Genesis 37:25 | 73 broth ers, they hat ed him all the more. 6 He said to them,“ Lis ten to this dream I had: 7 We were bind ing sheaves of grain out in the field when sud den ly my sheaf rose and stood up right, while your sheaves gath ered around mine and bowed down to it.”
8
His broth ers said to him,“ Do you in tend to reign over us? Will you ac tu al ly rule us?” And they hat ed him all the more be cause of his dream and what he had said.
9
Then he had an oth er dream, and he told it to his broth ers.“ Lis ten,” he said,“ I had an oth er dream, and this time the sun and moon and elev en stars were bow ing down to me.”
10
When he told his fa ther as well as his brothers, his fa ther re buked him and said,“ What is this dream you had? Will your moth er and I and your broth ers ac tu al ly come and bow down to the ground be fore you?” 11 His broth ers were jeal ous of him, but his fa ther kept the mat ter in mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12
Now his broth ers had gone to graze their father’ s flocks near She chem, 13 and Is ra el said to Jo seph,“ As you know, your broth ers are graz ing the flocks near She chem. Come, I am go ing to send you to them.”“ Very well,” he re plied.
14
So he said to him,“ Go and see if all is well with your broth ers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Val ley of He bron.
When Jo seph ar rived at She chem, 15 a man found him wan der ing around in the fields and asked him,“ What are you look ing for?”
16
He re plied,“ I’ m look ing for my broth ers. Can you tell me where they are graz ing their flocks?”
17
“ They have moved on from here,” the man an swered.“ I heard them say,‘ Let’ s go to Do than.’”
So Jo seph went af ter his broth ers and found them near Do than. 18 But they saw him in the distance, and be fore he reached them, they plot ted to kill him.
19
“ Here comes that dream er!” they said to each oth er. 20“ Come now, let’ s kill him and throw him into one of these cis terns and say that a fe ro cious an i mal de voured him. Then we’ ll see what comes of his dreams.”
21
When Reu ben heard this, he tried to res cue him from their hands.“ Let’ s not take his life,” he said. 22“ Don’ t shed any blood. Throw him into this cis tern here in the wil der ness, but don’ t lay a hand on him.” Reu ben said this to res cue him from them and take him back to his fa ther.
23
So when Jo seph came to his broth ers, they stripped him of his robe— the or nate robe he was wear ing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cis tern. The cis tern was emp ty; there was no wa ter in it.
25
As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a car a van of Ish ma el ites com ing from Gil e ad. Their cam els were load ed with spic es, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. way the Septuagint( the ancient Greek translation of the OT) translates kethoneth passim. Regardless of its appearance, the robe distinguishes Joseph from his brothers and possibly indicates a position of authority over them. 37:5 Joseph had a dream Dreams were considered a common means of divine communication in the OT and throughout the ancient Near East( Ge 20:3; 28:12; 31:10 – 11). Particular dreams, like those Joseph has, were also believed to be prophetic. they hated him all the more It is difficult to know whether Joseph baits his brothers with a dream that symbolically depicts them as subservient to him, or whether he simply fails to discern their hatred.
37:7 This dream probably refers to Joseph’ s rise to power in Egypt and his brothers being forced to come to him in order to survive( chs. 42 – 46).
37:9 the sun and moon and eleven stars This probably refers to Joseph’ s entire family, as a unit. The sun is a reference to Jacob, while the moon could be Bilhah or Leah— Rachel, Joseph’ s mother, was already deceased, making Bilhah, Rachel’ s servant, his stepmother( v. 10) and Leah the chief wife. The 11 stars refers to Joseph’ s 11 brothers. While Joseph’ s dream is not literally fulfilled— Jacob is never recorded as bowing down to Joseph— it is in essence when the entire family becomes dependent on Joseph( chs. 42 – 46). 37:14 Shechem The distance from Hebron to Shechem was about fifty miles, probably at least five days on foot. 37:15 a man The identity of this man is unknown. The overall mystery of the sequence and wording is reminiscent of the event when Jacob wrestled a man who turned out to be a divine being( 32:24 – 32; see note on 32:24). 37:17 Dothan Roughly 15 miles north of Shechem. 37:20 these cisterns Referring to human-made containers for storing water.
Genesis 37:20
CISTERN Ancient Israelites cut cisterns out of solid rock to gather and store water during the rainy season. Many cisterns have been found in Israel, some of which are quite large and deep( over 20 feet).
37:21 Let’ s not take his life Reuben’ s motive for intervening is unknown. As the oldest, he may have assumed that he would be held responsible for anything that happened to Joseph. In later years, Reuben still regretted his failure to save Joseph( 42:22) and thus takes a different approach when a similar situation later arises involving his youngest brother Benjamin( 42:37). 37:25 caravan of Ishmaelites This is a problematic phrase since these Ishmaelites are said to sell Joseph to Potiphar( 39:1). Elsewhere, it is Midianite traders who take Joseph from his brothers( v. 28) and sell him to Potiphar( v. 36). This discrepancy could show that two versions of the same story were combined by an editor. It could also be that Joseph changed hands several times, or that the Ishmaelites were the Midianites. Judges 8:24