Bad parenting

well, if you read the original story, it all goes back to when jacob wanted to marry rachel. rachel's father tricked jacob into marrying her older sister, leah, instead. [leah is not in the movie probably because most american children would not understand why jacob had two wives.] then, finally, he was allowed to marry rachel. he only really loved rachel which, of course, sucked for leah. God blessed leah with many children [although, not all 10 were hers; some were from concubines.] so that jacob would pay her more attention. rachel became jealous because she wanted children. she prayed to God and He finally blessed her with a son, joseph. since rachel was jacob's favorite wife [the only one he wanted in the first place], joseph was his favorite son. he shouldn't have played favorites with his children, anyway, but knowing the story, it makes more sense.

here's a link if you want to read it yourself: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=genesis%2029:1-30:24&version=ESV

i suspect that the treatment of joseph was a little exaggerated. the bible does mention joseph being out in the field with his brothers tending to the sheep. although, his dad does send him out to his brothers to check up on them in another part of the story. part of his "special treatment" may have just been because he was the youngest. maybe he didn't work as hard because of that. and later on, jacob was especially protective of benjamin because he lost joseph and because rachel died giving birth to benjamin, so he was the only of rachel's sons who survived [so he thought].

i hope this helps! sorry, it's so much to read.. haha

edit: one other thing.. jacob may have gotten this from his parents, isaac and rebekah. he had a brother named esau. esau was his father's favorite and jacob was his mother's favorite. not an excuse. just another example of how children take after their parents.

I can assure you that anyone who claims there is no favoritism involved here is mistaken. Jacob ABSOLUTELY favored Joseph and Benjamin because they were Rachel's children. Not only were they miracles, as you point out, but it's because she was his OTL.

You are right in that this certainly does not excuse his behaviors. If you hear Jacob's back story, it'll make more sense. As a younger man, Jacob had tricked his brother (the first born) into selling him his birth right, then tricks the poor fool again by stealing their father's blessing from him.

The selling of his son goes to show that Jacob is defined by trickery. He cheats and gets cheated multiple times, to show that all of his hardships were brought onto himself by his deception.

Also, his love with Rachel, while very sincere, was problematic. In a sense, he loved her TOO much, bordering on idol worship. His obsessive love for her in seen in the favoritism, which we all know to be wrong.

Sorry to get all into it, this is actually one of my favorite stories.

I was glad that this movie doesn't sugar-coat it. I remember being chastised as a kid for saying Joseph doesn't seem like a very nice brother and Jacob wasn't a very loving father to his other sons, but it's true. You know it's because he loves Rachel and doesn't love Leah, but that still doesn't make it right. Joseph parades around talking about how special he is with his fancy coat and Jacob basically tells all of his children that he loves Joseph more than them. I love The Bible and I know Joseph is special, but I have to admit, when Joseph gets sold into slavery by his brothers, I understand the brothers' motivation.