How true is the saying: “The envious person grows lean with the fatness of their neighbor.”
When Joseph, eldest son of Jacob and Rachel, bursts on the scene, he is already 17 years old. Like his father, grandfather Isaac, and great-grandfather Abraham before him, he spends his days out under the hot Middle Eastern sun, tending sheep. Immediately a string of incidents are hinted at that seem like ticking time bombs. First, Joseph reports to his father that some of his half brothers, “the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah” (Gen 37:2) were not doing a good job. Thus, when Jacob later wanted an honest report of things (vv 13-14), even though it was dangerous, he could only trust Joseph to go. Second, the man who saw the infighting that resulted from the favoritism shown in his own family growing up, and with his wives as well, continued the practice with the son of his favorite wife: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children” (v 3), and demonstrated that by giving him a special coat of honor. He might as well have painted a target on Joseph’s back! But then, third, Joseph told the family about two dreams he had. In one, he saw sheaves of wheat, representing his brothers, bowing down to him. In the other, he told them, his brothers were like stars, and even his parents, “the sun, the moon,…bowed down to me” (v 9). The result? “His brothers envied him” (v 11). In fact, after the dreams, we read, “they hated him even more” (v 5). Many commentators feel Joseph was wrong in sharing these dreams. But was Jesus wrong in stirring the Jews’ anger by telling them “the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels” (Mt 16:27)? No, in both cases, when it happens it must be seen that this was God’s purpose, not a mere accident of history. But we can see Joseph is heading for trouble!