†. Gen 37:1-2a . . Now Jacob was settled in the land where his father
had sojourned, the land of Canaan. This, then, is the line of Jacob:
Genesis doesn't list a big genealogy right here like the one for Esau in
chapter 36, but rather, it's going to "follow" the line of Jacob from here on in
to the end of Genesis.
†. Gen 37:2b . . At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks
with his brothers, as a helper to the sons of his father's wives Bilhah
and Zilpah.
Jacob never actually married those two servant women. They were his
concubines in the same manner that Hagar was to Abraham. The Hebrew
word is 'ishshah (ish-shaw') which just simply indicates a woman.
The words "as a helper to" aren't in the actual Hebrew of that passage.
They're what is known as inserted words that translators sometimes employ
to smooth out texts so they'll clearly say what the translators think the
author meant to convey. Some translators insert the preposition "with" at
that point, so the passage reads; "At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended
the flocks with his brothers; the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah.
Actually, Joseph was in charge of his brothers Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and
Asher; who were all older than him. And it was he who was responsible to
manage the flocks because the phrase; "tended the flocks" actually connotes
he was shepherding the flock; i.e. Joseph was the trail boss.
Joseph's authority was also indicated by the "coat of many colors" that his
dad made for him. The Hebrew word for "colors" is of uncertain meaning and
some translators prefer to render it "long sleeves" rather than colors.
It seems clear that the intent of this special garment was as a badge of
Joseph's authority-- sort of like a military man's uniform --and of his
favored position in the family. Joseph may well have been the only one of
Jacob's twelve sons that he could fully trust since, for the most part, the
older men had proved themselves beyond control in the past.
The sons of Bilhah and Zilpah weren't really Joseph's full brothers, but half.
The only full brother was Benjamin, and at this time, he was too young to go
out on trail drives.
Genesis displayed a pretty bad case of sibling rivalry back in chapter 4,
which led to a younger brother's untimely death. This case of sibling rivalry
would surely have resulted in Joseph's untimely demise if God hadn't
intervened to prevent it. It's really sad that the majority of Jacob's sons
were dishonorable men; the kind you definitely don't want your own
daughter bringing home to meet the folks.
Although Joseph was an intelligent boy, and a responsible person, he
certainly lacked tact. His social skills were immature, and needed some
serious refinement because he really had a way of chafing his older brothers.
†. Gen 37:2b . . And Joseph brought bad reports of them to their
father.
Whether or not the "reports" could be construed as tattling is debatable.
After all, Joseph, as trail boss, was directly responsible to Jacob. It's been
my experience that upper management doesn't want to hear those kinds of
reports. All they want to know is whether or not the company is meeting its
deadlines and operating at a profit. It's lower management's responsibility
to manage the work force so that upper management can remain
undistracted to do other things that are far more worthy of their time, their
talents, and their attention. A lower manager who can't rectify personnel
problems in their own department usually gets fired and replaced by
somebody who can.
†. Gen 37:3a . . Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons
Uh-oh! Doesn't that sound familiar? Isaac had his favorite too: Mr. Esau.
There's nothing like favoritism to divide a family and guarantee it becoming
an ugly environment festering with sibling rivalry, yet that is so human a
thing to do. Put grown-ups in a group of kids and in no time at all, the
grown-ups will gravitate towards favorites, and become merely tolerant of
the others.
†. Gen 37:3b . . for he was the child of his old age; and he had made
him an ornamented tunic.
The "ornamented tunic" is all the same as what's usually known as the coat
of many colors.
One might be tempted to think Joseph was Jacob's favorite son because of
his love for Rachel; but Genesis says it was because Joseph was "the child of
his old age". Well, Benjamin was a child of Jacob's old age too but not nearly
as favored. So the real meaning may be that Joseph was a child of wisdom,
i.e. the wisdom of an older man; viz: Joseph was wise beyond his years and
thus more a peer to Jacob rather than just another mouth to feed.
†. Gen 37:4 . . And when his brothers saw that their father loved him
more than any of his brothers, they hated him so that they could not
speak a friendly word to him.
Genesis doesn't say the brothers wouldn't speak a friendly word; it says
they "couldn't". Hatred does that to people. It just kills a person overcome
with malice to be nice to the people they hate. They just can't do it. Their
eyes narrow, their lips tighten, they look away, they become thin-skinned,
their minds fill with epithets, they constantly take offense and can barely
keep a civil tongue in their head, if at all, because deep in their hearts, they
want the object of their hatred either dead or thoroughly disfigured and/or
smitten with some sort of terrible misfortune.
†. Gen 37:5-8 . . Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his
brothers; and they hated him even more. He said to them; Hear this
dream which I have dreamed: There we were binding sheaves in the
field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then
your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf. His
brothers answered; Do you mean to reign over us? Do you mean to
rule over us? And they hated him even more for his talk about his
dreams.
Joseph's dream was valid enough, and it even eventually came true; but
considering the already hostile mood festering against him among his
brothers, Joseph really should have kept the dream to himself. There wasn't
any real need for the others to know about it anyway, and I just have to
wonder if maybe Joseph wasn't gloating over them just a little.
Cont.
/
had sojourned, the land of Canaan. This, then, is the line of Jacob:
Genesis doesn't list a big genealogy right here like the one for Esau in
chapter 36, but rather, it's going to "follow" the line of Jacob from here on in
to the end of Genesis.
†. Gen 37:2b . . At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended the flocks
with his brothers, as a helper to the sons of his father's wives Bilhah
and Zilpah.
Jacob never actually married those two servant women. They were his
concubines in the same manner that Hagar was to Abraham. The Hebrew
word is 'ishshah (ish-shaw') which just simply indicates a woman.
The words "as a helper to" aren't in the actual Hebrew of that passage.
They're what is known as inserted words that translators sometimes employ
to smooth out texts so they'll clearly say what the translators think the
author meant to convey. Some translators insert the preposition "with" at
that point, so the passage reads; "At seventeen years of age, Joseph tended
the flocks with his brothers; the sons of his father's wives Bilhah and Zilpah.
Actually, Joseph was in charge of his brothers Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and
Asher; who were all older than him. And it was he who was responsible to
manage the flocks because the phrase; "tended the flocks" actually connotes
he was shepherding the flock; i.e. Joseph was the trail boss.
Joseph's authority was also indicated by the "coat of many colors" that his
dad made for him. The Hebrew word for "colors" is of uncertain meaning and
some translators prefer to render it "long sleeves" rather than colors.
It seems clear that the intent of this special garment was as a badge of
Joseph's authority-- sort of like a military man's uniform --and of his
favored position in the family. Joseph may well have been the only one of
Jacob's twelve sons that he could fully trust since, for the most part, the
older men had proved themselves beyond control in the past.
The sons of Bilhah and Zilpah weren't really Joseph's full brothers, but half.
The only full brother was Benjamin, and at this time, he was too young to go
out on trail drives.
Genesis displayed a pretty bad case of sibling rivalry back in chapter 4,
which led to a younger brother's untimely death. This case of sibling rivalry
would surely have resulted in Joseph's untimely demise if God hadn't
intervened to prevent it. It's really sad that the majority of Jacob's sons
were dishonorable men; the kind you definitely don't want your own
daughter bringing home to meet the folks.
Although Joseph was an intelligent boy, and a responsible person, he
certainly lacked tact. His social skills were immature, and needed some
serious refinement because he really had a way of chafing his older brothers.
†. Gen 37:2b . . And Joseph brought bad reports of them to their
father.
Whether or not the "reports" could be construed as tattling is debatable.
After all, Joseph, as trail boss, was directly responsible to Jacob. It's been
my experience that upper management doesn't want to hear those kinds of
reports. All they want to know is whether or not the company is meeting its
deadlines and operating at a profit. It's lower management's responsibility
to manage the work force so that upper management can remain
undistracted to do other things that are far more worthy of their time, their
talents, and their attention. A lower manager who can't rectify personnel
problems in their own department usually gets fired and replaced by
somebody who can.
†. Gen 37:3a . . Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons
Uh-oh! Doesn't that sound familiar? Isaac had his favorite too: Mr. Esau.
There's nothing like favoritism to divide a family and guarantee it becoming
an ugly environment festering with sibling rivalry, yet that is so human a
thing to do. Put grown-ups in a group of kids and in no time at all, the
grown-ups will gravitate towards favorites, and become merely tolerant of
the others.
†. Gen 37:3b . . for he was the child of his old age; and he had made
him an ornamented tunic.
The "ornamented tunic" is all the same as what's usually known as the coat
of many colors.
One might be tempted to think Joseph was Jacob's favorite son because of
his love for Rachel; but Genesis says it was because Joseph was "the child of
his old age". Well, Benjamin was a child of Jacob's old age too but not nearly
as favored. So the real meaning may be that Joseph was a child of wisdom,
i.e. the wisdom of an older man; viz: Joseph was wise beyond his years and
thus more a peer to Jacob rather than just another mouth to feed.
†. Gen 37:4 . . And when his brothers saw that their father loved him
more than any of his brothers, they hated him so that they could not
speak a friendly word to him.
Genesis doesn't say the brothers wouldn't speak a friendly word; it says
they "couldn't". Hatred does that to people. It just kills a person overcome
with malice to be nice to the people they hate. They just can't do it. Their
eyes narrow, their lips tighten, they look away, they become thin-skinned,
their minds fill with epithets, they constantly take offense and can barely
keep a civil tongue in their head, if at all, because deep in their hearts, they
want the object of their hatred either dead or thoroughly disfigured and/or
smitten with some sort of terrible misfortune.
†. Gen 37:5-8 . . Once Joseph had a dream which he told to his
brothers; and they hated him even more. He said to them; Hear this
dream which I have dreamed: There we were binding sheaves in the
field, when suddenly my sheaf stood up and remained upright; then
your sheaves gathered around and bowed low to my sheaf. His
brothers answered; Do you mean to reign over us? Do you mean to
rule over us? And they hated him even more for his talk about his
dreams.
Joseph's dream was valid enough, and it even eventually came true; but
considering the already hostile mood festering against him among his
brothers, Joseph really should have kept the dream to himself. There wasn't
any real need for the others to know about it anyway, and I just have to
wonder if maybe Joseph wasn't gloating over them just a little.
Cont.
/
