Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.
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Genesis 37:26-28 sits inside this longer paragraph.
They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.
Parallel Translations
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Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him.
Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.
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And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
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.
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.
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And Judah said unto his brethren: 'What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh.' And his brethren hearkened unto him.
And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt.
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Cross-references (43)
- Acts 7:9 (v28) “The patriarchs, moved with jealousy against Joseph, sold him into Egypt. God was with him,
- Psalms 105:17 (v28) He sent a man before them. Joseph was sold for a slave.
- Genesis 25:2 (v28) She bore him Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah.
- Genesis 37:20 (v26) Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see…
- Genesis 45:4-5 (v28) Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” They came near. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now…
Show all 41 cross-references
- Matthew 16:26 (vv26–27) For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?
- Matthew 26:15 (vv27–28) and said, “What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?” They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.
- Genesis 4:10 (v26) Yahweh said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries to me from the ground.
- Genesis 37:25 (v28) They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their…
- Genesis 37:36 (v28) The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard.
- Genesis 42:21 (v27) They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and…
- Judges 6:1-3 (v28) The children of Israel did that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, so Yahweh delivered them into the hand of Midian seven years. The hand of…
- Exodus 2:16 (v28) Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.
- Numbers 25:15 (v28) The name of the Midianite woman who was slain was Cozbi, the daughter of Zur. He was head of the people of a fathers’ house in Midian.
- Numbers 25:17 (v28) “Harass the Midianites, and strike them;
- Numbers 31:2-3 (v28) “Avenge the children of Israel on the Midianites. Afterward you shall be gathered to your people.” Moses spoke to the people, saying, “Arm…
- Judges 8:22 (v28) Then the men of Israel said to Gideon, “Rule over us, both you, your son, and your son’s son also; for you have saved us out of the hand of…
- Judges 8:24 (v28) Gideon said to them, “I do have a request: that you would each give me the earrings of his plunder.” (For they had golden earrings, because…
- 1 Samuel 18:17 (v27) Saul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh’s battles.”…
- Psalms 83:9 (v28) Do to them as you did to Midian, as to Sisera, as to Jabin, at the river Kishon;
- Isaiah 60:6 (v28) A multitude of camels will cover you, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah. All from Sheba will come. They will bring gold and frankincense,…
- Zechariah 11:12-13 (v28) I said to them, “If you think it best, give me my wages; and if not, keep them.” So they weighed for my wages thirty pieces of silver.…
- Matthew 27:9 (v28) Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, “They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him…
- Genesis 25:32 (v26) Esau said, “Behold, I am about to die. What good is the birthright to me?”
- Genesis 29:14 (v27) Laban said to him, “Surely you are my bone and my flesh.” Jacob stayed with him for a month.
- Genesis 37:22 (v27) Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might deliver him…
- Exodus 21:16 (v27) “Anyone who kidnaps someone and sells him, or if he is found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death.
- Exodus 21:21 (v27) Notwithstanding, if his servant gets up after a day or two, he shall not be punished, for the servant is his property.
- Numbers 31:8-9 (v28) They killed the kings of Midian with the rest of their slain: Evi, Rekem, Zur, Hur, and Reba, the five kings of Midian. They also killed…
- Deuteronomy 17:8 (v26) If there arises a matter too hard for you in judgment, between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, being…
- 2 Samuel 1:16 (v26) David said to him, “Your blood be on your head; for your mouth has testified against you, saying, ‘I have slain Yahweh’s anointed.’ ”
- 2 Samuel 11:14-17 (v27) In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, and sent it by the hand of Uriah. He wrote in the letter, saying, “Send Uriah to the…
- 2 Samuel 12:9 (v27) Why have you despised Yahweh’s word, to do that which is evil in his sight? You have struck Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and have…
- Nehemiah 5:8 (v27) I said to them, “We, after our ability, have redeemed our brothers the Jews that were sold to the nations; and would you even sell your…
- Job 16:18 (v26) “Earth, don’t cover my blood. Let my cry have no place to rest.
- Psalms 30:9 (v26) “What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?
- Jeremiah 41:8 (v26) But ten men were found among those who said to Ishmael, “Don’t kill us; for we have stores hidden in the field, of wheat, and of barley,…
- Ezekiel 24:7 (v26) “ ‘ “For her blood is in the middle of her. She set it on the bare rock. She didn’t pour it on the ground, to cover it with dust.
- Romans 6:21 (v26) What fruit then did you have at that time in the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.
- 1 Timothy 1:10 (v27) for the sexually immoral, for homosexuals, for slave-traders, for liars, for perjurers, and for any other thing contrary to the sound…
- Revelation 18:13 (v27) and cinnamon, incense, perfume, frankincense, wine, olive oil, fine flour, wheat, sheep, horses, chariots, and people’s bodies and souls.
41 distinct cross-references across this passage (43 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (17 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain On v28 28. Then there passed by Midianites. Some think that…
28. Then there passed by Midianites. Some think that Joseph was twice sold in the same place. For it is certain, since Median was the son of Abraham and Keturah, that his sons were distinct from the sons of Ishmael: and Moses has not thoughtlessly put down these different names. But I thus interpret the passage: that Joseph was exposed for sale to any one who chose, and seeing the purchase of him was declined by the Midianites, he was sold to the Ishmaelites. Moreover, though they might justly suspect the sellers of having stolen him, yet the desire of gain prevents them from making inquiry. We may also add, what is probable, that, on the journey, they inquired who Joseph was. But they did not set such a value on their common origin as to prevent them from eagerly making gain. This passage, however, teaches us how far the sons of Abraham, after the flesh, were preferred to the elect offspring, in which, nevertheless, the hope of the future Church was included. We see that, of the two sons of Abraham, a posterity so great was propagated, that from both proceeded merchants in various places: while that part of his seed which the Lord had chosen to himself was yet small. But so the children of this world, like premature fruit, quickly arrive at the greatest wealth and at the summit of happiness; whereas the Church, slowly creeping through the greatest difficulties, scarcely attains, during a long period, to the condition of mediocrity.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v28 Moses writing according to the opinion of them which…
Moses writing according to the opinion of them which took the Midianites and Ishmaelites to be both one, doth here confound their names: as also appeareth, verse 36 and Gen. 39:1, or else he was first offered to the Midianites, but sold to the Ishmaelites.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Gen 37:26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What…
Gen 37:26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit [is it] if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
Ver. 26. What profit is it? &c.] Cui bono said that old judge in Rome. {a} This is a song that most men will listen to. As the Jassians in Strabo, delighted with the music of an excellent harper, ran all away, when once they heard the market bell ring, save a deaf old man, that could take little delight in the harper’s ditties. But it were to be wished, that whenever we are tempted to sin, we would ask ourselves this question, What profit is it? &c.
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{a} Cic., Orat. pro. C. Rabir.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv26, 28 If we suffer him to perish in the pit,…
If we suffer him to perish in the pit, when we may sell him with advantage,
and conceal his blood, i.e. his death, as the word blood is often used. See Deu 17:8; 2Sa 1:16; 3:28.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv26–28 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,....…
Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,.... For a slave, and that will defeat his dream; and as these were going down to Egypt, where they would sell him, he would be far enough from them, and there would be no probability of his ever being lord over them:
and let not our hand be upon him; to take away his life, either by stabbing or starving him:
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for he is our brother, and our flesh; they had all one father, though different mothers, and therefore, as the relation was so near, some sympathy and compassion should be shown; some degree of tenderness at least, and not savageness and cruelty:
and his brethren were content; they agreed to the motion, inasmuch as they supposed it would answer their end as well, which was to prevent his dominion over them.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On v26 What profit is it if we slay our brother?…
What profit is it if we slay our brother? - It will be less guilt and more gain to sell him. They all agreed to this. And as Joseph was sold by the contrivance of Judah for twenty pieces of silver, so was our Lord Jesus for thirty, and by one of the same name too, Judas. Reuben it seems, was gone away from his brethren when they sold Joseph, intending to come round some other way to the pit, and to help Joseph out of it. But had this taken effect, what had become of God's purpose concerning his preferment, in Egypt? There are many devices of the enemies of God's people to destroy them, and of their friends to help them, which perhaps are both disappointed, as these here; but the counsel of the Lord that shall stand. Reuben thought himself undone because the child was sold; I, whither shall I go? He being the eldest, his father would expect from him an account of him; but it proved they had all been undone, if he had not been sold.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v28 Verse 28. For twenty pieces of silver] In the…
Verse 28. For twenty pieces of silver] In the Anglo-Saxon it is [Anglo-Saxon] thirty pence. This, I think, is the first instance on record of selling a man for a slave; but the practice certainly did not commence now, it had doubtless been in use long before. Instead of pieces, which our translators supply, the Persian has [Persian] miskal, which was probably intended to signify a shekel; and if shekels be intended, taking them at three shillings each, Joseph was sold for about three pounds sterling. I have known a whole cargo of slaves, amounting to eight hundred and thirteen, bought by a slave captain in Bonny river, in Africa, on an average, for six pounds each; and this payment was made in guns, gunpowder, and trinkets! As there were only nine of the brethren present, and they sold Joseph for twenty shekels, each had more than two shekels as his share in this most infamous transaction.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v26 Gen 37:26. What profit is it if we slay…
Gen 37:26. What profit is it if we slay our brother? — It will be less guilt and more gain to sell him. They all agreed to this. And as Joseph was sold by the contrivance of Judah for twenty pieces of silver, so was our Lord Jesus for thirty, and by one of the same name too, Judas. Reuben, it seems, was gone away from his brethren when they sold Joseph, intending to come round some other way to the pit, and to help Joseph out of it. But had this taken effect, what had become of God’s purpose concerning his preferment in Egypt? There are many devices of the enemies of God’s people to destroy them, and of their friends to help them, which perhaps are both disappointed, as these here; but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Reuben thought himself undone because the child was sold; I, whither shall I go? — He being the eldest, his father would expect from him an account of him; but it proved they had all been undone, if he had not been sold.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v28 Of silver. Some have read, thirty pieces of gold…
Of silver. Some have read, thirty pieces of gold or silver. (St. Ambrose, c. 3.) --- The price was trifling: twenty sicles would be about £2 5s. 7½d. English. The Madianites and Ismaelites jointly purchased Joseph. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v26 Judah said, . . . What profit is it…
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
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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 £3.
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.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v28 28. Sold Joseph… for twenty pieces of silver —…
28. Sold Joseph… for twenty pieces of silver — “The future deliverer of Israel is sold as a slave. One of the great caravan routes from Damascus through the land of Gilead to Egypt, by the way of the maritime plain, Ramleh and Gaza, ran near the pasture ground, and a side route from the East, crossing the fords of the Jordan opposite Bethshan, passed through the valley of Jezreel, and turning southwest, crossed the pastures of Dothan, joining the main route south of the point where it descends from Carmel. Had the caravan been moving to Egypt by the easterly route, through Hebron, past Jacob’s tents, Joseph’s brethren would not have dared to sell him. The Ishmaelites, (descendants of Ishmael, Abraham’s son by Hagar,) called Arabians in the Chaldee, and Midianites, (descendants of Midian, Abraham’s son by Keturah,) were mingled in the same caravan, the ‘east Abrahamic peoples,’ who now as then are sons of the desert, going down to Egypt with the spices and gums of Arabia and India. The caravan was laden with precious gums, for which there was always a market in Egypt, created to a great extent, probably, by the demand for such articles in embalming. The word rendered spicery (Gen_37:25) most probably is gum-tragacanth; balm is the precious aromatic balsam for which Gilead was famous, distilling from a shrub for which the plain of Jericho was once celebrated, and now found in the gardens of Tiberias, while the substance, incorrectly rendered in A.V. myrrh, is the odorous greenish resin ladanum, which exudes from the branches of the cistus, a shrub of the rock-rose family, with white or rose-coloured flowers. Judah, influenced by compassion, with which probably cupidity was mingled, proposes to sell Joseph as a slave, rather than take his life. This is the first historic instance of the sale of a man, though slavery is, probably, as ancient as war, being a substitute for the murder of captives. ‘And they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty (shekels of) silver,’ that is, about ten ounces of silver in weight, about twelve dollars and a half at the present valuation!” — Newhall.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv26–28 26. conceal his blood] Referring to the superstition that…
26. conceal his blood] Referring to the superstition that blood, which was not covered, would cry for vengeance: see note on Gen_4:10. Cf. Job_16:18; Isa_26:21; Eze_24:7.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On v28 (28) Twenty pieces of silver.—Twenty shekels of silver were…
(28) Twenty pieces of silver.—Twenty shekels of silver were computed, in Lev_27:5, as the average worth of a male slave under twenty. It would be about £2 10s. of our money, but silver was of far greater value then than it is now.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv26, 28 Vers. 26, 27. And Judah (apparently shrinking from the…
CHAPTER 37:26-36
EXPOSITION.
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Vers. 26, 27. And Judah (apparently shrinking from the idea of murder) said unto his brethren, What profit is it if (literally, what of advantage that) we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? (i.e. and hide the fact of his murder). Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him (literally, and our hand, let it not be upon him, i.e. to slay him); for he is our brother and our flesh or, more expressly, our brother and our flesh he (cf. Gen_29:14) And his brethren were content literally, hearkened, viz., to the proposal.
Vers. 26-36.
Joseph carried by Midianites to Egypt.
I THE INFAMOUS SALE.
1. The wicked proposal. "Come, and let us sell him. By whatever motives Judah was actuated, the notion that either he or his brethren had a right thus to dispose of Joseph"s life was not simply an open violation of the Divine law which constituted all men with equal fights, and in particular made every man his brother"s keeper, not his brother"s destroyer or proprietor, but a hideous discovery of the utter perversion of moral nature which had taken place in the case of Joseph"s brethren. So low had they now sunk, that they were become not alone without humanity, but without natural affection as well.
2. The double reason.
(1) The advantageous character of the proposed transaction is exhibited by Judah, who doubtless understood the sort of arguments that would weigh most powerfully with his brethren. Simply to assassinate the hated stripling and conceal his blood might indeed gratify their feelings of revenge, but would not do much to enrich them. Might it not be possible to dispose of him more profitably than by the coarse way of killing him? Then
(2) the humane aspect of the proposed transaction is pathetically dwelt upon by Judah, is our brother and our flesh, in which perhaps may also be detected Judah"s subtle knowledge of human nature, in reasoning that men who cared nothing for the claims of humanity and brotherhood in themselves might be induced to do a little cheap philanthropy by sparing Joseph, after they had first been made to see that it would likewise be profitable. Judah"s last remark was a master-stroke which overbore every vestige of opposition: "his brethren were content.
1. The favorable opportunity. Many wicked schemes are happily never carried through because the opportunity is wanting thanks to Divine providence! But, on the other hand, thousands of nefarious crimes are born of the opportunity thanks to the sinful ingenuity of the fallen heart I The scheme of Judah was clearly suggested by the providential circumstance that at the moment an Ishmaelitish caravan was passing by on its way with gums and spicery to Egypt. That caravan was God"s chariot sent to convey Joseph to the throne of Egypt. Judah asked his brethren to see in it a prison van to take their brother into slavery in Egypt. Wicked men and God may often seem to play at cross purposes with one another, but God always triumphs. Man proposes; God disposes.
1. The accomplished transaction. "They drew and lifted Joseph up out of the pit, and sold him to the Midianites for thirty pieces of silver." The first recorded specimen of a transaction which has frequently been repeated in the history of mankind. Slave markets have often imitated, but seldom surpassed, the wickedness of which Joseph"s brethren were guilty. It was not simply a fellow-creature that they sold, but a brother; and they had not even the poor apology of getting a good bargain, as they sold him for twenty shekels little over forty shillings!
3. The unforeseen result. Joseph"s purchasers conveyed him into Egypt, and sold him, as probably his brethren expected; it is scarcely likely they anticipated he would find his way into so honorable service as that of a high officer of state. But God was taking Joseph thereby a step nearer to his predicted elevation.
II THE DOLEFUL TIDINGS.
1. The ominous symbol. The coat of ends, the token of a father"s love for his darling son, the insensate ruffians, after dipping it in blood, caused to be conveyed into their father"s presence by the hands of a swift-footed messenger. This was rather a proof of their cowardice than of their consideration for Jacob"s feelings.
2. The pretended discovery. The bearer of the blood-stained tunic was directed to say that the brethren had found the robe, and to ask, with expressions of their deep concern, whether or not it was the coat of his beloved son. Their intention we cannot think was to stab their father"s heart, but to mislead his judgment.
3. The expected inference. As they designed, the old man concluded that his son was devoured: "Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." Seldom do villains" plots succeed so well.
III THE SORROWING PARENT.
1. The bitter grief. The depth and tenderness of Jacob"s mourning for his lost son was
(1) visibly expressed: "he rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins;
(2) long continued: "he mourned for his son many days;" and, if we accept a proposed reading of the last clause of ver. 35,
(3) lovingly shared: "his father," the blind Isaac, who still survived, "wept for him for Rachel"s dead child and Jacob"s lost son.
2. The ineffectual consolation. "All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted." For this Jacob was
(1) to be excused, since his comforters were mostly hypocrites, whose proffered consolations must have sounded strangely hollow in his ears; but also
(2) to be blamed, since although God in his providence had taken away Joseph, that was no reason why he should give way to despairing grief. Not so did Abraham when he thought of losing Isaac.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v28 Sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of…
Gen_37:28
Sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver; and they brought Joseph into Egypt
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Joseph sold into Egypt
I.
A FAMILY FEUD THE FOUNDATION OF A NATIONAL CALAMITY. Bondage for four hundred years.
II. A DESPISED CLASS BECOMES THE INSTRUMENT OF GODS PROVIDENCES AND JUDGMENTS. Ishmaelites: the slave-traders of their day.
III. THE COMFORT OF DEATH FOR PERSONAL LOSS AND AWAKENED JUDGMENTS (Gen_37:35). (W. R. Campbell.)
Joseph sold into Egypt
1. The narrative shows one of the not uncommon ways which God takes to prepare men for usefulness and blessing. The pathway to any eminence in usefulness, virtue, or joy, is commonly rugged. Muscular strength comes of abundant toil, mental vigour of hard study, moral force of temptation and discipline. It is by fire that gold is separated from its dross, and iron hardened into steel. Even the Captain of our salvation was made perfect through suffering. One cannot guess of how many noble lives the secret, if disclosed, would be found in some great trial. An Arab once bemoaned his fate thus: Alas, I fear that God doth not remember me. I have no trials, nothing but ease and enjoyment. You cannot make a great life out of sunshine alone. Nor need one lose heart if his whole earthly course seems to be under a cloud. As the discipline of youth may be for riper years, so that of ones whole earthly career is for the ages beyond.
2. Again, the narrative shows how responsible parents are for the conduct and welfare of their children. One of the gravest errors in family training is that favouritism of which Jacob was guilty. On the one hand it engenders weak and offensive pride; on the other, angry and bitter resentment. Dissension is inevitable.
3. Here, again, we are impressed with the danger of sin in thought and feeling. Apparently, the criminal deed of Josephs brethren was wholly unpremeditated. It was an unhappy moments impulse. It has been said that with one bound a soul sometimes overleaps all blessed restraints; we flee into crime as if the dogs of sinful desire were upon us. We rush to deeds of which at other moments we thought ourselves incapable. The petted feeling grows to be so completely master, that we obey it when obedience has ceased to be a pleasure. Some of the worlds greatest criminals were not only sweet in childhood, but apparently amiable in youth. Let us never forget the tendency of sin to grow, and that as imperceptibly as does the plant or tree. It is also to be remembered that the guilt centres in the disposition rather than in the act. God sees hearts as we do faces. The powder that is explosive and the powder that explodes do not differ. He that hateth his brother is a murderer.
4. Yet again, we here learn something of the unmixed wickedness of the particular sin of envy. It is the opposite of that charity out of a pure heart, which, while it rejoices over a brothers or sisters good fortune, is itself thereby enriched; of that spirit which makes all anothers gains its own, which is the richer for its neighbours riches, the gladder for its brothers gladness. As love is of heaven, envy is of hell.
5. Briefly, at least, we must notice the illustration we here have of the bitter outcome of sin.
(1) One part of this is a sort of necessity for more sin. No sooner is the heartless deed of Josephs brethren done than they begin to add other sins for its concealment.
(2) But the full outcome of sin in-eludes also much sorrrow. Witness the entreaties and tears of the lad Joseph; the distress of Reuben; the perplexity and fears of all. The comfortless, bereaved father is overwhelmed.
6. For Gods children, the culminating lesson of this fragment of history is one of patience and trust in lifes darkest hours. (H. M. Grout, D. D.)
Sold to the Ishmaelites
I. This narrative may remind us of THE UNCERTAINTIES THAT CHARACTERIZE OUR HUMAN EXISTENCE. It is the unexpected that happens. The lesson is, that we should be ever ready to respond to the call of God, and should take short views of things by living, as nearly as possible, a day at a time.
II. We may see from this narrative that THE BEGINNING OF SIN IS LIKE THE LETTING OUT OF WATER. What began in envy leads to murder, and that again gives birth to falsehood. Sin thus multiplies as rapidly as the Colorado beetle, and no matter what may be the first one, you may always call its name Gad, for you may surely say, a troop cometh. Therefore, if we would successfully resist it, we must withstand its beginnings. Especially is this true of envy, which is purely soul-sin--the hatred of a man for the good that is in him. Envy must be supplanted by the love of Christ.
III. We may learn that IN SEEKING TO DEFEAT GODS PURPOSES WE ARE ALL THE WHILE UNCONSCIOUSLY HELPING ON THEIR FULFILMENT. We cannot explain the law of it, but we clearly see the fact. Oh the marvellous wisdom of that providence of God which thus, without doing violence to the will of any human being, lays all their actions under tribute for the furtherance of its designs! And what is the use of a man trying to thwart Gods purposes when, whether he will or not, everything he does only helps them forward? Surely it is better far to acquiesce in them, and find our happiness in the doing of His will!
IV. I note from this narrative that WE NO NOT GET RID OF A RESPONSIBILITY BY PUTTING IT OUT OF SIGHT.
V. THERE IS A RETRIBUTIVE ELEMENT IN OUR TROUBLES. Jacob, who deceived his father Isaac, is now deceived by his own children. One of his chickens came home to roost, and very bitter was the experience. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Lesson analysis
I. JOSEPH ABUSED.
1. Stripped of his raiment (Gen_37:23).
2. Taken by force (Gen_37:24).
3. Cast into a pit (Gen_37:24).
(1) Separated from the presence of men.
(2) Protected by the presence of God.
II. JOSEPH SOLE.
1. The ready purchasers (Gen_37:25).
2. The mercenary plea (Gen_37:26-27).
3. The paltry price.
III. JOSEPH MOURNED.
1. Cruel deception (Gen_37:33).
2. Pitiable woe (Gen_37:34).
3. Inconsolable sorrow (Gen_37:35). (American Sunday School Times.)
Mans passions and Gods purpose
I. THE BROAD TEACHING OF THE WHOLE STORY IS, THAT GOD WORKS OUT HIS GREAT PURPOSES THROUGH EVEN THE CRIMES OF UNCONSCIOUS As. As coral insects work, not knowing the plan of their reef, still less the fair vegetation and smiling homes which it will one day carry, but blindly building from the material supplied by the ocean a barrier against it; so even evildoers are carrying on Gods plan, and sin is made to counterwork itself, and be the black channel through which the flashing water of life pours.
II. THE POISONOUS FRUIT OF BROTHERLY HATRED. The swift passage of the purely spiritual sin of jealous envy into the murderous act, as soon as opportunity offered, teaches the short path which connects the inmost passions with the grossest outward deeds. Like Jonahs gourd, the smallest seed of hate needs bat an hour or two of favouring weather to become a great tree, with all obscene and blood-seeking birds croaking in its branches. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. Therefore the solemn need for guarding the heart from the beginnings of envy, and for walking in love. The clumsy contrivance for murder without criminality, which Reuben suggested, is an instance of the shallow pretexts with which the sophistry of sin fools men before they have done the wrong thing. The mask generally tumbles off very soon after. The bait is useless when the hook is well in the fishs gills. Dont let us kill him. Let us put him into a cistern. He cannot climb up its bottle-shaped, smooth sides. But that is not our fault. Nobody will ever hear his muffled cries from its depths. But there will be no blood on our hands. It was not the first time, nor is it the last, that men have tried to blink their responsibility for the consequences which they hoped would come of their crimes. Such excuses seem sound when we are being tempted; but, as soon as the rush of passion is past, they are found to be worthless. Like some cheap castings, they are only meant to be seen in front, where they are rounded and burnished. Get behind them, and you find them hollow. They sat down to eat bread. Thomas Fuller pithily says: With what heart could they say grace, either before or after meat? What a grim meal! And what an indication of their rude natures, seared consciences, and deadened affections!
III. The ill-omened meal is interrupted by the sudden appearance, so picturesquely described, of THE CARAVAN OF ISHMAELITES WITH THEIR LOANED CAMELS. Dothan was on or near the great trade route to Egypt, where luxury, as well as the custom of embalming, opened a profitable market for spices. The traders would probably not be particular as to the sort of merchandize they picked up on their road, and such an unconsidered trifle as a slave or two would be neither here nor there. This opportune advent of the caravan sets a thought buzzing in Judahs brain, which brings out a new phase of the crime. Hatred darkening to murder is bad enough; but hatred which has also aa eye to business, and makes a profit out of a brother, is a shade or two blacker, because it means cold-blooded calculation and selfish advantage instead of raging passion.
IV. Leaving Joseph to pursue his sad journey, our narrative introduces for the first time REUBEN, whose counsel, as the verses before our lesson tell us, it had been to cast the poor lad into the cistern. His motive had been altogether good; he wished to save life, and, as soon as the others were out of the way, to bring Joseph up again and get him safely back to Jacob Gen_42:22). Well meant and kindly motived as his action was--and self-sacrificing too, if, as is probable, Joseph was his destined successor in the forfeited birthright--his scheme breaks down, as attempts to mitigate evil by compliance and to make compromises with sinners usually do. The only one of the whole family who had some virtue in him, was too timid to take up a position of uncompromising condemnation. He thought it more politic to go part of the way, and to trust to being able to prevent the worst. That is always a dangerous experiment. It is often tried still; it never answers. Let a man stand to his guns, and speak out the condemnation that is in his heart; otherwise he will be sure to go farther than he meant, he will lose all right of remonstrance, and will generally find that the more daring sinners have made his well-meant schemes to avert the mischief impossible.
V. THE CRUEL TRICK BY WHICH JACOB WAS DECEIVED is perhaps the most heartless bit of the whole heartless crime. It canto as near an insult as possible. It was maliciously meant. The snarl about the coat, the studied use of thy son as if they disowned the brotherhood, the unfeeling harshness of choosing such a way of telling their lie--all were meant to give the maximum of pain, and betray their savage hatred of father and son, and its causes.
VI. AND WHAT OF THE POOR OLD FATHER? His grief is unworthy of Gods wrestler. It is not the part of a devout believer in Gods providence to refuse to be comforted. There was no religious submission in his passionate sorrow. How unlike the quiet resignation which should have marked the recognition that the God who had been his guide was working here too! No doubt the hypocritical condolences of his children were as vinegar upon nitre. No doubt the loss of Joseph had taken away the one gentle and true son on whom his loneliness rested since his Rachels death, while he found no solace in the wild, passionate men who called him father, and brought him no honour. But still his grief is beyond the measure which a true faith in God would have warranted; and we cannot but see that the dark picture which we have just been looking at gets no lighter or brighter tints from the demeanour of Jacob. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
Joseph sold into Egypt
I. A BEAUTIFUL IDEAL OF WHAT A YOUNG CHRISTIAN SHOULD BE.
1. Having no fellowship with that which is evil.
2. As loved of the good.
II. THE SAD EXPERIENCES THROUGH WHICH MANY A CONSISTENT YOUNG CHRISTIAN PASSES.
1. Joseph was hated of his brothers because their father loved him.
2. Joseph was cruelly treated by his brothers.
3. There are lighter and darker shades among the wicked.
III. THE SORROW WHICH CRUEL TREATMENT CAUSES,
IV. THE TENDER PROVIDENCE OF GOD IS SEEN IN THE DISPOSAL OF JOSEPH IN EGYPT.
1. His promotion in Potiphars house proves this.
2. That he reached the rulership of Egypt through his experiences in Potiphars house, proves it. Lessons: The permissions of God are full of mystery, but also full of grace.
2. The story of Joseph proves the possibility of youthful piety, and that Christian character may glow in adversity. (D. C. Hughes, M. A.)
Apparent disaster often real advancement
The chief peril which threatened Joseph was the foolish partiality of his father. Under this unwholesome influence he was likely enough to become vain, insolent, overbearing. So it was best that he should be removed from this mischievous hot-house of favouritism into a more bracing climate; where, under biting winds and nipping frosts, his virtues would be well rooted. Fortunes frowns serve our well-being, as much--perhaps more--than fortunes smiles. If friends of God, no harm can ever befall us.
I. WE SEE HERE INNOCENCE PROVOKING MALICE TO VILER DEEDS. Without question, the presence of a righteous man brings to light the baseness of the wicked. Just as the summer sun quickens the growth of noxious weeds, and makes the stench of a foetid sewer still more odious; so the influence of a saintly character exasperates base men to do their worst. The presence of the Son of God on earth provoked Satan to put out prodigious efforts of malice. To a vitiated palate even food will produce vomiting. The beneficent errand of Joseph obtained only opprobrium and ill.nature. Behold, said they, this dreamer cometh. Then this was the worst thing malice could lay to his charge. In this respect also Joseph was a type of Jesus Christ. The only accusation men could prefer against either was that he had aspired to be a king. Yet this was not merely a prophetic assertion; it was a divinely appointed office; it was a certain destiny. The righteous man must inevitably rule.
II. WE SEE HERE WICKEDNESS RAPIDLY MATURING ITS FRUITS.
1. Sin is a hardening and a blinding process. It treats its victims as the Philistines treated Samson--puts out their eyes. They saw not Joseph as a brother; they saw him only as a dreamer. They saw only the gain of twenty dollars--about a dollar a piece; they were blind to the tremendous loss.
2. Under favourable circumstances sin speedily develops. Hatred soon grew into murderous conspiracy, into rude violence, into lying, deceit, avarice, fraud; into base traffic of a brothers flesh--the sum of all villainies. In the fields of nature some plants will bear ten thousand seeds; but this plant of sin is yet more prolific in effects.
3. Yet sin is temporarily checked by a sense of responsibility. Reuben alone of the eleven sought the deliverance of Joseph.
4. Sin defeats its own ends. When the innocent lad was led away an abject slave, had they baffled his dreams? They had helped the business forward.
III. WE SEE HERE THAT HARD SERVICE IS THE WAY TO SOVEREIGNTY. There is great truth in the maxim that he would rule, must first learn to serve. Napoleon I. rose to sovereignty because he served well in the lowest ranks of the French army. Jesus Christ is enthroned in the hearts of myriads because He has served them so faithfully and so generously. It is a law in mechanics that in proportion as a free body is forced downward, will it rise upward when the force is withdrawn. Nature helps a rebound. (J. Dickerson Davies,M. A.)
Anything better than confinement in the dry pit
To be brought out of a pit wherein there is no water, is in Scripture represented as a great deliverance. Joseph would learn in this pit to bear those other sufferings that were allotted to him. He was sold to foreign merchants. He was carried into a strange land, to be again sold as a slave. He was cast into a prison, where he lay for several years. But the remembrance of the pit wherein was no water, and of his fruitless cries for relief, would make him think that his condition, under all these circumstances of distress, was not so bad as it might have been, and as it once actually was. (G. Lawson, D. D.)
Joseph betrayed and sold for twenty pieces of silver
Joseph, in his betrayal into the hands of the Ishmaelites, was a distinct type of the Redeemer betrayed into the hands of the Gentiles. The name of the betrayer was the same. In the case of Joseph it was a brother who lifted up his heel against him; in the case of Christ, it was His own familiar friend in whom He trusted, which did eat of His bread (Psa_41:9) that betrayed Him. In both eases it was covetousness which prompted the betrayer to the dark deed of treachery. In both cases the betrayer dissembled, and accomplished his wicked design under the mask of friendship. Do you observe how Judah speaks? How subtle is his argument, and yet how transparently hollow and treacherous and insincere! As hollow and as insincere as the kiss of Judas! Look at his speech. Come, said he, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. Oh what a contemptible vice is covetousness! The rest of his brethren readily consented to this proposal. The proposal itself, and their acquiescing in it, gives us a very painful view of the deceitfulness of the human heart. The proposal was a monstrous one; it was most cruel; and yet they ignorantly imagined that by adopting it they would be washing their hands of bloodguiltiness. They appear to have viewed it as an admirable contrivance, by which they would get rid of Joseph effectually, without loading their consciences with his death, just as though they would not be quite as responsible in the sight of God for the mischief done him by the Ishmaelites, as though their own hands bad wrought it. It is very melancholy to see the conscience of man thus deceiving him. And are there not other practices amongst us in which this same principle of drugging our consciences deceitfully can be traced? Is there no such thing as servants being employed to do what we would be ashamed to do ourselves? But perhaps we may discover something more than a practical lesson in this conduct of the patriarchs. May not their Let not our hand be upon Him remind us of the Jews? When Pilate said to them, Take ye Him and crucify Him, for I find no fault in Him, what did they say? Oh no! let not our hand be upon Him; do you crucify Him; yes, crucify Him, by all means; but as for us, it is not lawful for us to put any man to death. There are two other points in the text in which Joseph was a type of Christ. He was sold as a slave; Jesus was born under the law--a slave to perform all the rigid requirements of a law without mercy. Not one jot, not one tittle of that rigid law was ever relaxed for Him. Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver, Jesus was sold for thirty. At what price do you value the Lord Jesus Christ? Is He, in your estimation, the pearl of great price? (E. Dalton.)
Joseph sold to Arabs
The passage of an Arab caravan towards Egypt, and its purchase of Joseph, is equally true to early times, and to the unchanging Eastern life of to-day. Sir Samuel Bakers boy, Saat, had, in the same way as Joseph, been carried off while he was tending goats, by an Arab caravan; hidden in a gum sack, and finally taken to Cairo and sold as a slave. All the world may perish, so far as we care, said an Arab to Niebuhr, if only Egypt remains. And it was left to them even more in Josephs day than now, from the dislike of Egyptians to leave their country even for purposes of gain. The trade in spices was exceptionally great between the valley of the Nile and neighbouring countries; from the quantity used for embalming mummies, for burning as incense, or as disinfectants; for which they were in great repute. Even the names of the first and second of the three spices named--gum tragacanth, from Lebanon and Palestine generally, Armenia and Persia; balsam from the balsam-tree of Gilead; and lauda-num the gum collected still from the leaves of the cistus-rose--from Syria and Arabia, have been found in the list of two hundred drugs named in the temple-laboratory of Edfu; for each temple had its laboratory and apothecary. Even the twenty pieces of silver given for Joseph are exactly the price fixed under Moses as that of a male slave between five and twenty years of age (Lev_27:5); so nearly had human beings kept the same value for centuries. (C. Geikie, D. D.)
Sold into slavery
Mr. H. M. Stanley told an awful story of African slavery, in the Manchester Free Trade Hall. He said: A slave trade was a great blight, which clung to Africa like an aggravated pest, destroying men faster than children could be born. He overtook a party of Arab marauders on the Congo in November, 1883, over 1,200 miles from the sea. They had utterly desolated a number of villages, massacred all the adult males who had not at once fled, and carried off the women and children. He never saw such a sight before. In a small camp 300 fighting men kept in manacles and fetters, 2,300 naked women and children, their poor bodies entrusted with dirt, all emaciated and weary through much misery. Here was the net result of the burning of 118 villages, and the devastation of forty-three districts, to glut the avaricious soul of a man who had constituted himself chief of a district some 200 miles higher up. Though over seventy-five years old, here he was prosecuting his murderous business, having shed as much human blood in three months as, if collected into a tank, might have sufficed to drown him and all his thirty wives and concubines. Those 2,300 slaves would have to be transported over 200 miles in canoes, and such as could not be fed would die, and perhaps 800--perhaps 900--of all the number would ever reach their destination.
From the pit to slavery
In Josephs being lifted out of the pit only to pass into slavery, many a man of Josephs years has seen a picture of what has happened to himself. From a position in which they have been as if buried alive, young men not uncommonly emerge into a position preferable certainly to that out of which they have been brought, but in which they are compelled to work beyond their strength, and that for some superior in whom they have no special interest. Grinding toil, and often cruel insult, are their portion; and no necklace heavy with tokens of honour that afterwards may be allotted them can ever quite hide the scars made by the iron collar of the slave. One need not pity them over much, for they are young and have a whole life-time of energy and power of resistance in their spirit. And yet they will often call themselves slaves, and complain that all the fruit of their labour passes over to others and away from themselves, and all prospect of the fulfilment of their former dreams is quite cut off. That which haunts their heart by day and by night, that which they seem destined and fit for, they never get time nor liberty to work out and attain. They are never viewed as proprietors of themselves, who may possibly have interests of their own and hopes of their own. In Josephs case there were many aggravations of the soreness of such a condition. He had not one friend in the country. He had no knowledge of the language, no knowledge of any trade that could make him valuable in Egypt--nothing, in short, but his own manhood and his faith in God. His introduction to Egypt was of the most dispiriting kind. What could he expect from strangers, if his own brothers had found him so obnoxious? Now, when a man is thus galled and stung by injury, and has learned how little he can depend upon finding good faith and common justice in the world, his character will show itself in the attitude he assumes towards men and towards life generally. A weak nature, when it finds itself thus deceived and injured, will sullenly surrender all expectation of good, and will vent its spleen on the world by angry denunciations of the heartless and ungrateful ways of men. A proud nature will gather itself up from every blow, and determinedly work its way to an adequate revenge. A mean nature will accept its fate, anal while it indulges in cynical and spiteful observations on human life, will greedily accept the paltriest rewards it can secure. But the supreme healthiness of Josephs nature resists all the infectious influences that emanate from the world around him, and preserves him from every kind of morbid attitude towards the world and life. So easily did he throw off all vain regrets and stifle all vindictive and morbid feelings, so readily did he adjust himself to and so heartly enter into life as it presented itself to him, that he speedily rose to be overseer in the house of Potiphar. (M. Dods, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v27 to the Ishmaelites
to the Ishmaelites
"to these men who are descendants of Ishmael"
Read full note →
not lay our hands upon him
This means not to harm or injure him. AT: "not hurt him" (See: Idiom)
he is our brother, our flesh
The word "flesh" is a metonym that stands for a relative. AT: "he is our blood relative" (See: Metonymy)
His brothers listened to him
"Judah's brothers listened to him" or "Judah's brothers agreed with him"
Midianite ... Ishmaelites
Both names refer to the same group of traders that Joseph's brothers meet.
for twenty pieces of silver
"for the price of 20 pieces of silver" (See: Numbers)
carried Joseph into Egypt
"took Joseph to Egypt"
translationWords
Ishmael
hand
flesh
Midian
Joseph (OT)
silver
Egypt
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv26, 28 37:26 Judah began to exercise leadership that he would…
37:26 Judah began to exercise leadership that he would continue to develop as events unfolded (see 43:8-10).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.