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Genesis 37:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Genesis 37:1-2
New Catholic Bible
Joseph, the Suffering Righteous One[a]
Chapter 37
Hated by His Brothers.[b] 1 Jacob dwelt in the land where his father had sojourned, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the story of the descendants of Jacob.
Joseph was seventeen years old and tended the flocks with his brothers. He was young and stayed with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, the wives of his father. Now Joseph told his father bad reports about them.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Genesis 37:1 Under the rule of the Hyksos, who had come from Asia Minor (ca. 1750–1560 B.C.), Semites who had immigrated with them into Lower Egypt would fill high offices. The events of Joseph’s life seem to fit better into a somewhat later period, at the beginning of the 18th dynasty (16th century B.C.), when it was still possible for Asiatics to hold high offices in Egypt. Joseph, who has been given the position of viceroy, finds himself charged with saving the people from famine and then with settling his own people in Goshen, a fertile region on the edges of the delta. The story, which belongs in the sapiential genre, combines contributions from the Yahwist and Elohist sources to bring to light the providential aspects hidden in the mystery of the suffering righteous man (Gen 45:4-13; 50:19-21).
It is evident that the Lord does not intervene openly but through the interplay of circumstances and the more or less upright behavior of individuals, but he does provide for the well-being of the vast human family by using the activity of those whom he has chosen; he even uses their sin to save them. The narrator has all the sons of Jacob going down into Egypt; as the ancestors of the twelve tribes they prepare the way, in a suitable environment, for the growth of the chosen people, which will, at the proper time, enter the Promised Land. - Genesis 37:1 The story brings out the three reasons that feed a growing hatred in Joseph’s brothers: his reporting of stories about them, their father’s predilection for him, and his dreams. The long tunic is a princely garment, quite different from the short coat worn by shepherds, and Jacob was seriously imprudent in thus differentiating among his sons. As for the dreams, the Bible warns that these are most often vain (Deut 13:2-4; Jer 29:8-9); sometimes God does use them to make himself known to human beings (Num 12:6), but he alone explains their meaning (Gen 40:8; 41:16). Joseph will later on show that he himself possesses this special prophetic charism.
