We have all heard about Joseph and his coat of many colors, but who else in the Bible wore such a coat? And what connection did Joseph’s coat have with the groups of people to whom he was sold? Finally, how do we know that the Pharaoh’s cupbearer was a bad guy?
Genesis 37:3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors.
כתנת פסים (c’tonet pasim)
2 Samuel 13:18 Now [Tamar] was wearing a c’tonet passim …
See the Hebrew Key Series: “Tamar & Her Coat of Many Colors”
Genesis 37:31-32 Then they took Joseph’s coat and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. And they sent the coat and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.”
The tunic is called passim because [the ten brothers] cast lots (הפיסו, hephisu) over it to determine which one of them would take [the bloody tunic] to [Joseph’s] father, and [the lot] fell to Judah. – Midrash Rabbah 84.8
פסים (passim)
פ = פוטיפר Potiphar
ס = סחרים Socharim (merchants)
י = ישמעאלים Ishmaelites
ם = מדינים Midianites
Genesis 37:12 Now his brothers went to pasture the flock of their father in Shechem.
את צאן (et tzon)
Genesis 40:16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “Indeed, I had a dream …”
אף (aph)
4 wicked individuals who began conversations with אף:
REFERENCES:
Luke 23:34 And Yeshua said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that Adonai God had made. He said to the woman, “Indeed (אף), Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”
Numbers 16:14 “Indeed (אף), you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”
Esther 5:12 Then Haman said, “Indeed (אף), Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king.”