Shechem. Old Jacob called his son Joseph to him. Joseph was about l7 at the time. And he said to him, "Go, please, see whether it be well with your brothers, and with the flocks and bring me word again." So he sent Joseph out of Hebron, and Joseph started toward Shechem. As he came up his brothers saw him coming a long way off, and they said to each other, "Here comes that dreamer again!" But this time they were not going to listen to a dream. They were not going to even listen to him at all. They made a plan to kill him. "We will see what will become of his dreams. He thinks he is going to rule over us. He will never rule over us." That's what they were saying in their hearts. They hated Joseph without a cause. That reminds me of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says He came unto His own people and they would not receive Him. They said, "You will never rule over us. We don't need You as a Savior. We do not believe that You are the Son of God." They took the Lord Jesus, beat Him, spit on Him, cursed Him, and they nailed Him to a cross. How did the Lord Jesus respond to His enemies, those who hated Him, cursed Him and nailed Him to a cross？He loved them!

??Joseph's brothers were hating him without a cause and they were planning to kill him. And the Bible says when he got there, they stripped his coat off and they threw him into a pit. But do you know those brothers were so hardened that even though Joseph was crying out, begging for mercy and help, they sat down very near that pit and calmly ate their lunch. As they ate their lunch, some of them looked up and they saw something coming. It was a caravan of camels and traders from Midian. "Aha! We could sell our brothers as a slave, and not only could we get rid of him forever, but we could make some money off him!" The brothers thought that was a fine plan, so they stopped that Midianite merchants caravan. They sold their brother! And I am sure that Joseph went away weeping, and looking back at his brothers with a look that said, "How could you do this？Why have you hated me without a cause？" The brothers, still very hardhearted, were only thinking how they were going to deceive their father. They hit upon a plan. "Let's take that coat, the one they so despised, and let's dip it in the blood of a goat." So they went to their father, and said, "We found this. You are the one who would know if this is your son's coat or not." And of course Jacob knew that coat very well, and he said, "Oh, it is my son's coat. Joseph is no doubt torn into many pieces. An evil beast has devoured him!" The Bible says Jacob cried for his son many days.

??Well, boys and girls, we know that God was going to be with Joseph, don't we？God was giving him strength to be longsuffering while those brothers were at home with him. God was with Joseph in that pit. God is continuing to give Joseph the strength to love his enemies and to do good to those that hate him.

??“那個(gè)做夢(mèng)的人又來了，他又有一個(gè)夢(mèng)要告訴父親。快來，我們?nèi)ヂ犅牽矗@次他要說什么？”約瑟的十個(gè)哥哥大概會(huì)這樣想。他們擠過去聽約瑟的另一個(gè)夢(mèng)。“讓我們?nèi)ヂ犅牸s瑟又要對(duì)父親講什么。”“父親，流便，猶大，看哪！我又做了一個(gè)夢(mèng)。”約瑟說：“我夢(mèng)見太陽(yáng)，月亮和十一個(gè)星，向我下拜”。這一次約瑟的父親不高興了。圣經(jīng)講他父親責(zé)備他說：“你做的這是什么夢(mèng)？難道我和你母親和你的弟兄真的要來俯伏在地，向你下拜嗎？”你能想象得出來嗎？他哥哥們都非常非常地嫉妒他。圣經(jīng)講有一天，約瑟的哥哥們?nèi)ヒ粋€(gè)叫示劍的地方放羊。年老的父親雅各把約瑟叫來，那時(shí)約瑟大概十七歲。他父親對(duì)他說：“去看看你哥哥們平安不平安，群羊平安不平安，就回來報(bào)信給我。”于是約瑟出了希伯侖谷，就往示劍去了。他的哥哥們遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)地看見他，就互相議論說：“看哪！那個(gè)做夢(mèng)的來了。”但是這次他們不但不會(huì)聽他的夢(mèng)，而且根本不要聽他講話。他們商量要害死他。他們的心里想：我們且看他的夢(mèng)會(huì)怎么樣，他以為他會(huì)做我們的王，管轄我們，他的夢(mèng)永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)成真。他們無緣無故地恨約瑟。

??這使我想起了主耶穌基督。圣經(jīng)說他來到自己人那里，他們卻不接待他。他們對(duì)他說：你不能管轄我們，我們不需要你做我們的救主，我們不相信你是神的兒子。他們把他抓起來，打他，吐唾沫在他臉上，咒罵他，把他釘在十字架上。主耶穌是怎樣對(duì)待他的敵人呢，就是那些恨他，罵他，把他釘十字架的人？他非常地愛他們。約瑟的哥哥們無緣無故地恨他，他們同謀要害死他。圣經(jīng)說約瑟到了他哥哥們那里，他們就剝了他的外衣，把他扔到一個(gè)坑里。你知道嗎？他哥哥們的心很剛硬。約瑟哀求他們把他放出來。但他們坐在坑邊，只顧吃他們的中飯。當(dāng)他們坐下吃飯的時(shí)候，舉目觀看，見有一夥米甸的商人和他們的駱駝隊(duì)。啊哈！我們不如把我們的弟兄賣了作奴隸。這樣我們不但可以除掉他，也可以賺錢。”眾弟兄覺得這是一個(gè)好主意，就叫住那些商人，把約瑟賣他們。我相信約瑟是哭走的，邊走邊回頭看他的哥哥們，說：“你們?yōu)槭裁醋鲞@樣的事，你們?yōu)槭裁礋o緣無故地恨我？”他的哥哥們心里仍然剛硬，只想怎樣回家騙他們的父親。后來他們有了一個(gè)主意：讓我們?cè)滓恢簧窖颍鸭s瑟那件彩衣染上血。他們回到父親那里，說：“我們撿了這個(gè)。你看看，是不是你兒子的外衣？”約瑟的父親雅各當(dāng)然認(rèn)得那件彩衣。他說：“這是我兒子的外衣，約瑟一定被惡獸吃掉了，約瑟被撕碎了！”圣經(jīng)說雅各為他兒子傷心了許多日。

??小朋友們，我們知道神會(huì)與約瑟同在，對(duì)不對(duì)？當(dāng)他還在家里的時(shí)候，神給他力量去忍耐寬容他的哥哥們。當(dāng)他被扔在坑里的時(shí)候，神與約瑟同在。神也會(huì)繼續(xù)與約瑟同在，給他力量去愛他的敵人，去友善地對(duì)待那些恨惡他的人。