Jacob's Dozen One in Particular: A Study of Genesis 37-50

By David Kerns

God's chosen family, Jacob's dozen, is dysfunctional and fractured. The odds of them being used to fulfill God's covenant promises to Abraham are not looking good! How will God solve this dilemma? Come with us on an amazing journey as God sovereignly and providentially places young Joseph in a foreign country. There, through an unbelievable series of events, he will be prepared and used to reconcile and reunite Jacob's broken family. In addition to reconciling and reuniting the family, God will isolate and preserve them in the cocoon of Egypt, assuring the future fulfillment of his promises to Abraham.

This may be the finest story to ever emerge from the ancient world! It is a story of family dysfunction, parental favoritism, blood-soaked clothes, a prostitute's veil, multiple wives, slavery, lust, false charges, and prison. This is a story with shocking twists and turns. We will see prophetic dreams, sterling character, great promotions, unimaginable wealth, a family reunion, forgiveness, and reconciliation. And God will use our hero to save a world that is starving in a global food crisis.

God's sovereign control will obviously direct every detail in this story! Yet every character will do exactly as he pleases. It is a great mystery how this can happen.

This magnificent story is for anyone who wants to witness God's great grace and mercy to Jacob, to Joseph, to the eleven brothers and their families, to Pharaoh, to the nation of Egypt, and to the people of the world.

You cannot make up this kind of story! It actually happened!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Page Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9781662448720

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Jacob's Dozen One in Particular

A Study of Genesis 37-50

David Kerns

Copyright © 2023 David Kerns

All rights reserved

First Edition

PAGE PUBLISHING

Conneaut Lake, PA

First originally published by Page Publishing 2023

ISBN 978-1-6624-4871-3 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-6624-4872-0 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Wake Up, Jacob!: An Introduction to the Story

A Diamond in the Rough: Genesis 37:1–36

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: Genesis 38:1-30

Act 1: The Events

Act 2: The Meaning

Talk about Unfair!: Genesis 39:1–23

Hopes Dashed Again: Genesis 40:1–23

Free at Last: Genesis 41:1–57

An Incredible Meeting: Genesis 42:1–28

The Critical Need to Forgive

The Vise Tightens: Genesis 42:29–43:15

The Confused Brothers: Genesis 43:16–34

Straight from the Heart! (A Heartfelt Plea from a Changed Man): Genesis 44:1–34

I Am Joseph!: Genesis 45:1–15

A Family Reunion: Genesis 45:16–46:30

A Patriarch, a Pharaoh, and a Granddad's Touch: Genesis 46:31–48:22

Jacob's Dozen Pass in Review: Genesis 49:1–33

My Bones Belong in Canaan: Genesis 49:28–50:26

Jacob's Dozen—One in Particular: A Final Look

About the Author

To my wife, Nancy Ruth Engevik Kerns. She is a godly, amazing, and beautiful woman and is God's great gift to me. I am so wonderfully blessed that she chose to spend the past forty-five plus years with me.

Preface

The story of Jacob's family, Joseph in particular, is a story for the ages. It is in Genesis 37–50. You cannot make up this kind of story! It actually happened! And it is Scripture!

I have shared this story with hundreds of incarcerated men over the years at our local corrections facility. It is a story of family dysfunction, parental favoritism, sibling rivalry and jealousy, and the selling of one of their own brothers. It is a story of sexual temptation, false imprisonment, guilty consciences, unimagined promotions and blessings, family reunion, forgiveness, family reconciliation, family heritages being passed to the next generations, parental and patriarchal blessings, and the deaths of two of the great characters of the book of Genesis.

As a slave in a foreign country, Joseph successfully faces sexual temptation, only to be falsely accused and jailed. He languishes in prison, while those who could help him instead forget about him. Through an amazing series of events, God's Providence brings Joseph to the highest levels of Egyptian power and success.

And then his brothers show up, those same guys who had sold him into slavery twenty years earlier. What will happen when Joseph meets those guys?

Arching over the events of Jacob's Dozen: One in Particular are the plans of God. He desires to fulfill his promises to Abraham and create a great nation from his offspring. Ultimately the world will be blessed through Abraham's, and now Jacob's, family. But the chances of success are not looking real good right now. Yet God's sovereignty and Providence will, as always, rule the day. God's careful and sure steps will fulfill his amazing covenant promises to Abraham and his descendants.

That the Joseph story could end with the twelve sons of Jacob standing united in God's programs while in a foreign land is absolutely amazing. The details of his sovereign control over the events of Joseph's life and ministry are at once unseen and yet clearly visible.

Come with us on this fabulous journey and watch God's Providence and mercy bring reconciliation and unity to this shattered and dysfunctional family. Surely, it is a great story for incarcerated men. But it is also a great story for anyone who wants to see an amazing display of the Providence and mercy of God.

There is simply no other story like this story, the story of Jacob's Dozen: One in Particular.

We are using the NASB translation in this study. This study has been twenty-five-plus years in the making. Handwritten notes have been copied, recopied, and finally put on a computer. I have made every effort to give proper credit for the quotes used. If I have failed, please let me know, and every effort will be made to correct any future printings. There are some quotes where I simply do not know the source.

1

Wake Up, Jacob!:

An Introduction to the Story

I. Introductory Comments: to Appreciate the Story

There are many stories in Genesis, but none are so finely written as this one. The Genesis account is at once theological, historic, and heroic. It is a real-life biblical drama, which goes far beyond just art. It will teach and challenge everyone who pauses to interact with the story.

Agnes E. Meyer, writing in the New York Times Book Review, said, Purely as narrative and background there is a magnificent story here which exceeds in drama, opulence, and movement anything that Hollywood has ever dreamed. It is indeed a very sweeping narrative.

One ancient writings professor was heard to say, I will stake my reputation as a professor of ancient literature that this is the finest story ever written from the ancient world…just in its literary value (source unknown).

Yes, it is literature, but it is also Scripture. It is a story that actually happened! This display of divine Providence is unusual and shines here more brilliantly than in any other portion of the Word.

It has an author. It has a point, a truth, a goal. It is not another rags to riches story. But rather, it tells how God created a nation out of a troubled family. In some ways, it is a riches to rags story!

Jacob's family was plagued by jealousy, rivalry, and passion. Rachel envied Leah. Leah envied Rachel. Leah's sons picked up on it and envied Joseph so much that they wanted to murder him and eventually sold him instead. Judah left the family, left the faith, went to Canaan, married a Canaanite woman, and became a practicing Canaanite, and his first two sons were so wicked God stepped in to kill them! Simeon married a Canaanite woman.

Jacob was a father who openly showed parental favoritism toward one of his twelve sons. It was a family full of jealousies and divisions. Dad was a crook, and Mom was an idolator (Genesis 31:19–20). All of these elements contributed to a family situation that would culminate in an explosive tragedy.

Yet God did not let these jealousies and divisions thwart his plans. He will create the chosen family out of dysfunction, jealousy, favoritism, family division, and racial hatred.

God reconciled and reunited the family. In doing so, he created a nation, created a Messiah, created the Scriptures, blessed the world, and fulfilled his covenant promises to Abraham. And Joseph witnessed to the nation of Egypt in the process!

God will reunite the family so wonderfully that the brothers will show their sorrow to Joseph about how they treated him. The brothers will show loyalty to their other half-brother Benjamin, a loyalty missing in their relationship with Joseph. So complete will be the reconciliation that Judah will beg for Benjamin's life, even at the cost of his own freedom, in one of the truly great speeches of the Bible! In the end, the brothers will show tenderness toward their father, Jacob, that had been long absent.

These will be exceptional and amazing events. And through it all, God was faithful to his promises and purposes to Abraham.

God's Providence will direct these events, and yet within this obvious theological framework, the story will unfold from a secular viewpoint. Thus, there will be no angels or other miraculous interventions. There will be no direct divine revelations or communications to Joseph. But the secularity of the story is only skin-deep. The narrative is actually infused with a very profound sense that God's hand of Providence is giving meaning and direction to what appear to be haphazard events.

Ultimately and above all, the story of Joseph is about God working out his will through the everyday events of life. There are no miracles here. God does not suspend his natural laws to make things happen. The story is about the hidden but sure ways of God. God's hidden hand arranges everything without show or explanation or violating the nature of things.

The Joseph story will initiate the chain of events that leads the family down to Egypt. It is thus a prelude to the drama of oppression and redemption that will follow. In this story, God will use the good and the bad actions of all the characters for good and to accomplish his plans. He will use the actions of Joseph's family, a group of passing traders, of Potiphar and Potiphar's hussy wife, of a jailed baker and a cupbearer, and of Pharaoh and his servants, all to accomplish good (Genesis 50:20). He will even use the weather!

While supernatural intervention is not shown, his providential hand is clearly evident in the unique circumstances that play out. Look at some of the times where there is a pairing of two:

Joseph has two dreams.

Judah falls to sexual sin, followed immediately with Joseph triumphing over it.

Joseph fellow prisoners have two dreams.

Pharaoh has two dreams.

Joseph interprets two sets of two dreams.

The brothers make two trips to Egypt.

The brothers are tested twice, once by the steward, once by Joseph.

First, Jacob blesses Joseph and his sons, then second, he blesses his own sons.

The story ends with two deaths.

These pairings by the writer become quite notable to the reader. The writer uses them to point subtly to God's providential hand. Much is said about the sovereignty and Providence of God without directly saying anything about it.

The story will also address the issue of who among the twelve sons will get the right of the firstborn. Rueben, the oldest, forfeited his place when he slept with his father's concubine. Did he do this in an attempt to usurp authority? Simeon and Levi, the next two oldest, forfeited their places when they rashly overreacted to the rape of their sister, Dinah, and caused a massacre and great harm at Shechem. Judah, the fourth son, will emerge in the story as a changed man and will be the father of the Messiah! But who will get the double portion? Who will get the right of the firstborn?

At once, the Joseph story is both a great story to listen to and a serious study of a critical period in the history of the covenant family. We must consider the law of proportion. Why did the author (Holy Spirit) stop and give fourteen chapters to one person, Joseph? Proportion is connected to importance.

Genesis 1–11 covers about two thousand years and could be considered basically as an introduction to the Bible. Genesis 12–50 covers about two hundred years, dealing with Abraham's family and the covenants and is the story proper. So at Genesis 12, the Holy Spirit put on the brakes as it were and slowed to spend the rest of the book (thirty-nine chapters) showing us this one family!

The first eleven chapters of Genesis deal with creation, the fall, the flood, and other significant events. Then the next thirty-nine chapters deal with one family, the chosen family. And fourteen of the thirty-nine are given to Joseph! The law of proportion is clearly showing us there is something very important here that God wants us to see and to consider.

Joseph does not have the most chapters among biblical men, but he is one of the most important. He is the link, the key, to understanding four hundred years of Israel's history. Joseph's rule over Egypt will save the entire world. Joseph authenticates God's promise to Abraham. Joseph foreshadows Christ's dominion and so much more that we will see!

Before us is a full range of issues. No two chapters will be alike. We will be seeing blood-soaked clothes, a prostitute's veil, mistaken identity, terrible mistaken grief, family dysfunction and rivalry, a dad's parenting errors, parental favoritism, family abandonment, multiple wives, fratricide, slavery, lust, sex, and false charges. We will see jail, despair, bitterness, release from jail, prophetic dreams, great promotions, amazing wealth, a family reunion, forgiveness, reconciliation, the Bible's first offer of substitutionary death or servanthood, repentance, godly parenting and fathering, the messianic line, connecting the generations, and the death of two great leaders in Israel.

But in the end, it is a family story. It is a family story told and established mainly through one.

Thus our title, Jacob's Dozen: One in Particular.

In 2 Timothy 3:16–17, we read that all Scripture is given by inspiration and is profitable for doctrine (learning), reproof (conviction), correction (straightening up again), and instruction in righteousness (training/educating in righteousness). This Joseph story will provide all four of these opportunities for us.

II. Literary Considerations: to Prepare Us for the Story

Writers would tell us that every good story needs three things: a plot, a setting, and character development.

1. A Plot (An example is the story of the Prodigal Son.)

This plot is majestic, sweeping, and powerful. It will capture our attention!

This plot involves brotherly hatred, the selling of one of their own, his landing in prison, his rise to second only to Pharaoh, and then his meeting the brothers again! What a plot!

We will feel the dissension, betrayal, grief, joy, guilt, forgiveness, reconciliation, and reunion.

Yet behind the scenes, a much bigger plot: God is working behind the scenes, ruling and overruling the actions of people. He has a plan to save a nation and bless the world as he fulfills his promises to Abraham against all odds.

2. A Setting (To where will the story transport your mind? What will you feel?)

This epic story will take us from a tent to a mansion to a prison to a palace. This story will take us from a small hamlet in the land of Canaan to the highest places in the palaces in Egypt.

3. Character Development (How will the characters in the story change and grow?)

Look at Jacob, Judah, Rueben, Joseph, and Benjamin. We will get to know them. They will be multifaceted. We will see joy, lust, fear, hate, sorrow, love, godliness, rebellion, forgiveness, reconciliation, and in the end, unity.

Our story is a biography. Bible biographies are given to us to encourage us, to stimulate us, and to warn us. Think of the lives of men like David, Abraham, Saul, Solomon, Elijah, Elisha, Lot, Samson, and Gideon. Their stories put truth into life and become unforgettable. One man said, Every man's life contains sufficient material for a great novel. The story before us is a great biography!

In the chapters ahead, our cast of characters will give us almost every human emotion:

III. Dysfunctional Background: to Energize the Story

This is the story of Jacob's family. These are the records of the generations of Jacob (Genesis 37:2). This phrase is found ten times in Genesis and is clearly a demarcation. The ten statements can form an outline of the book of Genesis. It is Jacob's story, but then the writer immediately goes to Joseph, the one son who will dominate the story line. These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age (Genesis 37:2).

The writer goes to one of the twelve brothers, Joseph. The writer will linger mostly over him for the next fourteen chapters. But it is the story of Jacob's family.

Many say Jacob is the main character in the story. God appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but not to Joseph. Yet Joseph is named twice as often as Jacob. Jewish teachers never counted Joseph a patriarch. Joseph built no altars, heard no voices from God, and so on. One major climax of the story is Jacob's blessing/prophecy to his twelve sons. Yet Joseph is a type of Christ in many ways.

Some say the two heroes in the story are Joseph and Judah. In the beginning, both are immature and troubled. Joseph is bratty and a tale-bearer. He certainly could use some maturing. Judah is cold and spiritually insensitive. Both, by God's grace, will be transformed through difficult trials.

Regardless of who is deemed the main character, Joseph will occupy center stage. But in the end, it is the story of Jacob's family. There is a sense in which God's sovereign and providential plan working in and through these events is the back story here. And that plan is, first of all, a family plan.

Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock. It is very unusual that the text states the age of a person like this. The writer picks him up at seventeen, then moves forward. But the curious reader would wonder about those first seventeen years? What about his birth and his childhood? This background is critical to the story!

These are the records of the generations or Jacob. Joseph, while seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic (Genesis 37:2–3).

Notice "his father's wives" in verse 2. It is wives, plural. This is a formula for disaster!

In verse 3, we see that Joseph was the son of his old age. Jacob is older now, and Joseph is the son of his older years. Sometimes it is natural to love that child of the older years more than one should. But Jacob is showing open favoritism now for one of the boys.

To help us understand the dysfunction, here's the story:

Israel is Jacob's other name. It means Prince with God.

Jacob means chiseler; that's his nature; that's part of the problem. He was a crook at times. Jacob alternated between being the jerk and the genius. Jacob is a classic illustration of a passive, preoccupied father who created huge problems for his kids. He was too busy to deal with wrong in his family. He would not deal with problems in his family.

Jacob is a scoundrel. He deceives his own brother. He then flees to Uncle Laban's camp. Laban may be the only scoundrel worse than Jacob. Jacob falls madly in love with Laban's daughter, Rachel, who is beautiful of form and face! Laban promises Rachel to him in exchange for seven years of work. After seven years, on the wedding night, Laban switches the sisters, and Jacob wakes up married to Leah, the older sister, not so good-looking, not the one he loves (this probably happened because of alcohol and the use of veils!).

Still madly in love with Rachel, he agrees to work for Laban for seven more years for Rachel. In the meantime, Leah has four boys, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Jacob finally marries Rachel. Now he's married to sisters! (That's suicide!) Rachel is unable to conceive and desperately wants children. Sisterly dynamics kick in—jealousy, taunting, squabbling, and inferiority issues.

Rachel offers Jacob her handmaid, Bilhah, so she can get a child by her. Dan and Naphtali are born. Thanks to Rachel, Leah is not getting time with Jacob now, so she will do the same thing. She offers her handmaid, Zilpah, to Jacob to get more children. Gad and Asher are born. (Jacob's a busy guy!) Rueben finds mandrakes in a field, the Asian aid to conception, and gives them to his mom, Leah. Rachel is still desperate to get pregnant. It was a great stigma for a Jewish woman not to be able to bear children, and Leah has several now! Rachel tries to buy the mandrakes from Leah. In exchange, she offers to let Leah have some nights with Jacob. Leah gets pregnant, Zebulun and Issachar are born.

Leah has seven children now, six boys and one girl, Dinah. Finally, Rachel casts herself on God and conceives. Joseph and Benjamin are born.

Leah has six sons, but she knows she was only married to Jacob because of her father's swindling. She knows Jacob does not love her. The boys know all of this also—ten boys who know their moms are not the ones their dad loves! One can only imagine the taunting, rivalry, in-fighting, jealousy, and dysfunction going on. I'm a wife's kid! You're only a handmaid's kid!

Rachel dies giving birth to Benjamin. So Joseph and Benjamin are most likely raised by one of the other three wives. Then Jacob gives Joseph the coat of many colors, apparently setting Joseph up to become the family leader. All the rivalry and jealousies come bubbling to the top; they hate him and now want to kill him.

This is amazing! You can't make this stuff up!

Look at the ways the writer shows the family dysfunction taking place. Consider these five areas.

1. The ten brothers are put first in harm's way when meeting Esau. (Genesis 33:2)

After Joseph is born, Jacob is older now and has been with Laban for twenty years. Jacob wants to go back home, to where he cheated his brother Esau. There is a confrontation between Jacob and Laban (Genesis 30–31).

Jacob is very fearful of what Esau might do to him when they meet. After all, he had cheated him out of his birthright. Esau once wanted to kill him. Notice Genesis 33:2. When they were close enough to see Esau coming, he put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. How did this make the other brothers feel? Jacob puts the handmaids and their sons first in harm's way! Rachel and Joseph are put in the safest place—last. Did the brothers get it?

Then tragedy falls.

2. Simeon and Levi massacre the men of Shechem. (Genesis 34:1–30)

In response to the rape of Dinah, Simeon and Levi deceive, trap, and slaughter the men of Shechem and plunder the villages (verses 25–29). Their response is in no way proportionate to the harm to Dinah. They are not thinking justice. They are thinking violence, revenge, and slaughter. That's a great testimony for Yahweh!

Jacob's response to the two boys is in 34:30: Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, ‘You have brought trouble on me, by making me odious among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites; and my men being few in number, they will gather together against me and attack me and I shall be destroyed, I and my household.'

Jacob's response is completely self-centered. There is not a word of correction or spiritual challenge here. Nothing is said about the extreme violence of his two boys, nor of the harm to his daughter. Is Jacob only concerned about the family's physical welfare and their public image and their trade? The response is totally inadequate for the circumstances. (He will address it with the boys, but not for many years [Genesis 49].)

3. Another tragedy strikes. Rachel dies, and two sons are without a mother. (Genesis 35:16–19)

Rachel has a second son, Benoni, or Benjamin (meaning son of my suffering). She dies in childbirth, leaving two sons to grow up without a mother, amid all this rivalry and jealousy. And Jacob has lost the love of his life.

4. Yet another tragedy comes. While still grieving, Rueben lays with Bilhah, and there is no reaction from Jacob. (Genesis 35:22)

Rueben, the firstborn of Leah, lay with Bilhah, Rachel's maid. Does he do this because he thinks he's firstborn? Was he trying to assert authority, to challenge his father's place? Or was it just lust? Many feel it was more political than lustful. Was he trying to promote his mother's rights? Was he trying to usurp the leadership of the Israelite tribes?

Rueben is the first of three brothers to face sexual temptation. He fails badly. Rueben will pay a very heavy price for this act later in the story. His father will say of him that he was as uncontrolled as water.

But notice Jacob's response in Genesis 35:22: Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine and Israel heard of it. Sometimes a writer's silence says more than his words! There was no response from Jacob here, yet the text clearly says he knew of it. Again, Jacob has a completely inadequate response to major trouble among his boys.

There is a great lesson here for younger Christians. Things count, even as young adults! The time to live for Christ is now, not just later in life. Sins of our younger years can be very serious and can cast a long, dark shadow forward for decades. Our society is full of adults whose lives are ruined when the great sins of their younger years finally come to light! Reuben, Simeon, and Levi (and the other eight brothers) will pay a very heavy price for their early sins. It all comes out! It all comes due! It never goes completely away. Yes, forgiveness is available, but some sins leave marks for decades. The time to live for Christ is now! Be very careful about this.

5. Idolatry is practiced in the group. (Genesis 35:2–4)

After God told Jacob to go up to Bethel and there make an altar to God, Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, Put away the foreign gods which are among you and purify yourselves'" (Genesis 35:2). Earlier, when Jacob was leaving his father-in-law, Laban, Rachel took the household idols and hid them in the camel's saddle (Genesis 31:31–35). The family and those with him had idols. They were not united in serving Yahweh.

Let's recap.

Jacob had two wives:

Leah, the older sister, the first wife:

Six sons: Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulan (Genesis 35:23)

One daughter: Dinah

Rachel, the younger sister, the second wife

Two sons: Joseph and Benjamin (Genesis 35:24)

Jacob had two concubines (maids):

Bilhah, Rachel's maid:

Two sons: Dan and Naphtali (Genesis 35:25)

Zilpah, Leah's maid:

Two sons, Gad and Asher (Genesis 35:26)

Jacob has twelve sons. Were they the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel? Not exactly, as two of the tribes would be named after Joseph's sons—more on that later.

But know that four women had Jacob's 13 children!

The story shows the favoritism and passivity of the father, Jacob. He puts Joseph last in line when brother Esau approaches. There is no response to incest in the camp. There is no response, or an inadequate response, to the rape of his daughter and the savagery of Simeon and Levi. And there are idols in the camp. Where is Jacob? Wake up, Jacob! He shows as a passive and preoccupied father. Little or nothing was done when trouble reared its head. Is he tending to the family business, focusing on getting rich? And there are two boys growing up in this family without a mother! And then he shows clear parental favoritism toward one son. (Someone once said that the question is not Why did God reject Esau? but Why did He choose Jacob?)

We show this background to show the intrigue and the rivalry among the twelve sons. There is hostility, jealousy, and lust. This is the environment that Joseph grew up in!

Well, the boys may have been lustful, but they could also see the obvious! They could see that their dad has a pet! And it is Joseph!

And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father (Genesis 37:2).

After being with the brothers out in the pastures, Joseph tattles on them when he returns home. Bad report means it smelled. This is not wise on Joseph's part and is not his best move.

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic (Genesis 37:3).

Does Jacob love Joseph more because passive fathers tend to love the child that is easier to handle? Maybe Joseph is younger and is insulated a bit from the family hostilities. Maybe he is more obedient, more pleasing to his father. Or does Jacob see Rachel's face when he sees Joseph's face? But the only thing the text says is that he is the son of his old age!

Whatever the cause, the other boys know of the favoritism. Jacob does not hide it (remember, he shielded him on the march to Esau!).

Jacob gave him a richly ornamented robe (NIV). It was sleeved to ankle and wrist (Leupold).¹ It was some sign of nobility and rank. One would not perform toil wearing this. One could not bare his arms and work with this on. Did this coat foreshadow his being the head of the family business some day? Jacob set him apart with this coat. But he also was setting him up with this coat.

And the brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms (Genesis 37:4).

The brothers clearly see the favoritism. They hate Joseph. So much so that they can't even speak kindly to him. That's the home Joseph is growing up in! Year after year, the brothers despise the favoritism of Jacob to Joseph.

The family is fractured! And they are not the first fractured family on that family tree!

Look at the immediate history.

Abraham grows impatient at the promise from God that he and Sarah would have a child. Sarah offers him her handmaid, Hagar, and Ishmael is born. Later Sarah has Isaac. But little Ishmael is running around. Sarah is bitter and jealous toward Hagar and Ishmael. Sarah favors Isaac and urges Abraham to send Hagar and Ishmael away. Abraham sends Hagar and Ishmael away.

Isaac has seen his own half-brother, Ishmael, driven away. He has two sons, Esau (ruddy, outdoorsman) and Jacob (quiet, home-centered). Isaac favors Esau. Rebekah favors Jacob. Jacob steals the blessing from Esau. Esau plots to kill Jacob. Jacob flees to Haran, to Laban's house.

Jacob is duped by Laban into marrying Leah first. Then he works and waits to marry Rachel, who gives birth to Joseph. Jacob has four wives and children by all four. He has four competing wives with their kids. Jacob picks Joseph as his favorite, born of his love Rachel! Due to the dysfunction, the brothers sell Joseph into slavery in Egypt.

There have been three successive generations where one