Genesis Series: "A coat of many colors" (Gen 37:3)

THE GENERATIONS OF GENESIS: "A Coat of Many Colors" (Gen 37:3) 

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Dr. Paul Manuel—2002

Being the oldest in a family comes with several disadvantages that younger siblings do not suffer. If you had the distinction of having entered the world first, then you were the test subject, the one who experienced the trial and error of parents' discovering how to raise children. At some point, you were probably also the babysitter, the one who had the privilege of keeping younger siblings from setting the house on fire or from seeing how well the cat could swim.

Steven, who often had to watch his younger sister, protested when his mother asked him to take her along fishing. "Do I have to? The last time she came, I didn't catch a single fish." "I'll talk to her," his mother said, "and tell her not to make any noise." "It wasn't the noise, Mom.... She ate all my bait." (Adapted from Streiker 1998:206)

Sometimes younger siblings can be more of a bother than a blessing. That was certainly what Joseph's brothers thought, especially after their father gave him "A coat of many colors."¹

This sermon is the final installment of the series, The Generations of Genesis, which noted that the phrase, "these are the generations of," appears frequently in the first biblical book to mark major sections in the narrative. Please turn to chapter 37, which has the last occurrence of this phrase.

Gen 37:1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan. 2 This is the account ["the generations"] of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen.....

Do you notice anything odd? ...Was Joseph Jacob's eldest son? Most genealogical discussions start at the beginning, with the firstborn, not toward the end. Jacob had twelve sons, and Joseph was number eleven, which is pretty far down the line to appear so early in "the generations of Jacob." The biblical author is alerting us to the fact that the most significant son in Jacob's lineage may not be the oldest son,² which raises our expectations about what we will learn. This chapter must recount the great things Joseph does. Perhaps he establishes a mighty city or distinguishes himself as a successful military leader. As the story unfolds, however, we realize that our high expectations of Joseph's exploits may be premature. In fact, he seems anything but a candidate for greatness. Look again at Gen 37:2.

Gen 37:2b Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

Joseph was a snitch, a tattletale, an informer. In a family, someone who rats out his siblings is the lowest life form. This does not bode well for his future. Apparently, his father Jacob, also called Israel, did not discourage this behavior in Joseph. As we read further, we see that Jacob doted on this, his youngest son.³

Gen 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him [KJV "a coat of many colors"].

For most people in the Ancient Near East, clothing was utilitarian. It had to keep them warm and had to be sturdy enough to stand the stresses of work. Fancy clothing was appropriate only for special occasions or for those who led privileged lives. Here...

I. Receiving the robe marked Joseph's favor.

...favor Jacob did not extend to his other sons, as they were well aware.

Gen 37:4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

If you were seventeen years old and you knew that your brothers—your older brothers—felt this way, the wise course would not be to make a big deal about being dad's favorite son.

From the time I started dating Linda, my parents made her a welcome part of the family, accepting her as their own daughter. In fact, there are times I am convinced that Mom loves Linda more than me.

• If there is any difference of opinion., Mom sides with Linda.
• If I balk at something Linda wants me to do, she threatens to call Mom.

My mother, of course, denies any favoritism. She tries to hide it, but I know it is there.

Jacob was not so subtle. He showed his favoritism by giving Joseph a "richly ornamented robe,"⁴ and...

A. His brothers resented him (Gen 37:1-8).

If Joseph had any common sense, he would have kept a low profile. Alas, he did not. Instead, he related a grandiose vision about his future.

Gen 37:5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it." 8 His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

Already unhappy with him, Joseph's inflated view of his own importance only exacerbated the situation, so that his brothers disliked him even more.

Either Joseph was completely oblivious to the effect his arrogance had or he simply did not care. Either way, he made matters worse.

Gen 37:9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me." 10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?" 11 His brothers [envied] him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Not only did his brothers react negatively to this dream...

B. His father rebuked him (Gen 37:9-11).⁵

Wearing that "richly ornamented robe" and receiving dreams of grandeur may have inflated Joseph's ego. He certainly seemed full of himself, and he has definitely not endeared himself to his brothers. Even his father, whose preference initiated this internecine strife, reproved him. Perhaps Joseph will wise up. The situation that unfolds, however, is not at all promising. When the chapter opened, receiving the robe marked Joseph's favor. Next, in a dramatic reversal of fortune...

II. Removing the robe marked Joseph's fall.

Gen 37:12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them." "Very well," he replied. 14 So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?" 16 He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?" 17 "They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan." So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.

On the surface, this errand may have seemed innocent, but it sent the brothers over the edge. What was the final straw for them? You will recall that one of Joseph's less endearing qualities was his willingness to tell dear old dad whatever his brothers were doing. Dad apparently liked that arrangement and may have had good reason to be suspicious of his sons' activities.⁶

• In Gen 34, when one of the local Canaanite rulers raped Jacob's daughter Dinah, her brothers responded by killing that official along with all the men of the city. No longer welcome in the area, Jacob had to move his family elsewhere.
• In Gen 37, the boys were supposed to be grazing the herd near Shechem (fifty miles north of Hebron), but for some unexplained reason, they went thirteen more miles north to Dothan. Perhaps Jacob had cause to keep a close tab on the boys' activities.

That Joseph was home and not with the others reinforced his favored status. In any case, here...

A. His father used him (Gen 37:12-17).

...to check on his brothers. Jacob's instructions were, "see if all is well...and bring word back to me" (Gen 37:14). In other words, "Let me know what your brothers are up to."

Gen 37:18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him. 19 "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. 20 "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams." 21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing—24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

When Joseph showed up at his brothers' camp, they knew he did not come to help them—he was not exactly dressed for work. This was probably not the first time his father sent him to keep tabs on their activity, to spy on them, so...

B. His brothers abused him (Gen 37:18-24).

They stripped off his emblem of privilege and threw him in an old well. Only the intervention of Reuben, the oldest son, prevented them from killing Joseph. They hatched a plan to eliminate this persistent annoyance and, in a stroke of irony, used the symbol of their brother's pride against him. While removing the robe marked Joseph's fall...

III. Returning the robe marked Joseph's fate.

Gen 37:25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Slavery was common in the Ancient Near East.⁷ There were no prisons, so criminals and (war) captives often found themselves in bondage. It was not common, though, to sell a member of one's family.⁸

Admittedly, little brothers can be annoying, and their older siblings may do some dastardly things to them. For example, the four Martin boys, who grew up in this congregation, devised several strategies for dealing with Eric, their youngest brother, whose mission in life—strangely akin to Joseph's—was to squeal on them.

Although Kent, the oldest, sometimes intervened, he was not always around to curb the enthusiasm of Joel and Dean, such as when....

• They stuffed Eric in a front-loading washer...and turned it on; or when
• They lured Eric into the woods, tied him to a tree, and left him...until their mother noticed his absence at supper and made them retrieve him.

In Joseph's case, however...

A. His brothers sold him (Gen 37:25-28).⁹

All that remained was to concoct a plausible reason for the boy's disappearance, a reason their father would accept.

Gen 37:29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?" 31 Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the [richly] ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe." 33 He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces." 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.

When the brothers returned home, they showed Joseph's "[richly] ornamented robe," blood-stained and torn, to Jacob, and...

B. His father mourned him (Gen 37:29-36).

Did Joseph get what he deserved? While we might not absolve him of responsibility, at least of foolish immaturity and arrogance,¹⁰ we would surely denounce what his brothers did, but it demonstrates the extreme to which family tension can drive people. Eric's brothers, who grew up in this congregation, might have considered selling him, had the opportunity arisen. What can people do to diffuse potentially volatile situations in a family?

The primary responsibility lies with parents. They establish the conditions that promote or prevent harmony at home. What could Jacob have done differently that might have altered the events in this chapter? What should parents avoid, even with good intentions?

• Do not prefer one child over another, because that fosters jealousy.¹¹
• Do not pit one child against another, because that fosters animosity.

Jacob failed on both these counts and suffered the loss of his son.

Of course, much of the blame in this chapter falls on Jacob's sons, both Joseph and his brothers. What could they have done differently that might have altered the events in this chapter? What should children avoid, even with good intentions?

• Do not cultivate a parent's good will at the cost of a sibling's ill will.

Joseph failed on this account and suffered the loss of his freedom.

• Do not escalate a sibling's irritation into the excuse for a sibling's injury.

Joseph's brothers failed on this account and caused the grief of their father.

Did you notice what individual this chapter does not mention? ...God is conspicuously absent, as if allowing the various parties freedom to exercise their selfish ambitions. When Joseph is no longer a problem for the brothers, and the issue appears to be closed, then God appears in the narrative. Apparently, the story is not over and, in chapter 39, we read something very interesting at the beginning of v.2.

Gen 39:2a The LORD was with Joseph and he prospered....

You probably know the rest of the story. Joseph rises to a prominent position in the Egyptian government, enabling him to protect his family when a famine strikes Canaan. He reunites with his brothers, and a more mature Joseph reflects back on his life,¹² telling them,

Gen 50:20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

The most important lessons of this story come from what God did and from what these events reveal about His sovereignty. What can God accomplish, despite peoples' bad intentions?

• God is able to subvert evil designs to His good purpose.

Despite the brothers' foul intentions, God made their wickedness serve His righteousness.

• God is able to use imperfect people to accomplish His perfect plan.

Despite Joseph's evident immaturity, God used him to save his family, those who would be the progenitors of an entire nation.

Herein lies tremendous comfort and encouragement for us when we face difficulties of various kinds.¹³ God is able—and, I should add, willing—to use us despite our imperfections, and to bless us, despite our transgressions. That assurance is far more valuable even than "A coat of many colors." That assurance should also stir us to love Him more fervently and to serve Him more faithfully.

For the Bibliography and Endnotes, see the pdf here.