IN further token of his gratitude to God for his ennobling experience at Peniel, Israel insisted that his retainers renounce the "strange" (literally "foreign") gods (see Gen. 35:2) to which some of them had turned and to accept exclusively the Deity so often described by his own name, "the God of Israel" (see Ex. 24:10). Moreover, on visiting Bethel, where he had erected a pillar many years before, the patriarch received a further blessing and the reassurance of the firm tenure of the land of Canaan through his descendants; and again he set up and anointed an altar, or pillar, in God's honor (see Gen. 35:14).
While Israel's joy at these additional evidences of progress may have been marred to some extent by the passing of both his beloved wife Rachel and his aged father, Isaac (see verses 19, 29), he found in Rachel's elder son, Joseph, one who from his early years provided evidence of that outstanding leadership and ability required to assure and to further the destiny of the Israelite line. In fact, from this point on, Joseph, in spite of his youth, comes increasingly to the front among his brothers, only one of whom, Rachel's younger son, Benjamin, was Joseph's junior.
When Joseph was seventeen, we receive our first direct introduction to the lad, and we are told, "Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours" (Gen. 37:3). Among his brethren envy and hatred grew apace, while the fact that Joseph reported to his father the indiscretions of four of his half-brothers increased their resentment toward him (see verse 2).
