Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of manycolors. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
There’s clearly an antagonism between Joseph and his brothers, and it seems to be brewing early in life. What’s at the core? Jacob loves Joseph more than the others. This favoritism breeds much tragedy—a lesson Jacob should have already learned from his own life.
Remember Isaac’s love for Esau? In the previous generation, Jacob is on the short end of his father’s love, and deception, brokenness, and years of separation result. Why didn’t Jacob learn that lesson? Maybe he didn’t realize that his own pain originated in Isaac’s preference for his brother.
We can’t really figure out Jacob’s issues, but we can try to do better with our own lives. What lessons have you learned the hard way—through pain and disappointment—and what are you doing to make sure those mistakes aren’t made in future generations? We all face difficult circumstances, but it seems a shame to repeat life’s difficult lessons instead of learning from them.
– Dr. Mike Clarensau serves as Senior Director of the Healthy Church Network of the Assemblies of God.
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