Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 37:3

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he [was] the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of [many] colors.

3. Israel ] In J this name is generally used. Contrast the use of Jacob by P in Gen 37:2.

the son of his old age ] This is hardly the description that we should expect from chap. Gen 30:22-24, which records the birth of Joseph. The phrase is used in Gen 44:20 of Benjamin with greater appropriateness.

a coat of many colours ] Rather, as R.V. marg., a long garment with sleeves. The familiar rendering “a coat of many colours,” derived from LXX , Vulg. tunicam polymitam, is certainly incorrect. It is literally “a tunic of palms,” i.e. reaching to the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet, differing from an ordinary tunic by having sleeves, and by reaching to the feet. The same word is used in 2Sa 13:18 of a dress worn by a princess, where LXX and Lat. tunica talaris are correct. The rendering of the margin, of Pesh., Symm. ( ) and Aquila ( ), if less picturesque, is more accurate.

The unwise favouritism shewn by his father heightened the unpopularity of the boy.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3, 4 (J). Joseph and his Brethren

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Gen 37:3

Israel loved Joseph more than all his children

Partiality in the family

I.

IT WAS NATURAL.

1. On account of a kindred spirit.

2. On account of pleasant associations.

II. UNCONCEALED.

1. It was revealed for the comfort of Joseph.

2. It was manifested in such a manner that the other children could take offence.

III. IT PRODUCED HATRED.

1. Their hatred took a wrong direction.

2. Their hatred overcame their humanity. (Homilist.)

Evils of partiality in the family

I. PARTIALITY SHOWS WEAKNESS IN THOSE EXERCISING IT.

II. PARTIALITY OFFENDS THOSE OVERLOOKED.

II. PARTIALITY INJURES THE ONE IT IS INTENDED TO BENEFIT.

IV. PARTIALITY LEADS TO ESTRANGEMENT IN THE FAMILY.

V. PARTIALITY RESULTS IN MANY SINS AND MANY SORROWS. (J. Henry Burn, B. D.)

Jacobs affection for Joseph not misplaced

Enabled to study characters, alike by long experience and natural shrewdness, he was eminently fit to discover the spirit of Josephs accounts; and had he detected a vile motive, his heart would have turned from the slanderer; for he had himself thoroughly completed his moral purification. Further, the general conduct of the brothers were such as to let unfavourable statements appear at least as no deceitful fabrications. And, lastly, depravity and meanness are totally at variance with those noble qualities of Josephs mind, which we shall soon have opportunities to unfold, and which alone could make him the worthy medium of the great plans of Providence. Too young to listen to prudence, and too generous to regard expediency, his pure and susceptible mind repeated in harmless innocence what passed among his brothers; and open and communicative, he knew no artificial reserve. He, therefore, is not even liable to the reproach of carelessness; for he would have seen no wrong in his conduct, even had his attention been directed to it; following the unrestricted impulses of his nature, he had not yet commenced to reflect upon his feelings, or to control and direct his emotions. But was it not blamable on the part of Jacob, so decidedly to prefer one son to all the others? Ought not a father to bestow an equal share of affection upon all his children? This question is but partially to be answered in the affirmative. Certainly, the natural love of a father, which is the result of the close relationship, is very generally equally ardent towards all his children; he will, with the greatest sacrifices, support, educate, and protect all his offspring. But another affection, based upon esteem or internal affinity of characters, may be superadded to the natural love, as will frequently be the case with parents of strongly-marked mental or moral organization; and thus that love is produced which is the emancipation from the blind rule of instinct, and consists in the prevalence of reason and moral liberty. And if it is not reprehensible in a father to feel more strongly for the children in whom he finds his own existence more distinctly renewed, or who are more susceptible of culture and refinement, it can, at the utmost, only be deemed an imprudence if the predeliction is manifested before the less beloved children. But though it is no moral offence, it may become a source of envy, strife and domestic discord. This truth was neglected by Jacob when he made for his favoured son Joseph a long and costly robe. The ample and folding garments of persons of wealth and distinction were not seldom composed of, or covered with, pieces of various costly stuffs, tastefully arranged–ambitious vestments, well calculated to account for the feelings of animosity on the part of Josephs brothers. (M. M. Kalisch, Ph. D.)

Parental fidelity

It is interesting to read the testimony of men at once great and good, to parental fidelity and affection. Said Lamartine, the celebrated French author: The future state of the child depends in a great measure upon the home in which he is born. His soul is nourished and grows, above all, by the impressions which are there left upon his memory. My father gave me the example of a sincerity carried even to scrupulousness; my mother, of a goodness rising to devotion the most heroic . . . I drank deep from my mothers mind; I read through her eyes; I felt through her impressions; I lived through her life. Further on, he says: I know that my mother wished to make me a happy child, with a healthy mind and a loving soul, a creature of God, not a puppet of men. Again, he adds: Our mothers knee was always our familiar altar in infancy and in boyhood. She elevated our thoughts to God as naturally as the plant stretches upward to the air and light. When she prayed along with us and over us, her lovely countenance became even sweeter and gentler than before, and when we left her side to battle with the world, we never forgot her precepts. The child of the wisest and best may go wrong, for there are seeds of evil in every heart. But the rule is that Gods blessing on affectionate fidelity secures a happy and useful life here, with the assurance of heavenly awards in the hereafter. (Henry M. Grout, D. D.)

Family training

Another manifest principle observed by Mrs. Wesley in the education and training of her family, was that of thorough impartiality. There was no pet lamb in her deeply interesting flock; no Joseph among her children to be decked out in a coat of many colours, to the envy of his less loved brethren. It was supposed by some of her sisters that Martha was a greater favourite with Mrs. Wesley than the rest of her children, and Charles expressed his wonder that so wise a woman as his mother could give way to such a partiality or did not better conceal it. This, however, was an evident mistake. Many years afterwards, when the saying of her brother was mentioned to Martha, she replied, What my sisters call partiality was what they might all have enjoyed if they had wished it, which was permission to sit in my mothers chamber when disengaged, to listen to her conversation with others, and to hear her remarks on things and books out of school-hours. There is certainly no evidence of partiality here. All her children stood before her on a common level, with equal claims, and all were treated in the same way. (J. Kirk.)

A coat of many colours

Josephs coat of many colours

It may remind us–

I. OF THE DRESS WHICH EARTHLY PARENTS PREPARE FOR THEIR CHILDREN. Respecting which consider–

1. They toil to procure it, working hard and long.

2. They exercise thought in selecting. Have to consider size, season, material, appearance.

3. They have to inspect it often. How it has been used; how it wears; does it need repair.

4. They have to renew it often. The best will wear out or be out-grown 1Sa 2:19).

II. OF THE ROBE WHICH OUR HEAVENLY FATHER PREPARES FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.

1. We need clothing for the soul, as well as for the body (1Pe 3:3-4; 1Pe 5:5). God knows what things we have need of, even if we are unconscious of our need (Rev 3:17).

2. We cannot make, or purchase, soul-clothing. We must receive it as a free gift. Only God can give it (Rev 3:18).

3. For earnest, persevering, asking–accompanied by watching–we may obtain the robe of righteousness, the garment of salvation. This robe Jesus wrought for us.

4. This robe will fit well, look well, wear for ever. It is a white robe. White includes all the colours (explain). Hence it is a coat of many colours.

5. It is a court dress (explain) in which to enter the great Kings presence. Learn:

(1) Be careful of clothes. Those who cannot earn them may lesson their parents expenses and labour and anxiety by taking care of them.

(2) Keep your soulclothes unspotted from the world. Beware of sin-stains, and of self-righteous cleansing and patching. (J. C. Gray.)

Joseph

I. THE MANY-COLOURED COAT, The margin says many pieces. May have been many colours as well. Such coats are not uncommon for young people in the East at this day (Ranwolfs Travels, pt. I., p. 89), in Syria, Persia, and India. Made probably of strips of variously-coloured cloth. This Jacob gave to Joseph because he was a son of his old age; a phrase understood by most to mean that Jacob was an old man when Joseph was born; but which Dr. Jamieson says means that Joseph had–to use a familiar phrase–an old head on young shoulders. This coat maybe regarded–

1. As a gift of affection. It may be questioned how far it was wise to show special love in so marked a manner. Jacob, knowing his other sons, must have been sure that their envy would be excited.

2. As a reward of merit. Some reward less noticeable would have been better. Joseph was made overseer, or chief shepherd, for such is the meaning of Gen 37:2, and hence it might be also–

3. A badge of office.

II. THE EVIL EFFORT. If Joseph were a mere tale-bearer he would be blamable. But as chief shepherd he was bound to state what was the conduct of his brothers, if they were under-shepherds.

III. THE WONDERFUL DREAMS. Dreams in that age more influential than with us. No sure word of prophecy. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had had wonderful dreams, or rather visions. Such had, doubtless, been often related. Hence these sons of Jacob were prepared to consider dreams with much reverence and awe. But believing them to be Divine messages, they should not have been angry. It is clear that their hearts were not right with God, or they would not have opposed His will. Learn:

1. To guard against the appearance of partiality in our families.

2. God is no respector of persons.

3. To abstain from the appearance of evil, that there be no evil report concerning us. (J. C. Gray.)

Josephs coat of many colours

It was customary in those times for princes to give to their subjects, and parents to their children, valuable garments as tokens of esteem. These garments were of different texture and material, and were more or less valuable according to their quality. The art of manufacturing cloths is of very great antiquity. Wool, cotton, and flax were all used in these fabrications both by the Hebrews and the Egyptians. The colours generally used were white, purple, scarlet, and black; but party coloured cloths, or plaids, were also much esteemed. Such garments are represented on some of the monuments of Egypt. At Beni-Hassan, for example, there is a magnificent excavation, forming the tomb of Pihrai, a military officer of Osartasen I., in which a train of foreign captives appears, who are supposed to be Jebusites, an inscription over one person in the group reading, The Chief of the land of the Jebusites. The whole of the captives are clad in party-coloured garments, and the tunic of this individual in particular may be called a coat of many colours. A coat of many colours Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Some, however, are of opinion that it was not a plaid, but a garment of patch-work, the word rendered colours being in the margin pieces. In reference to the narrative, Mr. Roberts, in his Oriental Illustrations of the Sacred Scriptures, observes: For beautiful or favoured children precisely the same thing is done at this day. Crimson, and purple, and other colours are often tastefully sewed together. Sometimes the children of Mahometans have their jackets embroidered with gold and silk of various colours. (Thornley Smith.)

Imprudent testimonies of regard

Parents ought to love most affectionately those children who best deserve their love; but they ought not to hurt, instead of benefiting, the children whom they love, by imprudent testimonies of their regard. Joseph might have lived happily in his fathers house without a garment of divers colours; but he could not wear it without encountering the hatred of all his brethren. (G. Lawson, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 3. A coat of many colours.] kethoneth passim, a coat made up of stripes of differently coloured cloth. Similar to this was the toga praetexta of the Roman youth, which was white, striped or fringed with purple; this they wore till they were seventeen years of age, when they changed it for the toga virilis, or toga pura, which was all white. Such vestures as clothing of distinction are worn all over Persia, India, and China to the present day. It is no wonder that his brethren should envy him, when his father had thus made him such a distinguished object of his partial love. We have already seen some of the evils produced by this unwarrantable conduct of parents in preferring one child to all the rest. The old fable of the ape and her favourite cub, which she hugged to death through kindness, was directed against such foolish parental fondnesses as these.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He was the son of his old age, being born when Jacob was ninety-one years old. Such children are commonly best beloved by their parents, either because such are a singular blessing of God, and a more than common testimony of his favour, and a mercy least expected by them, and therefore most prized; or because they have more pleasing conversation with them, and less experience of their misbehaviour, of which the elder ofttimes are guilty, whereby they alienate their parents affections from them. The ancient translations, Chaldee, Persian, Arabic, and Samaritan, render the words thus, a wise or prudent son; old age being oft mentioned as a token of prudence; one born old, one wise above his years, one that had a grey head, as we say, upon green shoulders. This may seem the more probable, both because Joseph was indeed such a child, and gave good evidence of it in a prudent observation of his brethrens trespasses, and a discreet choice of the fittest remedy for them; and because the reason here alleged seems proper and peculiar to Joseph; whereas in the other sense it belongs more to Benjamin, who was younger than Joseph, and cost his mother dearer, and therefore might upon that account claim a greater interest in his fathers afflictions.

A coat of many colours, probably made of threads of divers colours interwoven together. Compare 2Sa 13:18. This he gave him as a token of his special love, and of the rights of the first-born, which being justly taken from Reuben, he conferred upon Joseph, 1Ch 5:1.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. son of his old ageBenjaminbeing younger, was more the son of his old age and consequently onthat ground might have been expected to be the favorite. Literallyrendered, it is “son of old age to him”Hebrew phrase,for “a wise son”one who possessed observation and wisdomabove his yearsan old head on young shoulders.

made him a coat of manycolorsformed in those early days by sewing together patches ofcolored cloth, and considered a dress of distinction (Jdg 5:30;2Sa 13:18). The passion forvarious colors still reigns among the Arabs and other people of theEast, who are fond of dressing their children in this gaudy attire.But since the art of interweaving various patterns was introduced,”the coats of colors” are different now from what they seemto have been in patriarchal times, and bear a close resemblance tothe varieties of tartan.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children,…. He being the firstborn of his beloved Rachel, and a lovely youth, of a beautiful aspect, very promising, prudent and pious: the reason given in the text follows,

because he [was] the son of his old age; being ninety one years of age when he was born; and the youngest children are generally most beloved, and especially such as are born to their parents when in years. Benjamin indeed was younger than Joseph, and is described in like manner, Ge 44:20; and for this reason one would think had the greatest claim to his father’s affections; wherefore some give a different sense of this phrase, and render it, the “son” or disciple of “elders”, “senators”, i.e. a wise and prudent man: and indeed, if being the son of his old age was the reason of his affection, Benjamin had the best claim to it, being the youngest, and born to him when he was still older; and this sense is countenanced by Onkelos, who renders it,

“because he was a wise son to him:”

and so the reason why he loved him more than the rest was, because of his senile wisdom; though a child in years, he was old in wisdom and knowledge. Abendana observes, that it was a custom with old men to take one of their little children to be with them continually, and attend upon them, and minister to them, and lean upon their arm; and such an one was called the son of their old age, because he ministered to them in their old age:

and he made him a coat of [many] colours; that is, had one made for him, which was interwoven with threads of divers colours, or painted, or embroidered with divers figures, or made with different pieces of various colours: according to Jerom f, it was a garment which reached down to the ankles, and was distinguished with great variety by the hands of the artificer, or which had long sleeves reaching to the hands; and so the Jewish writers g say it was called “passim”, because it reached to the palms of the hands: this might be an emblem of the various virtues which early appeared in him; or rather of the several graces of the Spirit of God implanted in him, and of the raiment of needlework, the righteousness of Christ, with which he was clothed, Ps 45:14; and of the various providences which Jacob, under a spirit of prophecy, foresaw he would be attended with.

f Trad. Heb. in Gen. fol. 72. A. g Bereshit Rabba, ut supra. (sect. 84. fol 73.1.)

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(3) He was the son of his old age.Jacob was ninety-one when Joseph was born; but at Benjamins birth he was eight or nine years older; and according to the common belief that Jacob was only twenty years in Padan-aram, the four sons of the handmaids must have been about Josephs age, and Leahs last two sons even younger. But the epithet is intelligible if Jacob had waited twenty-seven years after his marriage with Rachel, before Joseph was born. There would then be a considerable interval between him and the other sons; and though Rachel had a second son some years afterwards, yet Joseph would continue to be the son long looked for, whose birth had given him so great happiness; whereas his joy at Benjamins coming was bought at the terrible price of the mothers death.

A coat of many colours.Two explanations are given of this phrase; the first, that it was a long garment with sleeves or fringes; the other, that it was composed of patchwork of various colours. The latter is the more probable interpretation; for from the tomb at Beni-Hassan we learn that such dresses were worn in Palestine, as a train of captive Jebusites is represented upon it clad in rich robes, the patterns of which seem to have been produced by sewing together small pieces of different colours. So also in India beautiful dresses are made by sewing together strips of crimson, purple, and other colours. (Roberts Oriental Illustrations, p. 43.) Some have thought that Jacob by this dress marked out Joseph as the future head of the family, in the place of Reuben, supposing it to indicate the priestly office borne by the firstborn; but this is doubtful, and it was Judah to whom Jacob gave the right of primogeniture.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

3. Israel loved Joseph more because he was the son of his old age. “The ancient Jewish interpreters do not consider this as describing the parental partiality for the latest born, but render, because he was a wise son. (Onk.) Maimonides says, that as late-born he stayed at home, and was his father’s stay, the nourisher of his age, a careful son, whom Jacob thus naturally loved with special affection. So Fagius, Bush, Lewis. And he made him a coat of many colours, (figured or variegated, Samuel, Sept., Vulg., Targ.,) or, more likely, a sleeved tunic reaching to the ankles, such as was worn by persons not much engaged in manual labour, the ordinary Oriental tunic being, like a loose shirt, girded about the waist, without sleeves, and reaching to the knees. So Gesen., Knobel, Del. after Sym., and Aquila. Lewis understands it to mean a tunic with spots, stripes, or fringes; so A. Clarke, who compares it with the striped and fringed toga of the Roman youth. This dress was intended as a badge of distinction, as rank has always thus been indicated in Oriental countries. Probably it was the badge of the birthright (Bush) which Reuben had forfeited, (1Ch 5:1,) and which was transferred to the eldest son of the favourite Rachel. Jacob very unwisely makes his preference thus conspicuous, and thus subjects the virtue of his favourite son to a test most painful and severe.” Newhall.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments