Genesis 37:25

They sat down to eat bread.

Their heartlessness is shown in their setting* down to meat immediately after perpetrating what they intended to be. murder. In this meal Reuben could have taken no part, as he was ignorant of the sale of Joseph to the Ishmaelites, and expected to find him in the pit. Perhaps he was absent in order to devise some means to rescue him.

A company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead.

The Ishmaelites were the descendants of Ishmael, and had already become. tribe. It is said below that some of this band were Midianites. These were also descended from Abraham by Keturah, his second wife. Both tribes were located east of the Jordan, as was also Gilead. The Midianites and Ishmaelites, being kindred, were probably associated in commercial enterprises. Gilead was on the caravan road from Damascus to Jerusalem, and was famous for its balm. The camels of this caravan were loaded with balm, myrrh, and "spicery," the gum tragacanth. Egypt, as the most prosperous and civilized country in the world, was the best market.