Dedicated to Truth

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April 16-22, 2011 The Coat of Different Colors

Dedication · Senior Member

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours” (Genesis 37:3).

The seed (so to speak) for this whole story began in Genesis 29, with Jacob and his wives and concubines. One father, four mothers, and about a dozen children between them: one didn’t need to be a prophet to know beforehand what a dysfunctional and dismal family this would turn out to be.

How much better had Jacob followed the earliest archetypical example, the one from Eden: one husband, one wife. Period. This was the ideal model for all homes, for all times.

But as we have seen, God created us free beings, and that freedom includes the freedom to do wrong. Symbolic, perhaps, of the mistakes that Jacob made, the famous “coat of many colors” reveals how one mistake can lead to others and others, with consequences far beyond our control.

How much better, then, to nip sin in the bud before it devours us and those we love.

Dedication · Senior Member

"As Jacob's sons arrived at manhood they developed serious faults. The results of polygamy were manifest in the household. This terrible evil tends to dry up the very springs of love, and its influence weakens the most sacred ties. The jealousy of the several mothers had embittered the family relation, the children had grown up contentious and impatient of control, and the father's life was darkened with anxiety and grief. {PP 208.3}

There was one, however, of a widely different character--the elder son of Rachel, Joseph, whose rare personal beauty seemed but to reflect an inward beauty of mind and heart. Pure, active, and joyous, the lad gave evidence also of moral earnestness and firmness. He listened to his father's instructions, and loved to obey God. The qualities that afterward distinguished him in Egypt--gentleness, fidelity, and truthfulness--were already manifest in his daily life. His mother being dead, his affections clung the more closely to the father, and Jacob's heart was bound up in this child of his old age. He "loved Joseph more than all his children." {PP 209.1}

But even this affection was to become a cause of trouble and sorrow. Jacob unwisely manifested his preference for Joseph, and this excited the jealousy of his other sons.

As Joseph witnessed the evil conduct of his brothers, he was greatly troubled; he ventured gently to remonstrate with them, but only aroused still further their hatred and resentment. He could not endure to see them sinning against God, and he laid the matter before his father, hoping that his authority might lead them to reform. {PP 209.2}

Jacob carefully avoided exciting their anger by harshness or severity. With deep emotion he expressed his solicitude for his children, and implored them to have respect for his gray hairs, and not to bring reproach upon his name, and above all not to dishonor God by such disregard of His precepts. Ashamed that their wickedness was known, the young men seemed to be repentant, but they only concealed their real feelings, which were rendered more bitter by this exposure. {PP 209.3}

The father's injudicious gift to Joseph of a costly coat, or tunic, such as was usually worn by persons of distinction, seemed to them another evidence of his partiality, and excited a suspicion that he intended to pass by his elder children, to bestow the birthright upon the son of Rachel.

Their malice was still further increased as the boy one day told them of a dream that he had had..."Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?" exclaimed his brothers in envious anger. {PP 210.1}

Dedication · Senior Member

MONDAY April 18

Joseph and His Brothers

Sibling rivalry, even in the most traditional of homes, can be bad enough. But in this mix, it turned into a festering brew, for in it were ingredients such as hatred and jealousy and favoritism and pride that led, eventually, to disaster.

For starters, the brothers of Joseph weren’t exactly the sweetest lot of young lads, were they?

Read Genesis 34. What does this book tell us about the brothers’ characters? Notes

Then, too, there was the issue of Joseph’s dreams (Gen. 37:5–11), in which the whole family bows in obeisance toward him. If the brothers didn’t like him beforehand, these dreams would only increase their dislike. In fact, that’s exactly what Genesis 37:8 says.

But there’s more.

Read Genesis 37:2. How would this only make relations worse between Joseph and his brothers? Notes

No one likes to be tattled on, and regardless of how bad the brothers’ conduct was, they surely didn’t appreciate Joseph telling on them to their father. Though the text doesn’t say specifically what they were doing, considering their past conduct, it most likely was something that needed to be dealt with before they brought even more shame and reproach on themselves and their family.

Finally, too, perhaps the biggest issue was that, as the Bible comes out and says, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children” (Gen. 37:3). The brothers weren’t stupid; they surely picked up on their father’s attitude, and that could have made a bad situation worse.

Hence, however inexcusable the brothers’ actions were toward Joseph, this background helps us better understand what led to them.
We all, to some degree, are trapped in our circumstances. Things happen that are beyond our control. The questions for us always must be, then, How do I respond to those circumstances? Do they dominate me to the point that I compromise principle, or do I allow my principles to guide me through my circumstances?

TUESDAY April 19

The Coat of Many Colors

The bad character of the brothers stood out even more in contrast to the character of Joseph.

“There was one, however, of a widely different character—the elder son of Rachel, Joseph, whose rare personal beauty seemed but to reflect an inward beauty of mind and heart. Pure, active, and joyous, the lad gave evidence also of moral earnestness and firmness. He listened to his father’s instructions, and loved to obey God. The qualities that afterward distinguished him in Egypt—gentleness, fidelity, and truthfulness—were already manifest in his daily life. His mother being dead, his affections clung the more closely to the father, and Jacob’s heart was bound up in this child of his old age. He ‘loved Joseph more than all his children.’ ”—Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 209.

Read Genesis 37:3, 4. How did this act by their father make the situation worse? Notes

The costly coat, given to Joseph by a doting father and beautifully woven in a variety of colors, certainly was finer than any of his brothers’ cloaks and was a kind of garment usually worn by people of distinction. The brothers no doubt assumed that their father would bestow further honors upon this child, and that could mean that he would get the birthright. They easily could have read into it that Joseph would get the greater inheritance. Whatever the father meant by giving Joseph the coat, and it could simply have been a token of love and nothing more, it was a big mistake, for it fanned even more the flames of hatred in the brothers’ hearts toward Joseph.

In a sense, the coat symbolizes earthly honors, earthly distinction—earthly and, therefore, so temporal and superficial in the end. In writing the story, however, Moses placed the coat in the context of Jacob loving Joseph more than the other children, and thus it was also central in the context of their hatred for him and what that hatred led to.

Have you ever been given a worldly honor? How good did you feel at the time? How long before the euphoria or the sense of satisfaction or whatever good feeling you had wore off, and the honor came to mean little or nothing? What lesson should you take from that? See 1 Cor. 9:24–26. Notes

WEDNESDAY April 20

The Coat Stripped

Read Genesis 37:12–25. What great contrast between good and evil is seen here, between innocence and treachery? Notes

Not only did Joseph’s brothers plot his death, they also planned in advance just what they would tell their father. Oh, father. We’re so sorry. We found this coat. Is it Joseph’s? If so, then a ferocious animal must have devoured him. It’s hard to imagine how people could be so full of hatred toward their own brother that they could do something like this.

Read Genesis 37:23. What is significant about what happened there? Notes

The first thing the brothers talked about when they saw Joseph from afar was the dreams, which made their hatred for him grow. Now, once and for all, they would see what would come of those dreams. It’s interesting to note that the first recorded act against Joseph by his brothers was the stripping away of his coat. The Hebrew makes it clear that they were talking about the much-hated coat, the one that the father had made for him. The text stresses that it was “on him.” Along with everything else, to see him approach wearing the coat only must have added to their anger.

Thus, here we can see the brothers attempting to undo all the things that caused them so much hatred and anger. The coat for them symbolized all that they hated about their brother, all the good things about him and the bad things about themselves. It must have been with a lot of joy, glee, and satisfaction that they stripped off the coat. Now, suddenly, without that fancy garment, which symbolized what they feared was Joseph’s superiority over them, Joseph was helpless before those who, according to his own dreams, were one day to bow down before him.

Look at how irrational the brothers’ actions were as a result of their emotions. How often do we allow our emotions to drive us to do irrational things? How can we learn to keep our emotions under the power of God and thus spare ourselves (and often others) from the often terrible consequences of things done in fits of deep emotion?

THURSDAY April 21

“Thy Son’s Coat”

“So they took Joseph’s tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, ‘We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not’ ” (Gen. 37:31, 32, NASB).

How could they, the sons of a loving father, stoop so low as to hand their father the cloak he had given his son, now splashed with blood, and ask him to identify it? Maybe even a day before they had committed this crime, nothing like it had entered their minds. But once we start on a train of sin, who knows where it will lead?

Read Genesis 37:26–36. What is revealing about the language the brothers used before their father? Notes

Notice, the brothers’ question referred not to “our brother’s coat” but to “your son’s coat.” The coldness, the callousness, is amazing. Perhaps, too, it was a kind of unconscious defense mechanism for them. It wasn’t “our brother’s” coat that they found but, rather, “thy son’s coat”—a way to limit in their own minds the evil that they had done.

Thus, the coat had a role both in the beginning and in the end. A symbol of the relationship between Jacob and Joseph, it now was covered in blood, a symbol of Joseph’s “demise” and what they all assumed would be the end of Joseph and all their animosity toward him. No doubt, though, this act “solved” one problem only to bring on a host of others. Surely the brothers must have been pained by their father’s grief. Surely, day by day seeing Jacob mourn, these men must have struggled with guilt and remorse.

Read Genesis 42:13, 21–23, 32 and Genesis 44:28. What do these verses tell us about the long-lasting impact of the brothers’ deeds on themselves and their family? Notes

In the end, the Lord brought good out of the evil that the brothers had done, but that hardly justifies what they did. However extreme their actions were, this story should remind us of how quickly sins can get out of hand, blind us, and lead us to do things that more often than not lead to tragedy and suffering.

Dedication · Senior Member

Wednesday

The Coat Stripped

Genesis 37:12-25 (New King James Version)

12 Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So he said to him, “Here I am.” 14 Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. 15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?” 16 So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.” 17 And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan. 18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming! 20 Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him.’ We shall see what will become of his dreams!” 21 But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, “Let us not kill him.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. 23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him. 24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt.

Genesis 37:23 (New King James Version)

23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.

Thursday

“Thy Son’s Coat”

Genesis 37:31-32 (New King James Version)

31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

Genesis 37:26-36 (New King James Version)

26 So Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh.” And his brothers listened. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. 29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 And he returned to his brothers and said, “The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?”

31 So they took Joseph’s tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?” 33 And he recognized it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, “For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Now the Midianites[a] had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Genesis 42:13, 21-23, 32 New King James Version (NKJV)

13 And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

21 Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” 23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.

32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’

Genesis 44:28 (New King James Version)

28 and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since.

Dedication · Senior Member

FRIDAY    April 22

Further Study:


Read Ellen G. White, “The Return to Canaan,” “Joseph in Egypt,” and “Joseph and His Brothers,” pp. 209–240, in Patriarchs and Prophets; pp. 428–432, in The SDA Bible Commentary, vol. 1.

“Joseph, unsuspicious of what was to befall him, approached his brethren with gladness of heart to greet them after his long, wearisome journey. His brothers rudely repulsed him. He told them his errand, but they answered him not. Joseph was alarmed at their angry looks. . . . They accused him of hypocrisy. As they gave utterance to their envious feelings, Satan controlled their minds, and they had no sense of pity, and no feelings of love for their brother. They stripped him of his coat of many colors that he wore, which was a token of his father’s love, and which had excited their envious feelings.”—Ellen G. White, The Spirit of Prophecy, vol. 1, pp. 128, 129. Notes

Discussion Questions:

    1 What other kinds of “coats of many colors” are there? What are things of the world that we covet after, which sooner or later can easily be stripped from us and defiled in blood? What kind of worldly honors seem to mean so much and yet, in the end, really mean nothing at all? Notes

2 Think about the context of this week’s lesson and then read Genesis 45:22. What irony is found there? Notes

3 Joseph often has been seen as a type of Christ. Go through the Joseph story and see what parallels you can find between Christ and Joseph. Share your answers with your class. Notes

4 There’s probably little doubt the brothers felt great remorse for their actions. We don’t know what the father did with the bloodied coat. Perhaps he kept it as a memento of his beloved son.

Imagine how the brothers would have felt each time they saw this coat, once a symbol of their jealousy, and now a symbol of their guilt. How can we learn to think before we act and not to do things rashly?

How much different this story would have been had the brothers known the Lord whom their father served! If the brothers knew how to pray, how to die to self, how to surrender to the Lord in faith and obedience, none of this would have happened, and so much pain and suffering could have been spared. How can we learn not to fall into the same trap that these men did?

Dedication · Senior Member

Lesson Helps:

Many different kinds of pits exist. A literal pit such as the one Joseph was in, while it is not to be wished for oneself or anyone else, has its advantages. At least one knows where one is, and even being raised out of it to be sold into slavery is probably preferable to being left to face starvation and the elements. As Samuel Johnson said of the gallows, being in a pit undoubtedly concentrates the mind wonderfully. In Joseph’s case, it might even have been his rite of passage into spiritual and psychological maturity.

Consider This:

Like Joseph’s brothers we have all dug ourselves into pits. We try to deny that we are in pits. We try to rationalize the actions that brought us to these places. The deeper we find ourselves, the deeper we want to go, until we hit "rock bottom." Why does our only way out come when we discover that the only One who can, and will, bring us out is the One we have sinned against, God Himself?

Dedication · Senior Member

Two points of interest concerning the lesson:

1. The coat of many colors, symbolic of honor and position in this life is nice
to have, but it can be stripped away.

Joseph lost his coat of many colors --
At the point when he was in the pit and then on his way as a slave to Egypt, he
had been stripped of EVERY earthly security, honor and ties with friends or
family.

Do we have "coats of many color" -- nothing basically wrong with them but we are
not to rely upon them -- they can be stripped away at a moments notice.

But then we see in Gen 41:42
41:42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's
hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen

Symbolic meaning --
Joseph had been true to HIS God!
And now he is clothed, (not in a coat of many colors but in fine linen!

Compare with Rev. 19:
19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean
and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

That is the garment we all need!

It is a garment NO ONE can strip away from us!

2. The second point

The brothers in this part of the story are pretty bad -- destitute of the
relationship with God that holds evil at bay.

Yet in Rev. 7 we see these same brothers standing at the head of groups of
redeemed! How did they merit such honor?

They didn't merit it --
But by God's grace their sins were covered by the blood of the Lamb, their lives
changed as they found a relationship with God.

In these groups under the head of these men we find people of all different
temperment -- yet God worked through each one, redeeming, restoring and saving.
There is hope for every individual no matter what their temperment or their
history, when they yield their lives to the wonderful Savior!

Dedication · Senior Member

Posted by "Believer"

SongSolomon. 6:8 There are threescore queens, and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number.

SongSolomon. 6:9 My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.

The Son of David is in love with his wife even though there are many women claiming to be his. This is a symbol of the true church versus the pretend true churches. So Jacob has 4 women but only one he loves.

Revelation 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

The coat for me is a symbol of the righteousness of Christ put on the remnant that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. The dreams Joseph had were prophetic and so were the testimony of Jesus. Joseph was a true commandment keeper.

So the dragon was wroth and wanted him out of the way.

Revelation 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Revelation 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Jerusalem was built on 12 foundations having different colours. It is like a bride adorned - and it is not just in white. The rainbow colours are there. So I see Joseph's coat as entirely positive.

Dedicated to Truth

Genesis 29:21-30:24 (New King James Version)

The Children of Jacob

Genesis 30