Just a Pesky Little Bother of a Brother

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I am always interested to see the family dynamics portrayed in the Bible. Due to the fact that I have four teenagers living in my house right now, all the information I gather can be put to extremely good use. Joseph was the next to the youngest in his family, and he got almost murderous treatment by brothers who were quite jealous of him. I’m not defending the brothers or anything, but Joseph already held favorite son status, and he seems to have antagonized them even more by tattling on them when they didn’t pull their share of the work (Gen. 37:2) and then sharing his dreams of them bowing down to him (Gen. 37:5-8 and 9-10). As a result of their hatred of him, when sent to check on them, he ended up in Egypt and they contributed to fulfilling God’s plan for good and ultimately fulfilled Joseph’s dreams of them bowing down to him.
I thought about another younger brother sent to check on his siblings. He had dreams of his own to brag about as he had just been crowned the next king by Samuel, yet he chose a more humble path. When he found his three oldest brothers, he also heard the taunt of Goliath and asked what good would come to the man who killed the giant. Even though David had done nothing but be present and ask a question, it angered Eliab, David’s oldest brother, and he accused David of having insolence and wickedness in his heart (I Sam. 17:28). David’s response is classic: “What have I done now? Was it not just a question?” (vs. 29, NASB) To Eliab, who was about the business of war, David was just a pesky little bother of a brother, but to God he was so much more—he was a young man with a heart for God and the faith to trust Him to provide a way to kill a giant with a small stone and a sling. (On a side note, the other four stones were in case Goliath’s four brothers came after him . . .) Joseph and David may have just been pesky little brothers before a famine and a giant came along that they needed rescue from, but I just have to think that time and perspective altered that point of view, which gives me hope, too.

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