74 | Genesis 37:26
26
Ju dah said to his broth ers,“ What will we gain if we kill our broth er and cov er up his blood?
27
Come, let’ s sell him to the Ish ma el ites and not lay our hands on him; af ter all, he is our broth er, our own flesh and blood.” His broth ers agreed.
28
So when the Mid i an ite mer chants came by, his broth ers pulled Jo seph up out of the cis tern and sold him for twen ty shek els a of sil ver to the Ish ma el ites, who took him to Egypt.
29
When Reu ben re turned to the cis tern and saw that Jo seph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his broth ers and said,“ The boy isn’ t there! Where can I turn now?”
31
Then they got Jo seph’ s robe, slaugh tered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They took the or nate robe back to their fa ther and said,“ We found this. Ex am ine it to see wheth er it is your son’ s robe.”
33
He rec og nized it and said,“ It is my son’ s robe! Some fe ro cious an i mal has de voured him. Jo seph has sure ly been torn to piec es.”
34
Then Ja cob tore his clothes, put on sack cloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and daugh ters came to com fort him, but he refused to be com fort ed.“ No,” he said,“ I will contin ue to mourn un til I join my son in the grave.” So his fa ther wept for him.
36
Mean while, the Mid i an ites b sold Jo seph in Egypt to Pot i phar, one of Phar aoh’ s of fi cials, the cap tain of the guard.
Judah and Tamar
At that time, Ju dah left his broth ers and
38 went down to stay with a man of Adul lam named Hi rah. 2 There Ju dah met the daugh ter of a Ca naan ite man named Shua. He mar ried her and made love to her; 3 she be came preg nant and gave birth to a son, who was named Er. 4 She conceived again and gave birth to a son and named him Onan. 5 She gave birth to still an oth er son and named him She lah. It was at Ke zib that she gave birth to him.
6
Ju dah got a wife for Er, his first born, and her name was Ta mar. 7 But Er, Ju dah’ s first born, was wick ed in the Lord’ s sight; so the Lord put him to death.
8
Then Ju dah said to Onan,“ Sleep with your broth er’ s wife and ful fill your duty to her as a broth er-in-law to raise up off spring for your broth er.” 9 But Onan knew that the child would not be his; so when ev er he slept with his broth er’ s wife, he spilled his se men on the ground to keep from pro vid ing off spring for his broth er. 10 What he did was wick ed in the Lord’ s sight; so the Lord put him to death also.
11
Ju dah then said to his daugh ter-in-law Ta mar, a
28 That is, about 8 ounces or about 230 grams b
36 Samaritan Pentateuch, Septuagint, Vulgate and Syriac( see also verse 28); Masoretic Text Medanites describes Midianites wearing golden earrings because they were Ishmaelites. It may also be that Ishmaelites was not an ethnic term, but a generic term for nomadic tradesmen. Either way, the narrative is pointing out that Joseph’ s brothers sold him into slavery to his own kin, but to people outside of the covenant promises of their family— the descendants of both Ishmael and Midian ultimately derive from the line of Abraham( Ge 16:15; 25:1 – 2). camels See note on 12:16. 37:26 Judah The fourth oldest of the 12 sons of Jacob and son of Leah( 29:35) 37:29 he tore his clothes A gesture signifying mourning. It seems that Reuben thought Joseph was dead. 37:35 in the grave The Hebrew term used here, she’ ol, occurs for the first time in the OT here. It refers to the realm of the dead( or the underworld), the grave or death itself. See the infographic“ Ancient Hebrew Conception of the Universe” on p. 5. 37:36 Potiphar This same name occurs in the Hebrew text of the Joseph narrative later but as two words: poti phera’( 41:45,50) in reference to Joseph’ s father-in-law. While the names probably do not identify the same person, they may share the same derivation. Potiphar means“ he whom Ra has given”( pa-di-pa-ra in Egyptian). The final element in the name( ra) is the name of the sun god whose primary center was at On( Heliopolis). Joseph’ s father-in-law( Potiphera) is said to have been a priest at this religious center( 41:45). However, this Egyptian name form does not occur in Egyptian sources before the nineteenth Dynasty of Egypt( ca. thirteenth century BC) although it reflects an evolution from name forms used in earlier periods, possibly as early as the Middle Kingdom( ca. twentieth to seventeenth century BC). Compare note on 41:14 – 57.
38:1 – 30 Judah’ s earlier suggestion saved Joseph’ s life( 37:26 – 27), and Joseph in turn saves the nation of Israel( 50:20). This narrative interrupts the story of Joseph’ s tragic betrayal and draws attention to Judah, whose lineage produces King David( see 17:6; 35:11). Every place name in this narrative is located in the later tribal territory of Judah, and several of the characters connect to later biographical details of the life of David. In addition, Jacob selects Judah to lead the family to Egypt( 46:28). This narrative shows the moral failures of Judah and the desperate situation in which his inaction put Tamar in. See the people diagram“ Judah to David” on p. 618.
38:1 At that time This phrase connects the events of ch. 38 with the events of ch. 37— the selling of Joseph into slavery. Adullam A city located in the Judean lowlands. 38:2 Canaanite Marriage with Canaanites was discouraged among the Israelites: Abraham insisted that Isaac not marry a Canaanite( Ge 24:3); Isaac and Rebekah objected to Esau’ s marriages with foreigners and forbade Jacob to marry outside the clan( 27:46— 28:1). The law later forbade intermarriage with Canaanites, because of the risk of foreigners leading the Israelites into idolatry( Dt 7:1,3). Compare note on 12:6. 38:5 Kezib A reference to Achzib, a city southwest of Adullam. 38:6 Judah got a wife for Er This describes the customary mode for marriage in a patriarchal culture: the father chooses a bride for his son( see 21:21,24). Tamar The only other occurrences of this name in the OT appear with reference to women in David’ s family( 2Sa 13:1; 14:27). 38:7 wicked The Hebrew word used here, ra’, is a reverse of the consonants used in Hebrew for Er’ s name;