Genesis 37:23 Commentary and Bible Study

When Joseph reached them they just went for him. It doesn't say so, but they must have beaten him severely and punched him, and then stripped his coat off him, and cast him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water, probably because of drought conditions in the area, but it was impossible to get out of. Maybe it was a soft sided pit so that the more you tried to clamber out, the more the sand came away in your hand. Maybe it was a hewn cistern with steep sides for the storage of water for travellers. They were certainly on a trade route, but either way, it was dry impossible to climb out of. That coat which they hated so much was to be stripped from him as a symbol of their triumphing over their father’s favour towards him. Joseph is now in their power and realises his situation is desperate, for they seem incapable of any pity towards him.But immediately, with the blood running and the boy thrown into a pit, they have a good meal, so hard in their hearts. We would not want to meet any of these young men. Amos parodies this: ‘That drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselves with the chief ointments: but they are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph’ (Amos 6:6). This stands out in history as an act of unprecedented callousness.But then they see the Ishmaelites from Gilead, who are also called Midianites – we should not get concerned about that; the terms appear to be interchangeable in this passage; it certainly wasn't seen as a contradiction by the narrator here, who uses the terms equally; possibly there were two groups but travelling together – pass by, and they decide to sell the boy. The providence of God has everything worked out with such precision. Judah is the one who suggests this – and he is no good as we will see in chapter 38. ‘[Judah] said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?’ The trouble is, he meant exactly what he said. What are we going to gain out of leaving him in a pit? We’ve got traders passing by here, a caravan of merchants who would be willing to buy a slave. We can not only get rid of him, but we can gain from it at the same time. This is so cynical. He doesn’t mean, What gain is there in murdering him; we shouldn’t do it. He means we won’t make any money if we just kill him or leave him to die, but we can make some money if we sell him to these traders. Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him;’ – listen to this – ‘for he is our brother and our flesh.’ Judah is saying, ‘I don’t think I can live with his death on my conscience.’ Even having tea, consciences are at work. How much illness is caused by conscience!So they sell him into slavery, and they get 20 pieces of silver for it, and the parallel with the Lord Jesus Christ is obvious. Christ too was sold by his brethren, betrayed by Judas for ‘a goodly price!’ that they set on him (Zechariah 11:13).