JOSEPH SOLD INTO EGYPT. -- Genesis 37:23-36. GOLDEN TEXT. --_ But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy._ -- Genesis 39:21. TIME. --About B. C. 1825. PLACE. --Dothan in Palestine. HELPFUL READINGS. -- Genesis 37:1-22; Genesis 49:22-26; Genesis 42:21-24. LESSON ANALYSIS. --1. _A Fratricide P... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY TOOK HIM AND CAST HIM INTO. 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 Chapter s 34, 35, 37... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY SAT DOWN TO EAT BREAD. Their heartlessness is shown in their setting* down to meat immediately after perpetrating what they intended to be. 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. Pe... [ Continue Reading ]
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. 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 b... [ Continue Reading ]
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. far-off country, sold into slavery, and... [ Continue Reading ]
THERE PASSED BY MIDIANITES, MERCHANTMEN. In verses 25 and 27 they are spoken of as Ishmaelites. Evidently it was. 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... [ Continue Reading ]
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 n... [ Continue Reading ]
WHITHER SHALL. 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?... [ Continue Reading ]
III.. 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... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
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.... [ Continue Reading ]
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 w... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
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, an... [ Continue Reading ]