Jealousy can be a powerful motivator for evil, as is seen in the lives of Joseph and his brothers, in the book of Genesis.
        Joseph was looked upon with contempt by his older brothers, because he told their father, Jacob, of their wrongdoing. Scripture says, They hated him and could not speak peaceably unto him. 
        The Lord’s hand was upon Joseph at an early age, as He gave Joseph dreams of his future when he would be made a ruler. But his brothers hated him and envied him for his dreams, and his father rebuked him, that he should think that they would bow to him.  Scripture says of his brothers: And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words (Genesis 37:8).
        Seeing Joseph as an obstacle to their future, his brothers wanted him gone and sought to destroy him. They first plotted murder, but, when, confronted by one brother, the others devised another scheme to get Joseph out of the way—by throwing him into a pit and then selling him into slavery. 
        Stripping Joseph of his coat of many colors, a symbol of Jacob's love for him, and covering the coat with blood from a goat they killed, the brothers lied to their father, and led him to conclude that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal. Jacob was easily deceived, believing the false evidence. 
        Joseph was innocent of any wrongdoing, yet he was the one cast away from the father’s house. His guilty brothers were surely smug, thinking that they had gotten away with ridding themselves of Joseph and that their father was none the wiser. Joseph surely must have been confused as to why he would be treated so unfairly and be betrayed. But scripture does not record that Joseph even spoke one word against them. 
        Joseph was sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharoah’s, who favored Joseph and made him overseer of his household. But Potiphar also was deceived and believed lies about Joseph when he was falsely accused, and cast him into prison. 
        But God's hand of favor continued to be upon Joseph. 
        Eventually released from prison and made ruler of Egypt second only to Pharoah, Joseph prepared the country for a famine that he had predicted from a dream God had given him. When famine did strike, Joseph’s brothers unknowingly came to him for food to save themselves and their families.
        Having maintained his integrity throughout all of his ordeals, Joseph forgave his brothers, and told them that, while they had thought evil against him, God had turned their evil into good. 
        But forgiveness was not immediate. Joseph first tested his brothers with elaborate tests to make sure that they had changed and were truly repentant and could be trusted. Then, he offered them forgiveness.
        The story, however, does not end there. 
        Sometimes, it seems that God delays judgment, but judgment eventually comes, whether to the transgressor or to the transgressor’s family.
        Just as Jacob, in his youth, had deceived his own father, Isaac, and had betrayed his brother, Esau, he would be deceived by his sons who would betray their brother. 
        And, just as Joseph’s brothers had sold him into slavery, their own descendants would later become slaves to the Egyptians. (Their descendants would be the Israelites led by Moses out of Egypt.)
        What lessons can be learned from the life of Joseph? 
        Just as Joseph offered forgiveness, when those who have trespassed against us are truly repentant and have proven that they have changed, we are to forgive.
        Forgiveness, however, does not mean condoning their sin, and those who repeatedly wrong us may not be able to earn our trust again.
        God will judge those who continue to sin against the innocent. As Scripture says, in Psalm 37, The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth. The LORD shall laugh at him: for He seeth that his day is coming.
      There is no forgiveness without repentance, but, if those who have done wrong truly change and ask for forgiveness, if they have proven themselves to us that they are truly repentant, it is possible that the relationship might be restored.