BRAGADAYJAH 123

The coat and the dream, what did they mean? Before expanding more about the jealousy that the coat stirred up, let us look at the dream, or rather the dreams. Joseph told his brothers about a dream he had the gist of which was this. “We, you and I, were binding sheaves in the field, when all of a sudden my sheaf rose up and stood upright, and your sheaves stood round about and bowed down to my sheaf.” Joseph’s brothers responded and asked him, “Shall you indeed reign over us and have dominion over us?” And they hated him even more. And while they were seething with animosity and hatred, Joseph dreamt yet another dream which he told unto them. This time the dream was about the sun and the moon and the stars bowing down unto him. Significantly when he told the dream to his father and his mother along with his brethren, his father rebuked him and asked him if even he and his mother and his brethren were going to be bowing down to him also? His brethren envied him and his father took note of the dreams. So now let us revert to the coat which Israel made for his son Joseph. We have noted that the coat was not a multi-colored coat. One doubts whether they had at that time even developed the skill to dye multicolored fabric. Be that as it may the Hebrew text refers to the coat as a coat with long pieces, and sometimes a coat which was long down to the ground. The fact is, it was a long, or long sleeved coat, and it was the kind of coat which only the leader wore. If for example you could have seen an Israeli encampment formed in battle array, or going into battle all the men would wear sleeveless coats. A sleeveless coat which flowed down to or just below the line of the knees, afforded the wearer maneuverability, allowing him to wield his arms and move around freely. Fighting in a long coat or a coat with long sleeves would be unwieldy. Only the leader wore such a coat, because he directed the fighting and the strategy and did very little of the fighting himself. Beside it made him stand out so that he could be easily seen. Accordingly, when Israel made a coat and presented it to Joseph, he was in fact saying you are my successor; and that infuriated his brothers all of whom beside Benjamin were older that he was. And when the dreams are added to the coat the older brothers were left in no doubt about Israel’s intention; and that made them mad, very mad. More