Vayeshev Summary:
Jacob loved his son Joseph more than all the others, so he made him a special “ornamented tunic.” Joseph also had two dreams that made him seem superior to his brothers. Due to this, his brothers were not happy with him. They were plotting to kill Joseph, but before they did, Reuben stepped in and suggested that they just leave him in a pit in the wilderness, so they did that. However, before they left, Judah saw a group of Ishmaelites and suggested that they should instead sell Joseph to them as a slave, and so they did. When Reuben came back to the pit and saw Joseph was missing, he got scared, so they dipped Joseph’s tunic in blood and brought it back to Jacob, which conveyed that Joseph may have been killed by a wild animal. This devastated Jacob, so he mourned Joseph. Meanwhile, Joseph had been sold in Egypt to Potiphar, a courier of Pharaoh.
After some time, Joseph had risen to be in charge of his masters’ household, because his master saw that God was with Joseph. Subsequently, his masters’ wife decided that she liked Joseph and asked him to sleep with her. Joseph refused, but she continued to try to convince him. After many attempts at trying to lure in Joseph, his masters’ wife framed Joseph and pretended that he was trying to seduce her and that he ran away before she could call for help. Joseph was sent to jail for his supposed crime.
Some time later, Pharaoh sent his chief cupbearer and chief baker to the jail where Joseph was. One night, they each had a dream, and Joseph was willing to help explain them, since God was with him. The cupbearer told Joseph his dream, and Joseph interpreted it to mean that Pharaoh would free him in three days. Joseph also asked the cupbearer to mention him to Pharaoh when he gets freed, to maybe help free Joseph. Then, the baker told Joseph his dream, and Joseph interpreted it to mean that he would be executed in three days. Sure enough the dreams came true, the baker was killed and the cupbearer was released. However, the cupbearer didn’t remember Joseph as he was asked.
Commentary:
Most people know that in the story of Joseph, his brothers hated him because he was Jacob’s favorite. Although this was true, there was actually another reason that pushed them over the edge to sell him to the Ishmaelites. The key event was that Joseph had two dreams. In one of them, Joseph and his brothers were sheaves in a field, and Joseph’s sheaf stayed upright while his brothers’ bowed down to Joseph’s. In the other, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars (representing his parents and brothers) bowed down to him. The problem was, he told his brothers and Jacob about the dreams, and they didn’t like it. Joseph’s brothers hated him even more for it, and even Jacob was unhappy that Joseph dreamt of Jacob bowing down to him. This was a major, but less well-known event that led to Joseph’s adventure in Egypt.
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