As we've walked through this latter half of Jacob's journey, the spotlight has been nudging its way toward his children, and in particular towards the youngest of them all: Joseph. He was born to Rachel in the fields of Paddan-aram at the end of Jacob's second seven-year shepherding contract with Laban; and at his birth, Rachel was delighted to finally have a child, but prayed in that moment to have another son (Genesis 30:24). It was Joseph's birth that spurred Jacob to request his freedom to move back to Canaan (Genesis 30:25), though their departure didn't take place until Joseph was six. It was as a six-year-old boy that he witnessed his dad Jacob's big argument with his grandpa Laban. It was also at age six that he and his mom were placed in the very back, specially protected, at the tense meeting with Uncle Esau (Genesis 33:2).
Joseph might've been eight when the family bought land outside the big city of Shechem, and that's the area where Joseph grew up for the next six years, give or take, until his sister Dinah, just a year older than Joseph, was taken, and then his bigger brothers Simeon and Levi went to rescue her (Genesis 34:1-26). Soon after that, Joseph's family moved away to Bethel and worshipped (Genesis 35:1-15). By this time, Joseph's mom Rachel was at last pregnant; but on the way, she died in the process of childbirth, leaving behind a new youngest son, Benjamin (Genesis 35:16-21). As if Joseph, taking after Rachel in her looks, weren't already cherished by his father, now they had a new special bond: the traumatic loss of Rachel.1 In time, Jacob led the family to the vicinity of Hebron, where Joseph finally got to meet Grandpa Isaac (Genesis 35:27). And so we read that “Jacob lived in the land of his father's sojournings in the land of Canaan” (Genesis 37:1).
Now our story begins anew, and our first real glimpse of Joseph in his own right is him and some of his brothers working as a team to shepherd their family's big flocks. So here we've got a young, good-looking shepherd boy with a bunch of older brothers who look down on him, brothers to whom his father will later send him. Does that remind you of anybody else in the Bible? It should. That sounds like David. So that perks up our ears to be attentive to Joseph as a David prototype.2 For now, though, he's cast as merely a young assistant to “the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah” (Genesis 37:2), now called not concubines but wives.3 It seems at first blush as though, being an assistant to the least-honored of his brethren, he's been cast in the lowliest role,4 but the way it's written in Hebrew could also be read as Joseph 'shepherding his brothers in the flock.'5 And that comes out when, after assisting his half-brothers, “Joseph brought their evil whisper to his father” (Genesis 37:2). Now, maybe he “exposed them in their deed,”6 mismanaging the flock, that “the sons of Zilpah and Bilhah are killing the best animals and eating them.”7 On the other hand, usually a 'whisper' like this means a slander, as when Israel's scouts will bring back a 'slander' in their report on the Promised Land (Numbers 13:32).8
Whether Joseph was bearing false witness or just honestly tattling on his half-brothers, it doesn't do wonders for their relationship. But now we're told that “Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because a son of old age was he to him” (Genesis 37:3). You'd think that means Jacob was especially old when Joseph was born, but remember that the gap between the eldest brother and Joseph is six years, and many of the brothers are just a year or two older than Joseph. Instead, this phrase points back to how Abraham awaited a son in his old age, a son to be born to the barren wife he loved (Genesis 21:2).9 Hence Joseph was especially loved and favored.
And so Israel “made him a tunic” (Genesis 37:3), like the special vestment worn later by Israel's high priests (Exodus 28:39). In fact, we never hear people in the Old Testament wearing one of these without being a priest or a member of the royal court or royal family. Not only that, this is a robe or tunic “of many colors,” made of bunches of colored patches arranged to form some kind of pattern; and it signified Joseph's elevation to a new status, the intended heir, thus yanking the birthright from Reuben and bestowing it on Joseph.10 You'd think that Jacob, more than anybody, would know the problems that result when parents play favorites. His other sons weren't idiots; they “saw that their father loved [Joseph] more than all his brothers” (Genesis 37:4). After all, this fancy garment hardly amounts to working clothes, suggesting that from here on out, Joseph gets to “live a protected life at home while his brothers are out in the fields” at their labors.11 As a result, they all “hated him” (Genesis 37:4). Now he's not just resented by the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, but the six sons of the 'hated' wife Leah avenge their mother's dishonor by hating the son who opened Rachel's womb (cf. Genesis 29:31).12
Not only did they hate him, in fact, but “they were unable to speak to him in peace” (Genesis 37:4). They just couldn't bear to have polite relations with this favored little brother. And that makes for a big problem. If there is one thing Jacob learned through life's twists and turns, it's the challenge of keeping peace in a household. In choosing his heir-apparent for leadership of the clan as it's on the path to becoming a nation, he ought to have been looking out for who could best preserve their unity in a state of peace and wholeness. But Israel has now invoked his authority to single out the youngest of his eleven grown sons – as he himself had been youngest of two – whose election and privilege are already disruptive to his house's peace.13
These two provocations – tattling and wearing flashy clothes – would spell trouble enough. Now we read that “Joseph dreamed a dream” (Genesis 37:5). Alright, fine, it happens. But then “he told it to his brothers,” he invited them to “hear, please, this dream that I have dreamed” (Genesis 37:5-6). They don't want to hear from him at all already, but he insists on describing his dream. “And behold, we were binding sheaves in the field,” to start with (Genesis 37:7). Of itself, that isn't strange, since shepherds were often hired by farmers during the harvest to help with such chores, so the dream starts true to life.14 Then things get weird. “And behold,” adds Joseph, “my sheaf arose and stood upright” – not something they tend to do – “and behold, your sheaves gathered around it, and they bowed down to my sheaf!” (Genesis 37:7).
This dream, told as though a taunt, didn't go over so well with the audience. Joseph's ten big brothers scoffed at him: “Are you to reigningly reign over us? Or are you to dominatingly have dominion over us?” (Genesis 37:8). Both are royal verbs,15 and only one other time in the Bible does the first one, 'reign' or 'be king,' get doubled up this way, and that's the elder Saul confessing to the younger David, “Now behold, I know that you shall reign reigningly,” shall indeed be king (1 Samuel 24:20).16 But, like Saul, this only made the brothers more enraged; the result of hearing his dream was that they “increased exceedingly to hate him” (Genesis 37:5, 8), building up a “burning fire of unrighteous malice” within their hearts.17 When it says they 'increased' or 'added' in hating him, it's the same word his mom built his name on; in Hebrew, it sounds like they 'josephed' in hating Joseph!
But still he doesn't let up. “Joseph dreamed again a dream following, and he recounted it to his brothers,” in fact, “to his father and to his brothers” (Genesis 37:9-10), maybe in hopes his dad's authority will help ratify what Joseph takes as his dreams' implications.18 He tells them, “Behold, I have dreamed a dream again,” and now you're all gonna hear about it! This time, there's one static scene, no development of action. In his first dream, he and his brothers were all there in person, though the grain sheaves acted as their proxies; in this dream, the only person around is Joseph himself, “and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing to me” (Genesis 37:9). What that looked like in his mind, it's hard to imagine. But to whom would sun and moon and stars bow? It's not the glory of Joseph the heavens are there to declare, after all (Psalm 19:1; 148:3). Joseph, in this dream, has effectively seated himself on the throne of the Most High,19 casting himself in the role of “the king of creation” above.20 These are dreams you'd expect an Egyptian pharaoh to have.21
Hearing this dream, “his father rebuked him” – likely a wise choice in the presence of his other sons. “What is this dream that you have dreamed?” asks Israel. “Shall I and your mother and your brothers bowingly bow down to you on the earth?” (Genesis 37:10). It's a good question. The way Joseph understands his dreams right now, and the way Israel and his other sons take them, isn't necessarily what they finally mean.22 So maybe they're jumping to conclusions here. Whatever the case, Israel – even after rebuking Joseph – nevertheless “kept the word,” since he, of all people, understands that certain dreams mustn't be ignored;23 while “his brothers were jealous of him” (Genesis 37:11), “melting with envy, being torn asunder by it.”24
So what do we make of this teenage Joseph? Many ancient readers rushed to his defense, insisting Joseph was “not puffed up in [his] thoughts,”25 but merely “excelled the others in understanding and wisdom,”26 and so was resented for his “virtuous qualities of soul,”27 his “greater marks of virtue” compared to them.28 On the other hand, plenty of readers then and now have squinted at “the insufferable and excessive boldness which the young man exuded in abundance.”29 His insistence on flaunting his dreams in his brothers' faces, even after he's already been on their bad side, might be a sign that Joseph is “self-absorbed and self-important,”30 “indiscreet and insensitive to those he would rule,”31 and tragically “politically deaf and dumb.”32
It's unclear how much time passes before the story moves on. Joseph is seventeen years old, “and his brothers went to pasture the flock of their father in Shechem” (Genesis 37:12). Maybe they left without notice, leaving their dad in the dark.33 Given that they've gone to Shechem, where Jacob had feared their bloody deeds would be avenged (Genesis 34:30), he's now deeply worried for their safety.34 Joseph, of course, has stayed behind, as the privileged son. But at some point, Papa Israel suggests he go. “Aren't your brothers pasturing at Shechem? Come, I'll send you to them” (Genesis 37:13). Will Joseph resent this proposal? Not at all. His response strikes a familiar chord: “Behold me,” “Here I am,” “Ready for service.” It's the same word we recall so keenly from when God summoned Abraham to the mountain of sacrifice.35 Given that Joseph's already been singled out as Israel's beloved son, the parallels already hint that something ominous and heartbreaking may follow.36 Israel bids Joseph, “Go, please, see that it is peace with your brothers and peace with the flock, and bring me word” (Genesis 37:14). This is, on the one hand, a wellness check. On the other hand, it's espionage: Joseph is being dispatched to assess whether the flock is healthy in the hands of his brothers, and then report his findings.37 It's interesting that, so soon after hearing how Israel 'kept the word,' he requires Joseph 'bring him word.'38
Sent north from “the Valley of Hebron,” Joseph obediently “went to Shechem” (Genesis 37:14), which took both guts and time; at fifty miles away, that would've likely been about a five-day hike for Joseph.39 But there are no brothers there when he arrives. Now we see Joseph “wandering in the field” outside the city, somewhat at a loss as to what he should do (Genesis 37:15). In this field, he's misled, off-track, himself like a lost sheep of Israel (Psalm 119:176). That's when we're introduced to “a man,” a man who “found him” as he wandered lost and intervened, asking Joseph, “What are you seeking?” (Genesis 37:15). Joseph, naturally, replied he was looking for his brothers, and asked the man to tell them where they were pasturing – he at least assumes they're still alive. Amazingly, the man somehow knows just who Joseph means and is able to report that he overheard the brothers planning their move further northwest to Dothan (Genesis 37:16-17). Who was this mystery man? Some ancient readers imagined he was “an angel in the appearance of a man,”40 maybe even Gabriel,41 sent to help Joseph to his destiny. Others went the other way, guessing it was the devil guiding him toward danger.42
Genesis now shifts us to the viewpoint of the brothers, pasturing the flocks near Dothan, as they spy Joseph on the horizon. They can't help but see him: he's got the loudest clothes around! Did he really have to flaunt his finery all the way out here?43 He's still out of earshot when the other sons of Israel begin to plot against their little brother, whom they sarcastically dub “this master of the dreams,” to death (Genesis 37:18-19) – “and we will see what will become of his dreams” then (Genesis 37:20). They mock the dreams, but secretly fear them.44 So one says to his brother, “Come now, let's slay him and throw him into one of the pits” (Genesis 37:20). In the wake of revisiting Shechem where Simeon and Levi had slain a whole city, later readers imagined Simeon had suggested violence as the answer yet again, having already “determined inwardly to destroy him,”45 that “Simeon and Gad came upon Joseph to kill him,”46 to “gobble him up from the living as an ox gobbles up grass from the ground.”47 What they propose to do, 'slay him,' is what Cain did to Abel, what Esau had hoped to do to Jacob (Genesis 4:8; 27:41).48 Where Abel had just one Cain, Joseph has many; where Jacob had just one Esau, Joseph has many. And unlike Cain and Esau, this bad band of brothers are brainstorming already how to cover their tracks, by claiming that “an evil animal has eaten him” (Genesis 37:20).
Here, though, is where one of the brothers stands apart – or tries to, at least. And that's Reuben, firstborn of the sons of Israel, who's maybe twenty-four now. After what he did to his stepmother Bilhah, he's fallen from favor (Genesis 35:22), and desperately hopes to regain the spotlight by acting in his father's interests. So as he hears what his younger brethren are scheming, he interjects that they mustn't take Joseph's life (Genesis 37:21). He demands that they “shed no blood” (Genesis 37:22), echoing the law given to Noah that “whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God he made man” (Genesis 9:6).49 Understanding, though, that his brothers need some outlet, he suggests that, rather than slay him themselves, they throw him alive into the pit “here in the wilderness, and do not lay a hand on him” (Genesis 37:22), since otherwise “from the hand of a man's brother [God] will require the life of man” (Genesis 9:5). But if animals or the elements do their dirty work, maybe they can bypass divine law on a technicality. In this proposal, Reuben “rescued him out of their hand,” which was secretly his goal: to “rescue him out of their hand to return him to their father” (Genesis 37:21-22). But Reuben “did not dare to rescue his brother openly,”50 so he tried to combine leadership of his brothers with deceiving the very ones he meant to guide.51
We aren't outright told that Reuben convinced anybody.52 But when Joseph finally gets close, they grab him and strip off his tunic – yes, that colorful tunic that was on him (Genesis 37:23) – to denude his signs of privilege and break what they see as their father's injustice in designating Joseph honorary firstborn;53 and then they follow Reuben's proposal: “they threw him,” alive, “into a pit,” an empty pit without water in the bottom (Genesis 37:24). “With no mercy they cast him into a pit in the desert.”54 We hear nothing here, but later his brothers will admit that “we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen” (Genesis 42:21). Had it been written yet, Joseph might've prayed the thirtieth psalm: “To the Lord I plead for mercy: What profit is there in my blood, if I go down to the Pit? … Hear, O LORD..., be my helper!” (Psalm 30:8-10). As he cries out from the depths, the brothers “sat down to eat bread” near the pit (Genesis 37:25).
Reuben's plan had saved Joseph's life, but it also required Reuben to go watch the flocks as the others ate their lunch, so that he'd have a solitary lunch break later that would afford him opportunity to rescue Joseph.55 Reuben thus left them, confident that his brothers would so honor him as their leader that they'd stay the course he set even without his supervision.56 But as the brothers glance up from their bread, they notice a merchant “caravan of Ishmaelites” coming southward down the road from Gilead; it seems too good to be true (Genesis 37:25). As the brothers lift their eyes and behold the caravan, we're reminded of Abraham lifting his eyes from the altar and beholding the substitute ram (Genesis 22:13).57
Now another brother speaks up – Judah, fourth son of loveless Leah. Echoing that psalmist in advance, he asks “what profit” they get if they kill Joseph (cf. Psalm 30:9). Sure, they'll be minus one bothersome brother, but what if they can both subtract Joseph and add some silver? Isn't Joseph all about addition? So, says Judah, let's not “slay our brother and conceal his blood.” Instead, “come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites – and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh” (Genesis 37:26-27). Like Reuben, Judah points to the problem of bloodshed.58 Like Reuben, Judah urges them not to lay a hand on Joseph.
Now, it could be that calculating greed and “crass practicality” are what's driving Judah here.59 And this plan will be a symbolic death for Joseph, since the caravan is carrying “gum and balm and myrrh” to Egypt, and those were supplies used in the process of mummification (Genesis 37:25); “let not our hand be upon him,” let Egyptian hands do the work.60 But some ancient readers suspected, or maybe wished, that Judah, like Reuben, was acting out of a concern to save Joseph's life.61 Unlike Reuben, Judah explicitly appeals to their brotherly bond with Joseph, the fact that he's their own flesh.62 The nature of brotherhood is central to this chapter, with the word showing up in Hebrew three-times-seven times.63 But can Judah's words carry the day? Reuben tried to lead by laying down the law; Judah leads with invitations.64 And now we read, as we didn't read after Reuben spoke, that “his brothers heard him” (Genesis 37:27); Judah has “a quality of leadership” that wins them over.65
So “there passed by men of Midian, traders, and they drew him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty of silver” – which was a typical price for slaves at that time66 – “and they took Joseph to Egypt” (Genesis 37:28). It's not totally clear if the 'men of Midian' are new characters, in which case they cut the brothers out of the equation, or if they're the same as the Ishmaelites.67 But our earliest sources, including the New Testament (Acts 7:9), say the brothers sell Joseph to these Ishmaelites of Midian.68 Some even add that they “accepted the money” and “bought shoes for themselves,” as if to trample Joseph's blood-price underfoot as a further act of contempt toward his dreams of ruling them.69 But the real kicker is, no matter how you slice it, every person involved in selling Joseph is from a people biblically tied to Abraham.70
Now Joseph's off-screen. Unaware of what's happened in his absence, it's Reuben's turn for a lunch break, his pretext to jailbreak Joseph from the pit – but when he checks, “behold,” he gets an error message: no Joseph found! In deep distress, he rips his clothes, returning to his brothers and the flock and lamenting, “The child is gone – and I, where shall I go?” (Genesis 37:29-30). His first thought, on finding Joseph seemingly snuffed out of existence, is about how this will affect himself.71
As a group, the brothers now default to the second half of their original plan: to explain Joseph's absence, they'll claim he perished in an animal attack. But instead of outright making the claim, they scheme to manufacture evidence. (Later Jews envisioned that this was Dan's shrewd idea.72) Exploiting their control of their father's flocks, they select “a hairy one of goats,” a kid, and butcher it in the field. Then they dip the Joseph's colorful, handwoven garment in its blood, staining it permanently beyond cleansing (Genesis 37:31). In an age before modern forensics, it certainly looks convincingly as if it's Joseph's own blood, spilled in unsurvivable quantities. “And they sent the patterned tunic, and they brought it to their father” (Genesis 37:32). The goal is to fool him, to deceive him, into pronouncing Joseph dead and clearing them of responsibility. But notice the tools they've chosen: the death of a goat kid, and borrowed clothing. It sounds a lot like the time a younger Jacob borrowed Esau's clothes and the skins of goat kids to deceive his blind father Isaac.73 Even the word Genesis uses here, “a hairy one of goats,” invokes Esau's alternate name of Seir – it's as if Genesis is taunting Jacob. For where he once coerced his big brother into selling him the birthright (Genesis 25:31), now his older sons have sold the very brother of theirs to whom he had transferred the birthright.
Now say the sons of Israel, as they present the faked evidence: “This we have found! Recognize, please, the robe of your son, whether it is or not” (Genesis 37:32). How cold their language is, referring to Joseph with detachment, not as 'our brother,' but as “your son.” The word 'recognize' has shown up only twice so far: in Isaac's inability to recognize the deceptively disguised Jacob (Genesis 27:23), and in Jacob's challenge for Laban to recognize his stolen property in the sight of their brethren (Genesis 31:32).74 It feels at this point as if Genesis is beating us over the head with it: Jacob's treatment of Isaac, Esau, and even Laban is now being further revisited on him unwittingly by his own sons. There's an irony in that, where Israel wanted Joseph to bring him back word about his other sons, now those other sons bring back Joseph's ruined clothing.75 But unlike a younger Jacob in Isaac's tent, these sons tell no lies, exactly; they merely mislead Israel to jump to wrong conclusions.76 And so the very tunic that stood once for Israel's love and joy will now be the forged proof meant to crush his heart and avenge the grievances of the unchosen sons.77
For his part, their father can't help but recognize the unique pattern he'd personally stitched together for Joseph. “The robe of my son!” he cries. He can't deny it. And he, once so crafty, leaps to exactly the conclusion his sons intended: “An evil animal has eaten him. Torn, torn to pieces is Joseph!” (Genesis 37:33). But what the sons didn't bargain on was the sheer vehemence of his response. Now, for the first time since the action began, Genesis calls him not 'Israel' but 'Jacob' again. “Jacob rent his garments,” much as Reuben had rent his clothes – but Jacob goes further still: “He put sackcloth on his waist, and he mourned his son many days” (Genesis 37:34). This is the Bible's first scene of mourning, of lamentation (cf. Genesis 27:41); it thereafter shows up in the Books of Moses largely as a response to a divine judgment (Exodus 33:4; Numbers 14:39).
As this drags on and on, “there arose all his sons and all his daughters to comfort him,” trying to calm Jacob down, but he won't oblige them: “he refused to be comforted,” and said, “For I shall descend to my son in mourning into Sheol,” the darkness and gloom of the underworld; the last we see of Jacob in this story, he's crying tears of unabating grief (Genesis 37:35). Maybe he's consumed, not merely by grief, but by a load of guilt for having sent his beloved son, albeit unknowingly, to his apparent doom.78 Ironically, the brothers' action to evict Joseph permanently from their lives makes it feel now like his ghost “haunts them endlessly,” both for Father Jacob and for each of them.79 If they thought this would fix everything, how sorely they were mistaken.
But as the chapter ends, the author reminds us of what we may have forgotten: Joseph's no ghost. He isn't even dead, not literally. In fact, the “Medanites” – a third name for the merchants, apparently – have sold Joseph in Egypt at the slave market, and he's been bought by one of Pharaoh's high officials, Potiphar (Genesis 37:36). In his house is where we'll have to catch up with Joseph next Sunday. For now, what we get to realize, what Jacob doesn't yet know, is that – just like his dad and grandpa on that mountain – an animal has in fact been slain in the place of the beloved son, leaving hope that the beloved son will be restored alive after all.80
In an old Jewish tradition, the day Joseph's brothers brought the goat-blood-drenched clothes to break their dad's heart was a specific date, “on the tenth of the seventh month.”81 Why pick that? Because of what God would then say to Moses: “On the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be for you a time of holy convocation, and you shall afflict yourselves... and you shall not do any work on that very day, for it is a day of atonement, to make atonement for you before the LORD your God; for whoever is not afflicted on that very day shall be cut off from his people” (Leviticus 23:27-29). Famously, the rituals on the Day of Atonement involved Aaron casting lots over a pair of male goats (Leviticus 16:8). One goat would be slaughtered as a sin-offering, and its blood would be used to ritually cleanse the Tabernacle (Leviticus 16:15-19); the other goat, the scapegoat, would be chased into the desert after having hands laid on it by the high priest (Leviticus 16:20-22).
So in later Jewish tradition, the affliction of the Day of Atonement, with its goat sacrifice and the dispatching of another goat into the desert, was held to be the anniversary of the day the sons of Israel afflicted their father's heart with a goat sacrifice disguising the dispatching of his beloved son from the desert to a foreign land; and that, they said, is why “it is decreed for the children of Israel that they mourn on the tenth of the seventh month, on the day when that which caused him to weep for Joseph came to Jacob his father, so that they might atone for them with a young kid on the tenth of the seventh month, once a year, on account of their sin, because they caused the affection of their father to grieve for Joseph his son.”82
Early Christians, though, saw in those Day of Atonement goats a double-foreshadowing of Jesus;83 and it makes sense, because they saw Joseph too as “a figurative representation of Christ.”84 In the scene of Israel sending forth Joseph to scout out the flock under his brothers' care, they saw a picture of the Father sending his Son into the world to “seek and save the lost” (Luke 19:10), “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matthew 10:6), negligently tended by the shepherds (Ezekiel 34:3-6).85 In Joseph being “traded” away for silver pieces, they found a foreshadowing of “the mystery of the Lord,”86 since where Joseph “suffered persecution from his brethren and was sold into Egypt” by his brother Judah, Jesus was persecuted by “his brethren according to the flesh” and was sold out for silver by his disciple Judas (Matthew 26:15).87 “We will see,” his crucifiers might've said, “what will become of his dreams,” his vision of the kingdom of God. Where Jacob rent his garments over the seeming blood of Joseph, the Father rent the temple veil as Christ died on the cross (Mark 15:38).88
Christ was thus sent “down into a pit – the deep, dark pit of death” – but, as Joseph was drawn back out, so then “Christ came back to life and rose out of the pit,” being carried away to all nations by “the blessed disciples..., merchants of spices, spreading the fragrance of the mystery of Christ” abroad.89 In his daring dream of divine mastery of creation, he was dreaming with a Christ's-eye view.90 So “in our true Joseph – that is, our Lord Jesus Christ – the mysteries of that dream were fulfilled,”91 and are fulfilled as his gospel sweetness fills the world. If Father Jacob refused to be comforted on the Day of Atonement, requiring the annual affliction of his sons for their sin, Christ comes to “comfort all mourners” and perfect atonement unto all-surpassing peace (Isaiah 61:2).
And this Messiah whom sun and moon and all the bright beacons of heaven adore – “a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another” (John 13:34). That wasn't all new. The Law of Moses had warned the sons of Israel that “you shall not hate your brother in your heart” (Leviticus 19:17). For, as St. John observed, “whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and doesn't know where he's going” (1 John 2:11). That, said the ancients, was the moral here: “Each of you love his brother. Drive hatred out of your hearts; love one another in deed and word and inward thoughts.... Love one another from the heart, therefore, and if anyone sins against you, speak to him in peace.”92 Undo in yourselves what you see going wrong here. Expel hatred like a demon to be exorcised; cherish brotherhood, peace, love. Says St. Paul, “love one another with brotherly affection” (Romans 12:10), and St. Peter, “Love the brotherhood” (1 Peter 2:17). Because the Beloved Son has descended and risen for us, has been sold to purchase our redemption. Let us love as he loved. Let us embrace his dreams. May his dream of the kingdom of God, a world of brotherly love, come to be in us. Amen.
1 Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 213-214.
2 James McKeown, Genesis (Eerdmans, 2008), 164-165; Megan Warner, “'Are You Indeed to Reign Over Us?': The Politics of Genesis 37-50,” in Mark G. Brett and Rachelle Gilmour, eds., Political Theologies in the Hebrew Bible (Brill, 2023), 216.
3 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 255.
4 Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 152.
5 Camilla von Heijne, “The Dreams in the Joseph Narrative and Their Impact in Biblical Literature,” in Elizabeth R. Hayes and Lena-Sofia Tiemeyer, eds., “I Lifted My Eyes and Saw”: Reading Dream and Vision Reports in the Hebrew Bible (Bloomsbury, 2014), 36.
6 Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 33.1.1, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 91:182.
7 Testament of Gad 1.6, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:814.
8 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 499.
9 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 386; Samuel Emadi, From Prisoner to Prince: The Joseph Story in Biblical Theology (IVP Academic, 2022), 53-54.
10 Benjamin J. Noonan, “An Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: The Style and Significance of Joseph's Garment,” in Kristine Henriksen Garroway, Christine Elizabeth Palmer, and Angela Roskop Erisman, eds., The Body Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox (Hebrew Union College Press, 2022), 334-336, 353-354.
11 Iain W. Provan, Seriously Dangerous Religion: What the Old Testament Really Says and Why It Matters (Baylor University Press, 2014), 257; cf. Brian Neil Peterson, Genesis: A Pentecostal Commentary (Brill, 2022), 320.
12 Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 153.
13 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 515.
14 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 256.
15 Jeffrey Pulse, Figuring Resurrection: Joseph as a Death and Resurrection Figure in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism (Lexham Press, 2021), 72; Samuel Emadi, From Prisoner to Prince: The Joseph Story in Biblical Theology (IVP Academic, 2022), 52.
16 Megan Warner, “'Are You Indeed to Reign Over Us?': The Politics of Genesis 37-50,” in Mark G. Brett and Rachelle Gilmour, eds., Political Theologies in the Hebrew Bible (Brill, 2023), 216.
17 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 6.1.2, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:275.
18 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 518.
19 R. R. Reno, Genesis (Brazos Press, 2010), 263.
20 Samuel Emadi, From Prisoner to Prince: The Joseph Story in Biblical Theology (IVP Academic, 2022), 52.
21 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 388.
22 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 166; Jeffrey Pulse, Figuring Resurrection: Joseph as a Death and Resurrection Figure in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism (Lexham Press, 2021), 72-73.
23 Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 154.
24 John Chrysostom, Letters to Olympia 10.10.D, in Popular Patristics Series 56:115.
25 Testament of Joseph 10.5, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:822.
26 Artapanus, On the Jews fragment 2, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:897.
27 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 2.9, in Loeb Classical Library 242:173.
28 Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph 2 §6, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 65:191.
29 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 6.1.2, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:277.
30 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 270.
31 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 147.
32 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 518.
33 Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 2.18-19, in Loeb Classical Library 242:177.
34 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis 37:13, in Aramaic Bible 1B:125; cf. Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 258.
35 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 519; Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 389.
36 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 145.
37 Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 155.
38 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 148.
39 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 258.
40 Targum Neofiti Genesis 37:15, in Aramaic Bible 1A:172.
41 Targum Pseudo-Jonathan Genesis 37:15, in Aramaic Bible 1B:125.
42 Narration of Joseph, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: More Noncanonical Scriptures 2:271.
43 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 390-391; Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 214.
44 Bill T. Arnold, Genesis (Cambridge University Press, 2009), 320.
45 Testament of Simeon 2.7, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:785.
46 Testament of Zebulon 2.1, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:805.
47 Testament of Gad 2.2, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:814.
48 Matthew R. Schlimm, From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 171.
49 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 274-275.
50 John Chrysostom, Homilies on Genesis 61.13, in Fathers of the Church; A New Translation 87:193.
51 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 391.
52 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 522.
53 Benjamin J. Noonan, “An Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat: The Style and Significance of Joseph's Garment,” in Kristine Henriksen Garroway, Christine Elizabeth Palmer, and Angela Roskop Erisman, eds., The Body Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox (Hebrew Union College Press, 2022), 357-358.
54 Ephrem the Syrian, Commentary on Genesis 33.2, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 91:182.
55 Richard C. Steiner, “Contradictions, Culture Gaps, and Narrative Gaps in the Joseph Story,” Journal of Biblical Literature 139/3 (2020): 450.
56 Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 24-25.
57 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 522 n.15.
58 Matthew R. Schlimm, From Fratricide to Forgiveness: The Language and Ethics of Anger in Genesis (Eisenbrauns, 2011), 171-172.
59 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 391.
60 Jeffrey Pulse, Figuring Resurrection: Joseph as a Death and Resurrection Figure in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism (Lexham Press, 2021), 75-76.
61 Testament of Zebulon 4.2, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:805.
62 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 523.
63 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 498.
64 Jeffrey Pulse, Figuring Resurrection: Joseph as a Death and Resurrection Figure in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism (Lexham Press, 2021), 75.
65 Nechama Price, Tribal Blueprints: Twelve Brothers and the Destiny of Israel (Maggid Books, 2020), 81.
66 James K. Hoffmeier, Israel in Egypt: The Evidence for the Authenticity of the Exodus Tradition (Oxford University Press, 1996), 83-84; Kenneth A. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Eerdmans, 2003), 344-345.
67 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 523-524.
68 1 Enoch 89:13, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:65; Jubilees 34:11, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:121; Testament of Simeon 2.9, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:785; Testament of Gad 2.3, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:815.
69 Testament of Zebulon 3.1-3, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:805; cf. Jason Kalman, “And a Poor Man for a Pair of Shoes: A Peculiar Exegetical Twist on the Sale of Joseph,” in Kristine Henriksen Garroway, Christine Elizabeth Palmer, and Angela Roskop Erisman, eds., The Body Lived, Cultured, Adorned: Essays on Dress and the Body in the Bible and Ancient Near East in Honor of Nili S. Fox (Hebrew Union College Press, 2022), 447-448.
70 Nahum M. Sarna, Genesis (Jewish Publication Society, 1989), 260.
71 Jeffrey Pulse, Figuring Resurrection: Joseph as a Death and Resurrection Figure in the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism (Lexham Press, 2021), 75.
72 Testament of Zebulon 4.7-9, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:806.
73 Bruce K. Waltke, Genesis: A Commentary (Zondervan Academic, 2001), 504; Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 524; Yair Zakovitch, Jacob: Unexpected Patriarch (Yale University Press, 2012), 156.
74 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 392-393.
75 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity (Yale University Press, 1993), 148.
76 David W. Cotter, Genesis (Liturgical Press, 2003), 276.
77 Franziska Ede, “The Garment Motif in Gen. 37-39,” in Christoph Berner, Manuel Schรคfer, Martin Schott, Sarah Schulz, and Martina Weingรคrtner, eds., Clothing and Nudity in the Hebrew Bible (T&T Clark, 2019), 390.
78 Leon R. Kass, The Beginning of Wisdom: Reading Genesis (Free Press, 2003), 525.
79 Zvi Grumet, Genesis: From Creation to Covenant (Maggid Books, 2017), 393.
80 Jon D. Levenson, The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son (Yale University Press, 1993), 149.
81 Jubilees 34:12, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:121.
82 Jubilees 34:18, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 2:121.
83 Barnabas 7.6-11, in Loeb Classical Library 25:39.
84 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 6.3.1, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:301.
85 Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph 3 §9, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 65:192-193; Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 89.1, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 47:39.
86 Melito of Sardis, On the Passover 59, in Popular Patristics Series 55:68.
87 Tertullian of Carthage, Against the Jews 10.6, in Geoffrey D. Dunn, Tertullian (Routledge, 2004), 63.
88 Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph 3 §18, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 65:200.
89 Cyril of Alexandria, Glaphyra on the Pentateuch 6.1.5, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 137:289.
90 Ambrose of Milan, On Joseph 2 §§7-8, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 65:191-192.
91 Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 89.4, in Fathers of the Church: A New Translation 47:40-41.
92 Testament of Gad 6:1-3, in Old Testament Pseudepigrapha 1:816.
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