Genesis 35:23-26 “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.
Genesis 37:1-36 Joseph’s Dreams
“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.
Joseph Sold into Egypt (Acts 7:9-14)
Some time later, Joseph’s brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks near Shechem. Israel said to him, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks at Shechem? Get ready; I am sending you to them.”
“I am ready,” Joseph replied.
Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.”
So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem, a man found him wandering in the field and asked, “What are you looking for?”
“I am looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Can you please tell me where they are pasturing their flocks?”
“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Now Joseph’s brothers saw him in the distance, and before he arrived, they plotted to kill him. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. “Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”
When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands. “Let us not take his life,” he said. “Do not shed his blood. Throw him into this pit in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this so that he could rescue Joseph from their hands and return him to his father.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the robe of many colors he was wearing— and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.
And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.
Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed. So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes, returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone! What am I going to do?”
Jacob Mourns Joseph
Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a young goat, and dipped the robe in its blood. They sent the robe of many colors to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe or not.”
His father recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! A vicious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!” Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his waist, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said. “I will go down to Sheol mourning for my son.” So his father wept for him.
Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
In the beginning of the story, Joseph is a spoiled brat and an insufferable tattle-tale. Because Joseph is Rachel’s older son and Jacob has loved Rachel more than Leah, Bilhah, of Zilpah, Jacob foolishly demonstrates his favoritism by giving Joseph a special robe, one fancier than those of any of his eleven other brothers, a really stupid blunder in an already dysfunctional family. If Jacob is going to hand out robes, he needs to give everyone a robe and to make sure they are of equal quality. Joseph brings in stories about his half-brothers, the children of Bilhah and Zilpah. Why does Joseph concentrate on these men? Perhaps they really have done something bad, but Joseph might be afraid to accuse Leah’s children or his little brother Benjamin. Then it gets worse; Joseph has two prophetic dreams and is idiotic enough to share them with the family. Naturally, all the family members are incensed! What kind of rubbish is this?
Why does Jacob send Joseph out to check on his brothers, rather than sending one of his many servants? Is Jacob secretly hoping that Joseph will get a reality check when he sees the conditions under which his brothers are toiling? Does Jacob envision some kind of incredible loving moment when the older brothers welcome Joseph with open arms? Sadly, the only thing this ploy accomplishes is to give the brothers who are already bearing grudges the opportunity to get rid of Joseph permanently, and they do. The brothers fake Joseph’s death, but with unexpected consequences. While these men have been hoping that Jacob will shower them with love now that Joseph is out of the way, instead, Jacob goes into a prolonged period of mourning and refuses to be comforted. Meanwhile, Joseph is dragged off to be sold as a slave in Egypt and purchased by the captain of the guard.
Jacob was the younger of twins and his mother’s favorite. Sadly, Jacob may never have learned effective parenting before having to run for his life when he outsmarted Esau, his father’s favorite. From the poor treatment of Jacob’s sons, it appears that he has learned virtually nothing.
While Jacob may have felt that he was the FATHER and therefore everyone should pay attention to him, he failed to realize that he was wounding most of his sons by withholding affection from them and lavishing it on Joseph and Benjamin. Perhaps Jacob only felt he had a limited amount of love and chose to focus on Rachel’s sons. For someone claiming to worship God, Jacob certainly didn’t handle his family wisely.
Favoritism in families is a major problem, one that leaves scars for a lifetime. When one or two children have medical problems, the healthy ones may well find themselves being given last choice on everything. My husband hates pink because when he was little, his twin brother and he were given hand-me-down suits. One suit was blue checked and the other was -guess what? Pink checked. Since my brother’s twin was suffering some kind of heart problem, he naturally was given first choice, leaving my husband to wear pink in a society and at a time when no right-thinking little boy would ever be caught dead in anything pink!
You may have suffered a fate similar to my husband’s; you may have been the most responsible child while others less responsible received more attention and more goodies. Perhaps you have struggled to overcome feelings of inferiority all your life. But take heart! God’s love is so deep that He has plenty to go around and has no need to play favorites. Tell God all about it and ask Him to heal your hurts so that you can move forward without envying others. God will gladly do so.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, many of us have been wounded by families who played favorites. Help us to realize that You always love us and that You don’t play favorites. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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