Bible in a Year - Women’s Thematic Reading Plan | Day 166

Day 166 of the Women’s Bible Plan: Read Genesis Chapter 37 and reflect on Joseph being favored by his father and later sold by his brothers. Through this painful family story, this devotional helps us examine favoritism, jealousy, sibling conflict, and the deep wounds that can form within a home. It also invites us to trust that God can still rule, redeem, and work even in broken family situations.

🌸  Dear Sister, welcome to Day 166 of our reading journey. 

Family is meant to be a place where we feel loved, accepted, and protected. Yet in real life, family can also become the place where some of our deepest wounds are formed. A parent’s favoritism, a comparison between siblings, jealousy that is never brought into the light, or resentment that is left unhealed can slowly grow inside a household and eventually cause deep pain.

Genesis Chapter 37 brings us into Joseph’s family. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children, because Joseph was the son of his old age. He made him a coat of many colours. This favoritism was not hidden; the whole family could see it. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved him more than all of them, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.

This chapter is honest and heavy. It shows us that favoritism in the family does not stay only in a parent’s heart. Children feel it. Siblings notice it. It can create comparison, jealousy, distance, bitterness, and pain. Joseph being sold was not merely the result of a sudden angry decision by his brothers. It was the bitter fruit of long-standing favoritism, jealousy, and broken relationships.

A Minute of Grace

Genesis Chapter 37 begins the story of Joseph. When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was feeding the flock with his brothers, and he brought their evil report unto his father. Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children and made him a coat of many colours. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Later, Joseph had two dreams. In those dreams, his brothers—and even his father and mother—seemed to bow down to him. These dreams stirred up even deeper jealousy among his brothers, while his father observed the saying. As the story continues, Jacob sends Joseph to see whether his brothers and the flocks are well. Joseph obeys and goes, but when his brothers see him afar off, they call him “this dreamer” and conspire against him. In the end, through the intervention of Reuben and Judah, Joseph is not killed, but he is sold to the Ishmeelites and taken down into Egypt.

This chapter is filled with painful family tensions: a father’s favoritism, jealousy among brothers, Joseph’s youthful immaturity in how he related to his family, long-held resentment, and Jacob’s later grief when he believes Joseph is dead. A family’s unresolved relational wounds eventually become a tragedy too large to contain.

From the perspective of parenting and family, this passage reminds us that love without wisdom and fairness can become harmful. Favoritism can place the favored child in danger and leave the overlooked children carrying bitterness. Comparison can cause siblings to see one another not as brothers and sisters to love, but as rivals to defeat. If jealousy is not brought into God’s light, it can grow from hidden resentment into harsh words, broken relationships, and even destructive actions.

Yet Genesis Chapter 37 is not only a chapter of darkness. Even though human hearts are filled with jealousy and sin, God’s hand is still ruling behind the scenes. Joseph being sold into Egypt looked like the result of family failure, but it later became part of God’s path to preserve the whole family. Human sin cannot stop God’s plan. But that does not mean family sin is small or harmless. God can redeem brokenness, and He also calls us today to stay alert so that favoritism, jealousy, and bitterness do not continue to grow.

Today’s theme, “Joseph Favored and Sold,” invites us to reflect: In our family relationships, are there hidden forms of favoritism? Do we compare children, siblings, spouses, or family members with one another? Are jealousy, resentment, or unfairness quietly growing in our hearts? May this chapter help us see the roots of family wounds and learn to bring our relationships before God for healing.

Whispers for the Heart

1 Jacob loved Joseph more than his other sons, and this favoritism was seen by the whole family. It stirred jealousy and hatred among Joseph’s brothers. In your family, are there places where favoritism, comparison, or feelings of being overlooked have caused pain? Are you willing to ask God to help you love your family with greater fairness, wisdom, and tenderness?

2 Joseph’s brothers first hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. Later, that hatred grew into a plan to kill him and then to sell him. Are there jealousies, resentments, or unresolved wounds in your heart that have begun to shape your attitude and words toward family members? Is God inviting you to bring these emotions before Him before they grow deeper?

3 Joseph being sold into Egypt looked like brokenness and family failure, yet God later used that road to bring deliverance. Are there family wounds or past experiences you still struggle to understand? Are you willing to believe that God can rule even in brokenness and slowly bring healing and turning points?

As you read Genesis Chapter 37 today, do not only notice the event of Joseph being sold. Pay attention to how this family slowly moved toward brokenness. May God help us stay watchful in our own families so that favoritism does not become harm, jealousy does not become hatred, and unspoken problems do not continue to swallow relationships.

Take a quiet breath before you begin. Bring your family roles, responsibilities, wounds, favoritism, comparison, jealousy, and relationships that need healing before the Lord, and let His Word meet you there.

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🪕 Response Hymn: 

Genesis Chapter 37 (KJV)

37 And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.

2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.

6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:

7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.

9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.

12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

13 And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.

14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

15 And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

16 And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.

17 And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.

18 And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.

20 Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

21 And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.

22 And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

23 And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him;

24 And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.

25 And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?

27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.

29 And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.

30 And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?

31 And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;

32 And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.

33 And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.

35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.

🪕 Response Hymn: 

💡 Closing Thought · Let Love No Longer Become Harm

After reading Genesis Chapter 37, we see that Joseph being sold was not a sudden tragedy without roots. It was the result of a family that had been out of balance for a long time. Jacob’s favoritism, the brothers’ jealousy, and the tension between Joseph and his brothers slowly pushed the family toward brokenness. Scripture warns us that family issues left in darkness will eventually bear painful fruit in relationships.

As we close this page and return to our own homes and relationships, perhaps we need to examine whether our love is fair and wise. Perhaps we need to bring long-held comparison and wounds before God. Perhaps we need to face jealousy, distance, and old pain among siblings or family members. Remember this: God does not ask us to pretend our families have no problems. He invites us to bring real wounds into His presence.

May today’s Scripture remind you that favoritism needs to be brought into the light, jealousy needs healing, and broken relationships need God’s restoring grace. May God teach us a more mature love within our families, so that our homes will no longer be swallowed by comparison, bitterness, and conflict, but move step by step toward honesty, forgiveness, restoration, and peace.

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