1 Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan.
2 This is the history of the family of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought an ill report of them to their father.
Joseph represents the faculty of imagination. This faculty produces the pictures or images that make visible every idea that the mind can conceive and reveals to the illumined intellect (Jacob) the activities of the other faculties (Joseph's brothers; in this case the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah).
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long robe with sleeves.
Joseph was the proud owner of a coat of many colors, a gift from his father. The coat is the symbol of the Truth given to us by the Father. Truth in its entirety is symbolized by the seamless garment that Yeshua wore, for it cannot be separated into divisions or parts. All truth is one Truth. Joseph's coat being of many colors indicates that when we open up this new realm of consciousness and begin to use the imagination, our conception of Truth is colored by the many previous mental states that have so long herded our flocks of thoughts. At this stage we have not yet come into the understanding, into the pure white light of unqualified Truth, that is symbolized by the seamless robe of unity.
4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more.
6 He said to them, "Hear this dream which I have dreamed:
7 behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered round it, and bowed down to my sheaf."
Joseph's dream about the sheaves was a dream about substance and a prophecy of his attainment of a superior consciousness of universal substance.
8 His brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to have dominion over us?" So they hated him yet more for his dreams and for his words.
That consciousness of substance afterward brought forth fruit when he supervised the storage of grain in Egypt, and this grain furnished needed supply to his father and brothers and brought them to him. imagination uses ideas to increase its store of universal substance and clothes ideas in form; for it is both a formative and an increasing faculty.
An uncontrolled imagination will often exaggerate and increase one's consciousness of trivial or even unreal things until both mind and body are affected. (Joseph carried tales about his brothers to his father.) The imagination is a very powerful faculty, and we must learn to discipline it if we would make it practical in serving our highest good. By following the inspiration of the super-mind, or YHVH Consciousness, we can control the imagination and direct its work to practical ends.
9 Then he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, "Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?"
11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.
12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem.
13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." And he said to him, "Here I am."
14 So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your brothers, and with the flock; and bring me word again." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.
Shechem denotes a thought of burdens, which reveals that the brothers took to heart Joseph's superior attitude. Joseph's tale-bearing propensity and the fact that their father loved Joseph better than he did his brothers served to stir up the antagonism of the other sons toward Joseph. Jacob (the I AM) (functioning in Hebron, which means "united," "bound by a common bond") sent Joseph (the imagination) down into Shechem ("bending down," "a burden") to see how his brothers (the other faculties) fared. Jacob (the I AM) operating in the consciousness of friendship and unity did not take seriously the contention that Joseph (the boasting imagination) had brought about.
15 And a man found him wandering in the fields; and the man asked him, "What are you seeking?"
16 "I am seeking my brothers," he said, "tell me, I pray you, where they are pasturing the flock."
17 And the man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan.
The name Dothan means "two wells," "edicts," "customs." Dothan symbolizes the double standard of thought that man holds regarding his life and substance, the law of Being on the one hand, custom on the other. His customary beliefs lead to limited, warped experiences, while an understanding of the true law of Being increases the activity of the divine power in his life and also makes him conscious of that activity. (Dothan is the place where Joseph found his brethren.)
18 They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him.
19 They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer.
20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams."
21 But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life."
22 And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; cast him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him" --that he might rescue him out of their hand, to restore him to his father.
Reuben, symbolizing the faculty of discernment in the outer, suggested the pit (which represents a pitfall or trap), intending later to deliver Joseph and thus restore him to the arms of his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore;
24 and they took him and cast him into a pit. The pit was empty, there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
Gilead represents the high place in consciousness where Spirit discerns and witnesses to what is true and to all man's thoughts and acts so that an adjustment may be made throughout mind and body. The Ishmaelites represent the fruit of the thought of the natural man at work in the flesh; also the consciousness that recognizes God but that, because of the seeming opposition of the outer world, does not find expression according to the highest standard.
26 Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?
27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers heeded him.
Judah (representing prayer and praise), the fourth son of Jacob and Leah, suggested the idea of selling Joseph into Egypt rather than taking his life.
28 Then Midianite traders passed by; and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver; and they took Joseph to Egypt.
The Midianites were enemies of the Israelites. The Midianites represent discrimination or judgment employed according to human standards. Judging according to outer appearances produces discordant thoughts and jealousies and their kin.
The fact that Joseph was sold as a slave into Egypt by his brothers signifies that at a certain stage of his spiritual development, man will barter away his high ideals of Truth in order to go on living in sense consciousness. He will even debase his imagination (Joseph) and send it down into his body consciousness to stir up his emotions and get the thrill of sensation.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he rent his clothes
30 and returned to his brothers, and said, "The lad is gone; and I, where shall I go?"
31 Then they took Joseph's robe, and killed a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood;
32 and they sent the long robe with sleeves and brought it to their father, and said, "This we have found; see now whether it is your son's robe or not."
The blood-drenched coat represents the futile attempt of the outer realm of sense to kill the inner Spiritual Life. Life marches on and the vision of the soul finds new expression in other states of consciousness.
33 And he recognized it, and said, "It is my son's robe; a wild beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces."
34 Then Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
Jacob represents intellectual illumination. However, illumination on the intellectual plane often lacks discernment; it has not attained the power to express the sure, steady, revealing light of Spirit. Jacob was in the dark as regards the fate of his son Joseph (who symbolizes the imagination). Hence, Jacob was deceived by blood on the coat and mourned with the crowd.
35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, "No, I shall go down to the grave to my son, mourning." Thus, his father wept for him.
The Hebrew word for grave is Sheol. This is the abode of the dead conceived by the Hebrews as a subterranean region clothed in thick darkness. It represents the mental gloom into which the personal man is plunged when he gives himself over to thoughts of death and grief.
36 Meanwhile the Mid'ianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.
Pharaoh represents the Ego or will that rules the body under the natural law. Potiphar symbolizes the executive arm of the Will.