37:25-27
The brothers sat around having a meal. They are utterly unconcerned about Joseph and what they have done to him. Sin hardens the heart. They saw a “caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead”, they were on their way to Egypt. “Ishmaelites” is a term that was used in a very broad way, referring to various people groups. Later we find them referred to as Midianites. It seems that although they had not killed Joseph yet, they had not completely given up on the idea. However, Judah speaks up and suggests selling Joseph instead of killing them. Then they “get rid of the problem” and make some money. He also says “let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother”. Oh, such compassion!
37:28-30
So they pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver, and Joseph was taken to Egypt. Apparently Reuben was not around at that point and when he came back he discovered that Joseph was gone. As an aside, if we had just read up to verse 28 we would not have had any idea that Reuben was not there at the time, this is just a warning against reading too much into parts of the Bible, or making unwarranted assumptions. “Where shall I go”. As the eldest brother, Reuben knew that he would carry the greatest blame, and would have the job of explaining to his father.
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