Genesis 37:12

_AND HIS BRETHREN WENT TO FEED THEIR FATHER'S FLOCK IN SHECHEM._ His brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem. The vale of Shechem was, from the earliest mention of Canaan, blest with extraordinary abundance of water. Therefore, the sons of Jacob went from Hebron to this place, though it must have cost them almost 20 more hours of traveling - i:e., at the shepherd's rate-a little more than 50 miles. But the field was Jacob's property; and the herbage there is so rich and nutritious, that they thought it well worth the pains of so long a journey, to the neglect of the grazing district of Hebron (Van de Velde)....

12._And his brethren went_. Before Moses treats of the horrible design of fratricide, he describes the journey of Joseph, and amplifies, by many circumstances, the atrocity of the crime. Their brother approaches them in the discharge of a duty, to make a fraternal inquiry after their state. He comes by the command of his father; and obeys it without reluctance, as appears from his answer. He searches them out anxiously; and though they had changed their place, he spares neither labor nor trouble till he finds them. Therefore their cruelty was something more than madness, seeing they did not shrink with horror from contriving the death of a brother so pious and humane. We now see that Moses does not relate, without a purpose, that a man met Joseph in his wanderings, and told him that his brethren had departed to Dothan. For the greater was his diligence in his indefatigable pursuit, so mu...

12-22 How readily does Joseph wait his father's orders! Those children who are best beloved by their parents, should be the most ready to obey them. See how deliberate Joseph's brethren were against him. They thought to slay him from malice aforethought, and in cold blood. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, 1 John 3:15. The sons of Jacob hated their brother because their father loved him. New occasions, as his dreams and the like, drew them on further; but this laid rankling in their hearts, till they resolved on his death. God has all hearts in his hands. Reuben had most reason to be jealous of Joseph, for he was the first-born; yet he proves his best friend. God overruled all to serve his own purpose, of making Joseph an instrument to save much people alive. Joseph was a type of Christ; for though he was the beloved Son of his Father, and hated by a wicked world, yet the Fath...

- Joseph Was Sold into Egypt 17. דתין _dotayı̂n_ Dothain, “two wells?” (Gesenius) 25. נכאת _n__e__ko't_ “tragacanth” or goat’s-thorn gum, yielded by the “astragalus gummifer”, a native of Mount Lebanon. צרי _tsērı̂y_ “opobalsamum,” the resin of the balsam tree, growing in Gilead, and having healing qualities. לט _loṭ_, λῆδον _lēdon_, “ledum, ladanum,” in the Septuagint στακτή _staktē_. The former is a gum produced from the cistus rose. The latter is a gum resembling liquid myrrh. 36. פוטיפר _pôṭı̂yphar_ Potiphar, “belonging to the

EXPOSITION GENESIS 37:12 AND HIS BRETHREN WENT TO FEED THEIR FATHER'S FLOCK IN SHECHEM—_i.e._ the modern Nablous, in the plain of Muknah, which belonged to Jacob partly by purchase and partly by conquest (_vide _Genesis 33:19; Genesis 34:27). Shechem was at a considerable distance from the vale of Hebron, where the patriarchal family at this time resided. GENESIS 37:13 AND ISRAEL (vide Genesis 32:28;...

AND HIS BRETHREN WENT TO FEED THEIR FATHER'S FLOCK IN SHECHEM. Very probably some considerable time after the telling of the above dreams; it was usual to remove flocks from place to place for the sake of pasturage; and sometimes at a great distance, as Shechem was from Hebron, where Jacob now dwelt, said i to be about sixty miles; but this is not so much to be marvelled at as the place itself, whither they went, for though Jacob had bought a parcel of a field in this place, Genesis 33:19; which might be a reason for their going thither to feed their father's flocks in his own field; yet it was the place where they had committed a most outrageous action in destroying all, the males there, and therefore might fear the inhabitants of the neighbouring cities would rise upon them and cut them off. i Bunting's Travels, p. 79. Ainsworth in loc....

XII. THE GENERATIONS OF JACOB CHAPTER 37 The Story of Joseph _ 1. Jacob dwelling in Canaan (Genesis 37:1)_ 2. Joseph's character and feeding the flock (Genesis 37:2) 3. Beloved of his father (Genesis 37:3) 4. Hated by his brethren (Genesis 37:4) 5. The dream of the sheaves (Genesis 37:5) 6. The dream of the sun, moon and stars (Genesis 37:9) 7. Joseph seeks his brethren ...

Some assign to J; more probably it belongs to J and E. To J Genesis 37:12_ a_, Genesis 37:14_ b_; to E Genesis 37:13_ b_, Genesis 37:14_ a_ may be allotted. Genesis 37:15 may belong to either. Shechem has fine pasturage, Dothan (p. 30, 2 Kings 6:13 *), 15 miles N. of it, still finer....

(JE). Joseph sold into Egypt 2 b (J). _and he was a lad with_, &c. The English here gives an awkward rendering. The meaning is, "he was keeping sheep, being still a lad, with his brethren, the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah," i.e. Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. Joseph's home at this time seems to have been at Hebron (cf. Genesis 35:27). The life of Joseph, the elder son of the favourite wife, spent in the field with the sons of the concubines, was not likely to be happy. _the evil report_ What this was, does not appear; cf. 1 Samuel 2:23. But Joseph's action brought upon him the odium of tale-bearing. On the words for "evil report" cf. Numbers 13:32;...

PART FORTY-SIX THE STORY OF JOSEPH (Genesis 37:1-36; Genesis 39:1 to Genesis 47:31) 1. _The Biblical Story: Joseph as a Youth in Canaan_ (Genesis 37:1-36). 1 And Jacob dwelt in the land of his father's sojournings, in the land of Canaan. 2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives: and Joseph brought the evil report of them unto their father. 3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he