When we look around the world today, there seems to be instability everywhere…so much, in fact, that it’s easy to think you and I may be dealing with situations that no one has ever faced before. But according to the Bible and the story of Joseph in Genesis 37-50, that’s just not true. If anyone ever had a reason to become unstable and even bitter, it was Joseph. Just look at what happened in his life.
Joseph’s father, Jacob, had two wives, and he was involved with several other women at the same time. He had children by all of those women which caused jealousy and competition in the home. Joseph’s mother died when he was young. Jacob favored Joseph over his brothers and gave him a special, multi-colored coat, causing great jealousy among his brothers.
In Genesis 37, we read where Joseph began having unusual dreams, including a dream where his brothers all bowed down to him. But rather than loving their brother and listening to his dreams, Joseph’s brothers grew even more jealous and bitter. They rejected his dreams, and hated him so much that they threw him into a pit, sold him into slavery in Egypt, and told their father he’d been killed.
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