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image of Joseph as shepherd

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he's shepherding the flocks with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah (Leah and Rachel's slaves)

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this a strange detail because we know that Joseph is a favorite of his fathers

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the ranking of children in terms of prestige followed birth order

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and the most prestigious wives would be Leah and Rachel

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if Joseph were really important, he would be shepherding the sons of Leah and Rachel

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and especially with Leah's sons, these were Jacob's first four sons

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yet Joseph is tending the flocks with the least significant sons of Jacob

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the portrayal of Joseph as a shepherd speaks to his exaltation, i.e. Biblical symbol of a leader

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but his shepherding the flocks with the least significant children of the family, points to his humiliation

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this detail foreshadows the difficulties that Joseph is going to encounter for most of this story

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also how is he going to come to terms with the fact that his brothers are jealous of him

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we find a similar tension with David in his family

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I Samuel 17

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Isreal is at war with the Philistines

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a war and a battle in which David will slay the giant Goliath

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prior to that moment, David has snuck away from his father and run to the front lines of the battle to see what was happening

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when his brothers saw that David had snuck away from his flocks to observe Israel's army in battle, were not pleased with this

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his older brother reprimanded him: with whom have you left your sheep?

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we might assume that something similar to this happened to Joseph in order that he was assigned to tend sheep with the sons of least significance

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Joseph is not only favored by his father, but he uses this to his advantage and to the disadvantage of his brothers

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Genesis 37:2 "Joseph was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives, and Joseph brought an ill report of them to their father."

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to speak badly of other people was a despised characteristic

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Joseph is seen as an arrogant young man who uses his position of prestige

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Jacob is not innocent regarding the tensions which are welling up inside this family

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he contributes to the problems that are going to beset this family

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e.g. he vests Joseph with a special coat

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often translated as a "coat of many colors"

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singles him out from his brothers

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the coat made the brothers know every day that Joseph was this special loved child within this family, loved more than them

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this contributed to the brothers' hatred of Joseph

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why would Jacob adopt a tactic like this?

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it is ill-advised for the health of the family

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if we look back at Jacob's own childhood, he had to deal with circumstances that were equally not so easy

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he was the preferred son in God's eyes

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he was not the preferred son in his father's eyes

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as a result, to secure the blessing of his father, he had to use trickery

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enraged his brother

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resulted in pain for Jacob

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brother wanted to kill him

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Jacob ran into exile where he served as a slave to his father-in-law Laban

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so Jacob wants to correct the mistake his father made

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wanted to make it clear from the start who the favored son was, so Joseph would not have to achieve this status by trickery

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Esau is the progenitor of the Edomites and the elder twin brother of Jacob, the patriarch of the Israelites

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Esau and Jacob were the sons of Isaac and Rebekah, and the grandsons of Abraham and Sarah

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Esau returned to his twin brother Jacob, famished from the fields

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Jacob offers Esau a bowl of lentil stew in exchange for Esau's birthright, i.e. the right to be recognized as firstborn son with authority over the family, and Esau agrees

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but Jacob's plan backfires and his preferential treatment of Joseph nearly results in the death of Joseph himself

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beloved sons are often depicted as rulers and shepherds

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true of Joseph, David, and it will be true of Jesus as well

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the choice of the beloved son often comes as a surprise

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ancient custom and Biblical law would suggest that the father would prefer the first-born son

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therefor Esau and Reuben should have been the favored sons

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but in both cases the firstborn son was passed over in father of a latter born son

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a pattern that continues with the ordering of Jacob's wives

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Rachel, the second born, is more beloved than Leah, the first born

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Jacob will famously bless Ephraim, the second born, over Manasseh, the first born

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Jacob, Joseph's father, adopted Joseph's two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, to share in Jacob's inheritance equally with Jacob's own sons

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we'll see this pattern in a slightly different form in the New Testament

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John the Baptist will concede divine favor to Jesus even though he will say he came first

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one function of this motive of preferring the latter son is to say God is in charge and not human beings