Joseph has now been given a coat of many colours by his earthly father and two dreams by his heavenly father(Genesis 37;3,5,9). This triad combination made him the right candidate for his brothers’ jealousy(Genesis 37:11).
Within the space of seven verses, the writer of Genesis records the hatred and jealousy of Joseph’s brothers towards him (Genesis 37:4-11).
Jealousy is one of the troublesome emotions of this life which the man on the way to the palace must deal with from time to time. As long as we reside on this side of heaven, there will always be plenty of opportunities to become jealous as there will always be someone out there better than us in as many areas as we can think of, especially when we make the erroneous choice to compare( 2 Corinthians 10:12).
One could say that Joseph’s brothers were dealing with sibling rivalry which shows a pattern for jealousy. Those who are close to us are not spared from the pangs of jealousy. We usually do not get jealous of strangers (we find it easier to admit to their superiority) but would most likely struggle to applaud our immediate circle, be it family, friends, co-workers or even church members.
Jealousy spans all areas of life and affects all strata of people. No one is immune from the temptation to be jealous neither is jealous restricted to physical things such as wealth, beauty, but opportunities, privileges and even spiritual gifts and success in ministry as well. The neighbourhood preacher is most likely to be jealous of a fellow new kid on the block preacher who comes into town and has his congregation triple in size in a couple of months than the TV Evangelist who is a world wide figure..Yes the octopus like legs of jealousy could also reach spiritual things. Paul confirms this by telling us that some people were preaching the gospel out of strife and jealousy(Phillipians 1:15).
There are actually two kinds of jealously, one that is good and healthy as seen in the case of God being jealous towards us and wanting u not to have any idols before him( Exodus 20:5 ).The kind of jealousy we see exhibited by Joseph’s brothers is the green-eyed monster. The man on the way to the Palace is one who knows how to handle jealousy and not be swallowed by the green eyed monster.
So what is Jealousy? I have read several definitions but I think I prefer the answer given by one of my most beloved mentors Selwyn Hughes of blessed memory who wrote Every Day with Jesus daily devotional faithfully for over forty years.
According to Selwyn; “Jealousy is the feeling of coldness & resentment that sometimes stirs in our heart when another is praised-somebody with whom we matched ourselves in thought and to whom we imagined ourselves to be superior. It is the thing that takes the heart out of the congratulations we feel obliged to give; that keeps us silent when we hear people unfairly criticized,that makes us glad when they stumble or fall”.
I describe it as the pit like feeling we get when we hear about the success of another. Somewhere at the back of our minds, we wish that the congratulatory messages they received is showered on us instead. According to our standards, they are not as good as people have acknowledged and when presented with an opportunity, we may be quick to share their faults.This sometimes leads to gossip and slander.
The poison of jealousy is one that could sometimes create irrevocable damage if left unchecked as we see in the life of Joseph brothers. These evil thoughts rather than being resisted became a permanent fixture in their hearts which eventually led to evil actions.
The man on the way to the Palace must guard against jealousy and we would explore more on this in our next post.
Yours in His Service
Grace Tom-Lawyer.
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