Genesis 37:1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had
stayed, the land of Canaan. 2 This
is the account of Jacob's family line. Joseph, a young man of
seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of
Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought
their father a bad report about them. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other
sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a
richly ornamented robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than
any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him. 12 Now his brothers had gone to
graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your
brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you
to them." "Very well," he replied. 14 So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with
your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then
he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at
Shechem, 15 a man
found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you
looking for?" 16 He
replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are
grazing their flocks?" 17 "They
have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's
go to Dothan.' " So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near
Dothan. 18 But they
saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill
him. 19 "Here
comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 20 "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of
these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured
him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams." 21 When Reuben heard this,
he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life,"
he said. 22 "Don't
shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don't
lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him
back to his father. 23 So
when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe--the richly
ornamented robe he was wearing-- 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The
cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw
a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded
with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them
down to Egypt. 26 Judah
said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover
up his blood? 27 Come,
let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he
is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. 28 So when the
Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the
cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the
Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
Our look
at "first families" in the Old Testament continues this week, with
more conflict--this time between Jacob/Israel's sons. It's a lot of
verses--even so, the lectionary has had to whittle things down a bit in order
to keep it manageable. The unfortunate thing is that no mention at all is made
of Joseph's dreams, even though he is derisively referred to as "that dreamer" (vs 19). Joseph's
dreams occur in vss 5-9 with the main theme that all of his brothers will bow
down in homage to him. That, accompanied with his father's favoritism, does not
ingratiate Joseph to his brothers. Indeed, it's pretty clear in the text that
even before they lash out against him, they truly hate him.
One of
the more interesting aspects of the story is vs 3 which mentions the richly ornamented robe that Jacob/Israel
makes for Joseph. This is the "coat of many colors" that we heard
about in Sunday school (or the technicolor
dreamcoat for you Andrew Lloyd Webber fans). I'm slightly disappointed at
some of the modern 'family systems' type commentators who come down on
Jacob/Israel for "playing favorites," etc. Another way to look at it
is that Jacob was exercising both his right and responsibility in choosing the
son that would succeed him as leader of the clan. Granted, there was the
convention that this "birth-right" usually went to the oldest son.
But if we've seen ANYTHING in our time together in Genesis it's that this is
far from a hard and fast rule. Abraham overlooked his first born in favor of
Isaac. Esau lost his status to Jacob. And as at least a couple of commentators
point out, Joseph *IS the first born of the wife Jacob had intended to marry first (Rachel). By so designating Joseph as the
tribal-chief-in-waiting, Jacob was actually doing his family a service by
(hopefully) removing all doubt and securing a peaceful transition should
something befall him.
As to the
technicolor dreamcoat... the actual
meaning/translation of this term is a bit obscure. Best guesses indicate that a
literal translation would be to call it a richly
colored tunic with long sleeves. Based on other ancient inscriptions, it's
a pretty valid conclusion that this is princely garb. As much as Jacob/Israel
"loved" Joseph more than the other sons, this tunic is not so much
about love as it is about STATUS. As one commentator bluntly put it, Joseph was
"management, not labor."
On the
other hand, the narrative leaves little room for doubt that Joseph missed the
chapter about how to win friends and influence people. His tact seems lacking
when he boldly announces his dreams about his brothers doing obeisance to him.
Even with
his faults, however, the Christian reading this story can see Joseph as an
obvious Christ figure: he is beloved by the father; he is despised by the rest;
he is betrayed by his brethren; he is sold for a handful of silver; he 'gives'
his life (as the story unfolds) for the benefit of others; etc. etc. With this
Christ angle, vss 19-20a become key: "Here
comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 20 "Come now, let's kill him ... as surely we can
see Jesus as the ultimate 'dreamer,' ... dreaming of a day when God and all
humanity will be reconciled ...but met with the shouts of humanity: crucify him, crucify him!
The other important angle is
vs 28 So when the
Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the
cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the
Ishmaelites, .......who took him to Egypt. The life that Joseph had
known is over. No more technicolor dreamcoat; no more hanging out at home with
Dad while his brothers work with the flocks. No more dreams about one day being
the chieftain of their tribe. Life is going to be pretty awful now. A lot of
the Joseph story is about a familiar theme... does suffering have a purpose? In particular, does the suffering of the righteous have a purpose... or is it just
random bad luck? A Christian perspective says that suffering *can be redemptive--the
first & most obvious example being Jesus' suffering for the sins of the
world. The Joseph story, however, is a pretty good second. No denying it...
Joseph WILL suffer. Slavery in Egypt is something he'd rather avoid. And yet,
as the story will unfold, we will see that Joseph's suffering is not random or
purposeless. It will be redemptive in multiple ways.
For us as
Christians, our prayers in the midst of suffering are often something along the
lines of pleading with God to MAKE IT STOP!!! On the one or two occasions I've
come close to feeling actual suffering in my life, that was certainly the gist
of my prayers. Far be it from me to advise against this--in the words of my
father, it will always feel better when
it quits hurting. But until then, if or when we should encounter suffering,
another prayer is to ask God that it would have
a purpose; INVITE God to use it for something redemptive. True grace is not
limited to that point when it feels
better because it quit hurting... true grace also comes when our eyes are
opened to see how God used our suffering as part of his redemptive purpose in
the lives of others and to further his plan.
Cheers,
T.M.
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