Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Saturday, August 18, 2018 | Topic: Conscience 101
Scripture: And when they saw Joseph afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. Genesis 37:18
Note: While the Roman soldiers were gambling for the bloody coat of Jesus, Joseph’s brothers were also gambling with the life of their brother in the hands of slave traders, having sold him cheaply, after stripping him of his coat of many colours, dipping it in the blood of an innocent kid goat after disposing of Joseph. The bloody coat phenomenon, comparing the life of Joseph with that of Jesus Christ, presents a paradox of two extremes cohabiting within the same environment and time frame in the same human enterprise. .
Feasting while Joseph languished in a pitiful dark hole, waterless and hungry, not knowing his fate. With his only vestige of pride; the coat of many colours violently stripped off him and tucked away in the reckless confines of brothers who had shown no remorse or guile in their hatred for him, Joseph was ruthlessly exposed to the elements without due consideration for his health and safety. With a much needed coat by Joseph, not really needed by his brothers, he had no voice in a nameless dark hole somewhere in the desert.
The pitiful cries and wailing from a younger brother failed to call attention to the unjust and merciless manner in which they had treated their brother. Death sentence was on the table for him. At long last, they had found their much awaited revenge. Was Joseph worth dying as he was worthless as a dead man anyway, in the hands of his brothers? The opportunity to make quick money off him was bidding stronger than a worthless carcass in their hands. This was the extent to which Joseph’s brothers hated him.
Joseph’s brothers despised him with all the venom inside them. They hated and despised him for his dreams. They despised his coat of many colours; a grim reminder of the exclusivity that Joseph enjoyed. Having disposed of their enemy, the coat of Joseph was the last demonstration of their hatred. Tearing the coat and mangling it to vent their spleen, Joseph’s brothers became the wild beasts that tore his dress. With the kid of a goat to enjoy for lunch, the blood of the innocent animal was the medium in which the coat was dipped to provide a veritable evidence of the actions of a wild beast to Jacob. Unknown to Jacob, his own sons were the wild beasts that tore his precious son, Joseph, to pieces.
Food for thought: Hatred carries a dangerous, blinding venom that can turn otherwise good people into wild and dangerous beasts.
Declaration: And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love. Psalm 109:5
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
