Genesis 37 explained: Joseph Betrayed by His Brothers

A favorite son (vv. 1-4)

Jacob, also called Israel, openly loved Joseph most and gave him a special robe that marked him out above his brothers, though its exact look is uncertain. Joseph had also brought their father a bad report about some of them, and the brothers grew so bitter they could not even greet him with the usual wish of peace.

Two dreams of bowing (vv. 5-11)

In both dreams, first bundles of grain and then the sun, moon and eleven stars bow to Joseph, so the family took them to mean he would one day rule over them all. In that culture dreams were often treated as messages from God, so his father scolded him but quietly kept the matter in mind.

Sent to find his brothers (vv. 12-17)

The brothers had taken the flocks to Shechem, roughly fifty miles north, where they had earlier carried out a massacre, which may be why Jacob wanted news of them. Joseph kept searching past Shechem until he found them at Dothan, alone and far from his father.

The plot and the pit (vv. 18-24)

Mocking him as "that dreamer," the brothers planned to kill him, but Reuben, the eldest, talked them into throwing him alive into a dry pit, meaning to rescue him later. They first stripped off the robe, the very sign of his favored place.

Sold for silver (vv. 25-28)

Judah persuaded the others to sell Joseph to passing traders for twenty pieces of silver instead of killing him. The traders are called both Ishmaelites and Midianites, which scholars explain either as overlapping names or as two versions of the story woven together; Christians later read Joseph, rejected and sold for silver, as a picture of Jesus.

A father's grief (vv. 29-36)

The brothers dipped the robe in goat's blood so Jacob would conclude a wild animal had killed Joseph, and many readers note that Jacob once deceived his own father using goatskins and clothing. Jacob wore sackcloth, the rough cloth of mourning, and refused all comfort, while Joseph was sold in Egypt to Potiphar, the captain of the king's guard.

Key verse: Genesis 37:20

Where Christians differ

Christians differ on whether Joseph here is a blameless, faithful young man wronged by jealous brothers, or a favored and tactless teenager whose story is partly about how he himself will grow.

Something to think about

When someone in a family or group is clearly favored, who ends up paying the price for it?