CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: JOSEPH, THE FAVORITE SON

Finally back in Canaan after being away for so many years, Jacob reunited with his father. Isaac was now very old and gray, and living in Mamre, where Abraham and Sarah used to live.
Some time later, Isaac died. He had lived a long, successful life— 180 years’ worth. Jacob and his brother Esau then buried Isaac (Genesis 35:27-29).

Joseph Dreams
Jacob moved his caravan to the valley of Hebron and lived there for quite some time. Because he was growing old and weak, he relied on his grown-up sons to tend to his large numbers of sheep and other livestock.
One day his younger son Joseph, who was 17 at the time, helped his brothers Dan, Naphtali, Gad and Asher feed the flock. The older brothers got into some mischief, and Joseph told Jacob (Genesis 37:2).
The four brothers came to dislike Joseph. “Who does he think he is—our judge?”

Jacob’s affection toward Joseph made matters worse. Following the same mistake Isaac and Rebekah had made, Jacob showed favour to Joseph. He did not show the same amount of care and concern for his other sons. This caused all of the older brothers to hate Joseph.
Unaware of their growing hatred, Jacob made an expensive coat of many colours and gave it to Joseph. In other families of that time, the father only would have done such a thing for the firstborn son. So when Joseph’s brothers saw his new gift, they knew that it was a sign of how much more their father loved him.
They hated Joseph even more. Whenever they would speak to him, their words were always harsh (Gen 35:3-4).

Some time later, Joseph started having some strange dreams. They seemed to show that he would grow up to be an important person. He would even rule over his father and brothers.
Unfortunately, Joseph was not wise enough to keep the dreams to himself. He told them to his brothers, which inspired them to plot against him (Gen 35:5-11).

Into the Pit
One day, Jacob sent Joseph off to Shechem to bring back a report on his brothers. They were supposed to be feeding the flocks there.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, he quickly saw that his brothers and the flocks were gone. He asked a man if he had seen them.
The man said, “They left some time ago. I overheard them say that they were going to Dothan.” Dothan was about 15 miles north of Shechem. So Joseph journeyed there and saw his brothers and the flocks in the distance (Genesis 37:12-17).

His brothers were not happy to see him approaching. While Joseph was still off in the distance, they plotted to get rid of him.
Led by the same carnal attitude that led Cain to slay Abel, they said, “Look, here comes the mighty dreamer. What if we took his life and threw his body into this pit over here? I wonder if he ever dreamed that we would do that to him.”

“Why not take his life?” one brother said. “We can say that some wild beast killed him—no one will know the truth but us.”
Foolishly, they did not consider that God was listening to their wicked plan.
Reuben, the oldest of them, defended Joseph. He said, “Let’s not kill him.”
“Why?”

He pointed to the pit and said, “Let’s throw him down in there and pretend to leave him there. It will teach Joseph not to act as though he will rule over us some day.”
Reuben said this because he did not want Joseph to die. He knew that their father loved him deeply. Having shamed his father some years earlier, Reuben did not want Jacob to feel any more heartache (Gen 35:18-22).

When Joseph came to them, his brothers surrounded him and stripped off his coat of many colors. “You won’t be needing this anymore!” they said
Then they threw him down into the deep pit (Gen 35:23-24).

Sold Into Slavery
Deep from within the pit, Joseph tried to jump and climb its walls. He was desperate to escape.
One of his brothers said, “Tell us, little brother, did your dreams tell you about your new home?”

They laughed and teased some more, especially when Joseph screamed, “Let me out! Let me out of here right now!” “Or what? You’ll dream us to death?”
The brothers laughed and walked away from the pit. When they sat down for a meal, one brother said, “What about Joseph? Should we feed him or give him some water?”
“For what?” said another. “Let him feast on his dreams.”

When Reuben went off to run an errand, the other brothers thought again about killing Joseph. Guided by his carnal nature, Judah stood up and pointed to a company of Midianites, who were coming near them.
They were known for selling many things on their constant travels— spices, oils and other goods. And sometimes they sold slaves.
Judah said, “Why kill our brother and have his blood on our hands?

Where is the profit in that? Let’s sell him to the Midianites instead.
They pay well for slaves.”
“Yes, that’s it!” a brother said. “These slave traders never stay in one place for too long. If we sell Joseph to them, they’ll take him far away. Our brother will never meddle in our affairs again.”

Joseph looks back to his brothers as he is led away into slavery.

So they all agreed.
When Joseph was pulled from the pit, he thought that his troubles were over. But they were only just beginning.
His brothers waved the Midianites over to them and sold Joseph to them for twenty shekels (about eight ounces) of silver.
Shocked, Joseph could scarcely believe that his brothers had betrayed him, as his new masters led him away (Genesis 37:25-28).

Jacob Grieves
When Reuben finally returned and saw that Joseph was no longer in the pit, he began to panic. “What have you done with Joseph?”
“Don’t worry, Reuben. The dreamer is still alive…though not well,” they laughed and grinned.

Then they explained what they had done with Joseph.
Reuben’s heart pounded faster and faster. He said, “What are we going to tell father? He’ll be heartbroken.”
The other brothers were no longer smiling. They knew that they had to come up with a plan in order to cover the truth of their betrayal.
So they took Joseph’s coat of many colors, killed a small goat, and smeared its blood on the coat. Then they ripped the coat in several places.

When they got home, they brought the coat to Jacob and said, “We have some bad news. Joseph is missing. When we went looking for him, we found this. Is this the coat you gave him, father?”
Jacob stared at it and softly said, “Yes, it is.” The brothers led him to believe that a wild animal had killed Joseph and taken his body away, leaving only his coat.

As was the custom in ancient times, Jacob tore his clothes and wore sackcloth, which was coarse and uncomfortable. This was a sign to all of his deep mourning. Though his family tried their best to comfort him, Jacob mourned and wept for many days (Genesis 37:29-35).

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