Parshat Vayeshev, Genesis 37:1 – Genesis 40:23

The story of Joseph, Jacob’s son comes into full view with this week’s parasha. Joseph is the oldest child of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, who died in last week’s portion during the birth of Joseph’s brother, Benjamin. We meet Joseph this week as a 17 year old that has attitude. And what teenager doesn’t?

The story of Joseph, Jacob’s son comes into full view with this week’s parasha. Joseph is the oldest child of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel, who died in last week’s portion during the birth of Joseph’s brother, Benjamin. We meet Joseph this week as a 17 year old that has attitude. And what teenager doesn’t?

His father Jacob dotes on Joseph. Joseph is clearly the favorite of Jacob’s sons. The text tells us, “Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons, for he was the child of his old age.” This favored status is demonstrated in full view by the gift that father Jacob has given to Joseph—a special tunic. This robe or coat of many colors is given to the son who like a peacock, struts his stuff in front his brothers. Joseph knows how to lord it over his brothers. It is a hint of things to come, for indeed Joseph will be an Egyptian lord over his brothers.

In addition, Joseph is a tattletale. He brings bad reports, as the text says, about his older half-brothers. Whether they were true stories or not, the fact that Joseph is the one that squeals on his brothers can only further rub salt in an already open familial wound. Jacob loved his wife Rachel more than his other wives and deeply mourned her death. Jacob’s favoritism toward Joseph as his first born with his beloved Rachel is not lost on Joseph himself, nor his brothers and Joseph seems to take advantage of that fact with his brothers. Clearly the family dynamic between brothers and between father and sons is difficult at best.

This web of intrigue between father and sons and brothers gets more complicated as Joseph has dreams of domination of his brothers. His dreams and explanations of his dreams to his brothers fan the flame of hatred and jealousy between the brothers. Joseph could have kept the dream to himself, but instead shares it and its interpretation with his brothers, “He said to them, “Hear this dream which I have dreamed.” He tells them of his dream of sheaves in the field and his sheaf stands above the others, and the brother’s sheaves bows to his sheaf. This only angers the brothers even more. While Joseph is the eldest of the union of Rachel and Jacob, he is not the eldest son at all. His pecking order in the group of brothers is at the bottom. He is the second to last of all the children -brothers and sisters to be born. Only Benjamin is younger and presumably a very young child. Thus from the other brothers point of view—that the youngest should rule over the eldest is an affront.

But Joseph dreams yet another dream, a celestial dream again sharing it with his brothers and now also with father. The sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to Joseph. His dream does indeed foretell the future of the story but now in addition to his brothers’ anger at him, his father joins the chorus. “Are we to come, I and your mother and your brothers and bow low to you to the ground?” demands his father.

While the question lingers in the air to us the readers, and seems absurd to the father and his sons, the Torah again hints at the answer, which will be yes! Indeed Jacob and his sons will bow low to Joseph. God will see to it that Joseph will rise from the prisons of Egypt to become second only to Pharaoh.

The brothers conspire against Joseph, selling him off into slavery and telling their father that Joseph met his demise by a wild beast. Thus the journey of the people Israel down to Egypt begins with dreams of glory on the one hand, a family discord at the root of it all.

Posted by Lee at November 29, 2004 01:24 PM