Genesis 37:1 – 11 “Now Jacob lived in the land where his father had resided, the land of Canaan. This is the account of Jacob. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was tending the flock with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them. Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons, because Joseph had been born to him in his old age; so he made him a robe of many colors. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain in the field, and suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to mine.”
“Do you intend to reign over us?” his brothers asked. “Will you actually rule us?” So they hated him even more because of his dream and his statements.
Then Joseph had another dream and told it to his brothers. “Look,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
He told his father and brothers, but his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream that you have had? Will your mother and brothers and I actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept in mind what he had said.”
Sibling rivalry is bad enough when a man only has one wife and several children. But remember that Jacob had 2 wives and 2 concubines. The sons of Leah were Reuben the firstborn of Jacob, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. The sons of Rachel’s maidservant Bilhah were Dan and Naphtali. And the sons of Leah’s maidservant Zilpah were Gad and Asher. No matter what anybody wanted to think, Bilhah and Zilpah did not enjoy the same status as Rachel and Leah. This same lack of status undoubtedly carried over to their sons.
Everybody knew that Rachel was Jacob’s favorite wife and therefore her two sons, Joseph and Benjamin, were also their father’s favorites. The sons who probably ranked next were Leah’s six sons, with the sons of the maid servants ranking at the bottom.
Any sign of favoritism in a large family causes all kinds of friction, a fact to which Jacob was evidently oblivious. Jacob gave Joseph a special brightly – colored robe, one much nicer and more expensive than the drab brown material all the other sons were wearing. Then Joseph had to make the whole situation vastly worse by telling tales on Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher, the sons of the concubines.
One night seventeen year old Joseph had two dreams. Being a mouthy teenager, Joseph just couldn’t keep these dreams to himself, but shared them with his brothers who were already resentful. The message of the two dreams was the same: some day Joseph would be in a position of power and the rest of the family, including his parents, would bow before him! Bad move, Joseph! In the family structure, Joseph and his brother Benjamin were the youngest sons, while the other sons were all tough grown men. The stage was set for a tragedy.
APPLICATION: Anybody who has ever run a company or a business such as a hospital knows that workers watch for signs of favoritism. If you are the head of an organization, you know that it is like being the head of a large family with lots of children, each one of whom thinks that he or she should have been born an only child! If person A receives any tiny amount of incentive pay, all the other workers will be demanding the same thing.
What does this story teach about forgiveness? This part of the story really features unforgiveness. Joseph’s brothers hated him because his father favored him and because Joseph flaunted the evidence of that favoritism.
Perhaps you find yourself in a situation in which you feel that others are favored while you are not. You can choose to be bitter or you can choose to forgive your bosses and those you feel are being favored. Perhaps your perceptions are faulty; things are seldom what they seem. You might be surprised to learn that others are envying you, feeling that you are getting additional attention, etc. If you choose to remain bitter and envious, you will poison your own attitude.
PRAYER: Father God, please help us to refuse to envy others, whether our fellow workers, our friends, or our relatives. Help us to look to you for our reward and not to others. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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