Joseph Sold Into Slavery – Genesis 37

The selling of Joseph for 20 shekels of silver is a beautiful example of the historical accuracy of Scripture.  Twenty shekels was “the going rate in the mid-second millennium. Examples from Hammurabi’s Code, Mari, and a variety of Old Babylonian documents support this. In contrast, prices in southern Mesopotamia about 2000 b.c. were ten shekels and by the time of Nuzi and Ugarit (fourteenth and thirteenth centuries) the price was more like thirty shekels. By the time we get into the first millennium, the going rate was fifty shekels, and by the Persian period, eighty to a hundred shekels was common” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary).  Moses’ account gets it exactly right.

[1] Jacob lived in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan.

[2] These are the generations of Jacob.

Joseph, being seventeen years old, was pasturing the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought a bad report of them to their father. [3] Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colors. [4] But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him.

[5] Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more. [6] He said to them, “Hear this dream that I have dreamed: [7] Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.” [8] His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

[9] Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” [10] But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” [11] And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

[12] Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. [13] And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” [14] So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. [15] And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” [16] “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” [17] And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

[18] They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. [19] They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. [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.” [21] But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” [22] And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. [23] So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. [24] And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.

[25] Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. [26] Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? [27] Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. [28] Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

[29] When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes [30] and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” [31] Then they took Joseph’s robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. [32] And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.” [33] And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” [34] Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. [35] All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. [36] Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard. (Genesis 37, ESV)

In contrast to Esau, Jacob lives in Canaan, the land promised to Abraham, Isaac and now him.  And the promise is being carried out through his sons, and in particular, Joseph.  As Jacob was the favorite of his mother, Rebekah, so he favors the first son of his favorite wife, Rachel.  Despite the wounds he saw such favoritism cause, he engages in the same kind of parenting, indulging one son over the others.  As a result of his favoritism of Joseph, Joseph’s brothers hate him, and all the more when he reveals dreams he had about them bowing down to him and their parents bowing down to him, also.  They seek to make sure his dreams don’t come true.

Initially the majority of the brothers want to kill Joseph.  Reuben acts like he is in agreement but secretly plans to rescue Joseph from dying in the cistern.  But when a caravan of Ishmaelite and Midianite traders comes by, Judah makes the suggestion that they don’t get blood on their hands but rather sell Joseph into slavery and get rid of him in that more acceptable way.  They follow his leadership.  Reuben has gone away and come back to rescue Joseph but finds him gone with the caravan and bemoans the way he is going to be held responsible, as firstborn, and perhaps cement his father’s decision to bypass him for firstborn privileges.  The brothers heartlessly shred Joseph’s coat (it may not have been a coat of many colors, but one with long sleeves and full length, in either case a symbol of status) and dip it in lamb’s blood to show their father.  Jacob is broken.

Walton notes that Joseph’s dream about his mother (Rachel is dead, so perhaps his mother’s servant Bilhah who may have acted as a surrogate mother) and father bowing to him does not say Joseph will have the firstborn’s privilege but will supersede even his father in importance.  Of the dreams, the NIV Grace and Truth Study Bible aptly remarks, “in this story, dreams will always come in pairs, and in each set numbers will be central (the number 12 in this first set, the number 3 in the second set in Genesis 40:5–19; the number 7 in the third set in Genesis 41:1–7). Joseph’s first dream about the wheat sheaves foreshadows his later gathering of wheat in Egypt for the world. His second dream about the sun, moon, and stars bowing before him intensifies and certifies the meaning of the first. Both of these dreams will eventually come true, but only after Joseph undergoes a fiery trial of suffering (42:6,9).”