Dad's Favorite

O.T. #77 "Dad's Favorite"
Genesis 37-Part 2
July 3, 2013
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 colors.  Genesis 37:3

LET IT GLOW

I'll admit it-I was very spoiled growing up. I was born 7 years after my brother, when my parents were 32 years old. I used to think that I was an accident, but now I don't believe in accidentally
being born. It was the providence of God, to which I am grateful to be alive. Yes, I was Daddy's
little girl. He took care of me on the farm while Mom worked outside the home. I was always in
the truck when he drove over the 40 acres looking at the cattle or fixing fences. And when he took
a nap in the afternoon after a hard morning of work, I was right there on his lap, napping, too.
When he had to go to town to get a tire repaired, I went too. Sometimes Dad would buy me a
Grapette soda and a Butterfinger candy bar. Wasn't I loved and spoiled? Yes, I was. Dare I say
that I was his favorite child? I can't answer that. so you see, I can relate to Joseph's situation. However, I never felt that my brother and sister were jealous of me, as his.

We jump ahead in time. Joseph is 17 years old. Eleven years passed since he had entered the land
of Canaan with his family (30:22-24). Joseph was born 6 years before they left Haran.
 (MacArthur)

Rachael, Jacob's favored wife, was Joseph and Benjamin's mother. Joseph is the eleventh son of Jacob, renamed Israel by God.
Now, Joseph was loved by his father. His father, Jacob, loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age. In fact, Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors.

Why is that significant? 
The word in Hebrew for coat refers to a garment or robe, a skirt, and means to cover, according to
Thayer's Lexicon; it's a tunic, a long coat, by Young's Concordance; a long-sleeved robe or an ornamented tunic is how The MacArthur Bible Commentary describes it.

David Guzik said that the coat was a tunic extending all the way down to the wrists and ankles; it wasn't what a working man wore; it was a garment of privilege and status.

It was a garment like those worn later by the daughters of kings in 2 Samuel 13:18.
It marked the owner as the one whom the father intended to be the future leader of the household,
an honor normally given to the firstborn son. (MacArthur)

I think we understand the situation.

LET IT GROW

Joseph helped with the feeding of the flock with his brothers. (verse 2) One day, Joseph tattled on his brothers to their father. We don't know what they did out in the field, but it was something so wrong that Joseph reported it to Jacob. Maybe it was no big deal and Joseph blew it out of proportion.
Anyway, Joseph's brothers hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

Full fledged jealousy becomes hatred, and turns into bitterness and evil deeds. This is the case of
Joseph's brothers. The results are coming up.

Is there any in our life that we need to deal with?

LET IT GO

Watch out that I don't show favoritism.

Love others instead of being jealous of them.