The purpose for the coat of many colors (Hebrew: כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים‎ kethoneth passim) that was given to Joseph by his father Jacob has been debated upon for many centuries. My hopes are that with this article, I will provide the reasoning backed by the facts to support my theory as to what the coat of many colors had signified in the most simple way possible. Before we explore what this coat is, we first have to identify the people and their tribes or affiliations in the story.

This coat was given to Joseph by his father Jacob. These names and all names in the bible whether it be the Old or New Testaments are not their actual names, but are allegorical. An allegory has a hidden spiritual meaning that transcends the literal sense of a sacred text.  Hence, what this means is that the names we see written in the Bible are simply not the original birth names of the people these stories are written about. This is the main method used by biblical authors to help conceal hidden meanings in both the Old and New Testament.

Who was Jacob and what does his name truly mean?

Jacob was the third patriarch of the Hebrew people with whom God had made a covenant, and ancestor of the tribes of Israel, which were named after his descendants. This sentence is key in understanding the coat of many colors because Jacob is essentially the father of Israel because it is the spiritual Israel with whom God made a covenant.

It is in (Genesis 32:28-29 and 35:10), before the birth of Jacob’s son Benjamin, God renames Jacob the new name, Israel. So we understand now that it was at this time that Israel had come into being. What you need to understand is that when Jacob was renamed Israel is that this was the new formation and beginnings of a new peoples united by religion, faith and some, blood. Jacob would be the anointed father of these new peoples that we can find represented in the Authorized King James Version, Genesis 37:3 reads: Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colours.

What you also need to understand is that because Jacob had given his son Joseph the coat, he was essentially anointing Joseph or should I say handing him the keys to the priesthood to carry on after his death. Hence, Joseph and his tribe would now be the legal high priest of the tribes that was signified in this coat of many colors.

When the priesthood was handed to Joseph by Jacob who is Israel, all other priesthoods were essentially abolished and the position of high priest was left to one family represented in Joseph. This is why Joseph wears the coat of many colors which is a linen fabric 1 span square, bearing 12 jewels which were arranged in rows across its face. It represented the supreme authority of God in the civil and religious government of the Hebrew people. It was to be used in religious ceremonies, and when important matters came before the high priest for judgment.

Acts 4:36 – Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement). If we study Barnabas, we will find that his Hellenic Jewish parents called him Joseph (although the Byzantine text-type calls him Ιὠσης, Iōsēs, ‘Joses’, a Greek variant of ‘Joseph’), but when he sold all his goods and gave the money to the apostles in Jerusalem, they gave him a new name: Barnabas. Barnabas is one of the first teachers of the church at Antioch (Acts 13:1). Barnabas was a Levite. He was a native of Cyprus, where he possessed land (Acts 4:36, 37), which he sold, giving the proceeds to the church in Jerusalem.

Now we understand that Barnabas, who is really Joseph is a Levite from the Tribe of Levi.

Allegorically, the Levites represent those attached to the Catholic Church – Ezra and Nehemiah By Saint Bede (the Venerable), Scott DeGregorio. From Levi, name of the ancestral patriarch, generally interpreted “joined” or “attached to”–see Genesis 29:34, also Numbers 18:2, 4.  In the Book of Malachi, God explains why He chose the Levites to be His priests.

‘Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,’ says the Lord of hosts. ‘My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity.” [Malachi 2:4-6].

“Then David said, None ought to carry the Ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the Ark of God and to minister unto him forever”. Wales carried the ‘Ark’ of God.

This would make sense since the high priests for judgment of the New Testament are the Levites . The root in Hebrew means “to join,” to “‘ bind ” (see Lui-than “snaky-monster “).

This is and excerpt from An enumeration of the High Priests by Joseph Flavius;

I NOW think it necessary and proper for this history to give an account of our high priests; how they began, who had that dignity, and how many of them there were to the end of the war. They say then that Aaron, the brother of Moses, first officiated to God as high priest, and that after his death his sons immediately succeeded him, and that this dignity has been continued down from them to all their posterity. Hence it is a custom of our country, that no one should take the high priesthood of God, but he who is of the blood of Aaron, while every one that is of another stock, though he were a king, can never obtain that high priesthood.

Titus Flavius Josephus (37 – c. 100),^[2] also called Joseph ben Matityahu (Biblical Hebrew: יוסף בן מתתיהו, Yosef ben Matityahu),^[3] was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer who was born in Jerusalem. It was by appointment of God and his father in approximately 37 AD, Joseph who was a Levite was given the priesthood and coat of many colors at the time of the first Roman Jewish War. As I stated above, the Levites represent those attached to the Catholic Church. Of course the other tribes were not too happy with this arrangement.

This is where we get the Josephus problem — a mathematical problem named after Josephus. The problem is named after Flavius Josephus, a Jewish historian living in the 1st century. According to Josephus’ account of the siege of Yodfat, he and his 40 comrade soldiers were trapped in a cave, the exit of which was blocked by Romans. They chose suicide over capture and decided that they would form a circle and start killing themselves using a step of three. Josephus states that by luck or maybe by the hand of God, he and another man remained the last and gave up to the Romans.

Lest we not forget that Joseph was a slave who became the Prince of Egypt and something tells me the Romans had a play in his rise to be the most powerful man in Jerusalem.

Moses and Miriam’s biblical “brother” was Aaron. I am a descendant of Aaron. The name “Aaron” like the name “Horus” refers to “a bringer of light.”

FIAT LUX

Moe

Moe is the founder of GnosticWarrior.com. He is a father, husband, author, martial arts black belt, and an expert in Gnosticism, the occult, and esotericism.