Joe Catholic: Jesse Tree: Day 8

Genesis 37:1-36

(RSVCE)

Joseph Dreams of Greatness

37 Jacob dwelt in the land of his father’s sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 This is the history of the family of Jacob.

[a]Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives; and Joseph brought an ill report of them to their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a long robe with sleeves. 4 But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably to him.

5 Now Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers they only hated him the more. 6 He said to them, “Hear this dream which I have dreamed: 7 behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf arose and stood upright; and behold, your sheaves gathered round it, and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 His brothers said to him, “Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to have dominion over us?” So they hated him yet more for his dreams and for his words. 9 Then he dreamed another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” 10 But when he told it to his father and to his brothers, his father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?” 11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.

Joseph Is Sold by His Brothers

12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers, and with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man found him wandering in the fields; and the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” 16 “I am seeking my brothers,” he said, “tell me, I pray you, where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. 18 They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild beast has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; cast him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; 24 and they took him and cast him into a pit. The pit was empty, there was no water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ish′maelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we slay our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ish′maelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers heeded him. 28 Then Mid′ianite traders passed by; and they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ish′maelites for twenty shekels of silver; and they took Joseph to Egypt.

29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he rent his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers, and said, “The lad is gone; and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph’s robe, and killed a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood; 32 and they sent the long robe with sleeves and brought it to their father, and said, “This we have found; see now whether it is your son’s robe or not.” 33 And he recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s robe; a wild beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob rent his garments, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Mid′ianites had sold him in Egypt to Pot′i-phar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

Commentary

37:2. “This is the history of …”: ten times over the course of Genesis the final redactor of the book uses this formal phrase to impose order on its content, dividing it into a number of genealogical sections (cf. “Introduction”, p. 29 above). Here he uses it for the last time, to notify the reader that he has reached the last section, the story of how Jacob-Israel went down into Egypt: one of his sons, Joseph, was sold by his brothers and taken to Egypt (chap. 37); Joseph prospered in that country and became very important (cf. chaps. 39–41); Jacob and his other sons went to Egypt where they met Joseph and, through his good offices, received special treatment from the pharaoh; finally, the patriarch Jacob died in Egypt but was brought back to the land of Canaan to be buried (cf. chaps. 49–50).

37:3–4. The tunic with long sleeves made Joseph look like a prince, in some way foretelling his glorious future. Although Jacob’s preferential love for Joseph is due to human causes, behind it we can see something which occurs throughout the Bible—how some people, gratuitously, enjoy special favour, including special divine favour and love, without this meaning that the love shown to others is diminished. Joseph, the object of Jacob’s special love, thereby becomes a figure of Jesus Christ, the Beloved of the Father (cf. Mt 1:11). The sin of Jacob’s sons, like Cain’s in some way (cf. Gen 4:5), begins with their reacting against God’s preferential love; it then turns into hatred and envy (cf. vv. 8–11) and ends up with their getting rid of their brother (cf. v. 20).

Joseph’s dreams

37:5–11. Dreams play an important role in the story of Joseph (cf. chaps. 40–41). These (unlike those in previous chapters) are not a vehicle for divine revelations, but simply a way of foretelling the future. However, in them one can see the providence of God guiding events.

Even Jacob is surprised when he realizes the meaning of his son’s dreams, and he rebukes Joseph because he thinks he may be getting ideas above his station. However, Jacob does not forget the incident and he is open to the possibility of what may happen even though he doesn’t yet understand it. Joseph’s brothers have a different reaction: they don’t want the dream to come true, so they begin to plot against him. But God will draw great good for them all out of their wickedness.

St Ambrose sees, underlying the dreams reported in this passage, “the future resurrection of Christ, whom, when they saw him in Jerusalem, the eleven disciples worshipped, and whom all the saints will adore when they rise again bearing the fruits of their good works, as it is written, ‘They come with joy, bearing their sheaves’ (Ps 126:6)” (De Joseph, 2, 7).

Joseph is sold to Egyptians as a slave

37:12–36. This episode deals with the horrible crime of disposing of their brother and the providential events which take Joseph to Egypt. We can see that the narrative is drawing on two sources: one emphasizes the intervention of Judah (v. 26), the other that of Reuben. The true key to what is happening will emerge at the end of the story: “You meant evil against me,” Joseph tells his brothers, “but God meant it for good” (50:20). In the light of the whole narrative we can see the way God’s plan is being put into operation: “Joseph,” comments St Gregory the Great, “was sold by his brothers because they did not want to do him honour; but that is exactly what they do, by the very fact of selling him. […] So too, when one wants to avoid the divine will, then is when it is fulfilled” (Moralia, 6, 18, 20).

37:36. Potiphar is the same name as is given in 41:45, 50 and 46:20 to a priest of the sun god at Heliopolis whose daughter will marry Joseph. It certainly is an Egyptian name, as can be seen from a stele of the 11th century bc (21st dynasty).

Source: The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage readers to purchase The Navarre Bible for personal study. See Scepter Publishers for details.

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