Genesis 37: 29-35: “And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go? And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.”
Reuben thought that he had managed to save Joseph from death but, foolishly left him with his brothers. He came back believing that everything was okay but was devastated to find that Joseph was no longer there. He went back to his brothers in genuine grief and told them that their young brother was gone. They knew what had happened and carried out their hard hearted plan to trick their father. They took his hated symbol of supremacy and dipped it in blood. There was no way for Jacob to know that it was just animals blood and with evil hearts they told Jacob that they found a coat and they weren’t sure if it was Joseph’s or not. Even though every adult is completely responsible for the thoughts they think and the actions that flow from these thoughts, these young men just continued with the bitter competition they had known throughout their lives. Jacob had many opportunities to treat Leah with love but he had only ever though about himself. He reaped the rewards of his own behaviour. Jacob went into a period of mourning that continued for the rest of the years that he was separated from Joseph. The brothers probably didn’t realise that this would happen because they had only know him as a hard hearted, unloving man but now they found out. Reuben had the chance to let his father know what had happened to Joseph but he kept quiet preferring to keep away from his father’s anger after his previous sin. This dysfunctional family continued on its dysfunctional way.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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