(Genesis, Chapter 37.)

Genesis says that Jacob/Israel returned to his homeland, lived in peace with Esau, and made visits to Bethel, where he first had a vision of “Jacob’s Ladder.” Settled in his land, he hoped to see peace and prosperity for his large family, 12 sons (to become the “12 tribes of Israel”) deriving from two wives and two concubines. 

In the ancient Near East, rights and familial position were supposed to descend according to seniority of birth, i.e., from the eldest son downward. As we’ve seen in the patriarchal families (and God’s dealings with them), that is rarely the case. Isaac is preferred over Ishmael (but note Isaac is of Abraham’s wife). The younger twin Jacob is preferred over Esau, even though both are the issue of Isaac’s wife, Rebecca. And, amidst Jacob’s multi-woman set of half-sons, the second youngest (Joseph) is also Daddy’s favorite. He is the firstborn of Jacob’s beloved Rachel. He’s favored by his father, who entertains his “dreamier” approach to life. (One of those dreams involved Joseph ruling over his brothers.) His father even made him a distinctive coat, a valuable commodity among the possessions of the ancient world. And Joseph’s brothers notice it — and don’t like it.

Amid the warm and loving relations of the patriarchal family, Joseph’s brothers plot to kill him. The opportunity arises as they are all in the field guarding the sheep. 

As the other brothers see Joseph approaching, they decide to kill him and throw his body into a cistern. They take the coat Jacob made for him to use as a pretense that a wild animal attacked and killed Joseph.

Then one brother experiences a partial pang of conscience. Throw him in a cistern (which happened to be dry, an improvement over the muddy cistern into which Jeremiah would be cast centuries later), yes. Kill him, no. If he dies in the cistern, well, at least it’s not at their active hands. (The brother is trying to save Joseph.) Casuistry has its privileges. And that is what the brothers do.

Along come some Ishmaelite traders. Jacob’s people are sitting in the middle of the major trade routes of that and subsequent times, linking Egypt in the west across Sinai through what is now Israel to the civilizations of the Tigris and Euphrates valleys (today’s Iraq). 

Who knows? Joseph’s brothers might be having second thoughts about contributing to their brother’s death, actively or passively, and there’s a chance to make some money. So, for 20 shekels (about half a pound) of silver, they sell him as a slave to the Ishmaelites who, in turn, take him with them to Egypt, where he is sold locally to Potiphar, an official of Pharoah’s. Joseph in this sense prefigures Jesus, another beloved Son sold for silver. The brothers bring back Joseph’s coat, first dipped in goat’s blood, to Jacob who grieved his beloved son. 

In Egypt, Joseph’s talents and abilities, together with his integrity and God’s care of him, shine through. He soon becomes the steward of Potiphar’s house. He is jailed when his master’s wife tries to seduce him and then blame him for the seduction, but the jailer recognizes Joseph’s talents and taps them. He becomes an interpreter of dreams and visions. And the latter finally establishes his position: he interprets Pharoah’s dream of seven fat years followed by seven lean years of harvests, times of plenty followed by famine. Pharoah puts Joseph in charge of crisis preparedness and he manages now just to protect Egypt against famine but to make it the regional seller of grain in a famine afflicting broader swaths of the Middle East. Let’s break the story there.

Joseph’s betrayal by his brothers is captured in this 1855 oil painting by the Russian artist, Konstantin Flavitsky. He painted it the same year he graduated, at 25, from the Russian Imperial Art Academy. (He would die at 36 of tuberculosis.)

“The Children of Jacob Sell Their Brother Joseph” is scenically divided into two groups, each somewhat enlightened against the otherwise dark blue gloom of the painting, which corresponds to the doings. The use of light (and darkness) is significant in this painting. 

On the right, the young Joseph, stripped of his coat, looks almost pleadingly at his brothers while the Ishmaelite traders bind him, preparing to throw him on a camel for the rest of their journey. His arms and legs almost have a cruciform appearance. The larger caravan extends off into the mists of the distance on the right; we can see the camels. On the left, his brothers divide up their lucre. One holds and counts the money. Another bends over, staring at it, and smiles. Two cast parting glances at the brother they sold. The moment of parting is at hand. And, at the base of the painting is the cistern from which Joseph had been extracted.