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JOSEPH IS SOLD

Chapter 37

While Esau went to the region of Seir, Jacob was in the land of Canaan, the land of his father's pilgrimages, the land God had promised by inheritance. Isaac was like the Bedouin today, living in tents and herding their flocks through the valleys without fixed residence or real estate properties.

The life story of Joseph begins with this chapter, when Joseph was seventeen, i.e. just before the massacre in Shechem, when they still were in Succoth.

He helped his older brothers, sons of concubines Bila and Zilpah (Gad, Asher, Dan, and Naphtali), grazing livestock, and also served as a messenger between them and his father. The behaviour of these brothers was evil, and Joseph needed to bring bad news to Jacob, so as not to deviate from the truth.

At that time the tunic was the main part of the clothing, and usually reached down to the knee, had short sleeves, and a single colour. However, because Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, he gave Joseph, son of his old age and until then the youngest, a much better tunic than the usual: it was probably similar to those used by members of royalty going as far down as the ankles, with long sleeves, and of various colours.

The tunic was seen as a symbol of the favouritism enjoyed by Joseph, causing his brothers to hate him to the point of not being able to talk with him without rancor.

The first dream, prophetic like the next one, showed how his brothers would bow before him, as did their sheaves to his own. The interpretation was clear, and when Joseph told them, his brothers were outraged and their hatred increased.

The second dream, in which the sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down before him confirmed the first dream, and his father realized that he and Rachel (who still lived) would also bow before him (notice the eleven stars, a prophecy of another brother - we have the same figure in Revelation 12:1, symbolizing the nation of Israel). While his brothers were filled with jealousy, his father reflected on the meaning of the dream: he must have wondered if this would not be a revelation coming from God.

In verse 12, some time would have gone by since the beginning of this story, and Jacob was already living in the Valley of Hebron (communion, alliance), South of Ephrata. This is the place where Abraham also had resided, the place of communion with God. It is still there today, one of the oldest cities in the world, approximately halfway between Jerusalem and Beersheba, and it was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt (Numbers 13: 22) - Zoan was the capital of Egypt in the time of Moses.

Isaac at this time would still be alive, but Rachel had died. Jacob would be about one hundred and ten years old and Joseph nineteen. On that day, his brothers having gone to graze their flocks in Shechem, of sad memory, Jacob asked Joseph to travel the forty miles up there to see how things were going and to bring news of them. Obedient, Joseph did not waver to obey him.

Arriving there, he was wandering in a field looking for them when he met a man who said he had heard they were going to Dotã (two wells), a famous area of pasture mentioned in monuments of 1600 BC. The wells are still there, one being called the well of Joseph. Joseph continued on his journey and, after going for another sixteen miles, found his brothers.

His brothers were able to see him from afar and felt that this was the opportunity to get rid of him. In their hatred and jealousy, they joined together and conspired to kill him: they were too far away from his father and could, between them, invent a story to deceive him.

But Reuben, the eldest brother and so perhaps respected by the others, persuaded them not to kill him, but instead to throw him into a pit in that wilderness where they were. Without assistance, he would die of hunger, but Reuben intended to deliver him out of their hands and to bring him back to their father when the others had gone. They agreed, and so when Joseph arrived, they stripped him of his multicoloured tunic and cast him into an empty pit without water.

When they sat down for a meal, they saw a caravan of merchant Ishmaelites (their cousins in the second degree) going down to Egypt with their goods.

Judah (son of Leah, whose brothers Simeon and Levi promoted the massacre in Shechem), suggested a better solution to the problem of disposal of Joseph, and make a profit: to sell him as a slave! He would be taken and sold far away in Egypt, and they would probably never hear of him again; and their consciences would not carry the weight of his death because "he is our brother and our flesh”...!

Everybody agreed, except Reuben, who was away; so they pulled Joseph up and out of the pit, and sold him as a slave for twenty shekels of silver (equivalent to over two hundred pounds today).

Reuben did not find Joseph when he returned (he hadn't arrived in time to free him); so he tore his clothes: an expression of sorrow and also fear (1 Kings 21:27), anger (2 Kings 5:7), or despair (Judges 11:35; Esther 4:1). He did not know where to hide to save himself from the wrath of his father, being the eldest; he would be blamed for his disappearance.

So they killed a kid goat, dipped the tunic in its blood, and returned it to Jacob asking him if this would be the robe of his son (in their hatred, they did not even mention his name). Jacob acknowledged the tunic, and concluded that Joseph had been attacked and eaten by a wild animal. He then lamented his son for many days, and remained inconsolable.

Jacob had once deceived his father with a goat, using the skin to impersonate his brother's hairy arms (Gen_27:16-23). Now he himself was cruelly deceived by the blood of a goat on Joseph's coat.

The Midianites (they were also second cousins, being descendants of Abraham by his concubine Keturah, and also related to the Ishmaelites) sold Joseph in Egypt, as his brothers had foreseen, to an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard called Potiphar.

 

R David Jones

Gen 37:1 Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
Gen 37:2 This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. And the lad was with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of them to his father.
Gen 37:3 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.
Gen 37:4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.
Gen 37:5 Now Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more.
Gen 37:6 So he said to them, "Please hear this dream which I have dreamed:
Gen 37:7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and indeed your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf."
Gen 37:8 And his brothers said to him, "Shall you indeed reign over us? Or shall you indeed have dominion over us?" So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
Gen 37:9 Then he dreamed still another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, "Look, I have dreamed another dream. And this time, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me."
Gen 37:10 So he told it to his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the earth before you?"
Gen 37:11 And his brothers envied him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Gen 37:12 Then his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.
Gen 37:13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them." So he said to him, "Here I am."
Gen 37:14 Then he said to him, "Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me." So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.
Gen 37:15 Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, "What are you seeking?"
Gen 37:16 So he said, "I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks."
Gen 37:17 And the man said, "They have departed from here, for I heard them say, 'Let us go to Dothan.' " So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
Gen 37:18 Now when they saw him afar off, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him.
Gen 37:19 Then they said to one another, "Look, this dreamer is coming!
Gen 37:20 Come therefore, let us now kill him and cast him into some pit; and we shall say, 'Some wild beast has devoured him.' We shall see what will become of his dreams!"
Gen 37:21 But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, "Let us not kill him."
Gen 37:22 And Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him"—that he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father.
Gen 37:23 So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him.
Gen 37:24 Then they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Gen 37:25 And they sat down to eat a meal. Then they lifted their eyes and looked, and there was a company of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead with their camels, bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry them down to Egypt.
Gen 37:26 So Judah said to his brothers, "What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Gen 37:27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh." And his brothers listened.
Gen 37:28 Then Midianite traders passed by; so the brothers pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt.
Gen 37:29 Then Reuben returned to the pit, and indeed Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes.
Gen 37:30 And he returned to his brothers and said, "The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go?"
Gen 37:31 So they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood.
Gen 37:32 Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, "We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son's tunic or not?"
Gen 37:33 And he recognized it and said, "It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him. Without doubt Joseph is torn to pieces."
Gen 37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days.
Gen 37:35 And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, "For I shall go down into the grave to my son in mourning." Thus his father wept for him.
Gen 37:36 Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.

Genesis chapter 37