NOTES for Gen 37:2-36
When reading today's passage, one cannot help feeling two things at once. On the one hand, Joseph's behavior, as described in the story, does not arouse sympathy in a normal person. Indeed, when and who has ever liked tattletales and flatterers? Yet Joseph appears before us in exactly that light (v. 2). It is no wonder that Joseph inspires nothing but hostility in his brothers. And his dreams, of course, only intensify that hostility: their meaning is quite transparent, and none of the older members of the clan naturally wants to submit to the youngest, since this contradicted all the norms and customs accepted in those days (vv. 5-11). On the other hand, the brothers' hatred was caused by more than this. The older brothers undoubtedly saw Joseph as a dangerous competitor in the coming struggle for power in the tribe after their father's death. Usually the eldest became leader, but Joseph had his father's special love in his favor, and now signs of election from above were added: the gift of prophetic dreams with which Joseph was endowed was considered in ancient times a special sign of God's favor. Such a combination could well have caused Jacob to change tradition and hand power over to Joseph, even though he was the youngest. Then Joseph's older brothers decide to get rid of the dangerous rival. Not daring to shed blood, which in ancient times was thought to defile a person and bring a curse upon him, especially when innocent blood was shed, Joseph's brothers finally sell him into slavery to a passing trade caravan headed for Egypt, firmly convinced that now they have rid themselves forever of a dangerous rival (vv. 18-28). Clearly, Joseph's brothers are now moved not merely by irritation against a flatterer and informer, but by a thirst for power that stops at nothing. And this thirst prevents them from seeing the main thing: the sign from God sent through Joseph. As will become clear later, this sign pointed to events on which the life of Jacob himself and of all his descendants would directly depend. But Joseph's brothers, occupied with thoughts of inheriting power in the tribe, had no time for signs. In Joseph they saw not a man of God through whom God wanted to save the life of His people, but merely an unwanted competitor in the struggle for that very power. They thought of nothing more, and their personal antipathy toward Joseph only inflamed their hatred even more. Passions and short-term calculations prevented Joseph's brothers from seeing in him the main thing that made up the meaning of his life. Then the paths of Joseph and his brothers parted for a long time. They parted so that many years later Joseph's mission would be marked out more clearly, and his brothers would finally understand that the world extends far beyond the borders of their small tribe.