Daddy's Boy (Genesis 35 - 44)

Photo: Susan Wilkinson (@ unsplash)

"You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, ‘He has surely been torn to pieces.’ And I have not seen him since.” (Genesis 44:27-28)

If you are one of this man’s ten other sons, how do you feel when you hear this?

Dad loved this boy way too much. Dressed him up like a doll, called him his sunshine. Did not love his other wives; did not give a fig about his other children.

Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons.... And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of his brothers, they hated him” (Genesis 37:3-4).

There you have it. After Rachel died, Jacob pitched his tent out past Migdal-eder, leaving behind Leah, Bilhah, Zilpah and the children. Reuben, the oldest, saw his chance to send the old man a message:

While Israel stayed in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine; and Israel found out. (Genesis 35:22)

That was it. Didn’t say a word to Reuben. Didn’t care, or just filed the fact away for later. Too busy indulging the dreamer who claimed to have visions forecasting his rule over his brothers.

And they hated him even more for his talk about his dreams. (Genesis 37:8)

They hated him for the sake of their abandoned mothers, hated him for their own childhood loneliness. And Joseph, the little peacock, already strutting about like he was infinitely better than the rest of them, even when he was still just a kid, really. He was a snitch, too, reporting back to Dad when they let one of the sheep wander off or get injured in the bramble patch.

And no, if the truth be known, he did not just go away, leave home, he was sent away by Dad! Good old Dad told him to find his brothers and the flock and check on things. As if that had been necessary! And there he was, wandering out into the fields, decked out in his dandy’s coat, an easy target for brigands and cutthroats. Couldn’t even track them, had to ask directions from some stranger in Shechem. So, yes, he had it coming.

And why did Dad send him their way in the first place?! Because after the second dream, which predicted that even he, Jacob, would one day grovel in the dust before Sunny, things looked suddenly different. How could it be permitted that he should be brought so low after having been promised such greatness, having been renamed, having seen God face to face on that ladder—and lived!!?