Persecuted, Not Abandoned: Genesis 39:1-23 - Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost
My grandmother loved to tell me that I was her favorite grandson. She could do that because I was the only grandson she had. Elizabeth and I tell Rebecca that she's our favorite child, because she's the only one we have. In Genesis, the patriarchs and matriarchs routinely favor one son over the others. Abraham and Sarah did it; Isaac and Rebekah did it; Jacob favored the sons of his favored wife, Rachel. Jacob shamelessly spoiled Joseph, his eleventh and favored son. He dressed him in an ornamental robe (Genesis 37:3), and he didn’t make him work as hard as his other sons (Genesis 37:12-14). Click here to read the Scripture text Unsurprisingly, Joseph acted like a spoiled brat. He was boastful, rude, self-righteous, and entitled, and believed he was special, as evidenced by his dreams of ruling over his older brothers (Genesis 37:5-11). He enrages his brothers so much that they conspire to kill him. But instead of incurring blood guilt, they sell him into slavery to...
