genesis 37 and 38

Read Genesis 37 and 38 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for our chapters today are:

Gen 37:1-36 {p} Joseph’s advancement and enslavement
Gen 38:1-30 {s} Judah and Tamar

I say that Joseph was advanced over his brothers, as his coat of many colors is mentioned in two other contexts in the Scriptures, besides Joseph’s account: in the special robes that the priests wore when they were serving in the Temple (Exo 28:4), and the robe that David’s daughter Tamar wore (2 Sam 13:18). Both cases point to nobility. When it becomes clear from the narrative that Jacob took Joseph from watching the sheep with his brothers, as a younger son would do (1 Sam 16:11), to overseeing his brothers in watching the sheep, as the firstborn son would do, we can infer that Joseph’s coat as a gift from his father was a sign that Jacob intended to give him the blessing and birthright of the firstborn. This is why, after the gift was given, it says, “But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers,” (Gen 37:4).

Chapter 37 makes a chiastic structure with an unexpected central axis:

1a) Gen 37:1, Jacob in Canaan;

1b) Gen 37:2-3a, Joseph’s bad report about his brothers + Israel loved Joseph;

1c) Gen 37:3b, The tunic of many colors;

1d) Gen 37:4, The hatred of Joseph’s brothers;

1e) Gen 37:5-10, Joseph’s dreams;

1f) Gen 37:11, His brothers envied him;

1g) Gen 37:12-14, Sent to his brothers in Shechem;

central axis) Gen 37:15-16, “I am seeking my brothers;”

2g) Gen 37:17, Found his brothers in Dothan;

2f) Gen 37:18, His brothers conspired against him to kill him;

2e) Gen 37:19-20, Joseph’s dreams;

2d) Gen 37:21-30, The hatred of Joseph’s brothers;

1a) Gen 37:21-24, Reuben’s counsel: “Do not kill him, but cast him into a pit,” and they did so;
1b) Gen 37:25, Ishmaelite traders passed by on their way to Egypt;
central axis) Gen 37:26-27, Judah’s counsel: “Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites,” and his brothers listened;
2b) Gen 37:28, They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites, and they took him to Egypt;
2a) Gen 37:29-30, Reuben’s grief, when he learned Joseph was not in the pit.

2c) Gen 37:31, The tunic of many colors;

2b) Gen 37:32-35, The brothers’ bad report about Joseph + Israel mourned Joseph;

2a) Gen 37:36 {p} Joseph in Egypt.

Notice that the Scripture highlights that the natural leadership of the brothers, even now, is passing from Reuben to Judah, for it was Judah’s counsel that the brothers followed. The birthright and the blessing was Reuben’s by right as Jacob’s firstborn, but he disqualified himself in his father’s eyes by sleeping with Bilhah, Rachel’s maid (Gen 35:21-22). Next in line was Simeon and Levi, but they disqualified themselves in their father’s eyes by murdering all the men of Shechem (Gen 34:25-26). Judah was next in line.

I believe Reuben had an idea that Jacob would not be comforted after the loss of Joseph, but that this thought never occurred to Judah. I wonder if Reuben upbraided Judah: “It had been my plan to return the boy to our father, but thanks to your bone- headed idea, he is lost forever in Egypt!” I know I would have been tempted to, if I had been in Reuben’s shoes. I believe the realization of just how greatly he had royally screwed up smote Judah’s heart with force, and he did not wait for his father to pass over him as unworthy of the birthright and the blessing of Abraham. He removed himself from his father and his brothers, and from the covenant and promises of Abraham, and left to go dwell among the Canaanites.

Chapter 38 also makes its own chiastic structure:

1a) Gen 38:1-10, Two sons of Judah by the Canaanite woman;

1b) Gen 38:11, Judah promised Shelah to widowed Tamar;

1c) Gen 38:12-18, Tamar conceives by ‘harlotry’;

1d) Gen 38:20, Judah could not find the ‘harlot’;

central axis) Gen 38:21, “Then he asked the men of that place, saying, ‘Where is the harlot who was openly by the roadside?’ And they said, ‘There was no harlot in this place;’”

2d) Gen 38:22-23, Judah could not find the ‘harlot’;

2c) Gen 38:24-25, Tamar found with child by ‘harlotry’;

2b) Gen 38:26, Judah acknowledged that he broke his promise to Tamar;

2a) Gen 38:27-30, Two sons of Judah by Tamar.

For further reading:

The Joseph Narrative in Archaeology (Assoc. for Biblical Research)
Joseph – Hebrew word study (Brad Scott)