Read Genesis 37:1–36.

The scene shifts back to Jacob and his family. The last time we saw him, Jacob was getting ready to meet his estranged brother Esau and he had ended up spending the night wrestling with God and being renamed by God. We skipped over his meeting with Esau but to summarise, Esau and Jacob restore their relationship, and Esau moves away. Jacob settles back into the land God had promised Abraham.

As we enter the final section of Genesis, we start to see God carefully moving history forward so that His plan for mankind’s salvation can be advanced. The focus is now on Jacob’s sons and in particular, Joseph. He is the son of Rachel, Jacob’s favourite wife and he is born late in his father’s life. So Joseph is Jacob’s favourite among 12 brothers and one sister. (Joseph has a full brother named Benjamin.)

Jacob gives Joseph a special robe or tunic that is beautifully decorated. Every time his brothers see him wearing it, they are reminded of their father’s favouritism and it makes them resent him more and more.

As the all-knowing God, Yahweh begins to work to ensure the survival of Abraham’s descendants so that His promises in the Abrahamic Covenant will be fulfilled. But even as Yahweh acts, He does not violate the freedom and free will that He has given His creatures.

Yahweh acts by speaking to young Joseph through two visions. In both of them, the family bow in submission to Joseph. Joseph makes the prideful mistake of telling his family about his dreams and this causes greater resentment among his brothers against him. And even Jacob is not pleased with Joseph’s boasting but he suspects God is starting to work through his young son.

Later, Jacob later sends Joseph to check on his brothers who are taking care of the family's herds in distant pastureland. When his brothers see him from afar, their jealousy boils over and they plot to kill him. Imagine how they must have resented Joseph!

But Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn son, convinces the other brothers to throw Joseph down a dried-out cistern (an underground water storage chamber) with the plan of coming back later to rescue his little brother. But this plan doesn’t work because while he is away, another brother, Judah, proposes selling Joseph off to Ishmaelite traders who are passing by. (The Ishmaelites are descendants of Abraham’s son, Ishmael, and so are actually distantly related to Jacob’s family.)

So Joseph is gone. His brothers cover up their evil act by smearing his precious robe with goat’s blood to make it look like a wild animal had killed him. Jacob is overcome with grief and the rest of his family are unable to comfort him. Meanwhile, Joseph is sold by the traders to Potiphar, an officer of the Egyptian king, the Pharaoh. Joseph is now a slave in Egypt.

Here are sobering lessons for us. We can witness the terrible effects of favouritism and jealousy. And this is God’s chosen family, the family He was working His salvation plan through!

Jacob had repeated the mistake of his parents in showing favouritism. (Jacob’s mother had favoured him, while his father, Isaac, had favoured his brother Esau.) We need to watch our hearts and behaviour so as not to create such strife in our families.

But at the same time, notice what Yahweh is starting to do. He has hinted through visions to Joseph about the future—his family would bow in respect to him.

God is able to work through and around young Joseph’s naivety in crowing about his dreams to his family. God is able to work through and around Jacob’s favouritism. And God is more than capable of working through and around the brothers’ jealous and vicious actions to harm and abandon their youngest brother. Though people can use their God-given free will to make poor and evil decisions, God is still able to work out His good plans for mankind. We will see more of how God can do this as we read more about Joseph’s life.