![genogram legends genogram legends](https://s3.studylib.net/store/data/025302622_1-d9206baa6add7d67b7f464c087fc377c.png)
But Joseph has no mother-she has died in deep sorrow. Joseph, second youngest son of Jacob, was born to his beloved wife, Rachel. What is not hidden-what is on full display-is a family conflict of legendary proportions. Abraham, Moses-even Jacob-would do nothing without God. Yet it is almost completely without God, who was the driving force in the lives of the men and women before and after Joseph. Less a collage of fragments, it is a whole work of art. The Joseph story is longer and more complete than that of any other patriarch or matriarch.
![genogram legends genogram legends](https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BO6PQhsjLLI/Tm09f3bm-1I/AAAAAAAABjs/CVPiWcFPi_U/s1600/Template.jpg)
God is confoundingly hidden in this story. And most days, truth be told, I can’t tell if God is even paying attention. Every parent is Jacob, imperfectly apportioning love and discipline, wondering (if not praying): “God, did I give my children my best… or my worst?” I ask every day for God to bless my family and to help me be a good father. When one of them becomes frustrated by a complex situation, they reveal a family tree full of micromanagers. When my children rise up in anger, I would punish them… if I didn’t instantly see my own short temper. Parents (I am one now, too) read the Joseph story through the eyes of Jacob and see in him our inner turmoil: chronic anxiety about the well-being of our children and our role in their lives.
![genogram legends genogram legends](https://images.edrawsoft.com/articles/genogram-examples/example4.jpg)
As an adult, I have watched how childhood sibling rivalries age: hardening into chasms of emotional remove sharpening into bitter arguments over the course of medical care for aging parents or softening with maturity into deep appreciation for our sibling’s unique gifts. Returning to Joseph’s story now, a bit later in life, I see layers of depth not there before. There is a time in life when each of us is made up of ego needs and delusions of grandeur. As a youngest child, I loved the story-I fancied myself as the favorite son, destined for greatness, who would one day be like Jacob, irresistible to the ladies. That musical (by Broadway legends Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice) playfully (and rather faithfully) tells the story of a young boy, the favorite son of the patriarch Jacob, who sets in motion both a family and a geo-political drama by flaunting his fashionable coat. If you grew up in the 80s, like I did, there’s a decent chance that your earliest knowledge of Joseph’s story came through a local high school or community theater production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.