The Coat of Many Colors (Day 9: Roots & Shoots)

• The Ornament: The Coat
• The Scripture: Genesis 45:1–15

The Surface Reading

The story of Joseph is one that has been told and retold in various mediums. And why not? There’s drama, intrigue, a satisfying reversal of fortune.

Joseph is the dreamer with the “technicolor dreamcoat.” His jealous brothers throw him in a pit and sell him into slavery. But through a series of miracles, Joseph rises to become the Prince of Egypt.

When his brothers come begging for food during a famine, Joseph reveals himself, forgives them, and saves the family. It reads like a classic “rags to riches” fairytale about how God has a plan for our lives.  

A Closer Look

Guide: Pete Enns (The Bible for Normal People)

But Pete Enns argues that if we look closer, the true hero of this story might not be Joseph. It might be his brother, Judah.

Remember, Genesis has been one long, tragic history of sibling rivalry. Cain killed Abel. Ishmael was exiled for Isaac. Jacob scammed Esau. The “original sin” of this family is brothers attacking brothers to get ahead.

Judah was the ringleader who sold Joseph into slavery. He was part of the cycle of violence.  

But at the climax of this story, Joseph tests his brothers. He threatens to enslave the youngest brother, Benjamin. He gives them a chance to save their own skins by abandoning the “favorite son” again.

But this time, Judah steps forward.

He offers himself as a prisoner in Benjamin’s place. He says, “Take me instead. Let the boy go home.”

For the first time in the entire book of Genesis, a brother sacrifices himself for his brother, rather than sacrificing his brother for himself.

Judah rewrites the family script. He chooses solidarity over survival.

This explains why, ultimately, the line of Jesus (the Messiah) comes from Judah, not Joseph. Judah is the one who learned the hardest lesson of Shalom: that real power isn’t about ruling over your brothers; it’s about laying down your life for them.

The Hidden God

Lens: Walter Brueggemann

There is another detail about this story that scholars like Walter Brueggemann point out: The Silence.

In the earlier stories of Genesis, God is chatty. He eats dinner with Abraham; He wrestles with Jacob. But in the Joseph story, God practically disappears from the script. He never speaks to Joseph directly. There are no burning bushes. There are no sudden angels.

Brueggemann argues that this is what makes Joseph’s story so relatable.

Most of us don’t live in the “Abraham” mode (audible voices and visions). We live in the “Joseph” mode. We live in a world of office politics, family drama, economic stress, and silence.

The miracle of Joseph isn’t that he heard God speak; it is that he kept trusting in a God who stayed quiet. He believed that Providence was at work underneath the surface, weaving a pattern of redemption even when he couldn’t see the threads.

The Question

We all have “pits” in our past—moments where we were hurt, betrayed, or abandoned.

But we also have the capacity to be Judah—to break the cycle of pain for the next generation.

Is there a pattern of “sibling rivalry” or family dysfunction that stops with you?

How can you use your power today not to get even, but to offer yourself for the sake of Shalom?