Joseph’s Colourful Robe

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than his other sons ... so he made him a robe of many colors.” — Genesis 37:3

Jacob, who was now called Israel, had twelve sons. But his favourite was Joseph. Joseph was the son of Rachel, the wife Jacob loved most, and he was born when Jacob was old. Jacob made Joseph a special robe, a beautiful coat of many colours.

When Joseph was seventeen, he looked after the sheep with his older brothers. But his brothers hated him. They could see that their father loved Joseph more than any of them, and they couldn’t even say a kind word to him.

Then Joseph had a dream, and he told his brothers about it. “Listen to this dream I had,” he said. “We were tying up bundles of wheat in the field. Suddenly my bundle stood up straight, and all your bundles gathered round it and bowed down to mine!”

“So you think you’re going to be king over us, do you?” his brothers said. And they hated him even more.

Then Joseph had another dream. “This time,” he said, “the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” Even his father told him off for that one.

One day the brothers were far away, looking after the sheep. Jacob sent Joseph to find out how they were doing. Joseph walked a long way, and at last he saw them in the distance.

His brothers saw him coming too, in his colourful robe. “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to one another. “Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into a pit. We’ll say a wild animal ate him. Then we’ll see what becomes of his dreams!”

But Reuben, the oldest brother, said, “Don’t kill him. Just throw him into this empty pit.” Reuben secretly planned to come back and rescue Joseph later.

So when Joseph arrived, they grabbed him and pulled off his beautiful robe. They threw him into a deep, dry pit. And then they sat down to eat their lunch.

While they were eating, they saw a long line of camels coming. They were traders, carrying spices down to Egypt.

Judah, another brother, had an idea. “What will we get if we kill our brother?” he said. “Let’s sell him to these traders instead.” So they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty pieces of silver. And the traders took Joseph away to Egypt.

Then the brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. They took it home to their father. “We found this,” they said. “Is it Joseph’s robe?”

Jacob knew it at once. “A wild animal has eaten him!” he cried. He tore his clothes and wept, and nobody could comfort him.

It looked as if everything had gone wrong. Joseph was gone, a slave in a faraway land. But God had not forgotten Joseph. And God had not forgotten Joseph’s dreams.

Read it in your Bible: Genesis 37

Dear God, please help me not to be jealous when someone else gets something I want. And when things go wrong, help me to remember that you haven’t forgotten me. Amen.