Have you ever argued or fought with your brothers and/or sisters?  If so, you’re not alone!  Did you know that even though the Bible  was written a very long time ago, you can find examples of sibling rivalry back then too?

In the very first book of the Bible, Genesis, we find an extreme case of sibling rivalry that ended very badly!  Adam and Eve had two sons named Cain and Abel.  Cain was a farmer and Abel tended animals.  One day the brothers gave an offering to Yahweh.  Cain brought some food from his garden, but Abel brought a young lamb.

Abel’s gift pleased Yahweh, but Cain’s did not.  This made Cain furious!  But Yahweh gently told him, “Don’t be upset.  I’ll be pleased with you if you give me a right offering.”  This made Cain even angrier.  He simply could not deal with his anger.  So he went out to find Abel in the field.  Then the unthinkable happened—Cain murdered his innocent brother Abel!  Later, Yahweh confronted Cain, “Where is Abel?  What have you done?”  Even when confronted, Cain still could not own up to his mistake.  “I don’t know”, he lied, “am I his babysitter?”  So Yahweh punished Cain severely.  Let’s never behave like Cain!  If we do make mistakes, let’s admit our wrongs and repent of them.  Now let’s look at another example of sibling rivalry that had a better ending.  

Jacob had twelve sons.  Joseph was born when Jacob was old, and he became his father’s favorite.  One day, Jacob presented Joseph with a beautiful coat of many colors.  It was made of fine cloth and fit for a prince!    None of Joseph’s brothers had ever had a coat like that one and they became very jealous.

It was bad enough that Joseph was his father’s favorite, but when he began having strange dreams, that really pushed the brothers over the edge!  In one dream, Joseph and his brothers were all stacks of wheat—and their stacks bowed down to Joseph’s stack.  In another dream, Joseph saw the sun, moon and stars bowing down to him.  The brothers’ anger grew steadily from this point on.  In fact, they conspired to kill him.  But Yahweh was watching out for Joseph and He had a plan to use this to save His people from famine.

Here’s how it happened:  Instead of killing Joseph, the brothers sold him to a caravan of traders.  The brothers faked Joseph’s death by killing an animal, smearing its blood on the fancy coat, and then presented it to their father.  Of course, Jacob was heartbroken!  He thought his favorite son had been torn to pieces by a wild animal.  But again, Yahweh had a wonderful plan in mind.

The traders took Joseph to Egypt, which was a thriving and wealthy country.  Joseph was sold as a slave to a man named Potiphar.  Joseph gained favor in Potiphar’s eyes very quickly.  He tried his best to obey Yahweh in everything he did.  He even refused Potiphar’s wife’s evil ideas and was thrown in prison.  But still, Yahweh protected him.  Joseph even gained status with the jailer and was put in charge of the prison!

Many things happened in prison and Joseph was able to explain dreams.  He even explained Pharaoh’s dream that a serious famine was coming!  Pharaoh put Jacob in charge of a plan to save Egypt from famine.  Joseph had built storehouses and saved grain.  The famine came and the people were able to survive.  In time, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy grain.  The brothers did not recognize Joseph.  But Joseph recognized them—and he was so moved by emotion that he wept bitter tears.  Eventually he revealed himself to them.  They were shocked, but  Joseph explained that they should not feel bad for what they did to him—but that it was Yahweh’s plan all along!  So this case of sibling rivalry had a very happy ending!