1Now Jacob dwelt in the land where his father was a sojourner, in the land of Canaan. 2These are the generations 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 an evil report of them to his father. 3Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a tunic reaching to the soles of his feet. 4But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him. 5And Joseph had a dream, and he told it to his brothers; and they hated him even more. 6And he said to them, Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7For behold, we were binding sheaves in the field. Then behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves stood all around and bowed down to my sheaf. 8And his brothers said to him, Shall you indeed become king over us? Or shall you indeed rule over us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words. 9Then he dreamed yet another dream and told it to his brothers, and said, Behold, I have dreamed another dream: and behold, the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars bowed down to me. 10And 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 it come to pass that your mother and I and your brothers indeed come to prostrate ourselves to the earth before you? 11And his brothers were jealous of him; but his father treasured up these words. 12And his brothers went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. 13And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here I am. 14And 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 came to Shechem. 15And a certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying, What are you seeking? 16And he said, I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks. 17And 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. 18Now when they saw him from a distance, even before he came near them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19And they said to one another, Behold, this master of dreams is coming! 20Come now therefore, let us kill him and cast him into a pit; and we will say, Some evil beast has devoured him. And we shall see what will become of his dreams! 21But Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands, and said, Let us not smite his soul. 22And Reuben said to them, Do not shed blood, but cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him; that he might rescue him out of their hands, and bring him back to his father. 23So it came to pass, when Joseph had come to his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic reaching to the soles of his feet. 24And they took him and cast him into a pit. And the pit was empty; there was no water in it. 25And they sat down to eat food. And they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices, balm, and myrrh, going and bringing them down to Egypt. 26And Judah said to his brothers, What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27Come, 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 agreed. 28Then some Midianite traders passed by; and they pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. 29And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30And he returned to his brothers and said, The lad is no more; and I, where shall I go? 31And they took Joseph's tunic, killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32And they sent the tunic reaching to the soles of the feet, and they brought it to their father and said, We have found this. Do you recognize whether it is your son's tunic or not? 33And he recognized it and said, It is my son's tunic. An evil beast has devoured him. Joseph has been rent and torn to pieces. 34And Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35And all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and he said, I will go down into Sheol mourning for my son. Thus his father wept for him. 36Now the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 PARENTAL PARTIALITY. (
Gen 37:1-
Gen 37:4)
Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger--that is, "a sojourner"; "father" used collectively. The patriarch was at this time at Mamre, in the valley of Hebron (compare
Gen 35:27); and his dwelling there was continued in the same manner and prompted by the same motives as that of Abraham and Isaac (
Heb 11:13).
2 generations--leading occurrences, in the domestic history of Jacob, as shown in the narrative about to be commenced.
Joseph . . . was feeding the flock--literally, "Joseph being seventeen years old was a shepherd over the flock"--he a lad, with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah. Oversight or superintendence is evidently implied. This post of chief shepherd in the party might be assigned him either from his being the son of a principal wife or from his own superior qualities of character; and if invested with this office, he acted not as a gossiping telltale, but as a "faithful steward" in reporting the scandalous conduct of his brethren.
3 son of his old age--Benjamin being younger, was more the son of his old age and consequently on that ground might have been expected to be the favorite. Literally rendered, it is "son of old age to him"--Hebrew phrase, for "a wise son"--one who possessed observation and wisdom above his years--an old head on young shoulders.
made him a coat of many colors--formed in those early days by sewing together patches of colored cloth, and considered a dress of distinction (
Judg 5:30;
2Sam 13:18). The passion for various colors still reigns among the Arabs and other people of the East, who are fond of dressing their children in this gaudy attire. But since the art of interweaving various patterns was introduced, "the coats of colors" are different now from what they seem to have been in patriarchal times, and bear a close resemblance to the varieties of tartan.
4 could not speak peaceably unto him--did not say "peace be to thee" [
Gen 43:23, &c.], the usual expression of good wishes among friends and acquaintances. It is deemed a sacred duty to give all this form of salutation; and the withholding of it is an unmistakable sign of dislike or secret hostility. The habitual refusal of Joseph's brethren, therefore, to meet him with "the salaam," showed how ill-disposed they were towards him. It is very natural in parents to love the youngest, and feel partial to those who excel in talents or amiableness. But in a family constituted as Jacob's--many children by different mothers--he showed great and criminal indiscretion.
5 THE DREAMS OF JOSEPH. (Gen. 37:5-36)
Joseph dreamed a dream--Dreams in ancient times were much attended to, and hence the dream of Joseph, though but a mere boy, engaged the serious consideration of his family. But this dream was evidently symbolical. The meaning was easily discerned, and, from its being repeated under different emblems, the fulfilment was considered certain (compare
Gen 41:32), whence it was that "his brethren envied him, but his father observed the saying" [
Gen 37:11].
12 his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem--The vale of Shechem was, from the earliest mention of Canaan, blest with extraordinary abundance of water. Therefore did the sons of Jacob go from Hebron to this place, though it must have cost them near twenty hours' travelling--that is, at the shepherd rate, a little more than fifty miles. But the herbage there was so rich and nutritious that they thought it well worth the pains of so long a journey, to the neglect of the grazing district of Hebron [VAN DE VELDE].
13 Israel said, . . . Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem?--Anxious to learn how his sons were doing in their distant encampment, Jacob despatched Joseph; and the youth, accepting the mission with alacrity, left the vale of Hebron, sought them at Shechem, heard of them from a man in "the field" (the wide and richly cultivated plain of Esdraelon), and found that they had left that neighborhood for Dothan, probably being compelled by the detestation in which, from the horrid massacre, their name was held.
17 Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan--Hebrew, Dothaim, or "two wells," recently discovered in the modern "Dothan," situated a few hours' distance from Shechem.
18 when they saw him afar off--on the level grass field, where they were watching their cattle. They could perceive him approaching in the distance from the side of Shechem, or rather, Samaria.
19 Behold, this dreamer cometh--literally, "master of dreams"--a bitterly ironical sneer. Dreams being considered suggestions from above, to make false pretensions to having received one was detested as a species of blasphemy, and in this light Joseph was regarded by his brethren as an artful pretender. They already began to form a plot for Joseph's assassination, from which he was rescued only by the address of Reuben, who suggested that he should rather be cast into one of the wells, which are, and probably were, completely dried up in summer.
23 they stripped Joseph out of his coat . . . of many colors--Imagine him advancing in all the unsuspecting openness of brotherly affection. How astonished and terrified must he have been at the cold reception, the ferocious aspect, the rough usage of his unnatural assailants! A vivid picture of his state of agony and despair was afterwards drawn by themselves (compare
Gen 42:21).
25 they sat down to eat bread--What a view does this exhibit of those hardened profligates! Their common share in this conspiracy is not the only dismal feature in the story. The rapidity, the almost instantaneous manner in which the proposal was followed by their joint resolution, and the cool indifference, or rather the fiendish satisfaction, with which they sat down to regale themselves, is astonishing. It is impossible that mere envy at his dreams, his gaudy dress, or the doting partiality of their common father, could have goaded them on to such a pitch of frenzied resentment or confirmed them in such consummate wickedness. Their hatred to Joseph must have had a far deeper seat. It must have been produced by dislike to his piety and other excellencies, which made his character and conduct a constant censure upon theirs, and on account of which they found that they could never be at ease till they had rid themselves of his hated presence. This was the true solution of the mystery, just as it was in the case of Cain (
1John 3:12).
they lifted up their eyes, . . . and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites--They are called Midianites (
Gen 37:28), and Medanites, in Hebrew (
Gen 37:36), being a travelling caravan composed of a mixed association of Arabians. Those tribes of Northern Arabia had already addicted themselves to commerce, and long did they enjoy a monopoly, the carrying trade being entirely in their hands. Their approach could easily be seen; for, as their road, after crossing the ford from the trans-jordanic district, led along the south side of the mountains of Gilboa, a party seated on the plain of Dothan could trace them and their string of camels in the distance as they proceeded through the broad and gently sloping valley that intervenes. Trading in the produce of Arabia and India, they were in the regular course of traffic on their way to Egypt: and the chief articles of commerce in which this clan dealt were
spicery from India, that is, a species of resinous gum, called storax, balm--"balm of Gilead," the juice of the balsam tree, a native of Arabia-Felix, and myrrh--an Arabic gum of a strong, fragrant smell. For these articles there must have been an enormous demand in Egypt as they were constantly used in the process of embalming.
26 Judah said, . . . What profit is it if we slay our brother?--The sight of these travelling merchants gave a sudden turn to the views of the conspirators; for having no wish to commit a greater degree of crime than was necessary for the accomplishment of their end, they readily approved of Judah's suggestion to dispose of their obnoxious brother as a slave. The proposal, of course, was founded on their knowledge that the Arabian merchants trafficked in slaves; and there is the clearest evidence furnished by the monuments of Egypt that the traders who were in the habit of bringing slaves from the countries through which they passed, found a ready market in the cities of the Nile.
they . . . lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold him--Acting impulsively on Judah's advice, they had their poor victim ready by the time the merchants reached them; and money being no part of their object, they sold him for
twenty pieces of silver--The money was probably in rings or pieces (shekels), and silver is always mentioned in the records of that early age before gold, on account of its rarity. The whole sum, if in shekel weight, did not exceed Ł3.
they brought Joseph into Egypt--There were two routes to Egypt: the one was overland by Hebron, where Jacob dwelt, and by taking which, the fate of his hapless son would likely have reached the paternal ears; the other was directly westward across the country from Dothan to the maritime coast, and in this, the safest and most expeditious way, the merchants carried Joseph to Egypt. Thus did an overruling Providence lead this murderous conclave of brothers, as well as the slave merchants both following their own free courses--to be parties in an act by which He was to work out, in a marvellous manner, the great purposes of His wisdom and goodness towards His ancient Church and people.
29 Reuben returned unto the pit--He seems to have designedly taken a circuitous route, with a view of secretly rescuing the poor lad from a lingering death by starvation. His intentions were excellent, and his feelings no doubt painfully lacerated when he discovered what had been done in his absence. But the thing was of God, who had designed that Joseph's deliverance should be accomplished by other means than his.
31 they took Joseph's coat--The commission of one sin necessarily leads to another to conceal it; and the scheme of deception which the sons of Jacob planned and practised on their aged father was a necessary consequence of the atrocious crime they had perpetrated. What a wonder that their cruel sneer, "thy son's coat," and their forced efforts to comfort him, did not awaken suspicion! But extreme grief, like every other passion, is blind, and Jacob, great as his affliction was, did allow himself to indulge his sorrow more than became one who believed in the government of a supreme and all-wise Disposer.
34 Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins--the common signs of Oriental mourning. A rent is made in the skirt more or less long according to the afflicted feelings of the mourner, and a coarse rough piece of black sackcloth or camel's hair cloth is wound round the waist.
35 and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son--not the earth, for Joseph was supposed to be torn in pieces, but the unknown place--the place of departed souls, where Jacob expected at death to meet his beloved son.
