Genesis 37:4 And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him. When envy has fully formed its purpose of cruelty, it very speedily sees and seizes an opportunity for carrying it through. The great dramatist, indeed, has represented one of the most unscrupulous of his characters as excusing himself after this fashion: "How oft the sight of means to do ill deeds makes ill deeds done"; but then it is only the envious and malicious man who is on the outlook for means to do ill deeds, and therefore it is to him only that the perception of them offers a temptation. If King John had not been wishing to make away with Arthur, the presence of Hubert would not have suggested to him that he had found a fit instrument to do what he desired. Just as love keens the vision to such a degree that it sees ways of service that are invisible to others, so hate quickens the perception, and finds an occasion for its gratification in things that would have passed unnoticed by others. The brothers of Joseph, therefore, being filled with envy towards him, soon had an opportunity of working their will upon him, and they seized it with an eagerness which showed how intensely they hated him. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. |
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