Genesis 37

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 37:25-28

Dothan lay on a caravan route that ran from Damascus to Egypt. [Note: See Ammon Ben-Tor, "The Trade Relations of Palestine in the Early Bronze Age," Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient 29:1 (February 1986):1-27.] The next time the brothers would eat a meal in Joseph’s presence he would sit at the head table (Genesis 43:32-34).Moses referred to the traders that bought Joseph as Ishmaelites (Genesis 37:25; Genesis 37:27-28) and Midianites (Genesis 37:28). Probably the caravan... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 37:29-36

Reuben was absent during the sale of Joseph. When he returned and found Joseph missing he felt great distress. Jacob would have held him responsible for Joseph’s safety since Reuben was the oldest of the brothers. Joseph’s brothers covered one sin with another."The message accompanying the cloak [Genesis 37:32] has a certain blunt brutality about it. They did not try to soften the blow." [Note: Leupold, 2:973.] Jacob had deceived his father with the skin of a goat (Genesis 27:16). Now his sons... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 37:1-36

Joseph is Hated by his Brethren and Sold into EgyptWith the exception of a few passages chiefly in Genesis 46, 49, the rest of the book of Genesis is taken from the Primitive source.The chief event with which the rest of Genesis is concerned, namely, the migration of Israel to Egypt, displays the working out of God’s purposes declared in Genesis 15. In Egypt the chosen race grew in peace from a tribe to a nation, instead of having to encounter the hostility of the Canaanites as their numbers... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:1

XXXVII.(1) And Jacob . . . —This verse is not the beginning of a new section, but the conclusion of the Tôldôth Esau. In Genesis 36:6, we read that Esau went into a land away from Jacob. Upon this follows in Genesis 37:8, “And Esau dwelt in Mount Seir;” and now the necessary information concerning the other brother is given to us, “And Jacob dwelt in the land . . . of Canaan.” In the Hebrew the conjunctions are the same. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:2

THE TÔLDÔTH JACOB. JOSEPH IS SOLD BY HIS BRETHREN INTO EGYPT.(2) The generations of Jacob.—This Tôldôth, according to the undeviating rule, is the history of Jacob’s descendants, and specially of Joseph. So the Tôldôth of the heaven and earth (Genesis 2:4) gives the history of the creation and fall of man. So the Tôldôth Adam was the history of the flood; and, not to multiply instances, that of Terah was the history of Abraham. (See Note on Genesis 28:10.) This Tôldôth, therefore, extends to... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:3

(3) He was the son of his old age.—Jacob was ninety-one when Joseph was born; but at Benjamin’s birth he was eight or nine years older; and according to the common belief that Jacob was only twenty years in Padan-aram, the four sons of the handmaids must have been about Joseph’s age, and Leah’s last two sons even younger. But the epithet is intelligible if Jacob had waited twenty-seven years after his marriage with Rachel, before Joseph was born. There would then be a considerable interval... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:5

(5) Joseph dreamed a dream.—Though dreams as a rule do but arise from the mind being wearied with overmuch business (Ecclesiastes 5:3), or other trivial causes; yet as being from time to time used by God for providential purposes, they are occasionally described as a lower kind of prophecy (Numbers 12:6-8; Deuteronomy 13:1; 1 Samuel 28:15). In the life of Joseph they form the turning point in his history, and it is to be noticed that while revelations were frequently made to Jacob, we have... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:7

(7) Stood upright.—Heb., took its station. It is the verb used in Genesis 24:13, where see Note. It implies that the sheaf took the position of chief. We gather from this dream that Jacob practised agriculture, not occasionally, as had been the case with Isaac (Genesis 26:12), but regularly, as seems to have been usual also at Haran (Genesis 30:14). read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:9

(9) He dreamed yet another dream.—In Joseph’s history the dreams are always double, though in the case of those of the chief butler and baker, the interpretation was diverse. read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:10

(10) His father rebuked him.—In making the sun and moon bow down before him. Joseph’s dream seemed to violate the respect due to parents. As Jacob probably regarded his son’s dreams as the result of his letting his fancy dwell upon ideas of self-exaltation, he rightly rebuked him; while, nevertheless, “observing his saying.” (Comp. Luke 2:51.)Thy mother.—Rachel was certainly dead, as Joseph had at this time eleven brethren. Nor did Leah ever bow down before him; for she died at Hebron (Genesis... read more

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 37:25-28

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Genesis 37:29-36

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Genesis 37:1-36

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:1

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:2

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:3

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:7

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:9

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Genesis 37:10

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