This is the story of Jacob. The story continues with Joseph, seventeen years old at the time, helping out his brothers in herding the flocks. These were his half brothers actually, the sons of his father’s wives Bilhah and Zilpah. And Joseph brought his father bad reports on them.
Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons because he was the child of his old age. And he made him an elaborately embroidered coat. When his brothers realized that their father loved him more than them, they grew to hate him—they wouldn’t even speak to him.
Ummm . . . not good. We start out with tattling, favoritism and an in your face gift.
It gets worse.
Joseph had a dream. When he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more. He said, “Listen to this dream I had. We were all out in the field gathering bundles of wheat. All of a sudden my bundle stood straight up and your bundles circled around it and bowed down to mine.” His brothers said, “So! You’re going to rule us? You’re going to boss us around?” And they hated him more than ever because of his dreams and the way he talked.
Maybe some dreams should be kept to ourselves?
With all this, it is not too surprising, although very sad, that we see this happen next.
They spotted him off in the distance. By the time he got to them they had cooked up a plot to kill him. The brothers were saying, “Here comes that dreamer. Let’s kill him and throw him into one of these old cisterns; we can say that a vicious animal ate him up. We’ll see what his dreams amount to.”
Not good. Not good at all.
Well, lucky for Joseph, they ended up selling him as a slave to a caravan of Ishmaelites and he was hauled off to Egypt.
What can we learn from this?
*As a parent, I learn to never show favoritism. For me, this is easy because I think both of daughters are amazing - but I have seen favoritism displayed and it is ugly. As a parent, we want to seek out those unique things about each child and appreciate them for who they are. We relate differently to each child because of their unique needs and personality. This can look like favoritism to the others, so we must be very intentional about giving each child their special time and attention. All children need love, encouragement and fussing over! And for heaven's sake - do not give one child out of 12 a beautiful, colorful coat!!
*Tattling leads to big trouble. Why do we tattle? Generally, it makes us feel better about ourselves. We exalt ourselves by putting someone else down. BOO No good at all, but very tempting just the same. We need to recognize when this is happening and be intentional about resisting that temptation.
*Don't shove your problems down a cistern. Although the brothers rid themselves of Joseph for the time being, he would show up later in ways they could never imagine. In the meantime, they had to lie to their father and deal with his weighty grief as well as some guilt of their own. Those things that we shove down a cistern tend to bubble back up.
Where are you showing favoritism?
At work, in your home, your church or among your friends?
Who are you tattling on?
If you really need to tattle, tattle to the Lord.
He can take it and He can take care of you.
What are you doing with the problems of today?
Are you shoving them down a cistern or
are you looking to the Lord to see His solutions and His purposes?
I have a few things to ponder . . .
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