The covenant story has moved away from Jacob. This devotional reading introduces Joseph and sets up his story.
Nuggets
- Jacob settled in Canaan, probably at Hebron.
- The covenant story now transfers to Joseph.
- Joseph was still a teenager.
- Joseph was the employee to his half-brothers’ employers.
- Joseph worked as a shepherd.
- Jacob showed favoritism to Joseph.
- Jacob gave Joseph a long-sleeved tunic that may have represented a couple of things.
- The brothers did not react well to the coat.
We would’ve thought Jacob would have learned. He should have known from his own childhood rivalry with Esau that playing favorites with children didn’t work well.
But Jacob must have been a slow learner. His favorite son was the eldest son of his favorite wife. And the sons of his other wives were not happy.
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Devotions in the Joseph the Savior of Israel series
Jacob Settled
“So Jacob settled again in the land of Canaan, where his father had lived as a foreigner” (Gen. 37: 1 NLT)
Jacob settled in Canaan, probably at Hebron.
When we left Jacob back in Genesis 35, we had finally declared him officially home. That was because after many, many years of traveling in Canaan, Jacob went home to his father. “So Jacob returned to his father, Isaac, in Mamre, which is near Kiriath-arba (now called Hebron), where Abraham and Isaac had both lived as foreigners” (Gen. 35: 27 NLT).
We aren’t explicitly told that Jacob settled in Hebron or when. Whenever it references where he lives, Moses always list his residence as the land of Canaan.
But it is a pretty safe assumption that this became Jacob’s headquarters. We get two nods to this. The first is Jacob “… settled … where his father had lived …” (Gen. 37: 1 NLT emphasis added). But the statement had lived makes it sound like he didn’t settle there until after Isaac had died.
The other one is, when Jacob sent Joseph to check on his brothers, “… Joseph traveled to Shechem from their home in the valley of Hebron” (Gen. 37: 14 NLT emphasis added). This makes it sound like they were in Hebron before Isaac died.
Why aren’t we told specifically? That could be to emphasize that Jacob, too, lived as a foreigner – i.e., lived as a nomad without owning land. We don’t know if he still owned the land he purchased in Shechem, but he didn’t live there.
Jacob may have taken over Isaacs tents. Isaac’s estate would have gone to Jacob, so there would have been many servants and animals that would now be under his care.
Jacob was used to the life as a shepherd. He would have moved with the flock for which he was caring. I bet this was especially true after Rachel died.
This, too, showed Jacob’s dependence on Jehovah. He had finally come to trust completely in his God.
I think the second reason why Jacob wasn’t given a permanent home is because the story is no longer his. At the end of Genesis 35, the story transitioned to the 12 tribes of Israel and the fledgling nation.
Therefore, it wasn’t important where Jacob specifically was. It was only important that the family was back in Canaan.
Joseph
“This is the account of Jacob and his family. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he often tended his father’s flocks. He worked for his half brothers, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. But Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph — a beautiful robe. But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him” (Gen. 37: 2-4 NLT)
The covenant story now transfers to Joseph.
Abraham’s story took 13 chapters where Jacob’s took 10. Isaac’s story was basically snippets mixed in his father’s and son’s stories.
Joseph’s story also takes 13 chapters. We can tell from the get-go that it isn’t going to be an easy road for him.
Seventeen Years Old
Joseph was still a teenager.
Okay. We need to look at some of the timeline.
~1715 BC — Reuben born (Leah)
~1712 BC — Dan born (Bilhah)
~1711 BC — Naphtali born (Bilhah)
~1711 BC — Gad born (Zilpah)
~1710 BC — Asher born (Zilpah)
~1710 BC — Issachar born (Leah)
~1709 BC — Zebulun born (Leah)
1709 BC – Joseph was born (Rachel)
c. 1692 BC – Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin (Gen. 35: 16-20)
1692 BC — Benjamin born (Rachel)
1692 — Joseph receives his coat of many colors from his father Jacob
Based on Timeline from
If Joseph were born in 1709 that means he would have been 17 in 1692. That means Jacob gave Joseph his coat of many colors the year his mother died.
I wonder if it was before or after Rachel’s death. If it was before, I could see where our beliefs that it was just a gift of favoritism is logical.
But, what if Jacob gave Joseph that coat because he was in mourning? That is a whole different ball of wax.
Yes, Moses told us that the reason behind the code was favoritism. But what if the timing behind the gift was sympathy? He was helping his grieving son acclimate to a life without his mother.
What’s wrong with that? That makes his brothers even more insensitive — in my book.
Worked for His Half Brothers
Joseph was the employee to his half-brothers’ employers.
Look again at the list of brothers born to the concubines.
~1712 BC — Dan born (Bilhah)
~1711 BC — Naphtali born (Bilhah)
~1711 BC — Gad born (Zilpah)
~1710 BC — Asher born (Zilpah)
Those in charge are only one to three years older than Joseph. That had the opportunity to end well or end badly.
We also must recognize that the household power was shifting with Rachel’s death. Before, there were essentially two maternal camps. Now the majority of the brothers belong to Leah’s camp. He was about to anger the brothers for whom he worked. Benjamin was a baby.
Joseph was isolated in the family structure.
Reported to His Father
Joseph worked as a shepherd.
We have no clue as to what the half-brothers did wrong. It doesn’t sound like that it was a false report.
Wells and Leale agreed that the report came out of Joseph’s love of obedience, truth, and right. That showed his righteousness. In other words, Taylor argued, Joseph was nothing like his brothers.
Resources
Gray had a completely different take. He thought that Joseph has been made an overseer of the brothers. That type of report would have been usual in that case. That isn’t what the Hebrew said.
Resources
But I’ve always thought Joseph was a little immature. He also lacked wisdom. He didn’t know how to handle his brothers.
Because he was open, Josep shared his thoughts and feelings – so it was natural he would share his dreams. In fact, Joseph probably just blurts out whatever he wants to say because he had no guile.
Joseph might be right on content but wrong in delivery.
That does nothing to make him one of them.
Joseph’s difference, favoritism, immaturity, and calling created distance, imbalance, provocation, and threat.
Whatever it was, it wrecked their relationships.
Jacob Loved Joseph More
Jacob showed favoritism to Joseph.
Jacob hadn’t learned from having a favorite wife that that practice doesn’t work well. But then, he didn’t learn that from his own experience either. He should have remembered the division and hate that Isaac and Rebekah ushered into their family with their favoritism.
I can see why Joseph held a special place in Jacob’s heart. He probably thought for a very long time that Joseph would be his youngest child.
Jacob was 91 years old when Joseph was born. Since Abraham was considered old when he had Isaac at 100, Benjamin was a miracle child at Jacob’s age (108).
Then Rachel suddenly died. I know childbirth was risky in those days, but the hope would always be there for everything to turn out fine.
Joseph would have been Jacob’s primary tie to Rachel.
A Beautiful Robe
Jacob gave Joseph a long-sleeved tunic that may have represented a couple of things.
In the Ancient Near East, clothing signified status and position. Yes, it showed favoritism, but it could have shown more. Smith said that a valuable garment was a typical gift from parents to children (and gave an elaborate description).
Resource
Did Jacob believe that he was designating Joseph as the future leader of the family when he gave him a coat? Rachel should have been his first wife — and probably only wife. That would have made Joseph the firstborn. In Jacob’s mind, maybe he truly was.
I hadn’t thought before that Jacob giving Joseph the coat would have humiliated the older boys, especially Reuben.
But have you ever thought that there had to have been something deeper than jealousy going on. Yeah, not being Mom or Dad’s favorite can hurt, but there had to be something else.
Let’s think this through.
Relationships are strained. There is jealousy present.
But the “outsider” gets a coat, and boys aren’t going to ridicule him? Come on, if nothing else, young adult men are going to rag on each other.
There had to be something that, when they saw it on Joseph, they thought suitable. Something clicked.
Because the emotion the picture elicited wasn’t radical. It was anger with a side of envy.
All ten of the boys would not have had the same response – legitimacy – if it hadn’t of created a reality that they couldn’t – wouldn’t – accept.
Do any of them have a clue as to what the future holds? No.
True calling can be visible before it is fully formed. Sometimes, we just need something to start the reveal.
His Brothers Hated Joseph
The brothers did not react well to the coat.
We aren’t told what the brothers’ relationship was before Joseph was given the coat. Did they have a calm nearly two decades?
Probably not. I doubt if the mothers had the rivalry going, the sons could have helped but have been dragged in it.
We know that Reuben was — or at least his mandrakes were (Gen. 30: 14-15). We also discussed whether his sleeping with Jacob’s concubine was an attempt to ensure that his mother’s arch-rival’s servant wasn’t elevated to legal wife.
We aren’t really told how the other ten brothers have a good relationship with each other. All being within seven years of each other — with the youngest ones, bunched up together – it probably had to have created problems. That is especially true for Reuben, as his normal authority as firstborn would have been weaker since he didn’t have the usual 10- to 15-year age gap with his siblings that most firstborn men enjoyed.
Just as Taylor argued that Joseph was nothing like his brothers, he also argued that they hated him for that reason.
Resource
I can see that. Joseph was totally different than the rest.
Joseph is described in words such as integrity, restraint, and consistent awareness of God. None of the other boys even come close – not even Benjamin.
Making the Connections #1
committed There are some who think that Joseph was sinless.
I — and Paul — disagree. “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Rom. 3: 23 NLT).
Yeshua was the only one that did not sin. No, Moses didn’t document a sin committed by Joseph — unless he sinned during the looting of Shechem.
Yes, Joseph was a forerunner of the Messiah. He was not a messiah.
Joseph does demonstrate moral clarity, as we will find out in a couple of chapters.
One day, it boiled over.
Making the Connections #2
Dods had a good description of Joseph. He listed the characteristics he inherited from his ancestors.
Resource
Since we know the rest of the story, we know that Joseph is going to need these characteristics!
Making the Connections #3
What was Jacob thinking? Didn’t he know his sons? Did he have even a slight inkling that giving Joseph a special coat wasn’t going to end well.
Jacob had to have known that the splintered relationships were present before he gave the coat. Did it even flit through his mind that this may not have been a good idea?
How Do We Apply This?
- Teach our children to word.
- Keep pure when surrounded by evil.
Resource
Father God. Family dynamics can be difficult. Help us to navigate thee relationships, imitating You each day to others. Amen.
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