Joseph

Every now and then I try to do some reading out of the old testament,it takes some effort because its not always that clear to me about whose who and whats going on, especially when they talk about different brothers and their families.
This morning I read what has to be my favorite storys the story of Joseph. Now I'm not really sure why this is my favorite but I think if you have ever come from a family with siblings this story just seems to hit home.
Joseph was his fathers favorite,the baby of the family born to his father when he was very old,he liked to tell his father every thing that was going on with his brothers and his father admired that in him,so much so that he gave him a coat of many colors.
OK who has grown up with siblings and not thought that at least one child was being treated better then you? been ratted out repeatedly by someone who takes great joy in always being right and telling on you? and who has not felt like their sibling got special treatment and gifts because they were either older or younger then you.
Now his brothers were none to happy with Joseph especially when he told them about the dreams he had been having where in the future he was to be a great leader and his family would bow down to him like he were a king.
I'm sure this went over very well with his brothers,as it would have with the rest of us,if our pesty pain in the butt sibling stared telling us their tall tales about how great and important they will be one day,yeah sure you'll be great, now stop bothering me and go tie your shoes.
One day Josephs father sent him out to check on his brothers but when he went where he was told the brothers were not there.A man he met,explained to him where they could be found and he went after them.
When his brothers saw him coming they decided that enough was enough not only had he followed them but now he would tell their father where they really were and he would be angry with them.So the brothers planned to kill him.But his oldest brother said no,lets throw him in a dry well and leave him.The oldest brother,Ruben planned to come back and rescue him, but by the time he got back the other brothers sold him into slavery.
If any of you have had an older sibling you know that they almost always feel responsible for you and though the other siblings would go out of their way to hurt you,the oldest usually just wants to teach you a lesson so you'll leave them and their friends alone,unfortunately it went to far and now they needed to think up a lie to tell their father.How many times has this happened to you either you had to go along with their lies or you had to plan the lie and make it convincing hoping your parents would buy it so you would not get into trouble.
As the story goes the brothers ripped Josephs coat and poured blood on in so the father would believe Joseph was torn apart by wild animals. Josephs' father believed his sons death and went into moaning for many years.The brothers then realized how badly they hurt their father but had to continue with the lie.
Joseph becomes an honorable man with great leadership material,although he ends up being thrown in jail because of false accusations he finds that through this ordeal he is able to interpret dreams,in so doing he interprets a dream for the king who deems him an honest and wise man by making him a high ranking official in Egypt second only to the king.
He is the sibling that we as children made fun of and teased because they were sensitive,introverted maybe said and did odd things but we found out later in life that they were truly the gifted ones, the artist,the poet,the musician the writer and really could run their own lives.
Later when the famines hit Josephs' brothers had to go to Egypt to barter for food since they had little.Joseph was very excited and found out he had a new brother whom his father now favored.The brothers were now very protective of this brother and keep him near to them.In the end Joseph is reunited with his family and his brothers are terribly sorry for what happened but Joseph,who was now married and had children of his own, understood how things turned out the way they were suppose to and his father and brothers moved to Egypt to be with him.
In the end we grow up and understand how close we our to our family.We may never get along with all our siblings but we know we can probably trust most of them when things are down to stand by us.Once we grow up we understand we all have a place in this world and we share with pride each others accomplishments and understand we are not children any more but grown adults equal to each other with a special common bond and a special love for each other.