Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons, who became the 12 Tribes of Israel. I will write about one of these sons, Joseph, who led a very remarkable life.
Genesis 37: 2-4
(2) Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.
(3) Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic.
(4) His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.
This does not look like a very good beginning. When he's still a kid, he tells on his big brothers, and probably got them in trouble.
And, because he's the baby, their father favored him, and made him a "coat of many colors" which was probably a long, full-length coat with long sleeves. This word is also used of the "kind of garment the virgin daughters of the king wore" later in II Samuel 13: 18-19, talking of one of King David's daughters. So this was a very distinguished piece of clothing.
This caused his brothers to resent him and dislike him so much that they couldn't even say anything nice about him.
This looks like a pretty dysfunctional family. We will see how God uses this dysfunction to have them act out His plan in their lives.
O my Father, since you showed us that You can use dysfunction in this family, then You can also use the dysfunction in my family, too. Please call all of my family members into Your own family, also.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
