When I was small, my mom told me about Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. While the story hasn’t changed, my opinion certainly has. Joseph has ten older brothers, is his father’s favorite son, and he interprets dreams – a skill that makes annoys his brothers and makes him a valuable servant to his Egyptian masters. Recently, I was reintroduced to the story of Joseph when I read The Red Tent, which illustrates the story of Jacob’s only daughter: Dinah. After reading The Red Tent, by Anita Diamant, I was struck by how selfish and cold Joseph acts towards his sister, whom everyone thinks is dead.
So right now I’m not so fond of Joseph, but what do I think of his story? I’m not sure. Is it about a father’s love; the brothers’ rivalry; a boy’s God-given talent; or perhaps all three? When preparing for this reflection I was really struck by the theme of forgiveness. Looking back through the book of Genesis I found that Cain and Abel are not the only brothers who turn against one another: Abraham and Lot (albeit, an adopted son), Jacob and Esau, and finally, Joseph and his ten older brothers.
Joseph taunts his brothers by telling them about his dreams. Vividly describing scenes where his older brothers bow down to him, Joseph’s brothers are peeved that Joseph is not only their father’s favorite son but also apparently “the best” brother too. Keeping in mind that Joselph’s oldest brother, Reuben, is about twenty years older than Joseph, it’s fair that Reuben and his brothers have little time or respect for their youngest brother.
I compared the brothers’ interactions to those of my brother and mine. I imagine that our relationship would be a lot more malicious if my parents favored one of us over the other, or let one of us sleep in the house and told the other to sleep outside (hypothetically speaking, of course!). Needless to say, Joseph was kind of asking for retribution.
…Which is what his brothers essentially do when they sell him to Midianite traders.
However, their hatred only fosters more hurt. It isn’t until his brothers travel to Egypt during the seven-year famine – begging the King’s right hand man, aka Joseph, for food – that Jacob’s sons begin to forgive each other. Setting aside their childish jealousy and hate, Jacob and his brothers rely on love and mercy to form a mutually beneficial partnership.
Mercy and love help reconcile past differences, thus enabling Joseph and his brothers to reunite their broken family and become the twelve nations of Israel.
A story that has a lot of hurt feelings, I’m glad that it has a positive ending and a clear moral.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long robe with sleeves. 4But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.
5Once Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. 6He said to them, "Listen to this dream that I dreamed. 7There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright; then your sheaves gathered around it, and bowed down to my sheaf." 8His brothers said to him, "Are you indeed to reign over us? Are you indeed to have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words.
9He had another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, "Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, "What kind of dream is this that you have had? Shall we indeed come, I and your mother and your brothers, and bow to the ground before you?" 11So his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
12Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. 13And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." He answered, "Here I am." 14So he said to him, "Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me." So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.
He came to Shechem, 15and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, "What are you seeking?" 16"I am seeking my brothers," he said; "tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock." 17The man said, "They have gone away, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. 18They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. 19They said to one another, "Here comes this dreamer. 20Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams." 21But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, "Let us not take his life." 22Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him" — that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father. 23So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; 24and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26Then Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh." And his brothers agreed. 28When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
29When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. 30He returned to his brothers, and said, "The boy is gone; and I, where can I turn?" 31Then they took Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. 32They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, "This we have found; see now whether it is your son's robe or not." 33He recognized it, and said, "It is my son's robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces." 34Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Thus his father bewailed him. 36Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.
To read the rest of the Joseph story, read Genesis 39-50.
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