027. XV. Joseph Sold By His Brothers Into Egypt

§ XV. JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BROTHERS INTO EGYPT Genesis 37, Genesis 39:1-23

1. Joseph’s life at home. Joseph at the age of seventeen was a shepherd with his brothers, and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his other children, because he was the son of his old age; and he had made him a long tunic with sleeves. And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his other sons, they hated him, and could not speak peacefully to him.

2.His dreams. And Joseph had a dream, and told it to his brothers, and they hated him still more. And he said to them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have had; for it seemed to me that we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose and remained standing, while your sheaves surrounded and made obeisance to my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, Will you assuredly be king over us? or will you indeed rule over us? So they hated him still more because of his dreams and his words. Then he had yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying, Behold, I have had another dream, and it seemed to me that the sun and the moon and eleven stars made obeisance to me. And when he told it to his father and his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the earth before you? And his brothers envied him; but his father kept the thing in mind.

3. His mission to his brothers. And his brothers went to pasture his father’s flocks in Shechem. Then Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers pasturing the flocks in Shechem? Come now I will send you to them, and he replied, Here am I. And his father said to him, Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock, and bring me word again. So he sent him out from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. And a certain man found him, as he was wandering in the field, and the man asked him saying, What are you seeking? And he said, I am seeking my brothers; tell me, I pray you, where they are pasturing the flock. And the man said, They have gone from this place, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

4. Seized by his brothers. And when they saw him in the distance, but before he came near to them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to another, See, here comes that master-dreamer. Now come, let us slay him, and throw him into one of the cisterns, and then we will say, A fierce beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams. Judah, however, when he heard it, delivered him from their hands, and said, Let us not take his life. Do not shed blood; throw him into this cistern, that is in the wilderness; but do not lay hands upon him. He said this that he might deliver him from their hands to restore him to his father. Nevertheless, when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his long tunic, the tunic with sleeves that was on him. Then they took him and threw him into the cistern. And the cistern was empty, there being no water in it.

5. Carried to Egypt. Then they sat down to eat bread, and as they lifted up their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, and their camels were loaded with spices and balsam and ladanum, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Thereupon Judah said to his brothers, What do we gain if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers listened to him. And drawing up Joseph they sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they brought Joseph to Egypt.

6. Reported as dead. Thereupon they took Joseph’s coat, and killed a he-goat, and, dipping the coat in the blood, they sent the tunic with sleeves and brought it to their father, saying, We found this; see whether it is your son’s coat or not. And he recognized it and said, It is my son’s coat! a fierce beast has devoured him! Joseph is without doubt tom in pieces. Then Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins; and he mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, saying, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

7.Sold as a slave to an Egyptian. Joseph, however, was brought down to Egypt, and Poti- phar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the chief executioner, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had brought him there.

8.Intrusted with the care of his master’s household. Now Jehovah was with Joseph so that he became a prosperous man, and was in the house of his master the Egyptian. When his master saw that Jehovah was with him, and that Jehovah always caused everything that he did to prosper in his hands, Joseph found favor in his eyes as he ministered to him, so that he made him overseer of his house, and all that he had he put into his charge. Then it came to pass from the time that he made him overseer in his house, and over all that he had, that Jehovah blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake, and the blessing of Jehovah was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. So he left all that he had to Joseph’s charge, and had no knowledge of anything that he had except the bread which he ate.

9. Tempted by his master’s wife. Now Joseph was handsome in form and appearance. And it came to pass after these things, that his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph; and she said, Lie with me. But he refused, saying to his master’s wife, Behold my master has no knowledge of what is with me in the house, and he has put all that he has into my charge; he is not greater in this house than I; neither has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his wife; how then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? And although she talked thus to Joseph day after day, he did not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her. But once about this time when he went into the house to do his work, when none of the men of the household were at home, she caught hold of his garment, saying, Lie with me; but he left his garment in her hand and fled out of the house.

10.Falsely charged with infidelity. And it came to pass when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled away, she called to the men of her household, and said to them, See, he has brought a Hebrew in to us to insult us. He came to me to lie with me, and I cried with a loud voice, and it came to pass, when he heard me crying out loudly, he left his garment with me and fled out of the house. And she kept his garment by her until his master came home; then she told him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have brought to us, came to me to insult me; but it came to pass that when I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment with me and fled away.

11. Imprisoned by his master. Then it came to pass when his master heard the statements of his wife which she made to him, saying, After this manner your servant did to me, that he was very angry, and Joseph’s master took him and put him into the prison,— the place where the king’s prisoners were bound. Thus he was there in prison.

12.Trusted by his jailer. But Jehovah was with Joseph and showed kindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison, so that the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s charge all the prisoners who were in the prison, and for whatever they did there he was responsible. The keeper of the prison did not attend to anything that was in his charge, because Jehovah was with Joseph, and whatever he did, Jehovah always caused it to prosper.

I.General Characteristics of the Joseph Stories. No stories are more vividly told or more closely knit together than those which gather about the name of Joseph. The dramatic interest rises and falls as the narrative runs on, but it never ceases to hold the reader’s attention. The charm of the stories is found in their simple, picturesque style, in their dramatic contrasts, and in the powerful appeal which they make to universal human interests. The reiterated promises to the race and the supernatural elements, go prominent in preceding stories, suddenly disappear. The nomad tents are also soon left behind; the background of the narrative is the highly developed civilization of Egypt. In these stories the interest is still centred in one main character, but attention is gradually turned from the traditional nomadic ancestors of the Hebrews to the opening events of their national history.

Traces are found of two slightly variant versions of these stories, the one current in the north and the other in the south. Thus, for example, in the Judean version Judah is the first-born, who seeks to save Joseph’s life, and the Ishmaelites are the merchantmen who bear away the young Hebrew to Egypt. In the northern group of narratives Reuben and the Midianites take the place of Judah and the Ishmaelites. The variations are so slight, however, that they can ordinarily be disregarded and the blended prophetic narrative may be followed without confusion.

II.Joseph, the Spoiled Child. The Joseph stories are so clearly and simply told that they need little interpretation. They open with the picture of Joseph’s home at Hebron. Rachel had died as Jacob journeyed southward from Shechem and Bethel. Joseph, the eldest son of the patriarch’s beloved wife, was the favorite of his old age. Jacob, like many a fond and foolish father, made the fatal mistake of showing partiality within his own household. Joseph he clad in one of the long-sleeved tunics which were worn by nobles and were better adapted to a life of luxury than of hard, manual labor.

Joseph added to the jealous hatred of his brothers by reporting their misdemeanors to his father, and by telling to them those boyish dreams, which revealed his own lofty ambitions and implied that he was destined some time to rule over them. Not suspecting the attitude of his sons, Jacob sent Joseph on a long journey northward to his brothers. He found them at Dothan, south of the plain of Esdraelon, and doubtless near the spring beside which the flocks still find excellent pasturage. Joseph’s presence, however, only aroused the murderous hate of his brothers. Judah, feeling the responsibility of an eldest son, alone counselled moderation. Accordingly Joseph was seized, stripped of his tunic and cast into one of the many bottle-shaped cisterns that are still found about Dothan. Thence he was drawn out and sold as a slave for a paltry sum (about twelve dollars), to a passing caravan of Arab traders, who carried him to Egypt. There he was resold (according to the Northern Israelite version) to a certain Potiphar, whose name means in Egyptian, He whom Ra (the sun god) gave.

I.Joseph’s Temptation. In the household of his new master Joseph’s real character and ability were soon revealed. So faithfully did he perform his every task that he soon succeeded in winning the complete confidence of the Egyptian. In time, everything in the household was entrusted to his care. This responsibility soon brought an almost overwhelming temptation. The standards of morality are low in the East, and especially in households where there are slaves. The crime which his master’s wife urged him to commit was easily overlooked by the ancient Orient. The appeal to Joseph’s pride and passion was exceedingly strong. To refuse an unprincipled and determined woman meant sure disgrace and imprisonment, if not death. It was a supreme crisis in Joseph’s life. His noble refusal, because he would not betray the trust imposed on him or sin against God, is one of the most significant incidents recorded in the Old Testament.

II.The Character of Joseph and Its Significance. The prophetic historians have here presented to their readers a character very different from those of Abraham and Jacob, and yet none the less important. Abraham is the calm, far-seeing, faithful servant of God; Jacob, the clever, crafty, persistent struggler, who sees visions and ultimately wins the divine blessing, is the type of the Israelite race; Joseph represents the faithful and successful man of affairs.

Each step in the development of his character is distinctly traced. In his boyhood home Joseph was fettered by that paternal favoritism which is fittingly represented by the long-sleeved tunic. He grew up a spoiled, egotistical boy, with false ideas of life. His faults, however, were those of inexperience. If he had remained at home he would never have realized the possibilities suggested by his crude boyish dreams. The awakening at the hands of his vindictive brothers was painful but necessary. Their cruel act brought him into contact with real life and the greater world of opportunity. Amidst the new and trying circumstances he revealed the qualities that win true success in the struggle of life. Not a word of complaint escaped his lips. A faith expressed in action, not in words, upheld him. Even though it promised no personal reward, he was absolutely faithful to every trust. Armed with his strong fidelity and faith, he emerged unscathed from the most insidious temptation that could assail a youth. Unjust adversity could not crush or daunt him, for his integrity of character, his perennial cheerfulness and his spirit of helpfulness were invincible. The practical truths illustrated by Joseph’s character and experience are too obvious to need formulation. For every one in the stream of life they are a constant guide and inspiration, for they show clearly how, in the face of injustice and temptation, a man may “find his life by losing it.”