Focal Passage: Genesis 37:5-8; 18-28
Giving gifts for the most part is just such fun and important. So important, that gift giving is actually one of the Love Languages.
During our early years of marriage, I loved to buy my wife clothes. I knew her sizes. I would walk from one end of the mall to the other looking for just the right things. It was fun and joyful.
The real joy was watching her receive those gifts. Most of the time, it would be something she would never have picked out and maybe not even liked. But she would wear them happily tell anyone who listened where she got them. That was the real gift — the gift of her love.
Jacob’s story of gift giving, though is different. A new definition of gift gifting was now defined. Yes, he did find clothing that was special for his son Joseph. He imagined it. He planned it. He counted the cost. He gave a coat of many colors — a very special gift.
Lloyd
While a husband can buy clothes for his (only) wife, a father must assess the cost of a special gift for one son among all his sons. Jacob chose poorly.
Instead of a symbol of the love of a father for his son that coat of many colors became a flashing sign that said to his brothers “daddy loves me best!”
When Joseph announced his dream and its interpretation to all, his brothers responded with hatred, anger, jealously and ultimately, betrayal — announcing to their father that Joseph was dead instead of being sold as slave and on his way far away to Egypt. They were tired of the “daddy loves me best” brother. Then the irony of all irony, the deceiver Jacob was deceived by his very own sons with that coat of many colors. Joseph was gone. A gift given so beautifully ended so tragically.
Could Joseph not have been so boastful about his dreams? Could Jacob, with his deep love for Rachel, shown his pride for Joseph differently? Could the brothers find another way to voice their displeasure and anger? So many options and decisions, yet in the end Joseph was now gone.
While in the pit and on the caravan heading to Egypt, he was alone — without his father, his brothers, his coat and without hearing from God. What would have been his thoughts? Or his emotions? Did he think of his brothers or his dad? Or that gift of his coat that he loved so much? God? In all things, Joseph remained faithful.
The key to understanding Joseph comes at the very end of Genesis in chapter 50. After Jacob had died and the famine was destroying life, the brothers returned to Joseph. Joseph’s words then stand true for all his life. “You meant this for evil, but God meant it for good, the saving of many lives.”
It was true when he was in prison and at Potiphar’s house. It was true when he was in the pit and on the caravan. It was true when he and his father were so arrogant and boastful. You meant it for evil, but God was going to take all was evil and turn it into something good. AND, as with Joseph, so it is with us. B&R
