Strength for Today

"Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers...and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father" (Gen. 37:2). I wonder what that "bad report" was? I am sure it was not an "evil report," which believers are forbidden to spread around. Joseph was in many ways a type of Christ and I do not see him spreading gossip or slander. Evidently his brothers were up to no good. Was it something they were talking about? Something they had actually done or were planning to do? The text does not say. Whatever it was it was serious enough that Joseph felt he should share it with his father. I have to believe that Joseph did not make up some story or embellish the account. No doubt his brothers called him a "tattletale" for "ratting them out" to their father and it probably contributed to their hatred for their younger brother, whom they viewed as a "snitch." But what was he to do? He saw something amiss and talked to his father about it. Notice that Joseph was "feeding the flock." He was a shepherd. So was Moses, David, Amos, and a host of others. Jesus is the Good Shepherd. Joseph was like Jesus in so many ways. This is but one of them. Those who feed the sheep should be able to discern what is going on. Those who teach the Word of God to the flock of God should be discerners of men. The apostle Paul told the elders in Ephesus, "Take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood" (Acts 20:28).