Genesis 37:17

The brothers had gone to Dothan. That was an important part of God’s plan. By God’s plan, Joseph must go to Egypt. So it was important that Joseph should meet his brothers near Dothan. There the brothers might meet merchants who went to Egypt. They would not meet them anywhere else.

The reason for this is that the brothers kept their animals in the hilly country. The merchants travelled along the coast near the sea. So the brothers and the merchants did not meet. But when the merchants went further north they turned to the east. There they travelled away from the sea. Some of them travelled near Dothan and they went on to Gilead. (Gilead is a region that is east of the river Jordan.) Now the brothers had come north from Hebron to Shechem. They went further north to the end of the hills near Dothan. There they might meet merchants who went to Egypt.

Perhaps God had made the grass poor at Shechem. Perhaps that made the brothers decide to go further to Dothan.

v18 The brothers saw Joseph while he was still far away. And before he came near to them, they plotted against him. They plotted to kill him. v19 They said to each other, ‘The dreamer comes. v20 Let us kill him! Let us throw him into a deep hole in the ground. Afterwards, we shall say that a wild animal has eaten him. Then we shall see whether his dreams were true.’

v21 But when Reuben heard this, he saved Joseph. He said, ‘Let us not kill him.’ v22 And Reuben said to the other brothers, ‘Do not kill anybody. Drop Joseph into this deep hole here in the desert. Do not hurt him.’ Reuben intended to rescue Joseph from his brothers. He intended to give Joseph back to his father. v23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they took his coat off him. That was the long coat with sleeves that he wore. v24 They took Joseph and they dropped him into a deep hole. The hole was empty and there was no water in it.