Genesis 37: Joseph is sold to Egypt

The brothers hated him like Cain hated Abel.

Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as we discover new insights and new perspectives from a very old book.

I’m reading the Young’s Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Let’s remember that I’m taking this story as it comes, putting aside to the best of my ability my previous knowledge of what comes next.

We may acquire things, but we love very few of them, and what we love represents our heart’s desire. So it is with people; we have acquaintances, friends, extended and immediate family, but we are closer to some than to others; we love them more.

It seems to me that, symbolically, Rachel was Jacob’s heart’s desire, and Joseph, their first-born, likewise was his heart’s desire. The other wives, concubines, and children were just prelude to finally fathering Joseph.

As a real-life father,it’s not good to show special favoritism for one child. In fiction, it’s a soap opera.

But this chapter shows that Joseph seemed, in his dreams, to experience the “God consciousness” in which the entire world, the whole universe, was at his command. That he spoke of it to his brothers…