Genesis 37:25

_AND THEY SAT DOWN TO EAT BREAD: AND THEY LIFTED UP THEIR EYES AND LOOKED, AND, BEHOLD, A COMPANY OF ISHMEELITES CAME FROM GILEAD WITH THEIR CAMELS BEARING SPICERY AND BALM AND MYRRH, GOING TO CARRY IT DOWN TO EGYPT._ They sat down to eat bread. What a view does this exhibit of those hardened profligates! Their common share in this conspiracy is not the only dismal feature in the story. The rapidity, the almost instantaneous manner in which the proposal was followed by their joint resolution, and the cool indifference, or rather the fiendish satisfaction, with which they sat down to regale themselves, is astonishing; it is impossible that mere envy at his dreams, his gaudy dress, or the doting partiality of their common father, could have goaded them on to such a pitch of frenzied resentment, or confirmed them in such 'consummate wickedness. Their hatred to Joseph must have had a far de...

25._And they sat down to eat bread_. This was an astonishing barbarity, that they could quietly feast, while, in intention, they were guilty of their brother’s death: for, had there been one drop of humanity in their souls, they would at least have felt some inward compunctions; yea, commonly, the very worst men are afraid after the commission of a crime. Since the patriarchs fell into such a state of insensibility, let us learn, from their example, to fear lest, by the righteous anger of God, the same lethargy should seize upon our senses. Meanwhile, it is proper to consider the admirable progress of God’s counsel. Joseph had already passed through a double death: and now, as if by a third death, he is, beyond all expectation, rescued from the grave. For what was it less than death, to be sold as a slave to foreigners? Indeed his condition was rendered worse by the chance; because Reube...

23-30 They threw Joseph into a pit, to perish there with hunger and cold; so cruel were their tender mercies. They slighted him when he was in distress, and were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, see Amos 6:6; for when he was pining in the pit, they sat down to eat bread. They felt no remorse of conscience for the sin. But the wrath of man shall praise God, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain, Psalms 76:10. Joseph's brethren were wonderfully restrained from murdering him, and their selling him as wonderfully turned to God's praise....

Verse Genesis 37:25. _THEY SAT DOWN TO EAT BREAD_] Every act is perfectly in character, and describes forcibly the _brutish_ and _diabolic_ nature of their ruthless souls. _A COMPANY OF ISHMAELITES_] We may naturally suppose that this was a _caravan_, composed of different tribes that, for their greater safety, were travelling _together_, and of which _Ishmaelites_ and _Midianites_ made the chief. In the Chaldee they are called _Arabians_, which, from ערב _arab_, to _mingle_, was in all probability used by the _Targumist_ as the word _Arabians_ is used among us, which comprehends a vast number of _clans_, or _tribes_ of people. The _Jerusalem_ Targum calls them סרקין _Sarkin_, what we term _Saracens_. In the _Persian_, the clause stands thus: [Persian] karavanee iskm

- 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 THEY SAT DOWN TO EAT BREAD,.... Not at all concerned at what they had done, nor in the least grieved for the affliction of Joseph, and without any pity and compassion for him in his distress, but joyful and glad they had got him into their hands, and like to get rid of him for ever: AND THEY LIFTED UP THEIR EYES, AND LOOKED, after they had eaten their food, or while they were eating it: AND, BEHOLD, A COMPANY OF ISHMAELITES CAME FROM GILEAD; a place of merchandise for spices and balm, and such like things after mentioned. The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan call them Arabians; and the Targum of Jerusalem, Saracens; these were the posterity of Ishmael, who came out of Arabia to Gilead, where they took up their merchandise, at least part of it, and were travelling to Egypt with it, and their way thither lay by Dothan; these travelled in companies, now called "caravans", partly on the...

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;...

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 lo...