Robe

Key Phrase: “the Ishmaelite traders took him along to Egypt”

Intro

Abraham's family is far from perfect, which shows that God fulfills his promises through imperfect people. In the time between the ellipses (…), Isaac and Rebecca play favorites, Jacob steals Esau’s blessing, and Jacob’s uncle Laban tricks him into marrying the older sister before he can marry the younger sister. The two sisters compete for Jacob’s favor going so far as to give their servants to him in order to have more sons. The sister's competition gives Jacob a total of twelve sons who become the heads of the tribes of the nation of Israel. Jacob, like his parents, plays favorites by giving his favorite son, Joseph, a colorful robe which feeds the hatred of Joseph’s brothers. The jealousy of the brothers results in Joseph being sold as a slave and taken to Egypt. Still, God works all these imperfections together to fulfill his perfect plan.

Robe

Genesis 25:20 When Isaac was forty years old, he married Rebekah, the daughter of Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan-aram and the sister of Laban the Aramean.

 21 Isaac pleaded with the Lord on behalf of his wife, because she was unable to have children. The Lord answered Isaac’s prayer, and Rebekah became pregnant with twins. . .

25 The first one was very red at birth and covered with thick hair like a fur coat. So they named him Esau.[1] 26 Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel. So they named him Jacob.[2] Isaac was sixty years old when the twins were born.

[. . . After Jacob grew . . .]

 Genesis 28:1 So Isaac called for Jacob, blessed him, and said, “You must not marry any of these Canaanite women. 2 Instead, go at once to Paddan-aram, to the house of your grandfather Bethuel, and marry one of your uncle Laban’s daughters. . .

Genesis 29:16 Now Laban had two daughters. The older daughter was named Leah, and the younger one was Rachel. 17 There was no sparkle in Leah’s eyes,[3] but Rachel had a beautiful figure and a lovely face. 18 Since Jacob was in love with Rachel, he told her father, “I’ll work for you for seven years if you’ll give me Rachel, your younger daughter, as my wife.”

 19 “Agreed!” Laban replied. “I’d rather give her to you than to anyone else. Stay and work with me.” 20 So Jacob worked seven years to pay for Rachel. But his love for her was so strong that it seemed to him but a few days.

 21 Finally, the time came for him to marry her. “I have fulfilled my agreement,” Jacob said to Laban. “Now give me my wife so I can marry her.”

 22 So Laban invited everyone in the neighborhood and prepared a wedding feast. 23 But that night, when it was dark, Laban took Leah to Jacob, and he slept with her. 24 (Laban had given Leah a servant, Zilpah, to be her maid.)

 25 But when Jacob woke up in the morning—it was Leah! “What have you done to me?” Jacob raged at Laban. “I worked seven years for Rachel! Why have you tricked me?”

 26 “It’s not our custom here to marry off a younger daughter ahead of the firstborn,” Laban replied. 27 “But wait until the bridal week is over, then we’ll give you Rachel, too—provided you promise to work another seven years for me.”

 28 So Jacob agreed to work seven more years. A week after Jacob had married Leah, Laban gave him Rachel, too. 29 (Laban gave Rachel a servant, Bilhah, to be her maid.) 30 So Jacob slept with Rachel, too, and he loved her much more than Leah. He then stayed and worked for Laban the additional seven years.

 Genesis 35:9 Now that Jacob had returned from Paddan-aram, God appeared to him again at Bethel. God blessed him, 10 saying, “Your name is Jacob, but you will not be called Jacob any longer. From now on your name will be Israel.”[4] So God renamed him Israel. . .

 22 . . .These are the names of the twelve sons of Jacob:

 23 The sons of Leah were Reuben (Jacob’s oldest son), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun.
  24 The sons of Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
  25 The sons of Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, were Dan and Naphtali.
  26 The sons of Zilpah, Leah’s servant, were Gad and Asher.
    These are the names of the sons who were born to Jacob at Paddan-aram.

 Genesis 37:3 Jacob[5] loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.[6] 4 But his brothers hated Joseph because their father loved him more than the rest of them. They couldn’t say a kind word to him. . .

 12 Soon after this, Joseph’s brothers went to pasture their father’s flocks at Shechem. 13When they had been gone for some time, Jacob said to Joseph, “Your brothers are pasturing the sheep at Shechem. Get ready, and I will send you to them.”

   “I’m ready to go,” Joseph replied. . .

 18 When Joseph’s brothers saw him coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made plans to kill him. . .

 23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was wearing. 24Then they grabbed him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. . .

 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain by killing our brother? His blood would just give us a guilty conscience. 27 Instead of hurting him, let’s sell him to those Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood!” And his brothers agreed. 28 So when the Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled him out of the cistern and sold him to them for twenty pieces[7] of silver. And the traders took him to Egypt. . .

 31 Then the brothers killed a young goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its blood. 32 They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: “Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?”

 33 Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe. A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!” . . .

 36 Meanwhile, the Midianite traders[8] arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of the palace guard.

Connect

God's plan continues with the life of Joseph in Egypt. A difficult road leads Joseph to prison, but God is faithful and so is Joseph.

Footnote

[1] Genesis 25:25 Esau sounds like a Hebrew term that means “hair.”

[2] Genesis 25:26 Jacob sounds like the Hebrew words for “heel” and “deceiver.”

[3] Genesis 29:17 Or Leah had dull eyes, or Leah had soft eyes. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

[4] Genesis 35:10 Jacob sounds like the Hebrew words for “heel” and “deceiver.” Israel means “God fights.”

[5] Genesis 37:3 Hebrew Israel; also in 37:13. See note on 35:21.

[6] Genesis 37:3 Traditionally rendered a coat of many colors. The exact meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

[7] Genesis 37:28 Hebrew 20 shekels, about 8 ounces or 228 grams in weight.

[8] Genesis 37:36 Hebrew the Medanites. The relationship between the Midianites and Medanites is unclear; compare 37:28. See also 25:2.