SECOND QUARTER.

LESSON I.--APRIL 3.

JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT.--GEN. 37:23-36.

      GOLDEN TEXT.--But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy.--GEN. 39:21.
      TIME.--About B. C. 1825.
      PLACE.--Dothan in Palestine.
      HELPFUL READINGS.--Gen. 37:1-22; Gen. 49:22-26; Gen. 42:21-24.
      LESSON ANALYSIS.--1. A Fratricide Plotted; 2. Sold Into Egypt; 3. A Broken-hearted Father.

INTRODUCTION.

      The carrying of Joseph Into Egypt marks an era in the development of the Jewish nation. The bond servant, under the providence of God, was elevated to a place next to the throne, becomes the preserver not only of the Egyptians, but of his own brethren; his father's family follow him to Egypt to remain there until the family have become a nation. It is under the influence of Egyptian institutions, in the most enlightened country then in the world, that the nomadic descendants of Abraham were prepared to become a settled nation and a race of agriculturists in Palestine.

      The hatred shown to Joseph by his brethren is easily accounted for in view of the conditions that surrounded them. In a state of polygamy there would be a natural jealousy between the children of different mothers. This would be augmented by an inconsiderate partiality on the part of the father for one of the sons. But, among the children of a patriarch, a burning question would be who should succeed the father as the ruler of the tribe. Naturally the oldest son was the successor. Reuben, son of Leah, would have the birthright, but various matters had led the brethren to believe that he was to be supplanted in favor of Joseph, the oldest son of Rachel. The dreams of Joseph plainly pointed him out as the ruler of his brethren, while his father's partiality seemed to indicate the same purpose. The best authorities hold that "the coat of many colors," which is evidently an incorrect translation, was a garment which was only worn by those who ruled, and that it served to advertise to his brethren continually that Joseph was to succeed his father as the ruler of the tribe. We may, therefore, look upon the act of his brethren as a revolt against the determination of the father to make Joseph the ruler, and in favor of the birthright of Reuben. They looked [97] upon the former as a usurper, at least in intention, and were determined to defeat his purpose by some means. Hence they plotted his death, and then so far modified their purpose, as to sell him into slavery. It ought to be noticed, in Reuben's favor, that he was kindliest in feeling to Joseph of any of the brethren, though he was the one whose rights were directly assailed.

      I. A FRATRICIDE PLOTTED.--23. When Joseph was come to his brethren. He had been sent from Hebron, where Jacob made his home for many years, and where Abraham and Isaac had been buried, to Shechem, a distance of fifty miles, where the other sons were pasturing the numerous flocks. When he arrived there he found they had exhausted the pastures and driven the flocks to Dothan, about seventeen miles further north. We can easily understand why Dothan was chosen, in view of the fact that " here is found at the present day," according to Smith's Bible Dictionary, "the best pasturage in all that region." Dothan is a hill, and from its top Joseph was seen and recognized long before he reached his brethren, who, when they saw him, entered into a plot to get him out of the way. At the persuasion of Reuben they had consented to cast him into an empty well or cistern. The word Dothan means "two cisterns." They stript Joseph of his coat. The garment which was so offensive to the brethren had been worn and was instantly stripped off. Most Hebraists hold that it was a "full length garment," reaching to the feet and hands, instead of to the knees, as was common. Whatever it may have been it was regarded as a mark of superior station and was well calculated to stir up jealousy. As far as the record here is concerned it might be supposed that Joseph suffered in silence, but Gen. 42:21 shows that he raised his protests and appealed to their compassion in vain.

      24. They took him and cast him into a pit. The pit was doubtless an empty well or cistern, dug in that imperfectly watered country for the purpose of catching water. The design of the brethren, except Reuben, seems to have been to leave Joseph there to perish. Any one who will read chapters 34, 35, 37 and 38 will see that the ten older brethren of Joseph were "hard boys." Passing by this treatment of their brother, Reuben was guilty of incest, Judah's conduct in the case of his daughter-in-law was abominable, and Simeon and Levi were guilty of pitiless cruelty and savage ferocity. But the worst elements of their depraved character show themselves in the treatment of their brother. [98]

      25. They sat down to eat bread. Their heartlessness is shown in their setting* down to meat immediately after perpetrating what they intended to be a murder. In this meal Reuben could have taken no part, as he was ignorant of the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, and expected to find him in the pit. Perhaps he was absent in order to devise some means to rescue him. A company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead. The Ishmaelites were the descendants of Ishmael, and had already become a tribe. It is said below that some of this band were Midianites. These were also descended from Abraham by Keturah, his second wife. Both tribes were located east of the Jordan, as was also Gilead. The Midianites and Ishmaelites, being kindred, were probably associated in commercial enterprises. Gilead was on the caravan road from Damascus to Jerusalem, and was famous for its balm. The camels of this caravan were loaded with balm, myrrh, and "spicery," the gum tragacanth. Egypt, as the most prosperous and civilized country in the world, was the best market.

      II. SOLD INTO EGYPT.--26. And Judah said to his brethren. The counter proposition of Judah, and the reasons that he urges, seem to indicate that he was a little less savage than his brethren. It was certainly no credit to his brotherly affection that he was willing to rescue his brother from death by selling him into slavery in a foreign land, a fate hardly better than death. He shrank from staining his hands with his brother's blood, but was as anxious as any to get him out of the way.

      27. Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. By selling him the following ends would be reached: 1. They would get paid for him, and there would be no profit in his death; 2. They would be saved from the guilt of the death of their brother; 3. He would be carried to a far-off country, sold into slavery, and would die there. His dreams of ruling his brethren could never then be realized. [99]

      28. There passed by Midianites, merchantmen. In verses 25 and 27 they are spoken of as Ishmaelites. Evidently it was a large caravan, such as are accustomed still to travel over parts of Asia and Africa, with merchants of various tribes, with the Ishmaelites and Midianites as the leaders. In the Chaldee version they are spoken of as Arabian merchants, a term which embraces both Ishmaelites and Midianites. Sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver. "This is, I think, the oldest instance on record of selling a man for a slave, but the practice did not commence at this time. It had doubtless been in use long before. . . . If shekels be intended by "pieces of silver," taking them at three shillings each, Joseph was sold for about three pounds sterling ($15). As there were only ten brethren present, and they sold Joseph for twenty shekels, each had two shekels for his part in the infamous transaction."--Clarke. Joseph was evidently sold under price. We learn from Exod. 21:32 that the regular price of a slave was thirty pieces of silver. Lev. 27:5 gives twenty pieces as the price of one under twenty years of age, which was the case with Joseph. And they brought Joseph into Egypt. The country here named was more intimately associated with Jewish history than any other in the world. Long before Abraham had gone down there; it had been predicted to him that his seed should be oppressed there 400 years; Joseph was enslaved there; his father and brethren followed and settled in Egypt; it was from Egypt at a later period that the nation was delivered; during the whole period of the Jewish monarchy there was more or less association with Egypt. It was into Egypt that the "young child" was carried to escape the wrath of Herod. At the time Joseph was carried there Egypt was a flourishing kingdom with settled institutions, in a high state, of cultivation, and was the most powerful kingdom then on the earth.

      29. Reuben returned unto the pit. Verses 21, 22 state that Reuben persuaded his brethren to cast Joseph into the pit rather than to slay him, and that he intended to return and rescue him. He now came back to carry out his purpose, ignorant that Joseph had been taken from thence and sold. When he did not find him he rent his clothes, an act indicating the deepest feeling. We are not informed of the reasons why he was absent at the time the brothers sold Joseph. [100]

      30. Whither shall I go? His exclamation shows that he thinks Joseph dead, probably taken from the pit and slain by his ferocious brethren. What could be done? How could he return to his aged and doting father, and give an account of the awful transaction?

      III. A BROKEN-HEARTED FATHER.--31. They took Joseph's coat . . . and dipped in the blood. The conspirators having effected their crime, are next compelled to take steps to conceal it. One sin leads to another. They add deception and lying to their atrocious crime against their brother. They do not dare face their father's wrath, should the facts be made known. In the East, under the patriarchal rule, fear and reverence of the father, the ruler, was and is a marked characteristic. Hence they seek to make the impression that Joseph has been slain by a wild beast, and that his coat was stained with his own blood.

      32. They brought it to their father. While they attempted to conceal their depravity from their father, they scrupled not to inflict upon him the keenest suffering, by sending the well-known coat, covered with blood.

      33. Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces. Jacob at once recognized the coat, and drew the inference that his sons wished. The coat was not only bloody, but probably lacerated. It is likely that be inferred from the lacerated state of the coat that Joseph had been torn in pieces.

      34. Jacob rent his clothes. Rending the clothes was an expression of the deepest feeling, whether of sorrow or indignation. Reuben rent his clothes when he returned and found the pit empty in which Joseph had been cast. The high priest rent his clothes when Jesus declared before the Sanhedrim that he was the Son of God. When Abner was slain King, David commanded Joab the murderer, "and all the people with him, Rend your clothes, and gird you with sackcloth, and mourn before Abner." Put [101] sackcloth upon his loins. Sackcloth was the usual garb of mourning, as in our times crape is worn.

      35. All his sons and daughters rose up to comfort him. He had eleven sons remaining, but only one daughter; the term, however, probably includes his sons' wives. Though the sons were the authors of his calamity, they offer to him unavailing comfort. What shallow and deceitful comfort it must have been when they knew that Jacob was mourning a fate for Joseph which had not taken place! I will go down into the grave to my son mourning. The word rendered here "grave," is sheol in the Hebrew, and does not mean the grave, but the place of departed spirits, the hades of the Greeks, the under world. Jacob did not suppose that Joseph's body was in the grave, but devoured by ravenous beasts. He means, therefore, that he will continue to mourn his son until he meets him in the spirit world. This language shows then that Jacob was not only a believer in future existence, but in the existence of the spirit apart from the body. He expects to follow Joseph to sheol, and to find him there. Many passages in the Hebrew Scriptures show a belief in the continued, separate existence of the soul, after the death of the body, in another state of being, where all are gathered who have passed through life. See Gen. 49:33; also, 25:8. It would be hard to choose language more pathetic or indicative of inconsolable grief than that of Jacob.

      36. Sold him . . . to Potiphar . . . captain of the guard. The last expression is literally rendered, "chief of the executioners." The king's body guard were assigned the work of executing his edicts, and hence executed his sentence on all who incurred the royal displeasure. Eastern monarchs are absolute, and their commands are carried out by their officers without question. Let it be said of any subject, "Go, bring me his head," it will be done at once by the officers of the guards. What a change to Joseph; in a strange land, far from his father's home, no longer favored as the beloved son, but a slave, his life at the mercy of his master, subject to a master whose trade was blood, and who was accustomed to see men die without pity or remorse! Nothing could have enabled him to bear up under his hard fate, had he not carried the consciousness that God was with him. [102]

PRACTICAL AND SUGGESTIVE.

      A TYPE OF CHRIST.--Joseph has been recognized by most interpreters as a type of Christ; in his father's love for him, in his being sent to his brethren, rejected by them, sold to the Gentiles, delivered unto death, in his sanctity of life, in his humiliation, in his exaltation to be a prince and a savior, in that his father and mother and brethren came and all bowed to him. We may notice here that the counsels of his brethren to prevent the fulfillment of his dreams, like the counsels of Herod and the Jews to prevent the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning Jesus, only served to bring about God's counsels, which were wrought out by the very means taken to defeat them. If Joseph had not been sold to the Midianites he would never have been exalted to be governor of Egypt. If Christ had not been persecuted and crucified, he would not have worked out redemption for us, have risen from the dead, and ascended up unto his glory.--Browne.

      FAMILY BROILS.--How ruinous are family distractions! A house divided against itself cannot stand. Parents should take good heed that their own conduct be not the first and most powerful cause of such dissensions, by exciting envy in some of the children through undue partiality to others. But it is vain to speak to most persons on the subject; they will give way to foolish predilections till, in the prevailing distractions of their families, they meet with the punishment of their imprudence.--Clarke.

      RETRIBUTION.--Wicked deeds cannot be concealed; evil will come to light. In due time every action will be rewarded according to its own merit. When the ten brethren saw Joseph carried away into Egypt, and had made Jacob believe that he was dead, they thought their scheme was a success. The "dreamer," who expected to be their ruler was gone forever. Little did they think that a turn of the providence of God would throw them, helpless, into the hands of the brother whom they had so foully mistreated, and that they would be indebted to his mercy for their lives. Little did they think that their conduct would be exposed to their father and to all the world. How bitter must have been their agony in the hour when they saw the brother whom they had sought to destroy in the Egyptian ruler.

POINTS FOR TEACHERS.

      1. Note the character of Jacob's family; twelve sons, mostly bold and unscrupulous. Cite proofs of their character. 2. Bring out the reasons why Joseph was hated. 3. Observe the ten brethren at Dothan; why there; their plot when they saw Joseph. See the proof of their depravity in this awful design. 4. Note Reuben's counsel, and the proof of his better heart. 5. Note the sale of Joseph, and how it was brought about. A brother sold into slavery by brothers! 6. Observe the course taken by the evil doers to deceive their father and conceal their sin. Only a success for a season; finally baffled, and retribution comes. 7. Observe the great grief of Jacob; his mother had been partial to him, he to a child, and he reaps the bitter [103] fruits. 8. Note his hope of meeting Joseph again. 9. Bring out Joseph as a type of Christ. 10. Observe the practical lesson--ten bad boys go on step by step, nourish envy and hatred in their hearts until they are prepared to murder their brother. Evil must be crushed in the beginning.

Source: Barton Warren Johnson. The Christian International Lesson Commentary for 1887. Des Moines, IA: