Why did Jacob love Joseph more than his other sons, and why did he give him a robe of many colours?

Interpretation 1: Jacob was driven by human motives

Summary:  

Jacob was driven to do so by human motives, of the flesh.

Arguments in favour of this view:

1. After all, Jacob calls him the son of his old age.

2. In addition, Joseph was the son of his favourite wife, Rachel.

3. The consequences of this preference of Jacob had the effect that Joseph also began to feel exalted above his brothers. It even carried through in Joseph’s dreams, which went too far, even for Jacob (Genesis 37:5–10).

4. Jacob’s favouring of this one son over the others also caused an understandable resentment in his family among his brothers.

Arguments against this view:

1. Joseph was born at the end of the fourteen year-period that Jacob was in the service of his father-in-law Laban (Genesis 30:25 and Genesis 31:41). All of his eleven sons were born during those years. In the narrative of Genesis 37, Joseph was no longer the youngest son. Benjamin had already been born (Genesis 35:26–28). See also Genesis 37:9: eleven stars, all of Jacob’s brothers including Benjamin, bow down to Joseph. Joseph was therefore no longer an endearing afterthought.

2. In Genesis 37, Jacob’s fondness for Joseph is not in any way associated with Rachel.

3. Jacob is indeed alarmed on account of Joseph’s dreams. But this does not prove that those dreams were therefore the product of Joseph’s own haughty imagination. Given the remainder of Joseph’s life, it is more plausible to regard these as revelations from God. When Joseph became a captive in Egypt he also had to deal with dreams twice in which God revealed something (Genesis 40:1–13 and Genesis 41:1–32). Pharaoh too, like Joseph before him, dreams the same dream twice with a slightly different image. Joseph then says of this, The doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. In the same way Joseph’s own dreams come true.

4. There may have been other reasons why Joseph’s brothers were beginning to hate him more and more.

5. This interpretation does not explain why the mention of Jacob’s particular love for Joseph is noted after what was first told in Genesis 37:2.

6. This interpretation turns the events in Jacob’s family too much into a family history rather than church history. Genesis 37:2 introduces this history and connects it with the previous covenant account, with the refrain (Hebrew: Toledoth): These are the generations of... (see Genesis 2:4, Genesis 5:1, Genesis 6:9, Genesis 10:1, Genesis 11:10, Genesis 11:27, Genesis 25:12, Genesis 25:19, Genesis 36:1, Genesis 36:9, Genesis 37:2).

Interpretation 2: Jacob rejoiced over Joseph's love for the Lord

Summary:  

Jacob rejoiced over Joseph’s love for the LORD and his zeal for a holy life in covenant with him. For that reason Jacob honoured Joseph with a symbolic robe of office: this son is worthy of becoming the leader in the church family. This was done in spite of the fact that he was not the oldest son but one of the younger sons.

Arguments against this view:

Jacob had neither the right nor the room to express his own preference. Not he, but God himself should determine who would eventually become the leader in the church family. Here Jacob once again proved to be the one who always wanted to arrange things himself.

Arguments in favour of this view:

1. According to the ESV, Genesis 37 begins by telling how Joseph brought a bad report about his brothers to his father. A better translation of the Hebrew word is: evil rumours. The pagan Canaanites passed on how Abraham’s descendants lived unholy lives (cf. Genesis 17:2). Joseph let this be known to his father, who as head of the family was also the spiritual leader at the time. This did not make Joseph into a tattler or tell-tale. He wanted to avoid the possibility that by his silence God’s wrath might be aroused upon their entire family.¹

2. While in the foregoing the name “Jacob” was always used, in Genesis 37:3 he is now suddenly called Israel, which is his God-given name as church father (Genesis 32:28).

3. When Jacob’s fondness for Joseph is only told after Genesis 37:2, it seems to be related to Joseph’s exemplary performance as a covenant child, rather than to a mere human fondness of the flesh.

4. The Hebrew word, which also occurs in Exodus 28:4 and Exodus 28:39, 2 Samuel 13:18, and Isaiah 22:21, gives ground to the idea that the multi-coloured robe Israel gave to Joseph was intended as a kind of vesture (a robe of office).

5. The designation son of his old age need not be explained as belonging to the realm of human emotions. In God’s Word the oldest son is repeatedly called “the firstfruits of my strength” (Genesis 49:3, Deuteronomy 21:17, Psalm 78:51 and Psalm 105:36). This child was proof of his father’s manly strength, the continuation of his lineage. The LORD himself also calls his people Israel “my firstborn son.” Therefore, the firstborn son had in advance the privileged position within the family. He was the future head of the family, and it was exceptional when there was a departure from this rule (cf. 1 Chronicles 26:10)!

6. When we replace the causative “because” with “(al)though” here in Genesis 37:3 the pieces of the puzzle fall into place: even though Joseph was not the oldest son but belonged to the younger ones, Jacob designated him with a symbolic garment as the son who deserved to be the spiritual leader in the church family.

7. Father Israel did not act on his own initiative, but was guided by what God showed in this son. Israel did so again when, near to his death, he chose the younger son of Joseph over the older one (Genesis 48:13–14). This also becomes evident when he designated Judah as the son who would receive the ruler’s staff (Genesis 48:13–14).

8. The LORD did not condemn Jacob’s symbolic gesture to Joseph, but rather underscored it through the two dreams that he made Joseph dream (see Genesis 37:5–10).