seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Genesis 37:12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.”
“Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’”
So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,” he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn now?”
31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard.
Here's the link to the commentary.
Please, go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks: Here is Joseph with the coat of many colors, with long sleeves and doing no hard work. Joseph was the supervisor and his brothers were the workers.
In the New King James Version, when Jacob sent him, he even said please!
When they saw him afar off: We can picture the brothers dreading Joseph’s arrival. He came to inspect their work, and he would not hesitate to report to their father whatever they did wrong.
They conspired against him to kill him: This is shocking, and we shouldn’t lose our sense of shock about it. They didn’t conspire to mock or tease or bully Joseph a little bit; they conspired against him to kill him.
But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands: We think of all ten brothers (leaving little Benjamin out), and wonder how they could all be so evil. There was one good among the ten. They wanted to kill Joseph first and then throw him into the pit; Reuben suggested they throw him in the pit first instead, and he got the brothers to agree to it.
There is something wonderful in seeing this from Reuben, because earlier (Genesis 35) he did a terrible thing — he had sex with one of this father’s wives/concubines (Bilhah). Reuben wouldn’t be defined only by the worst thing that he did.
That he might deliver him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father: The other brothers had their plan and Reuben had his plan. Reuben didn’t try to stop his brothers; he tried to out-smart them.
And they sat down to eat a meal: The heartless character of the brothers was evident—they could eat a meal with Joseph nearby in the pit. They could sit down and enjoy their food before completing the murder of Joseph.
There was a company of Ishmaelites: We would call these Arab traders, the family that came from their great-uncle Ishmael, the other son of Abraham.
Sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver: If Joseph was hopeful as he was pulled out of the pit, all hope vanished when he saw the Ishmaelites and the exchange of money.
The brothers probably laughed as the Ishmaelites went their way to Egypt, feeling good that they didn’t kill Joseph and that they made a little money in the process. Best of all, they thought they had defeated the dream, the revelation from God.
We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not: This showed the cruelty of the sons of Israel was not directed only towards the favored son, but also towards the father who favored him. This was both a heartless way to bring the news and an evil lie.
Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt: Egypt was a large and thriving kingdom for at least a thousand years before Joseph came. The Egyptians were wealthy and had massive natural resources. They were educated and had no real enemies at the time. When Joseph came to Egypt, some of the pyramids already looked old and the Sphinx was already carved.
Yesterday we read that Joseph was about 17 years old when this happened. He was just a kid. He was just a spoiled brat who lorded the fact he was the favorite over the others. His father didn't help matters. After all, it's his father, Jacob [Israel] who made that "overseer's" coat for Joseph. I'm calling it an "overseer's" coat because it was long sleeved and went to the ankles. It was too much coat to work in. Do you think Jacob [Israel] ever told Joseph to tone down the "brat" behavior? Or do you think Jacob [Israel] smiled at the thought of Rachel's boy running the roost.
At any rate, Jacob [Israel] sent Joseph out to check on his brothers. His brothers got rid of him. They took that coat off of him and sold him to the Ishmaelites. After that, they took that fancy "overseer's" coat and smeared it with blood. When they got back home, I imagine, they threw it Jacob's [Israel's] lap. Those sons knew what it would do to Jacob [Israel]. They didn't care.
Now... I want to address Rueben's part in all this. He must have been tending the flocks when the brothers plotted to kill Joseph. He actually talked them into putting Joseph in a dried up well instead of mutilating him.
Rueben was pretty shrewd too. If Rueben had just stood up to stop the murderous plot all together, they might have put Rueben to the knife as well. They proved in Shechem that they were capable of mass murder. Instead of taking on the other 9 brothers, he came up with an alternate plan, that would allow him to come back and set Joseph free.
I'm thinking Rueben's plan was to pull Joseph out of the cistern and then send him to Egypt. I'm thinking Rueben would have said "now, git, and don't come back because if you do... they will kill you". But that's not how it turned out.
Rueben saved Joseph's life, but the Ishmaelites had him. The Ishmaelites didn't particularly like Isaac's family.
He wound up as a house slave in the home of the captain of the guard.... in Egypt.
Rueben saved Joseph's life.... but lost Joseph!
Jacob [Israel] mourned his son.
Israel mourned his son.
