God Is With You From The Beginning
Anne Graham Lotz & Rachel-Ruth Lotz Wright
Joseph’ s story begins in Genesis 37 when he is a strapping, handsome seventeen-year-old going about his daily responsibilities, which included helping his brothers tend his father’ s sheep( v. 2). He’ s a shepherd. Nothing glamorous about that. But we soon glimpse Joseph’ s budding character. On a day that must have been typical, he was out in the fields when he noticed some of his brothers doing something that wasn’ t acceptable. We’ re not given any details about what took place or what Joseph saw, but we can imagine that his brothers may have been shirking their duties, harming the sheep, or neglecting to properly care for the flock. Whatever transpired, their behavior upset Joseph to the point that he reported it to their father.
While Joseph may come across to us as a tattletale, his action revealed he had a heart to do the right thing, even if it put his relationship with his brothers at risk, giving us insight into a leader in the making. While risking his brothers’ wrath, he must have felt he had his beloved father’ s protection and felt safe making his report. And I expect Jacob was grateful for a son who kept him apprised of the family’ s business and the problems that arose in it.
But Joseph’ s report put him at sharp odds with his siblings. The situation worsened because Jacob openly favored and loved Joseph over all his other sons. Jacob even went to the point of having a richly ornamented robe made for Joseph.
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