Thought for the Week

My hero this time is Joseph. He is a bona fide hero to many thousands. But that is in a few decades. I need to tell you about his growing up years. They made him a more impressive hero. His parents had a very deep love for one another and that should of made his life wonderful. It was not so. His home life was a shambles. His maternal grandfather was not a good man. He deceived Joseph’s father into marrying his mother’s sister. As a result of that and other consequences, Joseph grew up with his parents and three step mothers. There was a lot of jealousy among the women. It certainly made for much conflict in the home. Joseph’s father was also not a very honest man. He deceived his father-in-law and embezzled property from him. Joseph’s uncles were aware of this and hated Joseph’s father. It came to the point that Joseph’s father, Jacob, decided to flee from the extended family. The grandfather and uncles pursued and had not God intervened, there would have been open warfare. Joseph had ten older brothers. His father loved Joseph and doted on him, openly displaying that love and giving him many favors. One of these favors was a richly made and ornamented coat of many colors. These things made for jealousy and even outright hatred by his older brothers. Joseph had a unique gift from God; the ability to dream prophetic dreams and also to interpret dreams. As a child, he may not have fully understood that gift. Once he dreamed he and his brothers were working in the grain fields cutting and binding wheat to put into shocks or sheaves. The brothers’ sheaves bowed down to Joseph’s. Clearly this was interpreted to mean the brothers would bow in submission to Joseph. In a loving home, the older brothers would likely have tousled his hair and laughingly pushed him around a bit, perhaps mocking his superiority. In this case, they hated him for his dream and his telling of it. The brothers may not have had the best work ethic. Once Joseph’s father sent him to spy on them and bring back a report of their work. This made him both a spy and a “tattle-tale” or in our day a “whistle-blower.” Joseph’s brothers saw him coming. They plotted to kill him and throw his body into an empty pit or cistern they’d found. Reuben, the oldest brother intervened. He proposed they simply throw him into the pit and let him starve. Reuben was planning to come back and rescue him but as it turned out, there was a trading caravan coming. Reuben was not there. The other brothers changed plans and pulled Joseph out of the pit. They sold him, as a slave, to these traders. Their further plan was to take Joseph’s coat of many colors, dip it into the blood of an animal they killed and show it to their father. This they did and Jacob assumed what the brothers hoped he would, that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Joseph now is in the hands of the traders. They took him to Egypt. He was sold into the hand of a rich, powerful military man, captain of Pharaoh’s royal guard. Joseph was loved by his father and mother but his home life was extremely dysfunctional. It would not surprise us if Joseph turned bitter in the land of Egypt where he had no friends, or family, did not know the language or customs. We’ll see Joseph loved and trusted God above all.

Scriptures to Read

Genesis 29:15-35

Genesis 30:1-21

Genesis 30:22-43

Genesis 31:1-19

Genesis 31:38-55

Genesis 37:1-24

Genesis 37:25-36