Smoodock's Blog

In Genesis 37:2 we are introduced to a young man of 17 years of age, Joseph, Jacob’s firstborn from Rachel, his favorite wife. He was also his father’s favorite son; Jacob loved him more than all his children, “because he was the son of his old age” (Genesis 37:3) Thus, implying that Benjamin was not yet born, because he also would have been “the son of his old age” (cp. Genesis 44:20). Once, when Joseph was in the field caring for the sheep with his brethren, the sons of Jacob’s concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah, he brought back to his father a slanderous report about them. It was, perhaps, something innocent in itself, but defaming in the context in which it was presented (Genesis 37:2). Jacob made Joseph a coat of many colors, because he loved him, but when his brothers saw that Joseph was their father’s favorite son, they hated him and found it difficult to speak with him in a friendly manner (Genesis 37:4).

We are told that Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told his brethren about it, and they hated him all the more because of its implications (Genesis 37:5). In the dream, he and his brothers were in the field binding sheaves of grain, when Joseph’s sheaf arose, and his brethren’s sheaves bowed to his sheaf. Jacob was a herdsman, not a farmer, but he and his family, no doubt, grew some of their food. Nevertheless, they were dependent upon local crops (cp. Genesis 12:10; 26:1). The dream foretold the day in which his brethren would come to Egypt, seeking grain from him. However, Joseph’s brethren didn’t believe that he would reign or have dominion over them, so they hated him all the more for his telling them of his dreams (Genesis 37:6-8).

Afterward, Joseph dreamed a second dream, and he told it to both his father and his brethren. In the dream, the sun (Jacob), the moon (Rachel) and eleven stars (his eleven brothers) would bow to him (Genesis 37:9). The dream on the face implies Joseph’s mother, Rachel, had no yet died, nor was his brother, Benjamin yet born. However, the fact that there were eleven stars does indicate Rachel was pregnant. The context indicates that Joseph dreamed his dreams, while he was yet in Mamre, before his brethren took the sheep to Shechem (cp. Genesis 37:13).

When Jacob heard what his son dreamt, he rebuked Joseph, asking: shall I and your mother and your brothers, indeed, come and bow before you? (Genesis 37:10). Once more, Joseph’s dream foretold the time, when he would be second in authority to Pharaoh (Genesis 41:40), when his father, Jacob, would send his brethren to Egypt to buy grain for food (Genesis 42:1-2; 43:1-5). The dream was sure, as the record eventually reveals. Nevertheless, at the age of seventeen, it was difficult for anyone, including Jacob, to see the context in which it would be fulfilled. On the other hand, although his brethren envied him, because of the dream, Jacob observed and remembered what Joseph told him (Genesis 37:11).

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[1] Joseph was 30 years old when he appeared before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:46), and the 7 years of good harvests were to begin shortly, vis-à-vis that year (cp. Genesis 41:25, 32). He brought Jacob and his entire family to Egypt 9 years later, or 2 years into the famine (Genesis 45:6, 11). Thus, he would have been 39 at that time. Jacob was 130 years old when he stood before Pharaoh (Genesis 47:9), making him 91 years old at Joseph’s birth (130 – 38 = 92). If Jacob was 92 years old 14 years after leaving Beersheba for Haran, then he must have been 78 years old before leaving Beersheba.