Vayeshev: Who is Joseph

Who is Joseph?  The second verse of the parsha tells us several things;

אֵ֣לֶּה ׀ תֹּלְד֣וֹת יַעֲקֹ֗ב יוֹסֵ֞ף בֶּן־שְׁבַֽע־עֶשְׂרֵ֤ה שָׁנָה֙ הָיָ֨ה רֹעֶ֤ה אֶת־אֶחָיו֙ בַּצֹּ֔אן וְה֣וּא נַ֗עַר אֶת־בְּנֵ֥י בִלְהָ֛ה וְאֶת־בְּנֵ֥י זִלְפָּ֖ה נְשֵׁ֣י אָבִ֑יו וַיָּבֵ֥א יוֹסֵ֛ף אֶת־דִּבָּתָ֥ם רָעָ֖ה אֶל־אֲבִיהֶֽם׃

These are the generations of Ya῾aqov. Yosef being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilha, and with the sons of Zilpa, his father’s wives: and Yosef brought to his father their evil report.

Joseph is Jacob's legacy child. Jacob had 12 sons and one daughter by 4 wives. Rachel was the desired wife, the woman Jacob met at the well; she was the reason that Jacob toiled for Laban.. The birth of Joseph, Rachel's long awaited son, was the impetus for Jacob to return to  Canaan.

Jacob placed Joseph in a supervisory role. The Hebrew construction: רֹעֶ֤ה אֶת־אֶחָיו֙, translated as feeding the flock with his brethren, does not capture the implication that Joseph was shepherding his brothers.  This alternative makes his adolescent age, 17, relevant. He was learning his trade: supervisor.  It is consistent with the end of the sentence: and Yosef brought to his father their evil report.  Joseph was doing middle manager work. 

and the lad was with the sons of Bilha, and with the sons of Zilpa, his father’s wives.  Bilha and Zilpa, were slaves to Rachel and Leah. Leah and Rachel were Laban's daughters.  They had been raised as daughters, so they married into the status of wives. Bilha  and Zilpa were slaves, gifted to the daughters at their weddings. The daughters had used these slaves to produce offspring, similar to Sarah giving Hagar to Abraham.  The verse promotes these mothers to wives, and implies that their offspring are sons, not slaves. ( The offspring of a master and a slave is a slave) 

The association between Joseph and these (potentially) lower status sons is double edged. The sons of former slave women are a good training ground for Joseph's managerial skills.  Joseph  learned how to be a shepherd  to the extent that it helped him learn  how to supervise shepherds. If Jacob had sent Joseph to supervise the sons of Leah, the project would likely have failed. Although  the sons of Bilha and Zilpa may have resented Joseph as much, or more than, the sons of Leah, their lower status kept the situation in check. 

Joseph's being with the sons of Bilha and Zilpa is also a reminder that his mother, Rachel is dead. Joseph is motherless. He grows up without his best protector. He is  forced to borrow a mother. It is not the same. Joseph needs to be more independent. His orphaned status also justifies some of the favoritism that is shown to him by Jacob, the father.  and the lad was with the sons of Bilha, and with the sons of Zilpa, his father’s wives is an ancient equivalent if the Hemmingway story in six words: "For sale: baby shoes, never worn." 

Joseph is with the sons of Bilha and Zilpa, not with the sons of Leah, Leah was Rachel's true rival. Leah's sons were her validation  and their names relate to her competition with Rachel. To the sons of Leah, Joseph is a threat. Leah's clan feared Joseph's dominance from the moment of his birth. The sibling rivalry must have been intense. Joseph was certainly not with the sons of Leah.

וְיִשְׂרָאֵ֗ל אָהַ֤ב אֶת־יוֹסֵף֙ מִכׇּל־בָּנָ֔יו כִּֽי־בֶן־זְקֻנִ֥ים ה֖וּא ל֑וֹ וְעָ֥שָׂה ל֖וֹ כְּתֹ֥נֶת פַּסִּֽים׃ 

Now Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons—he was his “child of old age”; and he had made him an ornamented tunic. *ornamented tunic Or “a coat of many colors”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.

Israel loved Joseph. We are no longer dealing with Jacob, now he is the glorified, acquired persona: Israel. The name Israel implies a triumph. Did Jacob struggle with his favoring Joseph?  Israel contains the word שְׂרָ, sar, meaning prince or ruler. That root is also in the name Sarah. Sarah was the mother of the winning lineage, the grandmother of Israel.

 Israel loved Joseph best of all his sons. Isaac, Jacob's father loved his brother Esau and Isaac wanted to give Esau the patrimony. Part of Jacob's ruse to obtain the blessing intended for his brother Esau, involved wearing Esau's clothing, so that Jacob would be identified as Esau. Israel had a bespoke suit made for Joseph. When Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, they used Joseph's unique clothing to fool Jacob into believing  that Joseph was dead... no longer available for the blessing of patrimony. 

Calling Joseph  Israel's child of old age echoes the story of Abraham and Isaac.  Isaac, born to  Sarah in their old age, was appointed (by Gd) to be the true heir. Gd had reassured Abraham that  Ishmael, Sarah's handmaiden's son, would also be a great nation.  The children of Keturah ( a later wife) were given gifts and sent away. That is not how it turned out for the children of Jacob and this section of the Torah tells us why it turned out differently. 

A unified confederation of Israel is a historical dream. It never lasted.  Domination of one tribe over another always contains an element of exploitation and resentment. Many historical heroes are people(s) that employed violence to overthrow "the oppressor." I want to be very careful in justifying violence for a "cause." There are times when the violence is justified: the Warsaw ghetto uprising, the Treblinka uprising. When violence is wielded out of frustration, that is questionable, at best. When the motivation for violence is envy, it is not justified. 

The sin of selling  Joseph  into slavery is never forgotten.  I want to understand its message.