The Coat of Many Colors.
Joseph and the coat of many colors is bible story we all learn about when we are young. A man named Jacob had many children-girls and boys alike-yet his favorite was his youngest son Joseph. His brothers were jealous of Joseph and did not like him, so they decided to get rid of him. They originally planned to kill him-blaming a wild animal-but deciding they should benefit from his “disappearance,” sold him into slavery in Egypt. Traditionally, the story we learn in Sunday School allows us to feel sympathy towards Joseph; however, a closer look reveals that Joseph might not be as innocent as we all believed. He was perfect when Father was around but as soon as Father left he became a whole new person who “rubbed” his favoritism in his siblings’ faces-hence the “coat of many colors.” Joseph was a deceptive hypocritical little boy who enjoyed the benefit of his father’s favoritism. Amazing, isn’t it, how the people of our society have played “follow the leader” by being just as deceptive and hypocritical, if not more, than Joseph.
Politicians are famous for being both deceptive and hypocritical; especially when the presidential election comes around. The candidates say exactly what we want to hear and the second they show their own opinions and feelings their votes drop in the polls. This is proven this year when Presidential candidate Senator John McCain made a comment about the U.S. being in war for the next 100 years. His polls immediately dropped. After realizing his “mistake” he issued a statement apologizing for his slip. When the audience heard what they wanted to hear and accepted his apology he gained all of his support again and then some.
I see deception and hypocrisy everyday I arrive at school;every time I walk through the halls-filled to the maximum capacity-between classes. Girls laughing and being “best friends” with each other before first period and by second, attacking each other like untamed animals and talking bad behind each others’ backs. Kids being “perfect” while in the teacher’s presence but the second she is gone, mocking her and saying cruel things. Adults are just as bad-if not worse-than teens are. At work we are so kind and do whatever the boss asks us to do -because he is “the boss”;however the moment his back is turned and we think he is not watching or listening, we are talking bad about him and making fun of anything about him that is possibly not “up to par.”
I’m not saying I have never been deceptive when it was to my advantage or hypocritical about others because-sadly-I have-who hasn’t? But isn’t it funny how we choose not to admit to the social problems our human nature allows us? In my twisted version of Joseph and the coat of many colors, Joseph’s coat-which was given to him by his Father-represents the multi-faceted attributes of young Joseph. At the end of the Bible story, Joseph is “forced” out of his deceptive and hypocritical nature by many years of being a slave. He ends up being the “savior” of the Egyptian people, when he is honored by becoming a prophet of God. Is it possible for our deceptive hypocritical world to outgrow our “nature” as Joseph did or will we be in the future as we were in the past?
I have trouble really understanding your parallel between Joseph and politicians for two reasons:
1.) I think you misinterpreted Joseph’s behavior towards his brothers for “rubbing his favoritism in their faces” when really he was recounting his dreams to them. You have to keep in mind that Jacob favored Joseph because he was borne when Joseph and Rachel were older–which was a miracle of sorts. When Joseph’s brothers saw that he favored Joseph, they because jealous and hated him and would not even speak a kind word to him. Even so, he still told them about his dreams (which turned out to be prophesies)–and they didn’t like that. Also, they did not at first intend to sell him into slavery–they wanted to kill him. Joseph was going to be murdered by his brothers because of their jealousy. That is why we feel sympathy for Joseph.
2.) Even in the most liberal of interpretations of that passage, I don’t see how Joseph’s behavoir is remotely deceptive or hypocritical. The most you could pull from that was that he was “bragging” about a dream–even though that would be a stretch too.
Although, I will agree with your point that politions are deceptive. Perhaps you could find a better parallel in story of Jacob and Esau. Jacob was extremely deceptive as he pretended to be his brother in order to steal his blessing. I think you could find a much more interesting and convincing parallel in that story. :]