THE COAT OF DIFFERENT COLORS

Lesson 4 for April 23, 2011

Joseph was a young 17-year-old man who was going round the fields looking for his brothers.They were shepherding the flock and Joseph was happy when he saw them.

However, when his brothers saw him coming with his beautiful and colorful garment, they had different thoughts than Joseph’s.

“Here comes that dreamer! Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams” (Genesis, 37: 19-20)

When Joseph met his brothers, he told them the reason for his visit. But they didn’t listen to him; they fell on him, stripped him of his coat of different colors and threw him in an empty cistern.

When a Midianite convoy came, Joseph was sold as a slave.His brothers got his coat dirty with blood.They showed it to

their father and he believed that Joseph was tore to pieces by some beast.

How could those men do such a low act against their young brother?

What apparently unrelated thoughts, acts and circumstances led them to do that?

JACOB’S ACTS1. He deceived his father to get his blessing. He had to run away

from his family because of that.2. He practiced polygamy. That generated jealousy and struggle

among his wives and among his sons.3. He loved Joseph more than his brothers and gave only to him a

splendid coat of different colors.4. He sent Joseph to know how his brothers were.

Despite his mistakes, Jacob

instilled trust and confidence

in God into Joseph.

JOSEPH’S ACTS

1. He innocently reported the bad reputation of his brothers to his father.2. The antipathy of his brothers towards him increased when he told them

two dreams he had, where he was in a higher position than them.3. His pure character, his joy and his obedience contrasted with the

personality of his brothers.

Joseph was an example of Christ with

his life and his character.

JOSEPH’S BROTHERS’ ACTS1. Reuben slept with his father’s concubine and

lost his primogeniture (Genesis, 49: 3-4)2. Simeon and Levi deceived and killed the

men of Shechem (Genesis, 34)3. When they heard Joseph’s dreams and saw

their father’s gift to him, they felt hatred, envy and jealousy.

4. When they saw him alone with his coat of different colors, they decided to end with his life. Only Reuben defended his life.

Although Joseph forgave them, they felt remorse for

the rest of their lives.

A whole series of circumstances lead Joseph’s brothers to sell him as a slave (some of that circumstances were beyond their control)

Nevertheless, those circumstances don’t excuse their actions. If they were loyal to God, they wouldn’t have acted that way.

Do circumstances dominate me to the point that I compromise my

principles, or do I allow my principles to guide me through my

circumstances?My decisions have an impact on

other people’s lives; do I think about that when I take them?

Do I allow my emotions dominate me and lead me to do improper

acts?

I commit myself to keep my emotions under the power of God.

THINK ABOUT THIS

“His father, strong and tender as his love had been, had done him wrong by his partiality and indulgence. This unwise preference had angered his brothers and provoked them to the cruel deed that had separated him from his home. Its effects were manifest also in his own character. Faults had been encouraged that were now to be corrected. He was becoming self-sufficient and exacting. Accustomed to the tenderness of his father’s care, he felt that he was unprepared to cope with the difficulties before him, in the bitter, uncared-for life of a stranger and a slave. …

E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 20, pg. 213-214)

Then his thoughts turned to his father’s God. In his childhood he had been taught to love and fear Him… He then and there gave himself fully to the Lord, and he prayed that the Keeper of Israel would be with him in the land of his exile.His soul thrilled with the high resolve to prove himself true to God—under all circumstances to act as became a subject of the King of heaven. He would serve the Lord with undivided heart; he would meet the trials of his lot with fortitude and perform every duty with fidelity. One day’s experience had been the turning point in Joseph’s life. Its terrible calamity had transformed him from a petted child to a man, thoughtful, courageous, and self-possessed”

E.G.W. (Patriarchs and Prophets, cp. 20, pg. 213-214)

When Joseph lost his coat of different colors, he lost the glory that the world offered him.

During his journey to Egypt, he decided to be covered in the glorious garment of Christ.