Wednesday, April 15, 2020

Genesis 37:12-36 comments: Joseph sold into slavery by his own brothers


Genesis 37:12 ¶  And his brethren went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13  And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I. 14  And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale 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 seekest thou? 16  And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, 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 Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan. 18  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. 19  And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. 20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams. 21  And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him. 22  And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.
Here goes Joseph on another reporting expedition for his father. No wonder his brothers can’t stand him. Are they expecting another evil report?
Introduced into the narrative is someone who enters the picture several times in the Bible. He or she is a seemingly random person who accomplishes something important or is used as an example. His or her existence makes one wonder about the place of so-called “divine appointments” in our everyday lives denying our very concepts of randomness, luck, and chance. I am referring to the references to a certain man or a certain woman who do something noteworthy but whose name isn’t given. As two examples;
Judges 9:53  And a certain woman cast a piece of a millstone upon Abimelech’s head, and all to brake his skull.
1Kings 22:34  And a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness: wherefore he said unto the driver of his chariot, Turn thine hand, and carry me out of the host; for I am wounded.
A certain man found Joseph wandering, unsure of where to find his brothers. This anonymous individual lets Joseph know where to find them and exits the narrative.
Their hatred of Joseph is so great, their envy is so murderous, that they conspire against him as they see him approaching them. Jesus’ own brethren would not receive Him and conspired against Him.
John 1:11  He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
He spoke against the Jews’ practices of His time and they conspired against Him. But, Joseph will yet save them all as we will see, as Christ came to save His own people.
They cynically and with blood in their hearts want to kill Joseph but Reuben, Jacob and Leah’s firstborn, refuses them their wish to end Joseph’s life and blame it on an animal. Here we see one of the definitions of evil as intending to do violence.
Reuben’s desire is to deliver Joseph, to return him to their father, Jacob. Reuben, who had before this committed the grievous sin of having sex with his father’s concubine, Bilhah, has a heart of mercy toward Joseph. This goes to show just how complex and really normal these patriarchs were in that they were not two dimensional but like us and all men were capable of evil and good. We do err when we paint the Bible’s human characters as having only one side; when we ignore Moses’ temper, Jeremiah’s doubts, or David’s sexual weakness. Only Christ, who is God in the flesh, was without sin, and, pastors, that includes Paul.
Genesis 37:23 ¶  And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stript Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colours that was on him; 24  And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it. 25  And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26  And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? 27  Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. 28  Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmeelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt. 29  And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes. 30  And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
Joseph is now cast into a dry pit and they took off his coat of many colors much like Jesus’ garment was removed in Matthew 27:35 and John 19:23 although the similarity is limited to the removal only. Notice the difference in the nastiness of the dungeon Jeremiah will be thrown into in Jeremiah 38:6. It is then Judah, without Reuben present, who suggests they sell their brother to the Ishmaelite traders who are traveling to Egypt. This is done as an act of mercy as Judah says that it would be better to do this than to kill him. The brothers consent. This passage seems to indicate that the Midianites were also Ishmaelities; Midianites through Abraham’s wife, Keturah;
Genesis 25:1 ¶  Then again Abraham took a wife, and her name was Keturah. 2  And she bare him Zimran, and Jokshan, and Medan, and Midian, and Ishbak, and Shuah.
…and Ishmaelites through his concubine, Sarai’s handmaid, Hagar;
Genesis 16:15  And Hagar bare Abram a son: and Abram called his son’s name, which Hagar bare, Ishmael.
So, we see how quickly the genealogies of the Ancient Near East became muddled.
Joseph’s life was worth twenty pieces of silver to the traders. Jesus was betrayed for thirty. To Reuben’s dismay, when he returned from wherever he had gone not knowing about or approving the sale of Joseph, his brother was gone. Tearing one’s clothing was a sign of grief in the Ancient Near East as evident in many places throughout the Bible.
What was Reuben going to do now?
Genesis 37:31 ¶  And they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; 32  And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son’s coat or no. 33  And he knew it, and said, It is my son’s coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. 34  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35  And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him. 36  And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, and captain of the guard.
Joseph’s coat of many colors is now used to present false evidence that Joseph was killed by a wild animal. As explained previously an evil beast would refer to an animal intent on violence. It would have nothing to do with a supposed moral condition. Evil in this context has to do with an intention of malice and violence, not sin.
The lie worked and Jacob is grieving and like Job, those close to him seek to comfort him to no avail. He states that he will go to his grave mourning for Joseph, who is sold by the traders to an Egyptian officer.
If we create in our minds a spiritual comparison to what happens to Joseph and what happened to Jesus, understanding that types rarely hold up on deep examination, we might muse that the Midianite traders taking Joseph out of the pit are like angels transporting the souls of the dead to their destination.
Luke 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
And we know that Jesus went to Hell, which Joseph’s destination, Egypt, is like in type, not to suffer but to preach. (see Deuteronomy 4:20; 1Kings 8:51; and Jeremiah 11:4 for Egypt as an iron furnace.)
1Peter 3:18 ¶  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: 19  By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; 20  Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.
Potiphar is said to be captain of the guard. The Hyksos were a group of Asiatic people who conquered Egypt in antiquity.[1] Some scholars call The Hyksos the Shepherd Kings. I contend, as some scholars do, and we’ll have Biblical evidence later in Exodus, that Joseph and his family came into Egypt under their reign. The Hyksos are said to have ruled through Egyptian vassals who would have worshipped the traditional gods of Egypt and, of course, longed for an Egyptian revival, hating anyone who represented the shepherd economy of Canaan, longing to reestablish authority over not only their own country but Canaan as well. This will explain a couple of statements we will find later in the Bible in other books.
Exodus 1:8  Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph.
This native Egyptian pharaoh of Exodus, like the rest of the Egyptians, would have held the shepherds from the area of Canaan in great contempt and hatred. He, or his dynasty, would have reestablished authority over Canaan and so, when the Pharaoh and his army are destroyed in the Red Sea disaster Canaan’s cities would have been without their protector. The Amarna Letters give us an indication that the Canaanite cities were vassals of Egypt and were under great threat around the time of the Exodus without Pharaoh’s army to protect them.[2]
Number 14:9  Only rebel not ye against the LORD, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the LORD is with us: fear them not.
These are just some ideas that will help you connect the dots, so to speak, in the Bible. Apparently, God doesn’t regard them as all that important as He provides no great explanation through Moses, but it is interesting to think about, nonetheless.
Verse 35 shows us that either Dinah was not Jacob’s only daughter or daughters could logically include daughters-in-law as in The Ancient City De Coulanges talks about how ancient custom required a woman to leave her family and join her husband’s family.


[1] History World International, “The Hyksos,” http://history-world.org/hyksos.htm (accessed 3.5.3017).

[2] The History of Israel, “Amarna Letters,” http://www.israel-a-history-of.com/amarna-letters.html (accessed 3.5.2017).


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