Genesis 37

Genesis 37

Genesis 37:1 Jacob lived in the land his father wandered, in the land of Canaan.

Genesis 37:2 This is the history of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was tending 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.

Genesis 37:3 Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a tunic with long sleeves.

Genesis 37:4 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.

Genesis 37:5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they hated him even more.

Genesis 37:6 He said to them, “Listen to this dream that I have dreamed:

Genesis 37:7 Notice, we were binding up sheaves in the field, and see, my sheaf got up and stood upright. And notice, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed themselves down to my sheaf.”

Genesis 37:8 His brothers asked him, “Are you really going to rule over us? Or are you really going to have control over us?” So, they hated him even more because of his dreams and because of his words.

Genesis 37:9 Then he dreamed another dream and told it to his brothers and said, “Notice, I have dreamed another dream. Notice, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

Genesis 37:10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him and asked him, “Why have you dreamed a dream like this? Will I and your mother and your brothers really come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?”

Genesis 37:11 And his brothers were envious of him, but his father monitored the situation.

Genesis 37:12 His brothers went to tend their father’s flock near Shechem.

Genesis 37:13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers tending the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Notice me.”

Genesis 37:14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if there is peace 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.

Genesis 37:15 And a man found him, noticing him wandering there in the fields. And the man asked him, and this is what he said, “What are you looking for?”

Genesis 37:16 “I am looking for my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are tending the flock.”

Genesis 37:17 And the man said, “They have gone away, because I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.'” So, Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Genesis 37:18 They saw him from a distance, and before he came near them, they conspired against him to murder him.

Genesis 37:19 They said to one another, “Notice the dreamer coming.

Genesis 37:20 Come now, we should murder him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce living thing has eaten him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.”

Genesis 37:21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his throat.”

Genesis 37:22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the open country, but do not lay a hand on him”- so that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

Genesis 37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his tunic, the long-sleeved tunic that he wore.

Genesis 37:24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there being no water in it.

Genesis 37:25 Then they sat down to eat. When they looked up, they noticed a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.

Genesis 37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What gain is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

Genesis 37:27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, because he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.

Genesis 37:28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they pulled Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver shekels. They took Joseph to Egypt.

Genesis 37:29 When Reuben returned to the pit and noticed that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes

Genesis 37:30 and he came back to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where can I go?”

Genesis 37:31 Then they took Joseph’s tunic and slaughtered a goat and dipped the tunic in the blood.

Genesis 37:32 And they sent the sleeved tunic and brought it to their father and said, “We have found this; please identify whether it is your son’s tunic or not.”

Genesis 37:33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son’s tunic. A ferocious living thing has eaten him. without doubt, Joseph is torn to pieces.”

Genesis 37:34 Then Jacob tore his clothing and put sackcloth around him and mourned over his son for many days.

Genesis 37:35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted and said, “No, I will go down to Sheol[1] to my son, mourning.” Thus, his father wept for him.

Genesis 37:36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the prison warden.[2]

[1] שְׁאוֹל = Sheol (the death state). Genesis 37:35; 42:38; 44:29, 31.

[2] ‎ שַׂ֖ר הַטַּבָּחִֽים = prison warden, Genesis 37:36; 39:1; 40:3, 4; 41:10, 12.

Genesis 37 quotes:

“In the first 10 verses of Genesis 37, we learn that Joseph was a confident, bold young man, much loved by his father-and envied by his brothers. Nei¬ ther Joseph nor Jacob understood the depths of the brothers’ hatred. That jealousy, and the strange blindness of Joseph and Jacob to it, changed the family’s destiny.”

McFarland, Alex. Stand : Seeking the Way of God. Tyndale House, 2009. p. 17.

“Old Jacob, in order to show how much he loved Joseph, did what he thought was a good thing. He made Joseph a coat of many colors “…a richly ornamented robe” (Genesis 37:3 Niv). But Jacob did Joseph no favor in doing this. Worse than making it though, was wearing it. Perhaps Joseph should have gone to his father and fallen down before him and said, “Please don’t make me wear this.” But Joseph was quite happy to put it on. He was a spoiled, arrogant teenager who was utterly insensitive to his brothers’ feelings. When his brothers saw that his father loved him the most, “…they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him” (Genesis 37:4). That was a predictable reaction, and Jacob should have thought of that. It did not mean they hated their father — they hated Joseph. Jacob did this to the son that he loved so much, turning his other sons against Joseph. It is another caution to parents that it is harmful to show any kind of favoritism to a particular child. We are doing the child no favor at all. We are not even thinking of the child, but only of ourselves. Joseph’s coat of many colors did more for Jacob than it did for Joseph. Being partial is not a sign of love but a demonstration of our own weakness, which we are also passing on to a child.”

Kendall, R. T. God Meant It for Good. MorningStar Publications, 1988. p. 16.

“His elderly father loved him dearly, but his brothers really hated him. They never seemed to have a kind word to say to him; in fact, they “could not speak peaceably unto him” (Genesis 37:46). It seems safe to assume they treated him as an enemy and were very jealous. I don’t want to paint a detailed picture of his childhood because the Scriptures say very little about that time of his life. Considering the complicated household he lived in, and the fact that his mother was not there to protect him, it doesn’t seem as though his life could have been very joyful. We frequently hear that the damage that occurs in the life of a young child can affect them for years and years to come. Physical damage is bad enough, but the emotional damage caused by verbal abuse can linger well past childhood. If Joseph’s brothers never spoke kind or even peaceable words to him, can you imagine some of the painful events of his childhood?”

Mouliert, Gwen. Overcoming Bitterness : Get Away from Me Satan! Fire Wind, 2000. p. 167.