Brief Ruminations: Did Joseph's brothers actually sell him into slavery?
Getting past the "lullaby effect" and reading a familiar story anew
This post is indebted to Rabbi David Fohrman’s book, Genesis: A Parsha Companion, especially the chapter titled “The Greatest Crime that Never Happened?”. Fohrman helped me read with fresh eyes a story I hadn’t given serious thought in years.
To most Bible readers, Gen 37 describes a familiar tale. Joseph is the favorite son and given a “coat of many colors,” followed by a telling of Joseph’s dreams that trigger such passionate hatred his brothers conspire to kill him and eventually sell him into slavery. Of course, we already know the end of the story that plays out through the rest of Genesis: God protects Joseph and uses this misfortune to advance His plan and rescue the sons of Israel.
But was Joseph actually sold into slavery by his brothers?1 The medieval Rabbi Samuel ben Meir (known today as Rashbam) proposed a different understanding of the text I find interesting and even compelling.2
Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat. (Gen 37:17-25)3
It looks pretty dire for Joseph. His brothers intend to slay him outright until we learn Reuben hopes to save his life and bring him home. They throw him into a pit, surely prompting cries for help on Joseph’s part (cf. Gen 42:21). “Then they sat down to a meal.” Where did they sit?
I would sit somewhere far enough away I wouldn’t have my little brother’s tortured pleas pricking my conscience and ruining my lunch. Presumably, Reuben is eating with them, waiting for a moment to get away, rescue Joseph, and “restore him to his father.” Whether they can hear Joseph’s cries or not, their conscience seems to be troubled as they see another option present itself:
And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. (Gen 37:25-27)
Whether they were motivated by pity for their “own flesh” or by the chance to make a quick buck as they got rid Joseph, I don’t know. What I do know is Reuben’s time to make a play is about to run out! It’s time to get his brother out of the pit, and fast; he’s about to be sold into slavery and Reuben will never get the chance to “restore him to his father.” But something unexpected happens:
Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt. (Gen 37:28)
Wait a minute—who’s “they”?
Rabbi David Fohrman describes something called the “lullaby effect” that happens to readers familiar with the Bible when they read a story for the umpteenth time. He suggests, and I agree, we know the story “too well” and get so used to elephants in the room we “fail to see the problems anymore”.4
When I read this with fresh eyes, it seems the Midianites swung by and swiped Joseph, selling him to the Ishmaelites themselves. That would certainly explain Reuben’s surprise as he rushes back to the pit to rescue Joseph:
When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” (Gen 37:29-30)
Maybe they’re as surprised as Reuben is! For all they know, Joseph suddenly disappeared. This might make their feeling of guilt much later in the story make sense:
Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. (Gen 42:21)
They feel guilty for ignoring their brother’s cry for help as they sat and ate lunch, but make no mention of the surely greater sin of selling him into slavery.
Do you think this interpretation of Joseph’s story is ridiculous? What other stories might we glean new perspectives on when we read them with fresh eyes? Fohrman suggests this interpretation lends itself to a comparison with Gen 4, where another brother cried out from the ground…
As a reader was kind enough to point out to me, Acts 7:9 certainly seems to suggest that yes, he was. Nevertheless, I hope this is a still fun question to explore.
Rashbam to Gen 37:28, cf. Chizkuni to Gen 37:28. At the time of writing, these commentaries can be found online for free at Sefaria.org. Much thanks to the team at Sefaria for making these texts available for people like myself.
Biblical quotations will be from the ESV unless otherwise noted.