After all the evidence of the talents and statesmanship of Joseph who was his father Jacob’s favourite son, why did Joseph lose out when it came to naming a destiny figure for the people of Israel?
The son Jacob chose as the leader of the future was Judah. Jacob stated, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah” (Gen. 49:10).
The case for Joseph seems to be unassailable, yet the patriarch bypassed him. Joseph had alienated his brothers when he boasted about how great he was and how the family would bow and scrape before him.
And by the time he brought Jacob and the family to settle in Egypt, many years had passed in which Joseph was away from his family and by now was treated by them with suspicion and reserve.
Judah on the other hand had always been part of the family fortunes and his rise to eminence apparently had their support. True, he had committed sins, but he was a man of integrity who recognised that he had done wrong and showed his repentance.
Don’t the rabbis say that a community should only appoint as leader a person with “a basket of reptiles on his back”?