Tehillah Generation Chapel
Daily Manna | Tuesday, July 17, 2018 | Topic: Conscience 73
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: Joseph’s coat of many colours was a key bone of contention between him and his feuding brothers. If there was any major difference between the brothers and Joseph, that was the source of bother among the rest of the siblings. To them, the coat of many colours represented a symbol of authority bequeathed to Joseph by Jacob. Joseph, being the firstborn son between Jacob and Rachel, was by inference from Jacob’s heavily biased affection for Rachel, more than just a beautiful garment. It was the passing of the father’s mantle to Joseph.
Legalism and cultural rights are strong forces to contend with. Joseph was the 11th born son according to the hierarchical order of Jacob’s sons. The brothers of Joseph had the Jewish cultural laws on inheritance favouring their position as seniors. It was their natural right to defend their own honour and what rightfully belonged to them. Therefore, taking hold of the coat of many colours, was to their warped thinking their way of taking hold of the ‘mistaken mantle’ that had been wrongfully and biasedly given to Joseph.
At the very moment that Joseph was stripped of the coat of many colours, the sad emotions that immediately flooded his soul reflected the sad loss of the father’s love and affection, coupled with the fact that the one thing that brought him so much love and affection, reminding him of his mother’s demise plus the real possibility that he was never going to set eyes on his kid brother, Benjamin, as well as his father again, must have been sufficient reasons to drown his pitiful soul in the well of his own tears.
Every evidence available at that material moment when he lost his coat of many colours in a frenzied atmosphere of hate-filled brothers, pointed to Joseph’s death, including the death of his dreams. The coat of many colours allowed Joseph an air of freedom to dream and to believe. Whereas his senior brothers were preoccupied with the daily chores of tending the flock and going through their daily paces of routine work just like every growing child did at that time, Joseph had the luxury of time to dream and to believe. The rude shock of losing his coat of many colours, coupled with the reality of finding himself in a deep, dark pit that had failed to find water, epitomised the ominous thinking of failure that was confronting Joseph and asking painful questions of his dreams.
Food for thought: Every dream that a man carries, will be questioned by people, extenuating circumstances and the forces of evil.
Declaration: And they said one to another, “Behold, this dreamer cometh.” Genesis 37:19
©Author: Rev Fred Aboe
