The Book of Genesis
Part 75
Reaping of the Flesh: Chapter 37:18-30
In our consideration of the traits of character manifested by the behaviour of Joseph’s brothers, our attention was directed to envy, hatred, and callousness; it is obvious that other baneful features also come into prominence. We shall mention only two, and then proceed with other details hi the story.
Cruelty
There are many forms of cruelty. These men were bent on murder; the change in their plans is not a credit; they accomplished their design and got rid of Joseph. True, they avoided the sin of murder, although some of them were already guilty of that. Their callous cruelty caused years of mental anguish. “Man’s inhumanity to man, makes countless numbers mourn.”
Covetousness
One wonders if Rueben had some compunctions of conscience over his incestuous deed which may have been the climax of alienating Bilhah’s love from her husband (Gen. 35:22). One could hope that with some repentance he did not wish to inflict another wound upon Jacob. He may have hoped for Joseph’s escape, and apparently had intended himself to release him later (Gen. 42:22).
If Reuben’s plans were favourable to Joseph, these were soon overcome by the proposal of Judah.
Their profits were small, but they were rid of the strongest deterrent in the family to their wickedness.
For their evil doings they eventually suffered, but the reason this account is given in such detail is to show that God works out His own purposes through even the wrath and the crimes of foolish men. “Joseph said unto them,…ye thought evil against me: but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Gen. 50, 19:20).
On this occasion there does seem to have been a difference on the part of Reuben. What his intention was is not clear, but from his attitude we learn that compromise with wickedness always results in inward conflict and grief. Any attempt to mitigate evil by a compliance which goes part way and hopes that something will prevent the worst, can only end in shame and confusion.
From the narrative it appears that they sold Joseph to the Ishmealites during a period when Reuben was not with them, and that on his return the discovery of Joseph’s absence led him to the conclusion that he was indeed dead. Later, he reproved his brothers in such a manner as to imply that he had not agreed with their plot. “Reuben answered them (in the presence of Joseph, the Prime-minister of all Egypt), saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required” (Gen. 42:22). If Reuben thus believed Joseph to have been murdered, he may have felt it better to allow Jacob to think of him as killed by some wild beast rather than by his brothers.
The suggestion that Joseph be placed in a pit (a subterranean cistern) should be understood as an attempt to deliver him out of their hands. The intention of the others, contrariwise, was that their brother perish in the mire and slime of that gloomy place, while they enjoyed the very provisions he had brought from their father.
How God makes the wrath of man to praise Him! By strange and circuitous paths the Lord directs the fulfilment of His own purpose. Little did the brothers or the Ishmaelites know that they, in their negotiations, were accomplishing the will of God.
The Ishmaelites and the Midianites were descendants of Abraham through Keturah; consequently, they were blood relatives of Joseph. The Ishmaelites apparently were the owners and the operators of the caravan, and the Midianites a group of merchants that had joined the caravan in their business ventures. Into the hands of these shrewd men, the sensitive Joseph was sold. The suffering and the anguish through which he passed is elsewhere described for us. Years later his brothers acknowledged, “We saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear” (Gen. 42:21). The Psalmist states, “He (God) sent a man before them, even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron” (Psa. 105:17-18).
Joseph knew something of the wickedness of his brothers, but the full impact of their malice must have come as a surprise to him to intensify the sense of desertion that tortured him. In the slimy pit Joseph drank deeply from the cup of sorrow; yet, that experience was one of the early steps along the pathway God had planned as He sent Joseph before them to be the saviour of their entire family and nation.
In the caravan, Joseph, now a slave, was to learn the need of submission and self-control. No longer was he the favourite in the home but merely an article of commerce.
There have been some attempts to acquit Joseph’s brothers of the sinful selling of him to strangers. Those who indulge in such vain thinking apply the pronoun “they” in verse 28 to the Midianites. The supposition is that as some of the Midianites went to the pit to draw water, they found the lad, “and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites.” Of course, such reasoning rests upon the idea that the Midianites were the travellers who found Joseph and made merchandise of him. The historian Luke did not accept this theory. He records the words of Stephen which place the blame where it belongs: “And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt: but God was with Him” (Acts 7:9).
The Lord did not forget this act of cruelty; eventually, in Israel a law passed the sentence of death upon the crime committed by the sons of Jacob at this time: “He that stealeth a man, and selleth him, or if he be found in his hand, he shall surely be put to death” (Ex. 21:16).
The Word of God declares, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting” (Gal. 6:7-8). This is clearly exemplified in the life of Jacob. He reaped an ample harvest from his sowing of deception. As Jacob had deceived his aged father, Isaac, even so did his sons deceive him. How hopelessly he mourned for the son whom he thought dead!