“his words” refers to, since he seems to have spoken to them only of his dream.
Because Joseph’s mother, Rachel, is dead, it is not clear why, having heard Joseph’s second dream, Jacob includes her in his question in 37:10, “Do you want me, your mother, and your brothers to come and prostrate ourselves on the ground to you?”
The two assertions that constitute 37:11—“His brothers became very jealous of him, but his father suspended judgment”—are problematic in several regards. Why the brothers become jealous of Joseph only in 37:11 is not clear. Why hatred, which they feel from 37:4, leads to jealousy, rather than the reverse, is not clear. And the relation between the two assertions in 37:11 is problematic; especially because Kaplan’s translations are cryptic, and because, as will be seen, more literal translations are vague. That being the case, the relation between the two assertions is unclear. Jacob seems worried about the consequence of the brothers’ jealousy. But what precisely he is worried about is not clear.
Jacob’s charge to Joseph in 37:12-14 seems to contain too many words:
[12] [Joseph’s] brothers left to tend their father’s sheep in Shechem. [13] Israel said to Joseph, “I believe your brothers are keeping the sheep in Shechem. I would like you to go to them.” “I’m ready,” replied Joseph. [14] “Then see how your brothers and the sheep are doing,” said [Israel]. “Bring me a report.” [Israel] thus sent him from the Hebron valley, and [Joseph] arrived in Shechem.
Recast more succinctly, the charge would read as follows:
[12] [Joseph’s] brothers left to tend their father’s sheep in Shechem. [13] Israel said to Joseph, “[Go] see how your brothers and the sheep are doing. [14] Bring me a report.” [Israel] thus sent him from Hebron valley, and [Joseph] arrived in Shechem.
Joseph’s journey, in 37:15-17, towards his brothers is problematic in several regards; indeed, it is essentially mysterious.
[15] A stranger found him blundering about in the fields. “What are you looking for?” asked the stranger. [16] “I’m looking for my brothers,” replied [Joseph]. “Perhaps you can tell me where they are tending the sheep.” [17] “They already left this area,” said the man. “I heard them planning to go to Dothan.” Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.
The encounter of Joseph with “a man”(ish, not, as in Kaplan’s translation, “a stranger”) is puzzling per se, and in its details. It is not clear why the encounter is mentioned. Nor is it clear who the man is, why Joseph is blundering about in the fields, and what the import is of his conversation with the man.
The encounter at Dothan is problematic in several regards. How many of the brothers want to murder Joseph is not clear. Nor is it clear why they are easily dissuaded, by Reuben, and afterwards by Judah, why Reuben and Judah want to dissuade them, what the brothers, having cast Joseph into a dry well, plan to do with him, who removes Joseph from the dry well, who buys him, who transports him to Egypt, and who sells him into slavery there. Finally, it is not clear why, after Joseph is thrown into the well, Reuben suddenly disappears, and reappears after Joseph has been sold.
When the brothers see Joseph approaching, in 37:20, some of them at least want him dead.
“Here comes the dreamer,” they said to one another. “Now we have the chance! Let’s kill him and throw him into one of the wells. We can say that a wild beast ate him. Then let’s see what will become of his dreams!”
That Reuben, who immediately objects in 37:21-22, and Judah, who objects in 37:26-27, are not among the would-be murderers, is clear. But it is not clear who the conspirators are who speak “to one another,” or why, having said, in 37:20, “Let’s kill him,” they are dissuaded, almost without effort, first, by nothing more than Reuben’s assertion, in 37:21, “Let’s not kill him!” and by his suggestion, in 37:22, that contains no plan of action alternative to murder, that Joseph be thrown into the well; and afterwards, by Judah’s rhetorical question in 37:26, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover his blood?” Nor is it clear why Reuben and Judah object to the proposed murder, because, as noted, they hate Joseph apparently as much as the other brothers do, and apparently are as jealous of him. The assertion in 37:22 that Reuben’s “plan was to rescue [Joseph] from [his brothers] and bring him back to his father” does not explain why Reuben wants to do that. And Judah’s question underscores his rhetorical cunning, but does not explain why he does not want Joseph murdered.
That, having thrown Joseph into the well, the brothers still want to murder him is clear from Judah’s question to them. But why he nonetheless easily convinces them, in 37:27, to sell him is not clear.
Neither who removes Joseph from the well, nor who sells him to whom, is clear. While the brothers are eating, in 37:25, they see “an Arab caravan” (ohrchat yishme’eilim) passing by, and accept Judah’s advice, in 37:27, to sell Joseph “to the Arabs (la’yishme’eilim).” Kaplan’s translation in both verses is misleading; the Hebrew speaks of “a caravan of Ishmaelites” and “to the Ishmaelites.” The difference is important, because in 37:28 the following event occurs:
The strangers, who turned out to be Midianite traders, approached, and [the brothers] pulled Joseph out of the well. They sold him to the Arabs for twenty pieces of silver. [These Midianite Arabs] were to bring Joseph to Egypt.
This translation also is misleading. Translated literally, 37:28 reads as follows:
Midianite men, merchants, approached. They pulled and lifted Joseph out of the well. They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. They brought him to Egypt.
In this translation, a second group of Arabs, Midianites, approaches the brothers. And the first two uses of “they” are problematic. The first makes it impossible to determine whether the brothers or the Midianites lift Joseph out of the well; so it is impossible to determine whether the brothers or the Midianites sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. If the brothers perform both actions, it is difficult to understand why the Midianites are mentioned. And if the Midianites perform both actions, it is difficult to understand why the brothers, who have accepted Judah’s advice, in 37:27, to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites, do not object. And the assertion, not that the Ishmaelites “were to bring” Joseph to Egypt, but that in fact they “brought him” (va’yavi’u) there, seems contradicted by the assertion, in 37:36, that “The Midanites,” seemingly a third group of Arabs, “sold [Joseph] in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officers, captain of the guard.”
Finally, because all of the brothers are present when Joseph arrives at Dothan, and participate in all of the events there, it is not clear why 37:29 asserts that when “Reuben returned to the well, Joseph was no longer there.” He must leave sometime after Joseph arrives; but when, and why, where he goes, and why he returns when he does, are not clear.
The two verses that introduce the journey of the brothers into Egypt to purchase food seem to contain too many words, and two words difficult to understand.
The two verses, 42:1-2, read as follows:
[1] Jacob learned (va’yar) that there were provisions in Egypt, and he said to his sons, “Why are you fantasizing (titra’u)?” [2] “I have heard (shamati) that there are supplies in Egypt,” he explained. “You can go there and buy food. Let us live and not die.”
Rendered more succinctly, they would read as follows:
[1] Jacob learned that there were provisions in Egypt, and he said to his sons, “Why are you fantasizing? [2] You can go there and buy food. Let us live and not die.”
There
