In Genesis 37-50 we find the biblical account of the life of Joseph, where we read of the sufferings and adversities that he experienced as God was bringing him to a place where he would be instrumental in saving and sustaining the entire family of his father Jacob through a seven year famine that occurred throughout the land of Canaan where Jacob lived, and in Egypt
also. It is through the natural lineage of Jacob’s son Judah that Jesus Christ Himself was born into the world through the Virgin Mary as recorded in the first chapter of the Gospel of Matthew.
Joseph was a young man of seventeen when his troubles began. He was Jacob’s favorite son, as we read in Genesis 37: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic. 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.” (Genesis 37:3-4).
It is hard to imagine that Joseph was not aware of the special favor his father had for him, and that his bothers resented him for it. Nevertheless, he had two dreams that he told to them, which increased their animosity toward him.
Joseph’s first dream is recorded in Genesis 37:5-8. In this first dream Joseph and his brothers were in the field binding together sheaves of grain. Suddenly Joseph’s sheaf stood up, and the sheaves of his brothers all gathered around his sheaf and bowed down before it. When his brothers heard his dream, they were angered at the thought of Joseph ruling over them, and their hatred for him grew even greater.
Joseph also told his second dream to his brothers, and it as well did nothing to endear himself to them. This second dream is recorded in Genesis 37:9-11. In Joseph’s second dream, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowed down before him. Joseph also told this second dream to his father Jacob. When he heard the dream, Jacob rebuked Joseph at the thought that he, Joseph’s mother, and his eleven brothers would all bow before him.
Joseph’s brothers continued to be jealous of him, and even though Jacob rebuked him for telling the dream, he kept it in his thoughts.
For Jacob’s favor toward Joseph, and for his dreams of exaltation above his brothers, the Bible tells us that Joseph’s brothers hated him to the extent that they were ready to kill him. Soon they saw an opportunity to rid themselves of Joseph once and for all.