Sibling Rivalry

Sibling Rivalry

Q: How old was Joseph when he tattled to his father about his brothers’ wrong behavior?

• a. 10
• b. 17
• c. 20

Jacob had 12 sons who had several different mothers. Jacob loved Joseph the best because he was the oldest son of Jacob’s favorite wife, Rachel. Unfortunately Rachel died giving birth to her second son, Benjamin.

The brothers were jealous of Joseph. It didn’t help that Joseph tattled to their dad about the brothers’ bad behavior. To make things worse, Joseph had two dreams about himself and his brothers, which he shared with them. In the first dream, he and his brothers were in the field tying up bundles of grain. Joseph’s bundle stood up, and the brothers’ bundles bowed down to it. In the second dream the sun, moon, and 11 stars bowed down to Joseph. This was too much for the brothers. Anger filled their hearts, and they made plans to harm Joseph.

Does it seem like Joseph’s brothers had good reason to hate Joseph? After all, parents aren’t supposed to have favorites. While it was normal for the brothers to be jealous, the way they handled it was wrong. Allowing jealousy to turn to hatred hurt everyone.

It’s hard to watch someone else be favored or get what you want. If you aren’t on guard, you’ll end up having bad feelings toward the other person even if that person isn’t at fault. Ask God to rid you of bad feelings and give you wisdom to know what to do.

For You

One way to defeat jealousy is to look at what you have, rather than at what someone else has that you don’t. Developing a spirit of thankfulness is one of the best cures for envy. Think of 10 good things in your life and write them down. Thank God for each of them.

Answer: b

When Joseph was seventeen years old . . . Joseph reported to his father some of the bad things his brothers were doing. Jacob loved Joseph more than any of his other children because Joseph had been born to him in his old age. So one day Jacob had a special gift made for Joseph—a beautiful robe.   Genesis 37:2-3

(The Whole Story: Genesis 37:1-11)