We are introduced to Joseph in this week’s Parashat. We learn he is 17 years of age. He works for his brothers as a Shepard. We are told he brings bad reports about his brothers to his Father. He is a tattle tail. He is making up stories to make himself look good to his Father. Jacob loved Joseph more than his brothers so he gave him a special coat. We are told his brothers could not say a kind word to him because of this. We then hear about Joseph’s dream. He shares the dream with his brothers. They immediately knew the meaning of the dream. They hated him all the more because of his dream and the way he talked about it. Joseph is 17 years of age, cocky, thinking he knows everything. You were 17 once you remember what it was like knowing everything yet knowing nothing.
Joseph then has a second dream this time he tells his Father and his brothers. He shares the dream then his Father becomes upset and scolds him. Now the brothers go from hating him to being jealous of him. Some time goes by then Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers. He sends him to Shechem. This is the location where the brothers were overwhelmed with rage and vengeance. They killed all the men of the town and took all the spoils because of the rape of their sister.
When the brothers see Joseph coming they plot to kill him. Then Reuben suggested throwing Joseph into a pit so his blood is not on their hands. The Bible tells us that he planned to come back to rescue him later. The brothers have lunch then decide to sell him to the Midianite traders who were passing by for 20 pieces of silver. The brothers then killed a goat and covered Joseph’s coat in its blood. They bring the coat to Jacob and ask him do you recognize the coat? They never tell Jacob what they had planned too. Jacob came to the conclusion on his own that a wild animal killed Joseph. The only thing the brothers asked Jacob was do you recognize this coat? What they were really asking is do you recognize who this coat really belongs to? Reuben your true 1st born. Jacob rips his clothes and mourns. He refuses to be comforted. What the brothers hoped for did not come to pass. They thought sending Joseph away would solve all their problems.
Due to the great pain Judah caused he was kicked out of the family. Judah moved to Adullam where he married a Canaanite woman. Here we have the story of Judah and his daughter-in-law Tamar. Who he slept with as she deceived him because he did not honor his word. She poses as a prostitute, Judah asks her what it will cost to have sex with her? He offers her a goat from his flock she agrees as long as he leaves his coat, staff, and ring as collateral. Judah is unable to find the prostitute to make good on his debt. Later Judah finds out Tamar is pregnant. He calls her out to be killed. She says the same thing to Judah that Judah asked his Father, Jacob. Do you recognize this coat, staff and ring? Judah had a choice to make. For the 1st time Judah takes ownership of his actions. This causes him to be restored to the family. The child born from this union is the child where King David would come from.
We have all made mistakes throughout our lives. Some of the mistakes we may have even been in the right. Yet we were still wrong in the way we went about it. The brothers were upset with their Father, Jacob. They could have called a family meeting and hashed out the issues. They were right to be upset. They were wrong in the way they tried to resolve it. None of us are perfect. Even if you sell your brother into slavery you can take ownership and be redeemed. Later throughout history Judah and Joseph will save the nation over and over again as they let the past go and embrace each other as brothers not as enemies. What do you have to take ownership of to be brought back into the family?
