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Daily Devotions

Genesis

Genesis 
Day 
Day 291

"Let my cry come before You, O Lord; Give me understanding according to Your word." Psalm 119:169

Text: Genesis 37:1-36

A HEART FULL OF HATE

Whose fault was it that Joseph was so well loved by Israel? Was it Joseph’s fault that he became the object of his father’s love?

It is always difficult to explain the presence of hatred! It is so easy to justify “hatred” in the heart. Joseph’s brothers saw how their father did not seem to care for them. Whereas they felt that they were robbed of their father’s love, they began to hate Joseph out of sheer spite! Things became so tensed that they could not speak a civil word to Joseph!


A COAT OF MANY COLOURS

The common man wore simple clothes. Only the rich and the favoured wore special clothes. One of the distinguishing marks between the common and the favoured was the kind of clothes worn.

When Israel gave Joseph a special set of clothes, the brothers became even angrier! How could their father favour him like that? The older brothers were sent out to the fields to look after the huge herds and flocks the family owned. To do the work of a shepherd necessitated wearing suitable working clothes. It would not do to wear a coat of many colours.

The brothers guessed that if things were to carry on in this direction, given the fact that Joseph was their father’s favourite, he might well end up being made the head of the clan – over and above all his other brothers. Joseph was the penultimate son, in order of ranking. The thought, the very idea of Joseph being given all the privileges that no body else ever enjoyed , irked the brothers no end. The coat of many colours served only to increase the sense of animosity the brothers felt towards Joseph.

These brothers were capable of cold-blooded murder. They were capable of causing grievous hurt to others without feeling any qualms at all! Would they harm Joseph if they became angry enough? Would they kill him if their hearts continued to be filled with feelings of hatred?


IMMATURITY AND INDISCRETION

Joseph naturally basked in the love of his doting father. He was just a young lad. As long as he had his father’s love and protection, what could go wrong? Joseph who appeared to be given dreams spoke out of turn to his brothers.

“Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers,
and they hated him even more.” GENESIS 37:5

Joseph was not skilled at reading his relationship with his brothers. Of course, he knew that they were jealous of his favoured status, but he did not know just how deeply he was hated by his brothers! In his own innocent way, he wanted to share, as brothers do, his dream. Little did he know that the sharing of that dream created even more problems for him. His immaturity and indiscretion did not help matters at all.`