Genesis 37:8
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 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.
The verse is the brothers' answer to Joseph's first dream, in which his sheaf of grain arose and stood upright while their sheaves stood around and bowed to it. They understood at once that the dream declared he would become greater than they and would reign over them and have dominion over them. The dreams were given by God to reveal the future, and Joseph related them innocently and openly, yet for his dreams and for his words about them his brothers hated him yet more with envy and jealousy growing toward murder. To prevent the dreams from coming to pass they purposed to kill him and then sold him as a slave into Egypt, but the Lord overruled the very course they pursued to bring about what they designed should never take place, so that Joseph gained authority over them and became saviour to his father's family. The dream was fulfilled in Egypt when his brothers came to buy corn and bowed down before him as ruler, and their refusal to let him rule illustrates Christ, whose own rejected him as king yet God made Redeemer and ruler over the whole world.
Dream and Brothers' Hatred
The reply to the brothers is the answer to Joseph's first dream, in which all were out binding sheaves of grain in the field and his own sheaf arose and stood upright while their sheaves stood round about and bowed down to it. The dream was given by the Lord to instruct Joseph and to reveal the future, and he related it openly and innocently, standing before his brethren as a youthful prophet in virtuous innocence with countenance lighted with inspiration. His brothers understood its significance at once, that it declared he would become greater than they and would indeed reign over them and have dominion over them.
For his dreams and for his words about them they hated him yet more, and envy and resentment and jealousy and hostility burned deeper in their hearts than before and grew into settled hatred on a course that led toward murder. Their hatred deepened because he was innocent and righteous and beloved of his father while they were wicked and a grief to their father, and though they could admire his purity and goodness they would not leave their wicked course to become virtuous and noble like him, so that the spirit that moved Cain to hate his brother was fastening upon them. It was intensified by Jacob's openly favored treatment of Joseph, including the special coat, which they treated as grounds for revenge, and Jacob did not suspect what hatred and malicious feeling the telling aroused against his beloved child. Soon the Lord gave Joseph another dream of the same import but more strikingly significant, for God had chosen Joseph while he was young for special work on behalf of His people.
Fulfillment and Wider Meaning
The brothers despised the dreams that he would reign over them and have dominion over them, and they labored to prevent their fulfillment. To keep him from becoming greater than themselves they first purposed to kill him and then were content to sell him as a slave into Egypt, thinking they had put him where his dreams would no longer trouble them and could never come to pass. The Lord controlled events and overruled the very course they pursued to bring about what they designed should never take place. By being sold Joseph gained authority over them and became saviour to his father's family, yet their guilt was not lessened.
The dream was true, and it was fulfilled in Egypt when Joseph became ruler and his ten brothers came to buy corn. They repeatedly bowed down before him with their faces to the earth, exactly as foretold, and Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them. By selling him they had acted their part in fulfilling these very dreams they hated. When the ruler of Egypt proved to be Joseph and he revealed himself, all their evil treatment and contempt for his dreams painfully returned to mind. They stood before the brother they had hated as their ruler astonished, troubled, condemned, amazed, and unable to answer.
The brothers' refusal to let Joseph rule illustrates Christ, whose own rejected him. The chief priests and elders were jealous lest He draw the people from them and become higher in authority as king of the Jews, and they refused Him as king and cried for His crucifixion to prevent it. God controlled the murder of the Son of God for His own glory and the good of man, to make Him Redeemer of mankind and ruler over the whole world.