¹ Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.

² This is the account of Jacob’s family line. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.

³ Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. ⁴ 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.

⁵ Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. ⁶ He said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: ⁷ We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around
mine and bowed down to it.”

⁸ His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.

⁹ Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

¹⁰ When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” ¹¹ His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

Dear God, Jacob/Israel lived an interesting life. He seemed to be willing to take everything for himself, even at the expense of his older brother. Basically, I think that Jacob would have killed to have had the prophecy over him that these dreams were to Joseph. Joseph was young and cocky, to be sure, but this rebuke from Jacob is interesting because it is more that a wee bit hypocritical.

I do believe that, in life, there is something to the phrase, “What goes around comes around.” Jacob was a liar and a deceiver. He wanted to rule over his brother and would have ruled over his parents if given the chance. So what happens to him but he will end up having his sons lie to him and sell his favorite son into slavery, eventually bowing down to that favorite son as he is your instrument to save him and his family from famine.

Father, what seeds am I sowing? What kinds of evil things are there in my life that I am in danger of passing on to my children? What are my vices that I indulge that I will regret passing on to my children? How will my sins come back to haunt me? I pray that you will 1.) liberate me from the harm I do to myself and others, and 2.) protect my children from the mistakes I make. Help us all to feel your freedom as we work to bring you glory so that you can increase as we decrease.