(Part One)

“Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.”

Genesis 37:3-4 (NIV)

Who Were the Brothers?

Jacob had twelve sons.: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar and Zebulun these sons were by his wife Leah. Joseph and Benjamin were by his wife Rachel. Dan and Naphtali were his sons by Rachel’s servant Bilhah. Gad and Asher were his sons by Leah’s servant Zilpah. Israel also had one daughter by Leah. Her name was Dinah.

Defending Dinah

Things were done differently in that time. There were dowries and treaties. Land, animals, wealth and politics came into play in a lot of marriages. There was a ruler in the area where Jacob and his family lived. His name is Hamor the Hivite. Hamor had a son named Shechem. Shechem took Dinah and had his way with her. Jacob found out about it and was working a deal to marry her off to Shechem. Hamor came to discuss the marriage and the brothers were angry about the situation. Let me back up a minute. When I say “the brothers” we can guess that it is everybody but Joseph and Benjamin because they were the youngest. They might not have been born at this time. Ok back to the story. The brothers said were angry but Hamor said to everyone let them marry. It will be a good arrangement. We can all be one big happy family.

Jacob’s sons responded:

“They said to them, ‘We can’t do such a thing; we can’t give our sister to a man who is not circumcised. That would be a disgrace to us.  We will enter into an agreement with you on one condition only: that you become like us by circumcising all your males. Then we will give you our daughters and take your daughters for ourselves. We’ll settle among you and become one people with you.  But if you will not agree to be circumcised, we’ll take our sister and go’.”

Genesis 34:14-17 (NIV)

The Trick

Hamor thought that this was a wonderful idea and convinced all of the men in the city to be circumsized. Grown men. No anesthesia. I’m sure it was a lot of fun.

“Three days later, while all of them were still in pain, two of Jacob’s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah’s brothers, took their swords and attacked the unsuspecting city, killing every male. They put Hamor and his son Shechem to the sword and took Dinah from Shechem’s house and left.”

Then they plundered and took all of the animals, women and children along with anything else of value they could find. Jacob got upset and said look, guys if we upset these people living here, they outnumber us and can ruin us. The response from the brothers was he shouldn’t have done that to her. She’s our sister. So they move.

The Plot Against Joseph

Jacob’s name is now Israel and his sons are growing up. Joseph is seventeen his father likes him because he was born when Israel was old. He makes him a special robe. The brothers are already jealous of him. Joseph begins having dreams. In the dreams, he is the leader and his brothers have to respect him. They really don’t like this. So they make a plan to get rid of Joseph.

Israel sends Joseph to look go check on his brothers (they don’t like this either) so they take his robe and throw him in a cistern. I always thought it was a well, but the definition of cistern is :

“a tank for storing water, especially one supplying taps or as part of a flushing toilet.”

Bing dictionary

They threw him in the sewage. Reuben, is the oldest and convinces the others not to kill him. He plans on coming back to the cistern later and letting Joseph out.

Selling Joseph

They spot a caravan and decide to sell Joseph to the traders as a slave. They sell him for about $256 in our money today. Reuben didn’t know this had happened, guess he had left to go get a sandwich (get it?). He comes back to retrieve Joseph and finds him gone. He and the brothers take the robe and put animal blood on it and tell Israel that Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal. Israel goes into mourning for Joseph and the brothers believe they are rid of him.

There is a famine in the land and Joseph has gone through a lot since being sold into slavery. He has now risen in the ranks and is in the Pharaoh’s court. He is in charge of Egypt. Egypt has been storing grain and selling it to the whole world. Israel and his family are starving.

What happens next? You’ll have to tune in next time for the continuing story of Joseph’s brothers.

If you would like to read the scriptures, it begins in Genesis 37-41. The link is below for Genesis 37.

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+37&version=NIV

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