If your younger brother (who is a teenager) began telling you that he was having dreams that you were bowing down to him, how would that affect you? Genesis 37 starts with this story, then the dream that Joseph has that involves his parents as well. However, Jacob still favors Joseph and gives him a multi-colored coat. This coat would have been common for a supervisor to wear. This could mean that Joseph is in charge of his brothers. Also, he is sent to check on his brothers because they are where? Shechem… yes. This is likely a reaction to what happened only a few chapters before with Dinah and Shechem. The brothers, tired of being dreamed about and lorded over decide to kill Joseph. Reuben talks them down and they just throw him in a pit. Then they sell him. Then he works for Potiphar. Then he is wrongly thrown in jail. Notice the transition here. Chapter 38 is all about a failure by one of the brothers – Judah. Chapter 39 is about the righteous actions of another brother, Joseph.
Some may ask why Onan died. Many believe that you cannot waste your baby-making abilities, because the Messiah is going to be born from this family. It is putting yourself over God in trying to control when you will reproduce. The main issue here might be that you want to have many kids so that you would be a "blessing to the earth" by becoming a great nation. You don't waste a good opportunity to get together. Also, the issue here might be that he was getting the good parts of the situation without doing what the act was meant to do – continue the family's name. I am not sure, but all of these are possibilities.
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