A curious fact happened in the lives of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac and Jacob). We read: “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age. Also he made him a tunic of many colors” (Genesis 37:3).

In other words, Jacob had Joseph, the son of the beloved Rachel, as his favourite. Although parents may deny that there is a favourite child, you, mother and father, know there is a favourite child. Naturally, the human being sympathises more with one than the other. Some children please you more. It’s not the parents’ or children’s fault. Jacob’s mistake is that he didn’t make a secret of it. He openly declared his preference (an example of this was tunic he made for Joseph). But as God is magnificent, He used all this to direct the future of Israel so that everything would work together.

However, Jacob also suffered this in his father’s house, Isaac, who did not hide his preference for Esau. Just as his mother preferred Jacob. In this way, Jacob could have learned from his father’s mistake, but he repeated it, making it even worse. And this describes a very profound truth about humanity: human beings hardly learn from the mistakes of others. And this is not good because we could take advantage of the mistakes of people who have already proven that a certain behaviour does not work and save us from suffering the same pain.

It is unnecessary to make mistakes to know that something is bad. If a person falls from the tenth floor, they will certainly die. So, if the person doesn’t want to die, they’ll stay away from it. They don’t need to fall to know. And that works, for example, in relationships. When one cheats on their partner, usually, the relationship ends or spoils. I don’t need to have a crystal ball to know that. So, we can’t do that. But how many people, even knowing that cheating is terrible for the relationship, seeing so many examples, knowing that it generates pain, go on and betray?

Wisdom is not failing and then learning. It’s learning so you don’t make mistakes. It’s you looking at other people’s mistakes and whether knowing if it works or not. You need to be more attentive. If most people who walk a path receive the same result, you do not need to walk the same path. That’s why the Bible has the mistakes of the heroes of faith. God made a point of leaving this to the wise. It is frustrating to teach a person, but the prudent have opportunities to avoid their mistakes.

Check out the entire message in the video above.