Genesis 37:18

_AND WHEN THEY SAW HIM AFAR OFF, EVEN BEFORE HE CAME NEAR UNTO THEM, THEY CONSPIRED AGAINST HIM TO SLAY HIM._ When they saw him afar off. On the level grass-field, where they were watching their cattle, they could perceive him approaching in the distance from the side of Shechem, or rather Samaria. BEHOLD, THIS DREAMER COMETH - literally, 'master of dreams;' a bitterly ironical sneer. Dreams being considered suggestions from above, to make false pretensions to having received one, was detested as a species of blasphemy; and in this light Joseph was regarded by his brethren, an artful pretender. They already began to form a plot for his assassination, from which he was rescued only by the address of Reuben, who suggested that he should rather be cast into one of the wells х_ HABOROWT_ (H953), the cisterns or reservoirs for collecting water in the rainy season, with narrow mouth and wide...

18._And when they saw him afar off_. Here again Moses, so far from sparing the fame of his own family by adulation, brands its chiefs with a mark of eternal infamy, and exposes them to the hatred and execration of all nations. If, at any time, among heathens, a brother murdered his brother, such impiety was treated with the utmost severity in tragedies, that it might not pass into an example for imitation. But in profane history no such thing is found, as that nine brethren should conspire together for the destruction of an innocent youth, and, like wild beasts, should pounce upon him with bloody hands. Therefore a horrible, and even diabolical fury, took possession of the sons of Jacob, when, having cast aside the sense of nature, they were thus prepared cruelly to rage against their own blood. But, in addition to this wickedness, Moses condemns their impious contempt of God, _Behold th...

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 WHEN THEY SAW HIM AFAR OFF,.... They knew him as soon as they saw him, by his stature, his gesture or manner of walking, and especially by his coat of various colours he now had on, Genesis 37:23; EVEN BEFORE HE CAME NEAR UNTO THEM; the distance he was from them when they first spied him is particularly remarked and repeated, not to show the quickness of their sight, but for the sake of what follows; to observe how soon their passions were raised, how intense and prepense their malice, and which put them upon devising ways and means to destroy him, for it follows: THEY CONSPIRED AGAINST HIM, TO SLAY HIM; they entered into a consultation, and devised the most crafty methods they could think of to take away his life, and yet conceal the murder....

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 ...

To J we may assign Genesis 37:18_ b_ (and before, etc.), Genesis 37:21 (substituting Judah for Reuben), Genesis 37:23; Genesis 37:25; Genesis 37:27 (and sold to silver), to E Genesis 37:18_ a_, Genesis 37:19 f., Genesis 37:22;...

(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