Joseph sold

Genesis 37:12-35 - Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem, and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them."

"Very well," he replied.

So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.

When Joseph arrived at Shechem, a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?"

"They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.' "

So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.

"Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."

When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.

So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the richly ornamented robe he was wearing- and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.

As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.

Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.

So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"

Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."

He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."

Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him.

Here is a wonderful example of how God can take our sheep-like stupidity and turn it into something good. It shows his glory and wisdom.

Warning: Do not attempt such stupidity at home or anywhere else on purpose!

I wonder what they were thinking. Not just Joseph's brothers but Israel (Jacob) and Joseph as well.

First, Israel sends Joseph to the field where his brothers are tending sheep asking him to bring back a report about them. Hm, where have we heard this before? Ah yes, not too long ago (probably the same year) pretty much the same thing happened. And what good had come of that? Joseph royally ticked off his brothers.

Second, Joseph goes as asked...wearing the flashy symbol of his father's favoritism, the infamous coat of many colors (aka technicolor dreamcoat)! Did he realize this would amount to rubbing his brothers' noses in it?

Then the brothers plot to kill him. Kill him! Why? Because they were jealous? Because Joseph took advantage of the situation whenever possible? Were the brothers afraid of losing out on something if Joseph remained alive? Sure, they were really his half-brothers, but that wasn't all that uncommon. And did that really play into this at all? Would they have felt the same if they were all full brothers? Was the situation really that bad that murder was warranted?

Remember Cain.

Happily (sort of) for Joseph, the brothers cooked up Plan B and only sold him instead. I wonder what they spent the money on.

Finally, there's Reuben. He seems to have had a lot to do with dissuading the others from killing Joseph. But where was he at lunchtime when they were selling him? If his plan was to rescue Joseph from the cistern later, shouldn't he have kept an eye on it at all times? We don't know the exact terrain, but they did have the sheep grazing in the fields. Where could Reuben have been or what could he have been doing that he totally missed

1. the entrance of a caravan of camels,
2. the brothers pulling Joseph out of the cistern (shouting and screaming at them?),
3. the cutting of the deal, and
4. the Ishmaelites and Midianites riding off into the sunset?

Was he taking a siesta in the heat of the day?

I wonder if the brothers knew any of Joseph's buyers. They may have been 2nd cousins of some of them. Ishmael and Midian were both sons of Abraham.

I wonder which (if any) of the stupid things I've done God plans to use for someone's good.