As I’ve written about before, Jacob is the person that causes me to scratch my head the most as I read the Scriptures. I’ll not go into it all now…… but even though his story is fraught with all sorts of crazy, he is the man, renamed Israel, who is the father to the tribes that go on to form the nation of Israel.

Not Abraham, not Isaac, but Jacob.

One of Jacob’s sons was Joseph, someone we hear a lot about in the book of Genesis. We are told that Joseph is highly loved by Jacob. His brothers weren’t too fond of Joseph due to some reports he had brought Jacob about them, never mind their fathers favour towards him. On top of all that we are told that Jospeh is a ‘dreamer’ and that he had no problem in explaining his dreams to his family even though those dreams might get him into more trouble. One such dream he told them was how the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to him. The symbolism wasn’t lost on his family. The brothers were the 11 stars and his father and mother were the sun and the moon.

Look at the family reaction to him telling them the dream and make sure you catch the last part.

When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind. Genesis 37:10-11

Even though what Joseph was describing would have been deeply disrespectful to his mum and dad, along with his older brothers, we are told that Jacob kept the matter in mind. The phrase here is linked to what Mary does when the shepherds visit the baby Jesus and when ‘He runs off on them’ on a trip back from Jerusalem. We don’t know if Jacob understood what was meant by the dream, in the same way Mary may have been unaware what all the talk of Jesus fully meant, but he clearly knew there was something significant about what Jospeh had dreamt. It was significant enough that he needed to remember, to heed, what had been said. We don’t get any other suggestions in the Bible as to what he did with that moment but it was significant to him, regardless of how much it initially shocked him. I love that his first reaction was to rebuke him.

When I read passages like this I am reminded of the importance of paying attention to what is happening in my life and the lives of others I care for. I am also struck by the reaction of the brothers who don’t keep the matter in mind but instead react with jealousy. This causes me to ask a few questions about myself – feel free to borrow them.

Am I truly paying attention to what God is doing in my life?

Am I truly paying attention to what God is doing in the lives of the people around me?

Am I committing to praying for and helping discern what is going on with them?

Am I being a good father to them or am I more like the brothers in the story?