Jacob had great trust in Joseph, and not just because he was
his favorite. As the story unfolds, it’s made obvious that Joseph was a very
special young man, with a gift of leadership. But unfortunately, in his youth
Joseph was immature and unwise, and he didn’t know how to deal in wisdom with
the relationship with his brothers; which was only made worse when Jacob showed
favoritism towards Joseph.
As the “trusted son”, Jacob sent Joseph to supervise over
his brothers. One time, his brothers took the flock northwards, and Jacob sent
him after them.
(Genesis 37:12-14) Now his
brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. (13) And
Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?
Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” (14) So
he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the
flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he
came to Shechem.
When Joseph arrived to where his brothers were supposed to
be, he didn’t find them. So he kept on going north in search of them.
(Gen. 37:15-17) And a man found
him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” (16) “I am
seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the
flock.” (17) And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say,
‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at
Dothan.
His brothers saw him coming from a distance. They were not
happy to see him, it was quite the contrary. In that moment, they saw their
chance to get rid of him.
(Gen. 37:21-22) But when Reuben
heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his
life.” (22) And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this
pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue
him out of their hand to restore him to his father.
Reuben was thinking about his father and how the death of
his favorite son would affect him. That is why he decided to play along with
his brothers, but he later had the intention of freeing Joseph.
When Joseph arrived, the brothers executed their plan.
(Gen. 37:23-25) So when Joseph
came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors
that he wore. (24) And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was
empty; there was no water in it. (25) Then they
sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from
Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry
it down to Egypt.
The bible says that after they threw Joseph into the pit,
the brothers sat down to “eat”. Where they close to him, or far away? At first
glance, we might think that they were right there with Joseph, but Jewish
commentators say that they went back to eat to where their flock was, which was
in the hills, while the pit was in the desert.
SELLING JOSEPH
The brothers followed “PLAN B”, as suggested by Reuben, and
threw Joseph into a dry well. But as they ate, Judah thought of a “PLAN C”:
(Gen. 37:25-27) Then they sat
down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from
Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry
it down to Egypt. (26) Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it
if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? (27) Come, let us sell him
to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother,
our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.
The Ishmaelite caravan was traveling from Gilead (which
today is Jordan) on their way to Egypt. This caravan was traveling on the
ancient trade route, known as Via Maris,
which crosses the Jezreel Valley toward the coast of the Mediterranean. This
route goes through the cities of Beit She’an, Afula and Megiddo that are in
this valley, but it does not cross the hills of Dothan, where Joseph’s brothers
were. Dothan is the area that is now known as Jenin, which is approximately 12
miles north of Shechem, and 6 miles south of Via Maris in the Jezreel Valley. Dothan is over 600 feet higher
than the valley, which is why they could see a great part of the valley from
there. From there the brothers saw the caravan of Ishmaelite traders. So they
had enough time to go down to the valley, get Joseph and catch up to them.
However, the story presents an element that the brothers had
not thought of. While they were in Dothan (Gen. 37:17) with their flock, they
did not suspect that another caravan of Midianites would go by the well where
Joseph was.
(Gen. 37:28) Then Midianite
traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and
sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph
to Egypt.
The Midianites went ahead of Joseph’s brothers, took the
young man out of the well and sold him to the Ishmaelites that were passing by
at that moment.
The Midianites were a different group than the Ishmaelites;
the Midianites are local traders, while the Ishmaelites are traveling traders.
Reuben was the first one to find out what had happened,
since he had already gone ahead of the others in order to free Joseph. But, to
his surprise, he was gone…
(Gen. 37:29-30) When Reuben
returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his
clothes (30) and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and
I, where shall I go?”
SELLING PRICE
The bible says that Joseph’s selling price was 20 shekels of
silver.
(Gen. 37:28) Then Midianite
traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and
sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph
to Egypt.
That selling price is very significant. In Leviticus we can
see what that amount means:
(Lev. 27:1-5) The LORD spoke
to Moses, saying, (2) “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If
anyone makes a special vow to the LORD involving the valuation of
persons, (3) then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to
sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel
of the sanctuary. (4) If the person is a female, the valuation shall be
thirty shekels. (5) If the person is from five years old up to twenty
years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female
ten shekels.
That “redemptive” price is for a young male.
BLOOD ON THE TUNIC
After what happened to Joseph, the brothers were worried
about their father’s reaction to losing his son. They could have told him the
truth, and their father undoubtedly would have gone to rescue and redeem his
son. But the brothers decided to make up a story, since they didn’t want to see
Joseph anymore. To defend themselves, they came up with an explanation.
(Gen. 37:31-33) Then they took
Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. (32)
And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said,
“This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or
not.” (33) And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce
animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.”
Jacob recognized the robe and thought that his son was dead.
In that moment, he felt a great sorrow which changed him, never to be the same
man again.
(Gen. 37:34-35) Then Jacob tore
his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many
days. (35) All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but
he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son,
mourning.” Thus his father wept for him.
His sons had the medicine that would console his soul, but
they refused to give it to him. That is how deep their hatred was, or the fear
of their father’s reaction if he ever found out what really happened.
GOD’S PLAN
Even above the evil plans of men, is the sovereignty of God.
The Lord allowed Joseph’s brothers to “get away with it”, because behind this
great tragedy God was preparing a great salvation plan.
While the brothers thought that their dream of “getting rid
of Joseph” had come true, the dream that was actually coming true was Joseph’s.
God took Joseph to Egypt as a slave to turn him into the leader that would save
that nation and also Jacob’s entire family (Gen. 45:5, 7-8). But for that to happen,
many years had to pass and Joseph had to be prepared and shaped for this great
task…
Next time we will see what happened to Joseph…
(Genesis 37:36) Meanwhile the
Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the
captain of the guard.
Comments
Post a Comment