Genesis 37:4 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

NIV: When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.

NASB: And his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.

CSB: When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not bring themselves to speak peaceably to him.

NLT: 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.

KJV: And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

NKJV: But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

Joseph's ten half-brothers responded to their father's open and obvious favoritism for him (Genesis 37:3) with hatred. That's not surprising. Jacob's own childhood was marked by the favoritism of his parents (Genesis 25:27–28). His mother Rebekah openly preferred him; his father Isaac preferred Esau. The resulting conflict and manipulations (Genesis 27:30–35) led to Jacob's separation from his parents and brother for many years (Genesis 27:42–43).

Amazingly, Jacob is following in his parents' footsteps. His love for Joseph, his son by his late and most loved wife Rachel (Genesis 30:22–24), is blatant and grieves his other sons. Joseph's interactions in this early phase of his life are, at least, naïve (Genesis 37:2, 5, 9), and did not help his relationship with his brothers. Still, it was Jacob's obvious—even oblivious—favoritism for Joseph that caused the other sons to turn on him. Their fury was so great they could not even muster a kind or peaceful word for him. Their resentment should have been easy to see.

Scripture gives us no indication as to whether Jacob notices, or cares, about this tension.

Genesis 37:1–11 describes Jacob's love and favor for one of his sons, Joseph. The most obvious sign of this extreme partiality is an extravagant robe given to Joseph by his father. Jacob seems to have forgotten the damage done by his parents' own favoritism (Genesis 25:27–28). He ignores or fails to recognize the jealous hatred brewing among his other sons. The situation festers until the brothers can't say a kind word to Joseph. After Joseph reports two prophetic dreams which suggest he will one day rule over them all, they become even more jealous and enraged.

Joseph, 17, is deeply loved by his father Jacob and deeply resented by his ten older brothers thanks to Jacob's favoritism. Jacob gives Joseph a princely robe, and Joseph reports dreams that predict his family will one day bow before him. When alone with Joseph in the wilderness, the brothers decide to kill him. Reuben stops them, suggesting they throw him alive into a pit, instead. While Reuben is gone, however, the brothers sell Joseph to slave-traders, later convincing their father Joseph has been killed by a wild animal. Joseph is placed in the home of an Egyptian nobleman.

Following the death of Isaac and the story of Esau's people, Genesis begins a section called the "generations of Jacob." The story will focus primarily on Jacob's son Joseph. Joseph is deeply hated by his brothers. While alone with him in the wilderness, they sell him to slave-traders, who take Joseph to Egypt. Chapter 38 details some of the scandals which happened while Joseph was gone. Genesis 39 will resume a focus on Joseph's experiences.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.