JOSEPH SOLD INTO SLAVERY
Genesis 37
=Interpretation.= In the narratives dealing with the history of the
patriarchs, we have constantly emphasized that the point of view
of the Biblical author regarded their lives as significant not so
much as personal history, but rather as a preparation for Israel's
national existence. In the story of Joseph this point of view is
still discernible, though the chief interest has been transferred to
the personal history of Joseph. It is discernible in that Joseph's
being sold into Egypt and the settling of his father and brothers
in Goshen are conceived not as fortuitous circumstances but as
part of a divine plan which had already been revealed to Abraham.
(Genesis 15. 13.) Still the main interest is, as we have said, in
the personal career of Joseph. This narrative is preeminently a
story. It is not a story with a moral, but a story abounding in
morals. Perhaps the most important from the point of view of the
child is that which might be summed up in the words of the psalmist,
"Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell
together in unity!" (Psalms 133. 1.) This is taught negatively in
the first part of the story and affirmatively in the last. But such
ideas as the danger of unjust discrimination on the part of parents,
the evil of tale-bearing and boastfulness, the value of honest,
faithful service, the nobility of resistance to temptation under
the most trying circumstances, and the beauty of forgiveness and
reconciliation are only a few of the many other morals taught by
this story. The portion of Joseph's life that is covered by this
chapter shows how Jacob's partiality to Joseph created hostility
between him and his brothers by arousing in them envy and in him
a certain vanity and sense of superiority. These characteristics
of Joseph at this period of his life are not given any attention
by most Jewish school teachers because of the tendency to idealize
all Biblical heroes, thus overlooking the obvious significance of
Genesis 37. 2, but the story only gains in meaning when we see at
the end how completely Joseph had outlived all such pettiness as is
here ascribed to him.
There is some ambiguity in the Hebrew text as to one essential point
of the story, namely as to who sold Joseph. The verses in question
read:
25. And they sat down to eat bread; and they lifted up their
eyes and looked, and, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites came from
Gilead....
26. And Judah said unto his brethren: What profit is it if we slay
our brother....
27. Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites.... And his brethren
hearkened unto him.
28. And there passed by Midianites, merchantmen, and they drew and
lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites
for twenty shekels of silver. And they brought Joseph into Egypt....
36. And the Midianites[6] sold him to Egypt.
[6] The Hebrew has Medanites.
From verse 28, taken by itself, it would seem that not Joseph's
brothers but the Midianites drew Joseph from the pit and sold him
to the Ishmaelites, and this theory is actually maintained by some,
who point out that not only would the traditional interpretation
require a change of subject in the middle of the verse, which is
not otherwise indicated, but it would imply the identification of
Ishmaelites and Midianites, which is untenable inasmuch as Midian
was a son of Abraham and Keturah and Ishmael the son of Abraham and
Hagar. (Genesis 25. 1 and 2.)
But this view is also not without its difficulties, and, in my
opinion, the traditional interpretation of the verses is to be
preferred. For verses 26 to 27 indicate clearly that Judah's plan
to sell Joseph met with the approval of his brothers and we should
surely expect some expression of disappointment on their part if
in the end their plan had miscarried. The change of subject in
verse 28 which the traditional interpretation would require need
not trouble us as such change of subject is not very unusual in the
Bible. (See for instance Genesis 14. 19 to 20, 15. 13, 22. 7.) As
for the identification of Midianites with Ishmaelites the fact is
that racial names sometimes are extended to include other related
races whom history has brought into close contact. The descendants
of Hagar and Keturah are thus classed together in Genesis 25.6. Ibn
Ezra, in his commentary to our passage, calls attention furthermore
to the fact that this same identification of Midianites and
Ishmaelites is made in Judges 8.24 where Gideon, after a victory
over the Midianites, says, "'I would make a request of you, that ye
would give me every man the ear-rings of his spoil.' For they had
had golden ear-rings, _because they were Ishmaelites_." The reading
Medanites in verse 36 may be a scribal error for Midianites or vice
versa, as the only difference is in the omission or insertion of a
_ od_.
=Aim.= The aim in teaching this lesson should be to create in the
child, through his sympathetic understanding of the motives that
underly the action of the story, an appreciation of those moral
ideals which we have shown to be contained in it.
=Suggestions to the teacher.= The story of Joseph is one which no
teacher ought have any great difficulty in imparting to children,
for it is a natural favorite with them. They like it because its
ideas are simple and come, for the most part, within the range of
a child's experience. The attitude of Joseph's brothers to him
is not dissimilar to the resentment that children display at any
indication of favoritism on the part of a teacher, a resentment
which is invariably visited on "teacher's pet". The story appeals
to them also because of the rapidity of its movement, the constant
shifting of scenes and incidents, each making a new bid for their
attention, and the heroic nature of the action, in which the motives
of the characters whether good or evil reveal themselves not in mere
thoughts and words but in deeds.
There could be no greater mistake, therefore, than to deprive
the story of all its force through interrupting the flow of the
narrative by tedious moralizing. The Biblical story does not stop
to moralize, yet the moral is clear enough, and so it will be to
the class if the teacher tells his tale with the proper feeling and
spirit.
But the teacher must be cautioned, on the other hand, not to take
for granted the child's comprehension unaided of even so simple a
story as this. Any addition of details inserted into the narrative
with a view to helping the child visualize the incidents told is
always in order. In telling of how Joseph was lowered into the pit,
speak of his ineffectual cries and struggles to escape, for, though
children have good imaginations, they have not had enough experience
out of which their imagination could reconstruct the whole situation
from a mere hint or two. Similarly such words as pit or caravan need
descriptive epithets or phrases to bring them before the child's
eye. Moreover, the motives of the characters must be made clear by
a casual reference to analogous experiences of the child, as for
instance:
"Now, when his brothers saw that Joseph was better loved by his
father than the rest of them they became very angry at him and
instead of trying to win their father's love for themselves also,
they tried to get even with Joseph, just as I have sometimes seen
boys at school get angry at a classmate of theirs and do all sorts
of mischief to him just because the teacher gave him higher marks
than the others who were not so successful with their lessons."
But all such comparisons must be made only in a casual way and in as
few words as possible lest they divert the mind of the child from
the main trend of the narrative. One should not forget for this
lesson the usefulness of pictures as helping to visualize the story,
and there are many good illustrations of this story to be had. A
still greater assistance in impressing this lesson is that obtained
by permitting the children to dramatize it and act it, for this
necessitates their comprehension of the motives of the characters.