Genesis 37
Joseph’s Brothers Hate Him
Jacob continued living in Canaan which was where his father had lived. This is his family history.
One day when Joseph was 17, he went out to watch his dad’s animals with the rest of his brothers. But when he came back, he gave his dad a bad report about Bilhah’s and Zilpah’s kids. (Bilhah and Zilpah were two of his dads wives). Joseph was born in Israel’s old age, so Israel loved him more than his other sons and made him a special coat. His brothers could tell that their dad loved him more, so they hated Joseph for that and were incapable of saying anything pleasant to him.
Joseph’s Dreams
But one day Joseph told his brothers about a dream he had which made them hate him even more. He said,
“Listen to this dream I had! We were all in the field tying up bundles of grain, and then my bundle stood straight up while your bundles circled around mine and bowed down to it.”
At that, his brothers said,
“What—do you think you’re gonna become our king and reign over us, or something?”
And they all hated him even more for telling them that.
But then Joseph had another dream and told them about it, saying,
“Guess what? I had another dream. This time the sun, moon, and 11 stars were all bowing down to me.”
When he said it represented his father and brothers, his dad scolded him, saying,
“What’s with this dream of yours? Do you think that your mother, brothers, and I are all supposed to bow down to the ground in front of you?”
His brothers were jealous of him, but his dad remembered those dreams in the back of his mind.
Joseph Checks on Brothers
One day when Joseph’s brothers were watching their dad’s animals in Shechem, Israel asked Joseph,
“How come you’re not watching the animals with the rest of your brothers today? You should go check on them and the animals. Then come back here and let me know how they’re doing.”
So Joseph traveled from the Hebron valley to Shechem. On his way, he ran into a man who was wandering around the countryside who asked him,
“What are you looking for?”
Joseph said,
“I’m looking for my brothers who are watching our animals. Do you know where they went?”
The man told him,
“Ahh, they just left not too long ago. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan [which means "‘two wells’].”
So Joseph went to Dothan and found them there.
Joseph Ambushed
When Joseph’s brothers saw him approaching, they schemed about how to kill him. They said to themselves,
“Look, here comes the dreamer! Come on, let’s kill him and throw him into one of the wells. We can tell everyone that a wild animal got ahold of him. I’d like to see his dreams come true then!”
But Reuben overheard them and saved Joseph by saying,
“Nooo, we shouldn’t kill him. I don’t wanna see any of us shedding his blood. We can throw him into this well out in the countryside, but I don’t wanna see anyone lay a hand on him.”
Reuben told them that so that he could come back and rescue Joseph later and return him to their dad. So when Joseph got there, his brothers stripped off his special coat and threw him into the well which was dry without any water.
Joseph Sold into Slavery
When Joseph’s brothers sat down to eat their food, they noticed a caravan of Ishmaelites. The caravan was on its way from Gilead to Egypt, transporting camels full of spices, ointments, and myrrh. That gave Judah an idea, so he said,
“What do we gain by killing our brother and covering up his blood? We should sell him to the Ishmaelites instead! After all, he is our brother—our own flesh and blood.”
The rest of the brothers liked that idea, so they pulled Joseph out of the well when the Midianite traders got there, and they sold him to the Ishmaelites for about 4 ounces of silver [20 shekels]. Then the traders took Joseph and continued making their way toward Egypt.
Jacob Grieves
Reuben went back to the well to rescue Joseph but couldn’t find hime, so he tore his shirt in agony. Then he went back to his brothers and said,
“The boy wasn’t there! What should we do now?”
So they slaughtered a goat and dipped Joseph’s special coat in its blood. They took it to their dad and said,
“Dad… look what we found. Do you wanna look at it and see if it belonged to your son or not?”
After examining it, Jacob said,
“It belongs to my son! A wild animal has killed my son!”
Then Jacob tore his clothes in agony, put on ugly clothes, and spent many days mourning for his son. The rest of his children all tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, saying,
“I’ll never stop mourning my son until the day I go down to the grave.”
Meanwhile, while his father was busy mourning, the Midianites had arrived in Egypt and were selling Joseph to Pharaoh’s chief bodyguard, Potiphar. [Potiphar means “belonging to the sun.”]
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