We are still in chapter 37 of Genesis with our word for today. יִּֽתְנַכְּל֥וּ from the root word נָכַל act slickly, deceptively, crafty, cunning, deceitful, conspire. It is used 4 times in the Old Testament. Here are the uses of our word. Psalm 105:25 Then Israel entered Egypt; Jacob resided as a foreigner in the land of Ham. The Lord made his people very fruitful; he made them too numerous for their foes, whose hearts he turned to hate his people, to לְ֝הִתְנַכֵּ֗לconspire against his servants. Now this is interesting because it says that God not only allowed the Egyptians to hate and conspire against his own people but that he turned their hearts. This is a big topic that we will tackle when we get to God hardening Pharaoh’s heart in Exodus. For now, we need to remember that this is poetry being in Psalms so we are evoking strong emotions not necessarily using precision language to develop doctrine. Also that God is not shy in Exodus that his motive for all of this was to destroy Egypt for their harsh treatment of his people. For our word today let’s focus on the fact that the Egyptians basically forgot all that God had done for them through Joseph. He not only saved them but made their nation the richest in the world at that time. So they go from this to conspiring against them.
Malachi 1:13-14 When you bring injured, lame or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I accept them from your hands?” says the Lord. “Cursed is the נוֹכֵ֗לcheat who has an acceptable male in his flock and vows to give it, but then sacrifices a blemished animal to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the Lord Almighty, “and my name is to be feared among the nations. From this verse our word is seen as one trying to conspire against or cheat God. This sounds ridiculous but it happens all the time. And if we are honest we have probably done the same thing ourselves.
Numbers 25:18 They treated you as enemies when they נִכְּל֥וּ deceived you in the Peor incident. This is referring to the use of sexual immorality to corrupt God’s people because previous attempts to conspire against them had failed.
So this same sense of deceiving or conspiring against is also how our word is used today in our chapter. Genesis 37:17-20 So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they יִּֽתְנַכְּל֥וּ conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” In the days to come it will appear that their deceitful scheme worked because their father believed them thinking that Joseph was dead and no more Joseph. The person that they hated and were jealous of was no longer in their lives. Well that’s what they thought. But several years later they find Joseph not just back in their lives but now in a position of power over them like they had over him previously. God can turn things completely around and we can find ourselves on the other side of situations we were previously in. It will be interesting to see how Joseph treats his brothers now that he has power over them. I’ll close with what Jesus taught and how he acted when the time came for him to practice what he preached. Matthew 5:43-45 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. Luke 23:33-34 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left. Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.”
