Since Jacob was ninety-one years old at Joseph’s birth, Joseph was a son of his old age and came to be loved more than his elder brothers.

6. (a) What report concerning his half brothers did Joseph bring to his father, and why was this not an unmerciful act? (b) How, on a previous occasion, had Simeon and Levi shown themselves to be lacking in compassion?

⁶ Joseph’s ten half brothers did not display the same devotion to right principles that Joseph manifested from an early age. When he was seventeen he was tending sheep in association with the sons of Jacob by Bilhah and Zilpah. Though younger than his brothers, Joseph demonstrated more zeal for his father’s interests than these half brothers and dutifully brought a bad report to his father. (Gen. 37:2) He was not acting unmercifully in so doing, because these brothers were following a course of wrongdoing and Jacob was entitled to be made aware of it. This devotion to right principles may have contributed to Jacob’s love for Joseph.