Genesis 37.3b-4-Jacob's Favoritism and His Sons Resentment of Joseph
Thursday October 26, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 37:3b-4-Jacob’s Favoritism and His Sons Resentment of Joseph
Lesson # 228
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 37:2.
This evening we will continue with our study of Genesis 37:2-36, which presents to us the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers due to their resentment of him.
On Tuesday evening, we noted Genesis 37:2, which presented to us the account of Jacob’s sons and Joseph giving his father Jacob a slanderous report of his brothers.
Last evening we studied Genesis 37:3a and the significance of the name Israel.
In this passage the name Israel is used rather than Jacob in order to emphasize that the resentment by Joseph’s brothers against him and their selling him into slavery and Joseph ending up in Egypt was a manifestation of the providence of God.
This evening we will study Genesis 37:3-4, which presents to us the record of Jacob favoring Joseph over his other sons because he was the son of his old age, which led to Joseph’s brothers resenting him.
Genesis 37:2, “These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when 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.”
Genesis 37:3, “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.”
The statement “Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons” expresses that Jacob favored Joseph over his other sons since Joseph was the first son of Jacob’s favorite wife Rachel who suffered many years of infertility before giving birth to him.
Jacob was very disappointed in the behavior of his three older sons whose mother was Leah since Genesis 34 records Simeon and Levi being the masterminds of the massacre at Shechem and Genesis 35:22 records Reuben, Jacob’s oldest son as committing adultery and incest with his concubine, namely, Rachel’s maid Bilhah.
Notice, that this statement “Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons” does “not” say that Israel did not love his other sons but rather that he loved Joseph “more” than them implying obviously that he “did” love his other sons but it was not as affectionate as his love for Joseph.
This statement echoes the statement found in Genesis 29:30, “So Jacob went in to Rachel also, and indeed he (Jacob) loved Rachel more than Leah, and he served with Laban for another seven years.”
Notice, also that this statement in Genesis 29:30, like the one in Genesis 37:3 does “not” say that Jacob did not love Leah but rather he loved Rachel “more” than Leah implying obviously that he “did” have love for Leah but it was not as passionate and affectionate as his love for Rachel.
The fact that Jacob favored Joseph over his other sons was wrong and actually fueled his sons’ hatred of Joseph.
Favoritism had a long history in Jacob's family such as Isaac’s preference for Esau and Rebekah’s for Jacob, and Jacob favoring Rachel over Leah.
As we have noted in detail in our studies of Genesis 29-30 and 37:2, Jacob favored Rachel over Leah, which produced resentment among the sons of Leah.
If you recall, in our studies of Genesis 35:22, Reuben who was the first son that Leah bore to Jacob while in Paddan Aram committed adultery and incest with Jacob’s concubine Leah, who was Rachel’s maid, which was an act of rebellion against Jacob for favoring Rachel and Joseph over him and his mother Leah.
This incident between Reuben and Jacob’s concubine, Bilhah is motivated by Reuben’s resentment of Jacob and his love for his mother Leah rather than sexual lust since by defiling Bilhah, he makes certain that with Rachel’s death her maid cannot supplant Leah as chief wife (Compare 2 Samuel 15:16; 16:22; 20:3).
Therefore, you would think that Jacob, now Israel would have learned his lesson to not play favorites since he was the victim of such favoritism and that his favoring Rachel over Leah produced problems in his home.
However, it appears that he has not learned his lesson and therefore, he will pay a huge price in that Joseph will be sold into slavery by his brothers and end up in Egypt and not see his father for over twenty years due to the fact that the sons of Leah resented that their father favored Joseph over them.
The fact that Jacob, now Israel favored Joseph over the sons of his concubines and Leah’s sons does “not” excuse what Joseph’s brothers did to him in selling him into slavery.
The causal clause “because he (Joseph) was the son of his old age” reveals the primary reason why Israel preferred Joseph over his other sons and means that Joseph was the baby in the family even though Benjamin was born after him.
“Old age” is the noun zequnim (<yn!q|z+) (zaw-koon), which is in the plural form expressing the condition of advanced age.
Joseph was born when Jacob, now Israel was 91 years of age and was the last of his sons born in Paddan Aram.
The fact that Jacob was 91 years of age when Joseph was born is indicated by the following:
Genesis 47:9 records that Jacob was 130 years old when he was reunited with Joseph and Genesis 41:46 records Joseph as 30 years old when he became prime minister of Egypt.
Therefore, since Joseph became prime minister of Egypt at thirty and at the beginning of the seven years of prosperity, Joseph was 37 years of age at the end of these seven years of prosperity.
In Genesis 45:6, after reuniting with his brothers, Joseph mentions to his brothers that two years of famine had already transpired and that five more remained.
Right after this conversation that Joseph had with his brothers, Jacob moved to Egypt and was reunited with Joseph according to Genesis 46.
Therefore, the fact that Joseph was 37 after the seven years of prosperity and that he met his father after two years of famine indicates that Joseph was 39 years of age when he was reunited with his father Jacob and his brothers during the seven years of famine.
So if Joseph was 39 years of age when he was reunited with his father Jacob and became prime minister at 30 and was sold into slavery at 17, then Joseph was in Egypt for 22 years when he was reunited with his father Jacob.
Furthermore, since Jacob was 130 years old and Joseph was 39 years of age when they were reunited, then Jacob was 91 years old when Joseph was born.
The noun zequnim (<yn!q|z+) (zaw-koon), “old age” is used in Genesis 44:20 to describe Jacob’s relationship to Benjamin.
Therefore, in Genesis 37:3, the term does “not” refer to the spiritual superiority of Joseph over his brothers as some commentators contend meaning that he was a “wise son” or was wise beyond his years since the term is also used of Jacob’s relationship to Benjamin.
This interpretation is further confirmed in that Joseph did “not” demonstrate much wisdom by giving his father a slanderous report concerning his brothers, nor does he demonstrate much wisdom by bragging about his two dreams, which reveal that he would rule over his brothers.
Therefore, it is clear that at this point in his life, Joseph was “not” superior to his brothers in wisdom, however, he did receive revelation from God through the two dreams and so in that sense he was blessed, not superior since his brothers did not receive any revelations from God in a dream.
The statement “because he (Joseph) was the son of his (Israel’s) old age” implies that Joseph was spoiled by his father because Joseph was born in his old age and also was the firstborn son of his favorite wife Rachel.
Genesis 37:3, “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.”
Israel expresses his love for Joseph and that he favors him over his others sons by making for him a kethoneth passim, which the New American Standard translates “a varicolored tunic.”
The King James translates this Hebrew expression “a coat of many colours,” while the NIV renders it, “a richly ornamented robe” and the RSV calls it, “a long robe with sleeves.”
The Message Bible translates this Hebrew expression “an elaborately embroidered coat” while the Amplified Bible renders it “a [distinctive] long tunic with sleeves.”
“Varicolored tunic” is composed of the feminine singular form of the noun kuttoneth (tn#T)K|) (koot-to-neth), which means, “tunic” and the masculine plural form of the noun pas (sP^) (pas), which means, “long tunic with long sleeves.”
The only other place in the Old Testament that the expression kethoneth passim appears is in 2 Samuel 13:18-19 where it is mentioned as the distinctive dress of virgin daughters of royalty as the one worn by King David’s virgin daughter Tamar.
2 Samuel 13:18, “Now she had on a long-sleeved garment; for in this manner the virgin daughters of the king dressed themselves in robes. Then his attendant took her out and locked the door behind her.”
2 Samuel 13:19, “Tamar put ashes on her head and tore her long-sleeved garment which was on her; and she put her hand on her head and went away, crying aloud as she went.”
The noun kuttoneth means, “tunic,” which was the basic garment in the ancient world, the equivalent of the modern slacks and shirt.
There is considerable disagreement as to how pas should be translated since some say it refers to the color and ornamentation of the garments and others say it refers to the length of the garments.
Many translations follow the Targums (Aramaic translations of Hebrew Old Testament), Septuagint (Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament) and Vulgate (Latin translation of the Hebrew Old Testament and Greek New Testament) by translating the word “coat of many colors.”
Others follow the Midrashic (Exegetical and Commentaries of the Hebrew Old Testament) translation “coat with long sleeves” by supposing pas means, “flat of hand or foot.”
In Aramaic and Rabbinic Hebrew pas means, “the palm of the hand and the sole of the foot.”
Therefore, it appears that this tunic extended to the wrists and ankles of a person, which is significant since men in the days of the patriarchs did not work in long sleeves but rather in short sleeves while those in long sleeves were the overseers or employers of those in short sleeves.
The etymology kuttoneth and pas does “not” appear to indicate that the coat that Jacob gave to Joseph was multicolored.
However, the passion for various colours was popular among people of the Middle East in the days of the patriarchs as it still is today among the Arabs and the country people of the Middle East, who are fond of dressing their children in this gaudy attire.
But since the art of interweaving various patterns was introduced, “the coats of colors” are different now from what they seem to have been in patriarchal times, and bear a close resemblance to the varieties of tartan.
This kethoneth passim, “long sleeved robe” was a mark of distinction indicating exemption from labor which was the peculiar privilege of a king or a prince.
Therefore, Joseph’s brothers resented him because this long sleeved robe marked him as exempt from work and expressed Israel’s desire that Joseph rule over his brothers.
So while this long sleeved coat exempted Joseph from work, his brothers were in short sleeves working, which led of course to their resenting Joseph.
The kethoneth passim, “long sleeved robe” would express publicly Israel’s desire to give Joseph the family birthright, which he received according to 1 Chronicles 5:2.
This long sleeved robe signified publicly that Israel favored Joseph over his other sons and would express publicly Israel’s desire that Joseph succeed him as the ruler of the family.
Therefore, this long sleeved garment expressed publicly Israel’s rejection of Reuben in receiving the birthright as a result of committing adultery and incest with his concubine Bilhah as well as his rejection of Simeon and Levi as well for being the ringleaders in the massacre of Shechem.
Up to this point in the narrative we have seen two elements that contribute to Joseph’s brothers resenting him: (1) In Genesis 37:2, Joseph’s slanders his brothers to his father. (2) In Genesis 37:3, Israel gives Joseph a long sleeved robe, which marks him out to be the future possessor of the birthright and ruler of the family.
Genesis 37:4, “His 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 records Joseph’s brothers’ reaction to their father favoring Joseph over them and giving Joseph preferential treatment.
John Schultz, “The reaction of Joseph’s brothers to the love Jacob bestows upon them is hatred for Joseph. Joseph ultimately suffers more from his father’s love than he benefits from it. The attitude of the other sons indicates that they craved for love from their father, which they did not receive. There must have been an immense amount of strife and jealousy in the family. The tension between the two sisters carried over to their sons. Leah’s sons must have prided themselves on the fact that they were the sons of Jacob’s actual wife. Everybody must have looked down upon the boys of the slave girls. But the hatred toward Joseph surpasses every other feeling. It probably gave a sense of unity between them, as a common enemy usually does” (Genesis, page 165).
“They hated” is the verb sane (an@c*) (saw-nay), which expresses an emotional attitude toward someone or something, which is abhorred, disdained or opposed and which desires to have no relationship or amiable reconciliation.
Therefore, Joseph’s brothers possessed in their souls an emotional attitude toward him, in which they abhorred, disdained or opposed him and desired to have no relationship with him or amiable reconciliation with him.
Joseph’s brothers are following in the footsteps of Cain who hated his brother Abel because the Lord accepted Abel’s blood offering and rejected his grain offering and then acted on that hate by murdering his brother Abel.
The apostle John in 1 John 3 uses Cain as an example of one who hates his brother.
1 John 3:11, “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.”
1 John 3:12, “not as Cain, who was of the evil one and slew his brother. And for what reason did he slay him? Because his deeds were evil, and his brother's were righteous.”
The apostle John teaches in 1 John 2:9-11 that the believer who hates his fellow believer is out of fellowship and is living according to the standards of the cosmic system of Satan, which is disobedience and hate.
1 John 2:9, “The one who says he is in the Light and yet hates his brother is in the darkness until now.”
1 John 2:10, “The one who loves his brother abides in the Light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.”
1 John 2:11, “But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes.”
“Hate” is the verb miseo (misevw), which refers to disobeying the Lord’s command to love one’s fellow believer and has both an “active” and “passive” sense.
Love and hate are absolutes meaning you either love your fellow believer by obeying the Lord’s command to love one another or you hate your fellow believer by disobeying this command.
John 13:34, “A new commandment in character and quality I give to all of you, that all of you divinely love one another, even as I have divinely loved all of you, that all of you also divinely love one another.”
Therefore, since love and hate are absolutes, when love is absent, hate is present and love unexpressed is not love at all.
The “active” form of hate is expressed by unjustifiable hostility and antagonism towards one’s fellow believer, which expresses itself in malicious words and actions whereas the “passive” form of hate is manifested by coldness, by isolation, by exclusion, unconcern for your fellow believer.
There are two reasons why believers have the capacity to hate one another: (1) Presence of the sin nature in every believer, which produces mental, verbal and overt acts of sin and hate (See Romans 5:12-19; Galatians 5:19-21; James 4:1-3). (2) They are deceived by Satan’s cosmic system (James 4:4).
The cosmic system of Satan is a vast system and arrangement of human affairs, earthly goods, godless governments, conflicts, riches, pleasures, culture, education, world religions, the cults and the occult dominated and negatively affected by Satan who is god of this satanic cosmos.
This system is promoted by Satan, conformed to his ideals, aims, methods, and character, and stands perpetually in opposition to the cause of Christ and is used to seduce men away from the person of Christ.
Saul’s hatred of David is an example of the active form of hate that is possible among believers (1 Sam. 18-20).
The Lord Jesus Christ was the object of both the passive form of hate in that He was deserted by His disciples and friends at the most difficult moment in His life and He was the object of the active form of hate in that His enemies crucified Him.
Paul experienced being the object of both the passive and active form of hate from other believers (See 2 Timothy 4:9-18).
Therefore, in Genesis 37:4, Joseph is the object of the “passive” form of hate at the hands of his brothers, which is expressed by the statement “they…could not speak to him on friendly terms.”
Then, in Genesis 37:18-36, Joseph is the object of the “active” form of hate at the hands of his brothers when they threw him into a pit and threatened to murder him but then decided to sell him into slavery.