Day 21: Joseph Sold Into Slavery


*Genesis 37:1-36

Jealous of his father’s favor and dreams, Joseph’s brothers sell him into slavery after throwing him in a cistern.

  • Joseph’s Dreams:
    • Joseph, the 17-year-old son of Jacob, tends to his father’s flock alongside his brothers.
    • He brings a bad report about them to their father, Jacob.
    • Joseph has two dreams in which he sees himself and his brothers binding sheaves in the field, and their sheaves bowing down to his. In the second dream, the sun, moon, and eleven stars bow down to him.
  • Brotherly Jealousy:
    • Joseph shares his dreams with his brothers, further fueling their jealousy and animosity towards him.
    • Jacob, recognizing the significance of Joseph’s dreams, rebukes him but keeps the matter in mind.
  • Plot Against Joseph:
    • Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers who are tending the flock in Shechem.
    • The brothers see Joseph approaching from a distance and conspire to kill him out of envy and hatred for his favored status.
    • Reuben, the eldest brother, intervenes, suggesting they throw Joseph into a pit instead of killing him, intending to rescue him later and return him to their father.
  • Sold Into Slavery:
    • When Joseph arrives, the brothers strip him of his coat of many colors, a symbol of Jacob’s favoritism, and throw him into a pit.
    • While they are eating, a caravan of Ishmaelites passes by, and Judah proposes they sell Joseph to the traders rather than leave him to die in the pit.
    • The brothers agree, and Joseph is sold into slavery for twenty shekels of silver.
  • Deception of Jacob:
    • The brothers dip Joseph’s coat in goat’s blood and present it to Jacob, leading him to believe that Joseph has been killed by a wild animal.
    • Jacob mourns deeply for his son, refusing to be comforted, convinced that he will go down to Sheol in mourning for Joseph.

Conclusion: Genesis 37:1-36 sets the stage for the remarkable journey of Joseph from favored son to slave to eventual ruler of Egypt.


Genesis 37:1-36 teaches us about jealousy, integrity, and trusting God’s plan. Joseph’s brothers were jealous of him and let their anger lead to a terrible choice, but God was still working through the situation. This reminds us to guard our hearts against envy and to treat others with kindness instead of resentment. Even when life seems unfair or when others wrong us, we can trust that God has a greater purpose. This passage encourages us to be patient, stay faithful, and believe that God can bring good out of even the hardest circumstances.

Genesis 37:1-36 (WEB)

37:1 Jacob lived in the land of his father’s travels, in the land of Canaan. This is the history of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brothers. He was a boy with the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father’s wives. Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a tunic of many colors. His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, and they hated him, and couldn’t speak peaceably to him.
Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it to his brothers, and they hated him all the more. He said to them, “Please hear this dream which I have dreamed: for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and also stood upright; and behold, your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf.”
His brothers asked him, “Will you indeed reign over us? Will you indeed have dominion over us?” They hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words. He dreamed yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, and said, “Behold, I have dreamed yet another dream: and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowed down to me.” 10 He told it to his father and to his brothers. His father rebuked him, and said to him, “What is this dream that you have dreamed? Will I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves down to the earth before you?” 11 His brothers envied him, but his father kept this saying in mind.
12 His brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. 13 Israel said to Joseph, “Aren’t your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.” He said to him, “Here I am.”
14 He said to him, “Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the flock; and bring me word again.” So he sent him out of the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 A certain man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field. The man asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He said, “I am looking for my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are feeding the flock.”
17 The man said, “They have left here, for I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to Dothan.’ ”
Joseph went after his brothers, and found them in Dothan. 18 They saw him afar off, and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Behold, this dreamer comes. 20 Come now therefore, and let’s kill him, and cast him into one of the pits, and we will say, ‘An evil animal has devoured him.’ We will see what will become of his dreams.”
21 Reuben heard it, and delivered him out of their hand, and said, “Let’s not take his life.” 22 Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him”—that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father. 23 When Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the tunic of many colors that was on him; 24 and they took him, and threw him into the pit. The pit was empty. There was no water in it.
25 They sat down to eat bread, and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing spices and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, and let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not let our hand be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh.” His brothers listened to him. 28 Midianites who were merchants passed by, and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. The merchants brought Joseph into Egypt.
29 Reuben returned to the pit, and saw that Joseph wasn’t in the pit; and he tore his clothes. 30 He returned to his brothers, and said, “The child is no more; and I, where will I go?” 31 They took Joseph’s tunic, and killed a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood. 32 They took the tunic of many colors, and they brought it to their father, and said, “We have found this. Examine it, now, and see if it is your son’s tunic or not.”
33 He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s tunic. An evil animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces.” 34 Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his waist, and mourned for his son many days. 35 All his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. He said, “For I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” His father wept for him. 36 The Midianites sold him into Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh’s, the captain of the guard.