Spiritual Cancer

Parasha:  Va yeshev – and he dwelt
Torah: Bereishit 37:1 – 40:23

11  And his brothers envied him; but his father observed the saying. 12 And his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13  And Israel said to Yosef, Do not your brothers feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here am I. 14  And he said to him, Go, I pray you, see whether it be well with your brothers, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15  And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seek you? 16  And he said, I seek my brothers: tell me, I pray you, where they feed their flocks. 17  And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Yosef went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him.

3 And in the process of time it came to pass, that Kine brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to Avinu. 4  And Havel, he also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of the fat thereof. And Avinu had respect to Havel and to his offering: 5  But to Kine and to his offering he had not respect. And Kine was very upset, and his countenance fell. 6 And Avinu said to Kine, Why are you upset? and why is your countenance fallen? 7  If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And to you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him.

8 And Kine talked with Havel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Kine rose up against Havel his brother, and slew him.

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones. (Pr 14:30 )

For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. (Tit 3:3 )

14  But if you have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. 15  This wisdom descends not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. 16  For where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. (Jas 3:14-16 )

Most of us envy to some degree and don’t even realize what we are doing! Think about a close relative that seems to be living “the good life”.  If we allow the envy to “fester”, the result could be catastrophic! Envy is a spiritual cancer. Remember what Avinu told Kine:

6 And Avinu said to Kine, Why are you upset? and why is your countenance fallen? 7  If you do well, shall you not be accepted? and if you do not well, sin lies at the door. And to you shall be his desire, and you shall rule over him.