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Joseph's Coat of Many Colors - Bible Story

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Joseph's Coat of Many Colors - Bible Story

Bible Story of Joseph's Coat of Many Colors

Joseph, son of Jacob and Rachel, resided in the realm of Canaan with his family of at least twelve siblings. He was Rachel's firstborn and Jacob's eleventh son. Of all his sons, Joseph was the favorite of his father, signified by the gift of a "long coat of many colors".  In addition to the coat of many colors, Joseph had two dreams that caused his brothers to resent him and plot his ruin.  These dreams symbolized Joseph's apparent supremacy and provoked his brothers to betray him. 

According to Genesis, his brothers then contrived against him and would have killed him if the eldest brother Reuben had not intervened. As an alternative, he convinced them to throw Joseph into a pit and secretly intended to rescue him later. However, while Reuben was away, the others decided to sell him to a group of Ishmaelite traders. When the traveling Ishmaelites appeared, the brothers pulled Joseph up and sold him to the merchants for 20 pieces of silver. The brothers then soaked Joseph's coat in goat blood and presented it to their father, declaring that Joseph had been killed by wild beasts.

Learn more from the full Bible Story of Joseph.

Bible Commentary on Genesis 37

In Joseph's history, we see something of Christ, who was first humbled and then exalted. It also shows the life of Christians, who must through many tribulations enter into the kingdom. It is a history that has none like it, for displaying the various workings of the human mind, both good and bad and the singular providence of God in making use of them for fulfilling his purposes. Though Joseph was his father's darling, he was not bred up in idleness. Those who do not truly love their children, who do not instill responsibility and work ethic. The fondling of children is with good reason called the spoiling of them. 

Those who are trained up to do nothing, are likely to be good for nothing. But Jacob made known his love, by dressing Joseph finer than the rest of his children. It is wrong for parents to make a difference between one child and another, unless there is great cause for it, by the children's dutifulness, or undutifulness. When parents make a difference, children soon notice it, and it leads to quarrels in families. Jacob's sons did that when they were from under his eye, which they durst not have done at home with him; but Joseph gave his father an account of their ill conduct, that he might restrain them. Not as a tale-bearer, to sow discord, but as a faithful brother. (Matthew Henry Commentary)

Jacob's love was partial, for he loved Joseph more than his other sons. Such love divided his family and opened the door to hatred. Thus Jacob was not yet perfected in love, for perfect love is impartial. But Christ loves all equally and died for all. Joseph's brothers were blinded by their hatred for him, and therefore, could not understand the things of God.

Read the full story of Joseph's Coat of Many Colors in scripture text below and find Articles, Videos, and Audio Sermons relating to this inspiring story.

Photo credit: Wikimedia Commons/Charles Foster

Genesis 37

1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him.
4 When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had:
7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem,
13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,
15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.
18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other.
20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said.
22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing—
24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”
31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.
32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.
35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.

Genesis 37 Commentaries

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