039. Coat of Many Colours
Coat of Many Colours
"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." In the Authorized Version of the Bible you find that the word "many" is in italics, always indicating that it was not in the original, and we also notice that the word translated "colours" is given in the margin as "pieces." In the margin of the Revised Version we find this "a long garment with sleeves." Very likely the translators puzzled as to why Jacob should give his son a coat with pieces or a long garment with sleeves as a mark of favor, decided that it surely must have been a very wonderful brilliant kind of garment, more beautiful than the other sons had, so they missed the whole meaning of Joseph’s gift from his father. It also appeared that the older brothers were very childish men, aroused by jealousy because Joseph had been given a very handsome coat. This "coat of many colours," so called, was a plain long white shirt, the kamise, or undergarment of the desert ranger. In nearly all of those garments the sleeves were of moderate size, but the Bedouin told us that only two people in each whole tribe are allowed the privilege of the extremely long pointed sleeve - the Sheikh of the tribe and the man whom he had chosen as his heir. So the wrath of the elder brothers was not an outburst of childish anger. It represented a very deep-seated hurt of mature men whose claim to succession to the leadership of their tribe had been set aside for their younger brother.
However, we must see Jacob’s viewpoint and feeling about it, too. Jacob had been fearfully deceived by his father-in-law when, after serving seven years for Rachel, the woman he loved, he was given Leah for his wife instead. Then he served seven years more for Rachel. Had Jacob married Rachel as he desired, her son would have been Jacob’s heir. As it was, Leah’s sons were born first, but Jacob very much desired that his wife Rachel’s son, Joseph, should be heir as he should have been. Therefore, Jacob makes, or has made, the garment with the long sleeves to be worn by his heir and gives it to Joseph.
"And Jacob made him a coat with long sleeves."