Genesis 37:32 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And they sent the robe of many colors and brought it to their father and said, “This we have found; please identify whether it is your son’s robe or not.”

NIV: They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, 'We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe.'

NASB: and they sent the multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, 'We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son’s tunic or not.'

CSB: They sent the long-sleeved robe to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it. Is it your son's robe or not? "

NLT: They sent the beautiful robe to their father with this message: 'Look at what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong to your son?'

KJV: And they sent the coat of many colours, and they brought it to their father; and said, This have we found: know now whether it be thy son's coat or no.

NKJV: Then they sent the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father and said, “We have found this. Do you know whether it is your son’s tunic or not?”

To cover up selling their brother Joseph to slave traders (Genesis 37:18–30), Joseph's older brothers have stained his ornate coat (Genesis 37:3–4) in goat's blood to simulate an attack from a wild animal. Now, having returned home, they bring the ruined coat to Jacob and ask him to identify whether this was Joseph's coat or not.

Of course, they know the answer. There is no question whose robe this is, and that Jacob will recognize it. The question is deeply cruel. For their scheme to hold up, they need to Jacob to believe with certainty that Joseph is truly dead. They pose the identification of the robe as a question only he can answer, as if they were unsure.

As one might expect, Jacob will not take the news well (Genesis 37:33–35). In a poignant twist, Jacob's shattered reaction to this news will influence Judah—mastermind of the plot—to avoid grieving his father again. Years later, he will offer himself as collateral to protect another of Jacob's sons by Rachel (Genesis 44:18, 30–34).

Genesis 37:12–36 describes how Joseph's wildly resentful brothers finally get rid of him. They hate Joseph for being Jacob's favorite (Genesis 37:3) and for his grandiose dreams (Genesis 37:5, 9). When Joseph arrives alone at the camp of his brothers, very far from home, they have an opportunity. Only Reuben's intervention keeps them from killing Joseph outright. Instead, while Reuben is absent, the brothers sell Joseph to passing slave traders and later convince their father he has been killed by a wild animal. Joseph becomes a slave in an Egyptian home. Genesis 39 will return to Joseph's story.

Joseph, 17, is deeply loved by his father Jacob and deeply resented by his ten older brothers thanks to Jacob's favoritism. Jacob gives Joseph a princely robe, and Joseph reports dreams that predict his family will one day bow before him. When alone with Joseph in the wilderness, the brothers decide to kill him. Reuben stops them, suggesting they throw him alive into a pit, instead. While Reuben is gone, however, the brothers sell Joseph to slave-traders, later convincing their father Joseph has been killed by a wild animal. Joseph is placed in the home of an Egyptian nobleman.

Following the death of Isaac and the story of Esau's people, Genesis begins a section called the "generations of Jacob." The story will focus primarily on Jacob's son Joseph. Joseph is deeply hated by his brothers. While alone with him in the wilderness, they sell him to slave-traders, who take Joseph to Egypt. Chapter 38 details some of the scandals which happened while Joseph was gone. Genesis 39 will resume a focus on Joseph's experiences.

The book of Genesis establishes fundamental truths about God. Among these are His role as the Creator, His holiness, His hatred of sin, His love for mankind, and His willingness to provide for our redemption. We learn not only where mankind has come from, but why the world is in its present form. The book also presents the establishment of Israel, God's chosen people. Many of the principles given in other parts of Scripture depend on the basic ideas presented here in the book of Genesis. Within the framework of the Bible, Genesis explains the bare-bones history of the universe leading up to the captivity of Israel in Egypt, setting the stage for the book of Exodus.

Accessed 4/27/2024 1:27:48 AM