Genesis 37:3

Israel loved Joseph more than all his children

Partiality in the family

I. IT WAS NATURAL.

1. On account of a kindred spirit.

2. On account of pleasant associations.

II. UNCONCEALED.

1. It was revealed for the comfort of Joseph.

2. It was manifested in such a manner that the other children could take offence.

III. IT PRODUCED HATRED.

1. Their hatred took a wrong direction.

2. Their hatred overcame their humanity. (Homilist.)

Evils of partiality in the family

I. PARTIALITY SHOWS WEAKNESS IN THOSE EXERCISING IT.

II. PARTIALITY OFFENDS THOSE OVERLOOKED.

II. PARTIALITY INJURES THE ONE IT IS INTENDED TO BENEFIT.

IV. PARTIALITY LEADS TO ESTRANGEMENT IN THE FAMILY.

V. PARTIALITY RESULTS IN MANY SINS AND MANY SORROWS. (J. Henry Burn, B. D.)

Jacob’s affection for Joseph not misplaced

Enabled to study characters, alike by long experience and natural shrewdness, he was eminently fit to discover the spirit of Joseph’s accounts; and had he detected a vile motive, his heart would have turned from the slanderer; for he had himself thoroughly completed his moral purification. Further, the general conduct of the brothers were such as to let unfavourable statements appear at least as no deceitful fabrications. And, lastly, depravity and meanness are totally at variance with those noble qualities of Joseph’s mind, which we shall soon have opportunities to unfold, and which alone could make him the worthy medium of the great plans of Providence. Too young to listen to prudence, and too generous to regard expediency, his pure and susceptible mind repeated in harmless innocence what passed among his brothers; and open and communicative, he knew no artificial reserve. He, therefore, is not even liable to the reproach of carelessness; for he would have seen no wrong in his conduct, even had his attention been directed to it; following the unrestricted impulses of his nature, he had not yet commenced to reflect upon his feelings, or to control and direct his emotions. But was it not blamable on the part of Jacob, so decidedly to prefer one son to all the others? Ought not a father to bestow an equal share of affection upon all his children? This question is but partially to be answered in the affirmative. Certainly, the natural love of a father, which is the result of the close relationship, is very generally equally ardent towards all his children; he will, with the greatest sacrifices, support, educate, and protect all his offspring. But another affection, based upon esteem or internal affinity of characters, may be superadded to the natural love, as will frequently be the case with parents of strongly-marked mental or moral organization; and thus that love is produced which is the emancipation from the blind rule of instinct, and consists in the prevalence of reason and moral liberty. And if it is not reprehensible in a father to feel more strongly for the children in whom he finds his own existence more distinctly renewed, or who are more susceptible of culture and refinement, it can, at the utmost, only be deemed an imprudence if the predeliction is manifested before the less beloved children. But though it is no moral offence, it may become a source of envy, strife and domestic discord. This truth was neglected by Jacob when he made for his favoured son Joseph a long and costly robe. The ample and folding garments of persons of wealth and distinction were not seldom composed of, or covered with, pieces of various costly stuffs, tastefully arranged--ambitious vestments, well calculated to account for the feelings of animosity on the part of Joseph’s brothers. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

Parental fidelity

It is interesting to read the testimony of men at once great and good, to parental fidelity and affection. Said Lamartine, the celebrated French author: “The future state of the child depends in a great measure upon the home in which he is born. His soul is nourished and grows, above all, by the impressions which are there left upon his memory. My father gave me the example of a sincerity carried even to scrupulousness; my mother, of a goodness rising to devotion the most heroic. .. I drank deep from my mother’s mind; I read through her eyes; I felt through her impressions; I lived through her life.” Further on, he says: “I know that my mother wished to make me a happy child, with a healthy mind and a loving soul, a creature of God, not a puppet of men.” Again, he adds: “Our mother’s knee was always our familiar altar in infancy and in boyhood. She elevated our thoughts to God as naturally as the plant stretches upward to the air and light. When she prayed along with us and over us, her lovely countenance became even sweeter and gentler than before, and when we left her side to battle with the world, we never forgot her precepts.” The child of the wisest and best may go wrong, for there are seeds of evil in every heart. But the rule is that God’s blessing on affectionate fidelity secures a happy and useful life here, with the assurance of heavenly awards in the hereafter. (Henry M. Grout, D. D.)

Family training

Another manifest principle observed by Mrs. Wesley in the education and training of her family, was that of thorough impartiality. There was no pet lamb in her deeply interesting flock; no Joseph among her children to be decked out in a coat of many colours, to the envy of his less loved brethren. It was supposed by some of her sisters that Martha was a greater favourite with Mrs. Wesley than the rest of her children, and Charles expressed his “wonder that so wise a woman as his mother could give way to such a partiality or did not better conceal it.” This, however, was an evident mistake. Many years afterwards, when the saying of her brother was mentioned to Martha, she replied, “What my sisters call partiality was what they might all have enjoyed if they had wished it, which was permission to sit in my mother’s chamber when disengaged, to listen to her conversation with others, and to hear her remarks on things and books out of school-hours.” There is certainly no evidence of partiality here. All her children stood before her on a common level, with equal claims, and all were treated in the same way. (J. Kirk.)

A coat of many colours

Joseph’s coat of many colours

It may remind us--

I. OF THE DRESS WHICH EARTHLY PARENTS PREPARE FOR THEIR CHILDREN. Respecting which consider--

1. They toil to procure it, working hard and long.

2. They exercise thought in selecting. Have to consider size, season, material, appearance.

3. They have to inspect it often. How it has been used; how it wears; does it need repair.

4. They have to renew it often. The best will wear out or be out-grown 1 Samuel 2:19).

II. OF THE ROBE WHICH OUR HEAVENLY FATHER PREPARES FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.

1. We need clothing for the soul, as well as for the body (1 Peter 3:3; 1 Peter 5:5). God knows what things we have need of, even if we are unconscious of our need (Revelation 3:17).

2. We cannot make, or purchase, soul-clothing. We must receive it as a free gift. Only God can give it (Revelation 3:18).

3. For earnest, persevering, asking--accompanied by watching--we may obtain the robe of righteousness, the garment of salvation. This robe Jesus wrought for us.

4. This robe will fit well, look well, wear for ever. It is a white robe. White includes all the colours (explain). Hence it is a coat of many colours.

5. It is a court dress (explain) in which to enter the great King’s presence. Learn:

(1) Be careful of clothes. Those who cannot earn them may lesson their parent’s expenses and labour and anxiety by taking care of them.

(2) Keep your soulclothes unspotted from the world. Beware of sin-stains, and of self-righteous cleansing and patching. (J. C. Gray.)

Joseph

I. THE MANY-COLOURED COAT, The margin says many “pieces.” May have been “many colours” as well. Such coats are not uncommon for young people in the East at this day (“Ranwolf’s Travels,” pt. I., p. 89), in Syria, Persia, and India. Made probably of strips of variously-coloured cloth. This Jacob gave to Joseph because he was a “ son of his old age; “ a phrase understood by most to mean that Jacob was an old man when Joseph was born; but which Dr. Jamieson says means that Joseph had--to use a familiar phrase--an old head on young shoulders. This coat maybe regarded--

1. As a gift of affection. It may be questioned how far it was wise to show special love in so marked a manner. Jacob, knowing his other sons, must have been sure that their envy would be excited.

2. As a reward of merit. Some reward less noticeable would have been better. Joseph was made overseer, or chief shepherd, for such is the meaning of Genesis 37:2, and hence it might be also--

3. A badge of office.

II. THE EVIL EFFORT. If Joseph were a mere tale-bearer he would be blamable. But as chief shepherd he was bound to state what was the conduct of his brothers, if they were under-shepherds.

III. THE WONDERFUL DREAMS. Dreams in that age more influential than with us. No sure word of prophecy. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had had wonderful dreams, or rather visions. Such had, doubtless, been often related. Hence these sons of Jacob were prepared to consider dreams with much reverence and awe. But believing them to be Divine messages, they should not have been angry. It is clear that their hearts were not right with God, or they would not have opposed His will. Learn:

1. To guard against the appearance of partiality in our families.

2. God is no respector of persons.

3. To abstain from the appearance of evil, that there be no evil report concerning us. (J. C. Gray.)

Joseph’s coat of many colours

It was customary in those times for princes to give to their subjects, and parents to their children, valuable garments as tokens of esteem. These garments were of different texture and material, and were more or less valuable according to their quality. The art of manufacturing cloths is of very great antiquity. Wool, cotton, and flax were all used in these fabrications both by the Hebrews and the Egyptians. The colours generally used were white, purple, scarlet, and black; but party coloured cloths, or plaids, were also much esteemed. Such garments are represented on some of the monuments of Egypt. At Beni-Hassan, for example, there is a magnificent excavation, forming the tomb of Pihrai, a military officer of Osartasen I., in which a train of foreign captives appears, who are supposed to be Jebusites, an inscription over one person in the group reading, “The Chief of the land of the Jebusites.” The whole of the captives are clad in party-coloured garments, and the tunic of this individual in particular may be called “a coat of many colours.” “A coat of many colours” Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Some, however, are of opinion that it was not a plaid, but a garment of patch-work, the word rendered “colours” being in the margin “pieces.” In reference to the narrative, Mr. Roberts, in his “ Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures,” observes: “For beautiful or favoured children precisely the same thing is done at this day. Crimson, and purple, and other colours are often tastefully sewed together. Sometimes the children of Mahometans have their jackets embroidered with gold and silk of various colours.” (Thornley Smith.)

Imprudent testimonies of regard

Parents ought to love most affectionately those children who best deserve their love; but they ought not to hurt, instead of benefiting, the children whom they love, by imprudent testimonies of their regard. Joseph might have lived happily in his father’s house without a garment of divers colours; but he could not wear it without encountering the hatred of all his brethren. (G. Lawson, D. D.)