Who Really Sold Joseph - Genesis 37

After throwing your brother into a pit to die, would you be able to sit down to eat?  Joseph's brothers did!  (Gen 37:24-25)

However, the Torah does not tell us if they sat near the pit, listening to Joseph's screaming and pleading, or if they sat far away from the pit, to enjoy some peace and quiet.

What difference does it make?

Believe it or not, this tiny detail affects our understanding of almost every aspect of this story.  Could it be that Joseph was not  sold by his brothers after all?

Let's begin our study by paying careful attention to the brothers' various plans to 'get rid' of Joseph, and particularly Reuben's plan.

Plan A - The Brothers'  
Soon after Joseph arrived at Dothan, his brothers conspired to kill him.  (Gen 37:18-20)  However, their plan of how to kill him was revised several times.  Let's begin with Plan A:

"They (the brothers) saw him from afar, and before he came close ... they conspired to kill him.  And they said to one another, Behold the "dreamer" is coming.  Now, let's kill him and throw his body into one of the pits... "  (Gen 37:18-20)

At first the brothers planned to kill Joseph right on the spot and 'bury him' in a pit, and thus 'cover-up' any future evidence against them.

Although Reuben opposed Joseph's murder, he realized that the brothers will not accept his opinion.  Therefore, instead of arguing with his brothers, he devised a shrewd plan to first postpone Joseph's murder and later enable him to secretly bring him back home.

Plan B - Reuben's  
Notice the difference between what Reuben says (to his brothers) and what he thinks (to himself).

"And Reuben said ... Do not shed blood, cast him into a pit (to die) out in the wilderness, but do not touch him yourselves, in order to save him from them and return him to his father."  (Gen 37:22) 

Reuben's 'official' plan was to let Joseph die a less violent death  (throw him alive into a deep pit instead of murdering him in cold blood).  However, his 'secret' plan was to later return to that pit and free him.

Reuben even suggested the specific 'pit' in which to throw him - "this pit in the wilderness."   Most probably, this was so that he could later sneak away to that pit and save him.

Compared to the brothers' original plan to throw him into "one of the pits"  (37:20) - possibly a pit closer by.

Unaware of Reuben's true intentions, the brothers agreed.

Joseph arrived, and in accordance with Plan B, the brothers immediately stripped him of his special coat and threw him alive into the pit, (37:23-24)  then  sat down to eat.  (Gen 37:25) 

Where did they sit down to eat?  Close by or far away? 
Where was Reuben? 

Considering that they threw Joseph into a pit 'out in the wilderness,' most probably they returned back to their camp site in the Dothan area to eat.  (37:16-17)  
It would not be very appetizing to eat lunch while listening to their little brother screaming for his life from a nearby pit.  (Gen 42:21 proves that he was indeed screaming.)

The story tells us that Reuben did not stay near the pit, because he "returned" to the pit after Joseph was sold.  Rather, he had  lunch with his brothers away from the pit.  (Not joining them for lunch could cause suspicion...)  

Plan C - Judah's  

"And the brothers sat down to eat, and they lifted up their eyes and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from the Gilad carrying spices ... to Egypt.  Then Judah said to his brothers, What do we gain by killing our brother? ... Let us sell him, instead to the Ishmaelites, after all he is our brother, our own flesh, and his brothers agreed."  (Gen 37:25-27) 

From Judah's suggestion, we see that they truly planned to allow Joseph to die and were totally unaware of Reuben's intention to save him.

Plan C (to sell Joseph instead) put Reuben in a predicament.  On the one hand, he could have disagreed with his brothers but if he did, they might suspect his true plan.  On the other hand, he could not allow them to sell Joseph, because he felt responsible to save him.

Reuben had only one alternative - to quickly excuse himself and run to the pit to free Joseph before his brothers could sell him.

What happened when Reuben returned to the pit?  We'll soon see.  But first, keep in mind the geography of this location, in order to understand the distances involved here.

The Ancient Trade Route

We know that Joseph met his brothers while they were grazing their sheep in the hills of Dothan. (Gen 37:17)  During their meal, the brothers 'lifted up their eyes' (37:25) and noticed a caravan of Ishmaelites travelling down from Gilad (northern mountain range - quite a distance from the 'hills of Dothan', even though it appeared a lot closer), on its way to Egypt.  It looked like the convoy will soon pass by where they were eating, but actually it was to pass through the valley of Jezreel, and not through the hilly area of Dothan.

Dothan (today - Jennin) is about 6 miles south of the main highway crossing the Jezreel valley  and about 660 feet higher.  From their vantage point in Dothan, the brothers were able to see the Ishmaelites turning down into the Jezreel Valley from the Gilad, even though they were still far away.  They still had plenty of time to finish their meal, get Joseph from the pit in the "wilderness" and then meet the convoy and sell Joseph for the 'best price.'

Somebody Got There First

"And a group of Midianite traders passed by (Joseph's pit) and they (the Midianites) pulled, and they lifted Joseph out of the pit, and they (the Midianites) sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and (the Ishmaelites) brought Joseph to Egypt."   (Gen 37:28)

No mention of the brothers in this verse.

The Midianites and the Ishmaelites were two different groups of people.  The Midianites were local 'traders' while the Ishmaelites were international 'movers' (transport caravans). This verse states explicitly that a group of Midianite traders happened to pass by the pit (they probably heard Joseph's screaming), pulled him out, and (later) sold him to the Ishmaelites.  In other words, the Midianites sold Joseph, and not his brothers.

Where were the brothers during all of this?  Most probably, still eating!   They were so far away that they didn't even see or hear what transpired between Joseph and the Midianites.

Where was Reuben?  Eating with his brothers.  However, as soon as he heard Judah's new plan to sell Joseph, he quickly excused himself and ran to the pit to get there first, before his brothers, as the next verse explains.

"And Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was no longer in the pit; then, he tore his clothes."  (Gen 37:29) 

Reuben was the first brother to recognize that Joseph was missing. What could he do?  Shocked, he immediately returned to his brothers with the terrible news.

"And he returned (from the empty pit) to his brothers and said, The boy is gone.  And for myself, what am I going to do?"   (Gen 37:30) 

Notice the words 'Reuben returned' in both verses 29 and 30.  This proves that the brothers could not have been eating by the pit, for if so, Reuben would not need to 'return' to them.  Since Reuben and his brothers were eating away from the pit, Reuben first returned to the pit (Vs-29) and then he returned back to his brothers (Vs-30) to tell them the news.

Plan D - YHVH's
Even though the brothers had three different plans for 'getting rid' of Joseph, YHVH's plan was quite different.  The brothers had no idea what happened to Joseph, but they didn't want their father to know either, so they had one final plan which was ironically quite similar to their original plan. (Gen 37:20,33)  They dipped Joseph's coat in blood and send it to their father.

"And he (Jacob) recognized it and said, My son's coat, he was surely devoured by a wild beast. "  (Gen 37:33) 

 What Did Joseph Think?
When Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he said

"I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold to Egypt."  (Gen 45:4) 

Did Joseph mean to say that his brothers "caused him to be sold" or did he truly think that his brothers sold him, even though they themselves didn't know what really happened. 

Remember, Joseph was not aware of the conversations between his brothers or of their three plans.  All he knew was that as soon as he arrived, his brothers took off his coat and threw him in the pit.  A short time later some Midianites passed by, took him out of the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites, who later sold him to the Egyptians.  Joseph, trying to piece together what happened, assumed that his brothers had this all planned out with the Midianites. 

The fact that Joseph may have not known his brothers' original plan to kill him actually helped him cope during his many years in Egypt.

The brothers, on the other hand, talked, planned and plotted, and therefore they were considered guilty even though they never actually killed Joseph or sold him.

While the brothers believed that their 'dream' to rid themselves of Joseph had come true, in reality, it was the fulfillment of Joseph's dream that was beginning to unfold.