Genesis 37

In which Joseph's brothers sell him into slavery in Egypt, and lie to their father.

Commentary
Skeptic's Annotated Bible

37:1  And Jacob dwelt in the land wherein his father was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.
37:2  These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives:

In other places were refer to Bilhah and Zilpah as maidservants, but here we re-affirm that they are his wives.

and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report.
37:3  Now Israel

Israel == Jacob

loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.

But not gay at all.

37:4  And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him.

Nice family values here guys.

37:5  And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more.
37:6  And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed:
37:7  For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf.

A sheaf is a tied-up bundle of grain stalks.

37:8  And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words.
37:9  And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me.

The eleven stars?  This is apparently a reference to the eleven known constellations at the time.
 

37:10  And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?

Sounds like Joseph is having delusions of grandeur.

37:11  And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.
37:12  And his brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem.

Is this place, Shechem, the same place where they murdered all of the males, took the women and children as slaves and stole all of their possessions?

37:13  And Israel said unto Joseph, Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? come, and I will send thee unto them. And he said to him, Here am I.
37:14  And he said to him, Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks; and bring me word again. So he sent him out of the vale of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

So Israel sends Joseph to where his brothers were tending their flocks to see if they're still mad at Joseph over the dreams?  Not a good plan.

37:15  And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field: and the man asked him, saying, What seekest thou?

The first time I read this, "a certain man" made me think that this "man" would turn out to be an angel or other significant character; but it's just an incidental character who points Joseph towards his brothers.

37:16  And he said, I seek my brethren: tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks.
37:17  And the man said, They are departed hence; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brethren, and found them in Dothan.
37:18  And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.

Ah, brotherly love.  My brother and I fought as kids, sometimes with real gusto, but I never thought to myself: "Dad likes you better; maybe I'll kill you."  This is another example of psychotic behavior.

37:19  And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.
37:20  Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams.

Premeditated murder.

37:21  And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands; and said, Let us not kill him.

The oldest son is squeamish.

37:22  And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.

But still conspires against Joseph.  *sigh*  What would a moral character do at this point?  Isn't that what we should be learning?

37:23  And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him;

I knew that gay coat would cause him problems.  It's Joseph's fault for wearing such gaudy, flashy raiment.  He's practically begging to get assaulted by his brothers.

[For the sarcasm-impaired, the above should be understood ironically.  It is a comment against people who blame the victims of assault and rape, saying that they're to blame because of how the behave or what they wear; rather than blaming the people who, you know, assaulted them.]
 

37:24  And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
37:25  And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
37:26  And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
37:27  Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

Oh, that's not so bad.  Rather than killing him or leaving him in a waterless pit to die, they'll just sell him to some Ishmaelites.  (Aren't the Ishmaelites their cousins?  Ishmael was the brother of Isaac, their grandfather.)  Again, this would be a great opportunity to comment on the immorality of slavery, but I guess it didn't occur to the authors of this story.

37:28  Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
37:29  And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.

Reuben must not have been in on the sale.

37:30  And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
37:31  And they took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood;

A poor goat has to die to further their deceit.

37:32  And they sent the coat of many colors, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.
37:33  And he knew it, and said, It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces.

...because my children would never lie to me, of course not.

37:34  And Jacob rent his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins,

Put sackcloth upon his loins?  I guess he wanted to maximize his discomfort as a way of magnifying his mourning?

and mourned for his son many days.
37:35  And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

I will mourn my favorite son until the day I die.

37:36  And the Midianites sold him into Egypt unto Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh's, and captain of the guard.

Somehow Israel has to learn that Joseph is still alive and in Egypt, and do something about this.  I also wonder if Israel's other sons (except maybe Reuben) will suffer the consequences for selling their son to Ishmaelites (Midianites?), and lying about it to their father.  But since they weren't punished for the sacking of Shechem, somehow I doubt they will be punished for this lesser offense.

For a God who is deeply concerned with human morality, he seems to tolerate a ridiculous amount of horrifying behavior from his patriarchal family.  I suppose the lesson is that, if you cut off the foreskin of your penis, you can get away with pretty much anything?  (But since women don't have a foreskin to cut off, I guess they're doomed.)