This sheet on Genesis 37 was written by Philip Stein for 929 and can also be found here
"When Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up out of the pit. They sold Joseph for twenty pieces of silver to the Ishmaelites, who brought Joseph to Egypt" (Genesis 37:28).
While this verse has generated thousands of years of debate as to who sold Joseph, it is even more intriguing to ask why Joseph was sold.
According to the story, Midianite traders found Joseph in a pit, pulled him out and sold him. Why would traders, who probably dealt with spices, suddenly decide to become what we call today “human traffickers”?
The answer can be found some 120 years before the story of Joseph. When Abraham decided to remarry, he took a woman named Keturah who bore him 6 sons. The 4th son’s name was Midian. Assuming Abraham sent Midian and his brothers away to avoid their having a bad influence on his grandson Jacob.
Genesis 25:5-6, states: “Abraham willed all that he owned to Isaac…But to Abraham’s sons by concubines Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the East.”
Abraham favored one of his children, Isaac over the other six, Midian and his siblings. Isaac was made the sole heir while Midian and his siblings had to make due with gifts. We can imagine how humiliating the experience of being sent into exile was for Midian and his siblings, let along what their mother went through. It is also not hard to imagine the resentment which would have festered in Midian’s family.
Now 100 years after the searing experience of exile, Midian’s descendant comes across a stranger lying in a pit. He naturally comes to the assistance of poor Joseph who he finds in a distraught state. As Joseph relates his story and his lineage, Midian’s great grandson realizes that the man he just saved is the great grandson of the man who caused his ancestor great pain. Midian’s great grandson can exact revenge on Abraham’s progeny. He is not about to miss this opportunity to exact vengeance on his 3rd cousin for the pain caused to his family a hundred years earlier. The revenge would take the form of a sale into slavery to the Ishmaelites.
This midrashic retelling of the story has a psychological logic to it, based on human behavior that all of us have seen in our own day, let alone in the annals of history.
While this verse has generated thousands of years of debate as to who sold Joseph, it is even more intriguing to ask why Joseph was sold.
According to the story, Midianite traders found Joseph in a pit, pulled him out and sold him. Why would traders, who probably dealt with spices, suddenly decide to become what we call today “human traffickers”?
The answer can be found some 120 years before the story of Joseph. When Abraham decided to remarry, he took a woman named Keturah who bore him 6 sons. The 4th son’s name was Midian. Assuming Abraham sent Midian and his brothers away to avoid their having a bad influence on his grandson Jacob.
Genesis 25:5-6, states: “Abraham willed all that he owned to Isaac…But to Abraham’s sons by concubines Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and he sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the East.”
Abraham favored one of his children, Isaac over the other six, Midian and his siblings. Isaac was made the sole heir while Midian and his siblings had to make due with gifts. We can imagine how humiliating the experience of being sent into exile was for Midian and his siblings, let along what their mother went through. It is also not hard to imagine the resentment which would have festered in Midian’s family.
Now 100 years after the searing experience of exile, Midian’s descendant comes across a stranger lying in a pit. He naturally comes to the assistance of poor Joseph who he finds in a distraught state. As Joseph relates his story and his lineage, Midian’s great grandson realizes that the man he just saved is the great grandson of the man who caused his ancestor great pain. Midian’s great grandson can exact revenge on Abraham’s progeny. He is not about to miss this opportunity to exact vengeance on his 3rd cousin for the pain caused to his family a hundred years earlier. The revenge would take the form of a sale into slavery to the Ishmaelites.
This midrashic retelling of the story has a psychological logic to it, based on human behavior that all of us have seen in our own day, let alone in the annals of history.
Philip Stein is an accountant and the founder and managing partner of Philip Stein & Associates Ltd.
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