We have observed the lives of several Bible heroes whose stories are well known. As we looked closer at each of them…Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob…we found that they were very human. They each failed God in some way. God never gave up on them though, and He never withdrew His promise to make them a mighty nation. Hopefully, we have learned lessons from their mistakes. Once in a while, however, along comes a golden nugget, someone who follows God without wavering. Joseph was such a man. He was a man of integrity, and we can learn from what he did right.Jacob loved his son, Joseph, more than all of his other sons because he was born to him in his old age. He displayed his favoritism by making Joseph a very costly robe. This favored son was already on his brothers’ "most likely to hate" list, and this robe only added more strain to their relationship. In addition, Joseph had a couple of strange dreams regarding how his brothers would bow down to him. He would have been wiser to keep these dreams to himself, but in his innocence he told his brothers about the dreams. By then they were furious with him. Even his father Jacob was troubled by Joseph’s dreams.
What was the true element that caused the hatred the brothers had in their hearts for Joseph? The bottom line is they were jealous. Their father loved Joseph more than he did them. He gave Joseph special attention and privileges. To them Joseph was a spoiled little brat. While they had to toil hard, Joseph was lost in his dreams. Each one no doubt thought, "Why him and not me?" Trouble enters the door when we begin to look at others and how it seems they have all the gifts, the talents, the privileges, and life comes easy for them. In comparison we seem to diminish and then we have laid the groundwork for jealousy to take over. Jealousy leads to bitterness and can destroy us. It is better to conquer jealousy before it conquers us.
The brothers of Joseph allowed jealousy to take root in them. One day when they were out in the fields working, they saw "the dreamer" coming toward them. They decided to take care of their "little problem" once and for all. At first they decided to kill him, but his brother Reuben convinced them to just throw Joseph into an empty well there in the desert. While they were eating, a caravan of merchants came along. Judah came up with the idea of making some money on their brother by selling him to the merchants heading to Egypt. To cover their crime, they dipped Joseph’s costly robe in the blood of a slaughtered goat. When they took it back to their father Jacob he assumed that Joseph had been devoured by a wild animal. They might as well have murdered their father or sold him into slavery also, for that day his heart was broken, and nothing could comfort him. Jacob himself had been a deceiver in his younger days, and now his sons were playing the same game. It is a game where no one wins. The only possible winner in this episode is the one that currently appears to be the loser…Joseph. Living above reproach…a life of total honesty…is the way God would have us to live. We will learn that this lifestyle of integrity is how Joseph chose to live, and God was with him all the way, turning his trials into triumph.
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