Please read the passage before reading the commentary.
“Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons.” Israel was the father in a very dysfunctional family. He seems to have inherited this from his parents, Isaac and Rebecca. He passed it on to his children. He had favorite, Joseph, and did not hesitate to show it.
Joseph did not hesitate to use (or abuse) his status as special. He bragged about his dreams and tattled on his brothers. He let his father use him as a spy or investigator on his brothers’ misdeeds. When he showed up at his brothers’ campsite alone, they knew what he was about and knew that they could do something about it.
They plotted to kill him. They decided to sell him into slavery. Either way they would be rid of their darling little brother.
We know the rest of the story. Joseph was taken to Egypt into slavery. He was sent to prison and eventually became the ruler of Egypt. Despite the flaws of Israel’s family, God put Joseph in a position of honor and trust. Joseph became a savior to Egypt.
Despite our flaws and failings, God uses us to bring about good in the world to us and to people around us. Everybody should be thinking that God has a purpose for his or her life no matter how ugly, dysfunctional, dangerous, or bad that life may seem. Many each of us experience the success God has in store for each of us.
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