The History of Joseph, Jacob’s Favored Son
History
God made a covenant with Abraham that his descendants would be a great nation and blessed him with Isaac. Isaac had two sons named Esau, the eldest and Jacob. Jacob has to leave home to hide from his brother Esau because Jacob tricked their father into giving him the blessing that was intended for the eldest. Jacob ran to Haran to stay with relative, Laban, to avoid the anger of Esau. While there he falls in love with Rachel, Laban’s youngest daughter and asks for her hand in marriage. Laban agrees that if Jacob will agree to stay and work for seven years he may have Rachel’s hand. Laban does not keep his promise he replaces Rachel with Leah, the eldest daughter, and tricks Jacob into sleeping with her instead. When Jacob discovers what has happened he demands to be given Rachel as promised and so ends up with Rachel as a second wife. Jacob never really shows affection for Leah and makes it known that Rachel is the favored wife. Leah provides Jacob with a firstborn and numerous other sons, but it is late in life when Rachel conceives Joseph, who is the eleventh born son, and then Benjamin. Benjamin’s birth takes Rachel’s life and therefore is the last of her children.
Joseph
Jacob makes it clear to everyone that Joseph is the favored son (Blank, 1998). Jacob may consider Joseph to be his real firstborn son since Rachel was the chosen wife. Jealousy builds over the years at the obvious favoritism bestowed on Joseph by Jacob in Jacob’s other children. Although the actual firstborn son Rueben loses favor because he sleeps with one of Jacob’s wives the others feel Joseph is taking the leader place ahead of everyone else. Jacob had a robe referred to as the “Coat of Many Colors” made for Jacob when he was seventeen that served to further establish his status and agitate his brothers’ jealousy (Blank). Joseph has two dreams, “in the first, sheaves of wheat belonging to his brothers bowed to his own sheaf” and “in the second, the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed to him” (Schoenberg, 2010). He shares this information with his family and his brothers are driven over the edge. The brothers originally plan to kill him but the eldest Rueben and the fourth Judah do not wish him dead. They suggest that he be sold into slavery with the Ishmaelites instead. They take Joseph’s “coat of many colors” and soak it in animal blood to make it appear he was attacked and killed by a wild animal. Jacob is crushed and mourns for a long time.
Joseph Exiled Joseph finds himself owned by Potiphar, an officer of the guard and head of the Pharoh household. Potiphar really likes Joseph and soon he is running the Pharoh household himself. Potiphar’s wife takes an interest in Joseph and begins to make advances on him. Joseph refuses to accept her invitations and for revenge she accuses him of attacking her. He is sent to prison and spends the next few years out of favor.
Joseph Imprisoned Joseph interprets the dreams of the Pharoh’s butler and baker, who are also being held prisoner. He predicts that in three days time the butler will be returned to his position and that the baker will be killed and when both of these predictions come true Joseph asks the butler to tell the Pharoh about him (Schoenberg). Two years later when the Pharoh has a dream that cannot be interpreted the butler remembers Joseph and suggests him to the Pharoh. Joseph predicts that the dream means that seven years of plenty are coming to be followed by seven years of famine (Schoenberg). The Pharoh appoints Joseph to be manager over food production and preparation for the seven lean years. Joseph does such an exemplary job that he rises in power inside the Pharoh’s home (Banstra, 2009).
Family Reunited Joseph begins a family of his own and he has two sons named Ephriam and Manasseh (Banstra, 2009). His life is content and plentiful without a lot of thought about his past. One day a group of his brothers appear in front of him to obtain grain for their family, as Jacob’s family is suffering under the famine. Joseph recognizes them but they do not recognize him. He accuses them of being spies and has them detained and interrogated. His brothers make reference to his younger brother Benjamin and he gives them grain under the condition that one of them remain with him and the others return to bring Benjamin back to confirm their story. Jacob refuses to allow Benjamin to return with them at first for fear of losing him, but when they run out of food he has no choice but to say yes. They return with Benjamin and Joseph prepares a banquet for them. When he allows them to leave he hides a sacred artifact in Benjamin’s backpack and has him stopped and accused of stealing. He tells his other brothers that the thief must remain with him as his slave but the rest may leave. When Judah volunteers to trade places with Benjamin, Joseph finally admits to them who he is and asks if his father is still alive. When they realize his true identity they fear he is angry and he has to explain that he forgives them because he realizes that God sent him there to provide food for everyone in the hard times. They travel back to get the rest of the family and move to Egypt to escape the famine. Jacob is 130 years old when he makes the family move to Egypt and lives there for 17 years before blessing each one of his sons, Joseph the longest, and grandsons and then dying. He makes Joseph promise that he will transport him home for burial and the whole family does that together. Joseph assures his brothers of their safety and they remain in Egypt. Joseph manages the Pharoh’s food supply for the people until the end of the famine and trades people what they need in exchange for goods (Schoenberg).
Joseph’s Legacy Joseph’s two sons Ephriam and Manasseh became two of the largest and most prominent tribes of Israel by the time the Israelites enter their homeland and divide it between them (Just). The Jewish people spend 400 years in Egypt as a result of the famine and being held as slaves by the Egyptians when they did try to leave.

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(Just, 2009).

References

Bandstra, B. (2009). Reading the old testament: An introduction to the hebrew bible (4th ed.) Belmont, CA: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning.

Blank, W. (1998). Children of Jacob. The Church of God Daily Bible Study. Retrieved on August 24, 2010 from http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/jacobch.htm

Bolton, E. (2007, October). Miketz: Joseph, the favorite son. Jewish Reconstructionist Federation. Retrieved August 24, 2010 from http://jrf.org/showdt&rid=304&pid=10

Schoenberg, S. (2010). Joseph. The Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved on August 24, 2010 from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Joseph.html

Just, F. (2009). The family of abraham. Catholic Resources.org. Retrieved on August 24, 2010 from http://catholic-resources.org/Bible/History-Abraham.htm