| “And Reuben said unto them [his brothers], Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit … that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again” (Genesis 37:22). |
| “And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites” (Genesis 37:26-27). |
| As we noticed yesterday, Joseph’s brothers hated him, and could not speak to him in a peaceful way. When he was sent by his father to find out how his brothers were doing, they were very angry. Some wanted to kill him, but Reuben suggested that they put him into a pit. Evidently Reuben intended to come back later, get Joseph out of the pit, and let him go home. But while Reuben was not around, Judah suggested selling him to some Ishmaelites who were passing by with their camels, going down to Egypt. |
| In those days many people had slaves, and Joseph’s brothers actually sold him as a slave to those Ishmaelites. What an awful thing to do! Can you imagine selling your brother or sister as a slave? Yet that is what Joseph’s brothers did to him. The Ishmaelites took Joseph down to Egypt, and his brothers never expected to see him again. |
| All this reminds us of the Lord Jesus. His own disciple, Judas Iscariot, was paid thirty pieces of silver for betraying Him. The nation of Israel wanted Him to be crucified, and hoped they would never see Him again. |
| However, Joseph was not killed, as we know, and the next time his brothers saw him, he was governor over all the land of Egypt. But the Lord Jesus was not only sold by Judas; He was taken out and crucified. However, He rose from the dead, as we know, and is now seated in heaven at God’s right hand. |
| In addition to selling Joseph, his brothers did something else that was an awful thing to do. They killed a kid of the goats, and dipped Joseph’s coat of many colors in the blood of the kid. Then they took the coat home to their father Jacob, and showed it to him. Of course, it looked as if Joseph had been killed by a wild animal, because there was blood all over his coat. All of the brothers really lied to their father when they did this. Read all of Genesis 37 to see how all this happened. |
| But as we noted yesterday, God was in all this, and was going to use Joseph in a wonderful way to save his family from starvation during a famine, when there was no food. But Joseph had to go through some real testing first. |
