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| 1 And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father sojourned--in the land of Canaan. |
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| 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, fed the flock with his brethren; and he was doing service with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought to his father an evil report of them. |
Their evil report – It was proper that Joseph should thus inform his father of the misconduct of those in charge of his business. R3971:5
Genesis 37:3 Israel loved Joseph - Type of Jesus, R3971:3
Of many colors – Perhaps of greater length than usually worn. R3971:3
Jacob probably considered that the fulfillment of the divine covenant would come in Joseph's line, as the eldest son of his beloved Rachel. R1639:3
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| 3 And Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was son of his old age; and he made him a vest of many colours. |
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| 4 And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, and they hated him, and could not greet him with friendliness. |
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| 5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and told it to his brethren, and they hated him yet the more. |
Dreamed a dream – There was a necessity for dreams then which does not exist now. R3971:6
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| 6 And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream, which I have dreamt: |
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| 7 Behold, we were binding sheaves in the fields, and lo, my sheaf rose up, and remained standing; and behold, your sheaves came round about and bowed down to my sheaf. |
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| 8 And his brethren said to him, Wilt thou indeed be a king over us? wilt thou indeed rule over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams and for his words. |
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| 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamt another dream, and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me. |
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| 10 And he told it to his father and to his brethren. And his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream which thou hast dreamt? Shall we indeed come, I and thy mother and thy brethren, to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? |
And he told it – His later experiences doubtless taught him to be more secretive--a lesson for us. (Matt. 7:6) R3971:5
Bow down ourselves – This was fulfilled later when Jacob and his family were presented to Joseph as ruler of Egypt. R2880:3
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| 11 And his brethren envied him; but his father kept the saying. |
Envied him – Typifying that Jesus was sold for silver and delivered for envy. R3971:4
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| 12 And his brethren went to feed their father's flock at Shechem. |
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| 13 And Israel said to Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock at Shechem? Come, that I may send thee to them. And he said to him, Here am I. |
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| 14 And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see after the welfare of thy brethren, and after the welfare of the flock; and bring me word again. And he sent him out of the vale of Hebron; and he came towards Shechem. |
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| 15 And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the country; and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou? |
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| 16 And he said, I am seeking my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks2. |
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| 17 And the man said, They have removed from this; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them at Dothan. |
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| 18 And when they saw him from afar, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to put him to death. |
To slay him – Typifying that "He came to his own and his own received him not." (John 1:11) R2880:6
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| 19 And they said one to another, Behold, there comes that dreamer! |
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| 20 And now come and let us kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, An evil beast has devoured him; and we will see what becomes of his dreams. |
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| 21 And Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, Let us not take his life. |
Reuben heard it – As the instrument of Divine providence in Joseph's affairs. R2880:3,4
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| 22 And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood: cast him into this pit which is in the wilderness; but lay no hand upon him--in order that he might deliver him out of their hand, to bring him to his father again. |
And Reuben – Who really had more reason to be jealous of Joseph than any of the others, because he was the eldest son of Leah. R1639:3
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| 23 And it came to pass when Joseph came to his brethren, that they stripped Joseph of his vest, the vest of many colours, which he had on; |
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| 24 and they took him and cast him into the pit; now the pit was empty--there was no water in it. |
Into a pit – "We saw the anguish of his soul and we would not hear." (Gen. 42:21). R3972:5
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| 25 And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from Gilead; and their camels bore tragacanth, and balsam, and ladanum--going to carry it down to Egypt. |
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| 26 And Judah said to his brethren, What profit is it that we kill our brother and secrete his blood? |
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| 27 Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites; but let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brethren hearkened to him2. |
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| 28 And Midianitish men, merchants, passed by; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver-pieces; and they brought Joseph to Egypt. |
20 pieces of silver – Prefiguring the hatred and sale of Christ by his enemies--his brethren of the Jewish nation. R1645:5
Typifying the 30 pieces of silver for which Christ was sold; 30 pieces being the price of a slave, or 20 pieces if the slave was under 20 years of age, as in Joseph's case. R1645:5
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| 29 And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his garments, |
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| 30 and returned to his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, where shall I go? |
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| 31 And they took Joseph's vest, and slaughtered a buck of the goats, and dipped the vest in the blood; |
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| 32 and they sent the vest of many colours and had it carried to their father, and said, This have we found: discern now whether it is thy son's vest or not. |
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| 33 And he discerned it, and said, It is my son's vest! an evil beast has devoured him: Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces! |
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| 34 And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. |
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| 35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said, For I will go down to my son into Sheol mourning. Thus his father wept for him. |
I will go – We may all know that bad men go to hell but how many of us know that the Ancient Worthies, Jacob and Hezekiah, fully expected to go there, and that faithful Job prayed to go there? ; HG556:3; HG734:5
Down into the grave – Sheol, state of death, oblivion, not torment. E355; PD29/41; SM521:1
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| 36 And the Midianites sold him into Egypt, to Potiphar, a chamberlain of Pharaoh, the captain of the life-guard. |
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