Reuben was the eldest son and Joseph was a younger brother; Rachel was the mother

of Joseph and Benjamin. When the story opens in chapter 37:, Joseph was 17 years

old. Now one would expect the family of brothers to be described as "Reuben and his

brethren". But this is not so. We read of "Joseph . . . . . with his brethren". Joseph takes

the central position and Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because "he was

the son of his old age". He made him a coat of many colours. This must have been an

embroidered coat and it was significant for two reasons. It indicated that Joseph was the

heir. Further, the garment was evidence of a priestly office. Aaron had embroidered

garments of blue, purple and scarlet as symbols of his priestly office. So Joseph was the

priest of the family. 100: H. Welch comments "Throughout scripture, clothing has a

symbolic value. The result of Joseph's pre-eminence is prophetic of Christ".

Joseph had two dreams, one about sheaves in the field, and the other about the sun,

moon and stars; in each dream, obeisance was made to Joseph. The brothers of Joseph

were furious when he recounted his dreams and this increased the hatred that was

building up in the hearts of the brothers against Joseph.

We read that "his father observed the saying" (Gen. 37: 11) and this comment

reminds us of the mother of Jesus, who "kept all these things and pondered them in her

heart" (Luke 2: 19).

The rejection of Joseph as ruler foreshadows the refusal of the Jews to accept their

Messiah. We may compare:

100: H. Welch points how the career of Joseph is associated with pairs of dreams.

Having introduced Joseph and his background, we are ready to study the life of Joseph

and this we hope to do in our next article.