The Book of Genesis
Part 74
Jealousy is Cruel as the Grave (Chapter 37:18-36)
As Joseph’s brethren saw him approach, they plotted against him: “When they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.”
There is a moral order of degeneracy here; envy resulted in hatred (36:4), hatred resulted in callousness, callousness resulted in cruelty. In this case cruelty expressed itself eventually in avarice.
Envy
Jacob’s love for and partiality to his young son made his other children jealous. The coat of many colours which he gave to Joseph only intensified the envy of his brothers.
There had been a radical change in Jacob since his experience at El Bethel. During the resulting period of his life there is much to commend; notwithstanding, his indulgence in his son is questionable. When favouritism is shown by the parents to only one of the children, the emotional reaction in others is harmful. The Apostle may have had this in mind when he wrote, “Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath” (Eph. 6:4).
There was nothing wrong in what Jacob did for Joseph; the wrong was that he apparently showed little favouritism to the others. Nothing was wrong in Joseph’s receiving the coat, but coupled with the dreams of his youth, they developed animosity in other hearts against him. Centuries later Solomon wrote, “I considered all travail, and every right work, thatfor this a man is envied of his neighbour” (Ecc. 4:4).
Hatred
The Apostle Paul reviews his and Titus’ past in language with which we are here familiar: “We ourselves also were sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another” (Titus 3:3). To hate is to detest. How the sons of Bilhah abhored their younger half-brother!
Callousness
His brothers were callously indifferent to the sufferings of Joseph in the pit and to the sorrow of Jacob over the loss of his son. Jacob was not unmindful of this callousness when he said, “Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitation” (Gen. 49:5). Men who had slaughtered the inhabitants of Shechem would not be touched by the cries of a lad whom they hated. In the days of his prophecy, Amos used their callousness as an illustration of the harshness of those that were at ease in Zion. He wrote of those “that drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with chief ointments; but they are not grieved for the afflictions of Joseph” (Amos 6:6). The brothers sat down to eat and drink, and “saw the anguish of his (Joseph’s) soul, … and would not hear” (Gen. 42:21). They experienced no grief for the afflictions of Joseph. Years later, the recollection of that wicked hour produced remorse in their hearts.