And then came Joseph. There is a curious statement made about Jacob in Genesis 37 that is somewhat obscured in the translation into English. It says there:
The obscure, or curious, statement pivots on the word "generations" or "genealogy," as it might say in your Bible. Both of them are correct translations; but the word in the Hebrew indicates "history" or "account." Some Bibles translate that as "This is the history (or, the account) of Jacob." The phrase is used a number of times for others; and, after it is used, there immediately follows a rundown of the family and a sketchy outline of a few significant occasions in the family's history.
With Isaac, the phrase is used to indicate the beginning of his dynasty, and that it began with the births of Jacob and Esau "in the land." But with Jacob, all of his children—with the exception of Benjamin—were born outside "the land." They were born in Syria. So, the phrase regarding Jacob and his history is withheld until after he re-entered "the land of inheritance" and actually began living in it. Then, Joseph is named and nobody else. It is as if Jacob's story does not begin until they are "in the land." And then, instead of naming all of the children, only one is named. It is an indication that, even though Jacob remains the head of the family, Joseph—and, we are going to find out, to a lesser extent, Judah—is going to be the moving principle in the following history. So, it is almost as if God says, "Well, here the history of Jacob begins and here the history of Jacob ends." (Not quite, but almost.)
It was Jacob's favoritism of Joseph that is the blunder that sets off the chain of events that God used to fulfill His prophecy there in Genesis the 15th chapter. The coat that Jacob gave Joseph is, to the brothers, the hated symbol of Jacob's neglectful treatment of them. The word "coat," or "tunic," or "robe" (as it is translated) appears only in one other context in the entirety of the Bible. That is in II Samuel 13:18-19. There the word is translated to indicate clothing worn by the king's daughter—that is, David's daughter, Tamar, most specifically, in this case. Now the brothers of Joseph understood, or looked up, or interpreted "the coat" as being a flaunting of Jacob's attitude toward them. It was like rubbing salt in the wound.
Here is a defining moment in the life of Joseph. He is not mentioned there, but I think it was a defining moment. I am sure that Jacob, in reaction to the fact that he no longer had Rachel on which to lavish his love, transferred his affection to Joseph (Rachel's son), much to the envy of the rest of the family. And so we find in Genesis 37:
The story begins with Jacob making a very serious mistake in childrearing. If there was ever a biblical character with a one-track mind, this man was it. That is a quality that is good in some areas of life, but it produces evil fruit in other areas.
It seems as if the family trait of favoritism went down into the next generation. Jacob preferred Joseph to his ten older brothers and one younger brother. Joseph was the firstborn of his favorite wife, Rachel. I am sure that played a part in all this.
Joseph had wonderful qualities that made people admire him. However, he had some that made others hate him too. One was that he was a tattle-tale. Another one was that he had a big head. He was a spoiled brat. He probably flaunted that coat of many colors.
