37:20
“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”
The chapter at a glance
- 1–4The robeA father’s favoritism, the brothers’ hatred
- 5–11Two dreamsGod’s plan announced and resented
- 12–17Sent to his brothersA stranger points the way to Dothan
- 18–24The pitMurder plotted; Reuben’s half-rescue
- 25–28SoldJudah’s profit: twenty shekels of silver
- 29–36The bloody robeJacob deceived and inconsolable; Joseph in Egypt
The chapter in brief
“These are the generations of Jacob.” Joseph, seventeen, is shepherding with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah and brings a bad report of them to their father. Israel loves Joseph more than his other sons and makes him a robe of many colors, and his brothers hate him. Joseph dreams twice: his brothers’ sheaves bow to his sheaf, and the sun, moon, and eleven stars bow to him. The brothers hate him even more; his father rebukes him but keeps the saying in mind. Sent to check on his brothers near Shechem, Joseph finds them at Dothan. They plot to kill “this dreamer”; Reuben persuades them to throw him into an empty pit instead, meaning to rescue him later. While Reuben is away, Judah proposes selling him, and Joseph is drawn out and sold for twenty shekels of silver and taken to Egypt. The brothers dip his robe in a goat’s blood and send it to their father, who concludes that Joseph has been torn to pieces and refuses to be comforted. Meanwhile Joseph is sold to Potiphar, the captain of Pharaoh’s guard.
The last major section of Genesis begins as the story of Jacob’s family, centered on Joseph and Judah. God is not named in this chapter, yet the dreams come from Him (40:8; 41:25), and the brothers’ evil becomes the very path by which He will keep them alive: “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (50:20). Jacob, who deceived his father with a goat and his brother’s garments (27:15-16), is now deceived by his sons with a goat and his son’s garment. Stephen tells this story as part of a pattern: “the patriarchs, jealous of Joseph, sold him into Egypt; but God was with him” (Acts 7:9), a pattern of God’s people rejecting the deliverers He sent, which ends in the rejection of “the Righteous One” (Acts 7:52). Many readers see more in Joseph: the beloved son sent by his father to his brothers, who say, “Come now, let us kill him” (v. 20), words close to those of the tenants in Jesus’ parable about the owner’s son, “Come, let us kill him” (Matthew 21:38). The New Testament does not call Joseph a type outright, so we hold these likenesses as a picture, not a proof.
Points for discussion
vv. 1–4
The robe
The Hebrew phrase behind “robe of many colors,” ketonet passim, is uncertain in meaning; the ESV’s footnote offers “a robe with long sleeves.” The same phrase describes the robe of Tamar, the king’s daughter, in 2 Samuel 13:18, “for thus were the virgin daughters of the king dressed.” It was a garment of honor, not of work, and it set Joseph apart from the brothers who worked the flocks. Jacob is repeating his parents’ failure: “Isaac loved Esau... but Rebekah loved Jacob” (25:28). Joseph’s “bad report” (v. 2) may have been honest or may have been tale-bearing; readers differ, and the text does not say. The result is that the brothers “could not speak peacefully to him” (v. 4).
vv. 5–11
The dreams
The dreams come in a pair, as the officials’ dreams (40) and Pharaoh’s (41) will, and Joseph later explains that a doubled dream “means that the thing is fixed by God” (41:32). These dreams will come true when the brothers bow before Joseph in Egypt (42:6; 43:26). Telling them to his brothers may show a young man’s lack of tact; Scripture records it without comment. The second dream includes “your mother” (v. 10), though Rachel has died (35:19); readers take it as a picture of the whole family rather than a literal list. Jacob rebukes Joseph, “but his father kept the saying in mind” (v. 11). Even an angry father can sense that God may be speaking.
vv. 12–17
A stranger in the field
Joseph answers his father, “Here I am” (v. 13), the ready reply Abraham gave to God (22:1). Then he gets lost, and “a man found him wandering in the fields” (v. 15) who happened to have overheard the brothers say they were going to Dothan. Without that stranger, no Dothan, no caravan, no Egypt. God is unnamed, but the chapter is full of His providence in small things.
vv. 18–28
The pit and the price
The brothers call him “this dreamer” (v. 19), literally “master of dreams,” a sneer. Reuben’s plan is half a rescue: throw him into a pit, then quietly restore him (vv. 21-22). They strip the robe, throw Joseph into an empty pit. “Then they sat down to eat” (v. 25). Years later they will remember what they ignored at that meal: “we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen” (42:21). Judah’s proposal is no act of kindness: “What profit is it if we kill our brother?” (v. 26). The later law would make stealing and selling a man a capital crime (Exodus 21:16), and Joseph will say plainly, “whom you sold into Egypt” (45:4). Twenty shekels was the value the law would later set on a boy of that age (Leviticus 27:5). The text names both Ishmaelites and Midianites (vv. 25-28, 36). Some readers explain this by the overlap of the two names, since Judges 8:24 calls Midianites “Ishmaelites”; others see Midianite traders who sold Joseph on to an Ishmaelite caravan. Critical scholars often see two sources woven together. The text as it stands holds together on the first reading, and on any reading the brothers are responsible.
For discussion
Judah says, “let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh” (v. 27), while selling him. How do we dress up sin in the language of mercy? Compare James 2:15-16.
vv. 29–36
The robe in blood
The brothers take the robe they hated, dip it in a goat’s blood, and send it with a question: “please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not” (v. 32). The words “please identify” (hakker-na) will come back to Judah from Tamar in the next chapter (38:25). Jacob deceived his blind father with goatskins and his brother’s best garments (27:15-16); now he is deceived with a goat and his son’s garment. Jacob “refused to be comforted” (v. 35), the same words Matthew uses of Rachel weeping for her children (Matthew 2:18). He says he will go down to Sheol mourning. Scripture does not rebuke his grief. And while he mourns, the last verse quietly turns the page: “Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar” (v. 36). Psalm 105 says what that meant from heaven’s side: God “had sent a man ahead of them, Joseph, who was sold as a slave” (Psalm 105:17).
Threads across the chapter
The robe. Given in favor (v. 3), stripped in hatred (v. 23), and dipped in blood to deceive (vv. 31-33), it carries the whole story.
Peace and its absence. The brothers cannot speak “peacefully” to Joseph (v. 4), and his father sends him to see “if it is well” with them (v. 14), using the same root, shalom.
Dreams and their enemies. The dreams (vv. 5-11) provoke the plot, “we will see what will become of his dreams” (v. 20), and the plot becomes the road to their fulfillment (42:6).
God hidden, not absent. God is never named, yet the dreams, the stranger in the field (vv. 15-17), and the sale to Egypt (v. 36) are His providence (Psalm 105:17; Genesis 50:20).
Key words
- 37:3
- כְּתֹנֶת פַּסִּים ketonet passim“Robe of many colors,” or a long robe with sleeves; a garment of honor, used also of the king’s daughters in 2 Samuel 13:18
- 37:19
- בַּעַל הַחֲלֹמוֹת ba'al hachalomot“This dreamer,” literally “master of dreams”; the brothers’ sneer
- 37:24
- בּוֹר bor“Pit”; the dry cistern, a word Joseph will later use of his Egyptian prison (40:15)
- 37:32
- הַכֶּר־נָא hakker-na“Please identify”; the phrase that returns to confront Judah in Genesis 38:25
Cross-references
- Genesis 27:15-16Jacob deceives his father with a brother’s garments and goatskins
- Genesis 42:21The brothers remember Joseph’s distress in the pit
- Genesis 50:20You meant evil; God meant it for good
- Psalm 105:16-22God sent Joseph ahead as a slave and raised him up
- Acts 7:9-10The patriarchs sold Joseph, but God was with him
- Matthew 21:37-39The tenants say of the owner’s son, “Come, let us kill him”
- Exodus 21:16Stealing and selling a man is a capital crime
- Matthew 2:18“Refused to be comforted,” said of Rachel weeping
- 1
Why does the “generations of Jacob” begin with a family torn by favoritism, and what does that say about the people God uses?
- 2
Where in this chapter is God’s providence at work even though He is never named?
- 3
The brothers “sat down to eat” while Joseph was in the pit. What makes us able to ignore someone else’s distress?
- 4
Jacob is deceived the way he once deceived. How should we read that, as punishment, as consequence, or as something else?
- 5
How far may we go in seeing Christ in Joseph, and where should we stop?
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