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Commentary on "The Coat of Different Colors"
Day 4: Tuesday, April 19, 2011 - The Coat of Many Colors
Overview
Today's lesson focusses on one particular mistake of the family—the preference Jacob manifested toward his son in giving him a badge of his love, a special coat. The lesson magnifies the importance of Jacob's alleged error to disproportionate dimensions. It is assumed that Jacob’s manifestation of his preference for Joseph because he was a son born to him at an old age was in a great measure the cause of envy and family strife.
Observations
The missing element in the picture is God's apparent preference for Joseph—a preference which even Jacob had a hard time accepting. God sent Joseph prophetic dreams that not only gave him special insight into the future, but also, through the content of the dreams, God revealed that He placed Joseph in a rank above his entire family, including his elderly father. If the special coat was a token of human special love, the dreams were tokens of God’s special love for Joseph. If Jacob is to be blamed for the envy in the family, what shall we say about God's behavior? After all, when the brothers planned his killing, they didn’t mention Jacob's preference for Joseph as the basic motivation; instead, they pointed to the fulfillment of Joseph's dreams as their target (Genesis 37:19, 20). If one uses the author's reasoning, consistency would lead us not only to conclude that God erred toward Joseph's brothers, but also to suggest that God was the principal generator of the tensions in Jacob's family.
There is a bigger picture in which we understand God's actions better: the manifestation of His grace. God's love toward rebellious sinners is an electing love which is free from any external constraints: "For he says to Moses, 'I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.'" (Romans 9:15). By definition grace is a free and unmerited favor which cannot be demanded from God. This is true both in regard to eternal purposes related to salvation but also in temporal, earthly purposes, such as Joseph's case.
Joseph came from a family in which God's intervention disturbed the natural order in every generation. The family was going against the flow of human custom from the beginning. After He had chosen Abraham, God decided to bless Abraham's second son, Isaac, over the older and firstborn, Ishmael, with the inheritance of the blessings He promised to Abraham's offspring. The same pattern is repeated with Isaac's son, Jacob, when God predicted a blessed future for Jacob instead of Esau: "'The older will serve the younger.'" As it is written, 'Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.'" (Romans 9:13). For Joseph's generation God doesn't change the right of the firstborn; instead, He picked up Joseph for a special temporal task, the preservation of his family life.
As John the Baptist said: "A person cannot receive even one thing unless it is given him from heaven." (John 3:27). God’s glory is magnified in the free manifestation of his sovereign will in grace; either it's seen in eternal salvation or in temporal blessings. To Joseph was given the work of saving the temporal life of his family. He was not given the honor of being a part of the line from whom Messiah would come, as were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This honor of being Messiah's forebears was bestowed as a firstborn right to Judah. When Jacob clothed his son with a special garment, he unconsciously honored in a special way the one through whom God would save his earthly life. Without Joseph’s work the family could not survive, since the devil and his hosts were dedicated day and night to the destruction of the lineage through which Messiah would come and in this way make God’s plans of no effect. It turned that no force in the world can stand in the way of God’s plans. Against all odds, God fulfilled His plans, preserved Jacob's family, and today He’s preserving His church: "I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18). It's all of grace; God's grace is not contingent, dependent on His chosen servants' abilities to fulfill their tasks. In spite of repeated unfaithfulness from those who had to perform better, God remained faithful and saved them. To us the same promise is given:
"If we are faithless, he remains faithful— for he cannot deny himself" (2 Timothy 2:13).
The gates of hell shall not prevail against His church.
Summary
- We cannot assume that Jacob's supposed preference of Joseph set the family's dysfunction in motion.
- God also apparently "preferred" Joseph as well, setting him apart for a career in the government of Egypt for the purpose of saving many lives...including those of his own family.
- God grace set Joseph apart and gave him wisdom to rule well and to reconcile with his brothers and bring them to safety.
- Just as God chose Joseph for a special job and prepared him for it, even so He is preserving His church against all odds.
Copyright 2011 BibleStudiesForAdventists.com. All rights reserved. Revised April 17, 2011. This website is published by Life Assurance Ministries, Glendale, Arizona, USA, the publisher of Proclamation! Magazine. Contact email: BibleStudiesForAdventists@gmail.com.
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Official Adventist Resources
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