In this chapter, I get all confused again, all caught up in a flurry of names I don't know. This list of Esau's descendants must be here for a reason, because the writers recognized them as such, but I don't make any sense out of it. The only name I know here is Amalek, whose tribe the Amalekites would be an important enemy of the Hebrews later. The important points I glean here, out of all of this nonsense, come from the hints of actual narrative between the names. First of all, Esau himself is the ancestor of many many tribes, part of Abraham's promise to make his descendents great in number. He, like Lot, makes two conscious choices that leave him outside the line of the Promise. First, in choosing where to relocate, he leaves the land promised to his family and settles in the mountains south of Canaan and to the southeast (East in Genesis is generally a move away from God), and second, he intertwines his family with the various other native tribes of the area, all pagan, including the Hivites/Horites and the Ishmaelites.
The next chapter brings things back to familiar ground for me...I was in a high school production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, playing Leah, so I know all about the "tale of a dreamer like you", but the story yields so many parallels with the Gospel narrative I know so well. Joseph is well known as a type of Jesus, so it should be fun finding these parallels as I go. First off, Joseph speaks plainly about his promised authority, even when he knew the feelings it would inspire, and the source of the authority is hard for others to see or accept as credible. Jacob the Father mantles him in a robe of royal/priestly authority, which Biblical translators have a hard time translating but is much more than merely a "coat of many colors" or a "long tunic" as my totally flat and here-inadequate NAB translates it. According to Agape Bible Study, the word used for Joseph's amazing garment is one only used later in David's era to describe something a priest wore, and another place to describe the garments the royal princesses wore. This isn't just a snazzy piece of clothing. Jacob makes his son palpably more powerful by giving him this.
"Joseph's coat annoyed his brothers," who of course represent the universal sinner status of every member of the new Israel, the Church. The brothers seem to be in agreement that the little snot needs to be silenced, and permanently. Reuben does a tremendously ambiguous thing by toning down the violent sentiment and proposing a solution that should keep their own malformed consciences from bothering them. He does not, as the eldest brother and the presumed leader, use his clout to suggest anything other than Joseph's death, but instead proposes a more extended, painful death in the desert that conveniently would not be directly their fault. The Jewish leaders, representing the "firstborn of the nations", when faced with a Jesus who annoyed them by claiming a mysterious authority they didn't understand, did the same. They left it to the Romans to slowly, painfully kill Jesus. The brothers even feast while condemning him to starvation in their cruelty.
The brothers (Jews) were not only bothered by Joseph's claims of authority (Jesus') but also because he told Dad bad things about them. Joseph, like Jesus, knew their sin and became their judge, exposing their faults when they would have preferred to hide. Joseph refused to be silent when he saw error and sin in their ways.
Here, at last, we see some of the reason Judah alone out of all his brothers became the bearer of the chosen line. Judah, for all his faults, is unwilling to commit fratricide even indirectly and instead convinces the group to sell Joseph. Jesus too would later be sold out for the price of a slave. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi had each laid down their rights as firstborn via the usurping-Dad's-authority and Shechem Massacre incidents, so Judah was next in line, the one his brothers would respect. Judah's the new power in town and, while less cruel, is still willing to defend this against Joseph's claims and make money off of him at the same time. The tribes of Israel later would divide along these two lines, with the Northern tribes headed by Joseph's son Ephraim's tribe opposed by the Southern tribes, headed by the tribe of Judah. In the end, God's assessment of the two would place righteous authority in Judea, and the other tribes would be lost.
Jacob is one last time tricked by his sons in a viciously ironic twist on his own deception of Isaac. His sons don't even have the guts to take the tunic to Jacob themselves, letting a servant do their dirty work. Reuben selfishly worries about his own fate in the face of this act, but isn't able to mourn his brother properly. Jacob himself is tremendously grieved and never plans to recover from his loss. Joseph's life is safe in Egypt, like baby Jesus, but he has still been sold out by his brothers.
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