Favoring One Child

About fifteen or sixteen years after Jacob returned to Canaan, his sons were taking care of his sheep.  Rachel, Joseph’s mother had died several years before, and His father favored Joseph over his other sons.  This resulted in jealousy among the boys, which wasn’t helped by joseph running home and tattling on them, as we see in Genesis 37:2-4.  “These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.  Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.”

Jacob was simply doing what his parents had done with him and Esau, favoring one child over the other..  It had caused a lot of problems between Jacob and Esau, who were full brothers.  It caused a lot more resentment among half-brothers whose mothers couldn’t get along.  It reached a point where the brothers actively hated Joseph.  Joseph became arrogant, knowing his father preferred him, rubbing it in when he got a chance. 

God gave Joseph some dreams to prepare him for the future, and Joseph used them to lord it over his brothers, as Genesis 37:5-11 describes.  “And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?  And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.”  Even his father was troubled by his arrogance and scolded him for his attitude.  His brothers just got angrier. 

Jacob was oblivious to the effect his favoritism was having on his sons.  He sent the others out to herd sheep while allowing Joseph to stay at home, then sent him to check on the others, further aggravating the other’s animosity, according to Genesis 37:12-19.  “And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.  And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them.

And he said to him, Here am I.

And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.

And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.”

The brothers were not herding the sheep where their father thought they were.  They were sure Joseph would complain and get them into trouble again.  They decided to kill him and stop the problems.  After all Simeon and Levi had killed the men of Shechem and gotten by with it.  Surely they could get by with killing Joseph.  Ecclesiastes 8:11 warns, “Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is fully set in them to do evil.”  Failure to deal with sin immediately encourages people to go further.  We need to make sure we are not encouraging sin or conflict by our actions.  Children tend to get the feeling parents favor one child over another from time to time despite our best efforts, but when one child gets most of the attention, it creates real problems.