Genesis 37:10 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 37:10
And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
brethren
אֶחָיו֒'e.Chav
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
father
אָבִ֔יו'a.Viv
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
rebuked
וַיִּגְעַרvai.yig.'ar-
H1605
to chide · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
said
וַיֹּ֣אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
dream
הַחֲל֥וֹםha.cha.Lom
H2472
a dream · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
dreamed
חָלָ֑מְתָּcha.La.me.ta
H2492
properly · verb, qal perfect, 2nd person masculine singular
mother
וְאִמְּךָ֣ve.'i.me.Kha
H517
a mother (as the bond of the family) · conjunction + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
brethren
וְאַחֶ֔יךָve.'a.Chei.kha
H251
a brother (used in the widest sense of literal relation… · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
indeed
הֲב֣וֹאha.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · interrogative particle + verb, qal infinitive construct
come
נָב֗וֹאna.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · verb, qal imperfect, 1st person common plural
down
לְהִשְׁתַּחֲוֹ֥תle.hish.ta.cha.Vot
H7812
to depress · preposition + verb, infinitive construct
earth
אָֽרְצָה'A.re.tzah
H776
the earth (at large · noun, common feminine singular absolute + directional suffix
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Genesis 27:29 Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to thee: be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every…
Genesis 37:7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round ab…
Isaiah 60:14 The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the sol…
Philippians 2:10-11 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 37:5-11
Here, I. Joseph relates the prophetical dreams he had, Gen 37:6, Gen 37:7, Gen 37:9, Gen 37:10. Though he was now very young (about seventeen years old), yet he was pious and devout, and well-inclined, and this fitted him for God's gracious discoveries of himself to him. Joseph had a great deal of trouble before him, and therefore God gave him betimes this prospect of his advancement, to support and comfort him under the long and grievous troubles with which he was to be exercised. Thus Christ had a joy set before him, and so have Christians. Note, God has ways of preparing his people beforehand for the trials which they cannot foresee, but which he has an eye to in the comforts with which h…
THE DREAMS OF JOSEPH. (Gen. 37:5-36)
Joseph dreamed a dream--Dreams in ancient times were much attended to, and hence the dream of Joseph, though but a mere boy, engaged the serious consideration of his family. But this dream was evidently symbolical. The meaning was easily discerned, and, from its being repeated under different emblems, the fulfilment was considered certain (compare Gen 41:32), whence it was that "his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying" [Gen 37:11].
Adam Clarke on Genesis 37:9
He dreamed yet another dream - This is as clear as the preceding. But how could Jacob say, Shall I and thy mother, etc., when Rachel his mother was dead some time before this? Perhaps Jacob might hint, by this explanation, the impossibility of such a dream being fulfilled, because one of the persons who should be a chief actor in it was already dead. But any one wife or concubine of Jacob was quite sufficient to fulfill this part of the dream. It is possible, some think, that Joseph may have had these dreams before his mother Rachel died; but were even this the case, she certainly did not live to fulfill the part which appears to refer to herself.
The sun and the moon and the eleven stars -…
DREAM OF JOSEPH. — Jacob says to Joseph, What dream is this that you dreamed? Am I and your mother and your brothers coming to worship you on earth? If these words are not taken figuratively, how can they be applied to the mother of Joseph, who had already died? Therefore, we must accept that this was not done in Egypt, when Joseph was at the height of fame, because neither his father adored him when he came to Egypt, nor could his long-dead mother. It can easily be understood by applying it to the person of Christ, whom even the dead worshiped, according to the words of the Apostle: “He gave him a name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in the heavens, on earth and in the under the earth (Phil. 2:9-10).” [
Moreover, Joseph saw another dream and told it to his father and brothers, that the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to him. On this account his father reproved him and said, "What will be the meaning of this vision that you have dreamed? Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers will come and bow to the ground before you?" Who is he before whom parents and brothers bowed down to the ground but Jesus Christ? Joseph and his mother with the disciples bowed down before him and confessed the true God in that body, of whom alone it was said, "Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you stars and light." Further, what is the meaning of the father's reproach but the hardness of the people of Israel? Christ comes from them according to the flesh, but today they do not believe that he is God and are not willing to bow down to him as their Lord, because they know that he was born from among themselves. Accordingly they hear his replies, but they do not understand them. They themselves read that the sun and moon praise Christ, but they are unwilling to believe this was said with reference to Christ. Therefore Jacob is mistaken in regard to the symbol, which refers to another, but is not mistaken in the love, which is his own. In him paternal love did not go astray, but rather there is depicted an affection for a people that was going to go astray.
Moreover, Joseph had another dream in which the sun, the moon and eleven stars worshiped him. His father replied to him, "Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers will come to bow to the ground before you?" This could not be fulfilled in that Joseph; but in our true Joseph, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ, the mysteries of that dream were fulfilled. The sun, the moon and eleven stars worshiped him when after the resurrection holy Mary as the moon, blessed Joseph as the sun and eleven stars, that is, the blessed apostles, bent down and prostrated before him. Then was fulfilled the prophecy that said, "Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars." The interpretation of this dream was not accomplished in that Joseph for the important reason that we read his mother had died many years before he saw the aforementioned dreams. Truly, how could it happen to his brothers that they should adore him like the stars, since the night of envy had made them obscure and gloomy? They had lost the brightness of the stars, because they had extinguished in themselves the light of charity. We truly believe that this was deservedly fulfilled in our Lord and Savior, for, as I already said, we read that blessed Joseph, blessed Mary and the eleven apostles worshiped him quite frequently. That the apostles possessed the light of the stars our Lord himself tells us in the Gospel: "You are the light of the world." Again, he says concerning the same men and those who are similar: "When the just will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father."
Dictionary and topics
Bow — The bow was in use in early times both in war and in the chase (Gen. 21:20; 27:3; 48:22). The tribe of Benjamin were famous for the use of the bow (1 Chr. 8:40; 12:2; 2 Chr. 14:8; 17:17); so also…
Dream · .Of Joseph, concerning the sheaves — .Of Joseph, concerning the sheaves
Envy · .Joseph’s brethren, of Joseph — .Joseph’s brethren, of Joseph
Jealousy · .Joseph’s brothers, of Joseph — .Joseph’s brothers, of Joseph
Joseph · .His prophetic dreams of his fortunes in Egypt — .His prophetic dreams of his fortunes in Egypt
Salutations · By bowing — By bowing
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
on Genesis 37:10
And he told it to his father, and to his brethren,.... After he had told it to his brethren, he told it to his father a second time in their hearing, that he might pass his judgment on it, and give his sense of it before them:
and his father rebuked him; not as being ignorant of the meaning of the dream, for by what follows he had a clear understanding of it, or as if he thought it was an idle dream, and would never have any accomplishment: but he thought fit, in his great wisdom and prudence, to put on such an air, partly to check young Joseph, lest he should grow proud, and haughty, and insolent upon it, and behave in a disagreeable manner to himself and to his brethren; and partly to con…
And his father rebuked him. If Jacob suspected that the dream originated in vain ambition, he rightly rebuked his son; but if he knew that God was the author of the dream, he ought not to have expostulated with him. But that he did know it, may be hence inferred, because he is afterwards said seriously to have considered it. For Moses, making a distinction between him and his sons, says that they breathed nothing but the virus of envy; while he revolved in his own mind what this might mean; which could not have happened, unless he had been affected with reverence. But seeing that a certain religious impression on the subject rested on his mind, how was it that he rebuked his son? This truly…
This hatred was increased when Joseph told them of two dreams that he had had: viz., that as they were binding sheaves in the field, his sheaf "stood and remained standing," but their sheaves placed themselves round it and bowed down to it; and that the sun (his father), and the moon (his mother, "not Leah, but Rachel, who was neither forgotten nor lost"), and eleven stars (his eleven brethren) bowed down before him. These dreams pointed in an unmistakeable way to the supremacy of Joseph; the first to supremacy over his brethren, the second over the whole house of Israel. The repetition seemed to establish the thing as certain (cf. Gen 41:32); so that not only did his brethren hate him still…
your mother and I: Joseph’s birth mother, Rachel, was dead (35:19). Leah was now the matriarch of the clan.
Rashi on Genesis 37:10
ויספר אל אביו ואל אחיו AND HE TOLD IT TO HIS FATHER AND TO HIS BRETHREN — After he had related it to his brothers (see 5:9) he again related it to his father in their presence.
ויגער בו AND HIS FATHER REBUKED HIM because he was arousing hatred against himself by relating the dream.
הבוא נבוא SHALL WE INDEED COME — “Is not your mother long since dead?” He did not, however, understand that the statement really alluded to Bilhah who had brought him up as though she were his own mother (Genesis Rabbah 84:11). Our Rabbis inferred from here that there is no dream but has some absurd incidents (Berakhot 55). Jacob’s intention in pointing out the absurdity of Joseph’s mother, who was dead, bowing…