12 Now his brothers went to pasture their father's flock near Shechem. 13 And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” And he said to him, “Here I am.” 14 So he said to him, “Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock, and bring me word.” So he sent him from the Valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem. 15 And a man found him wandering in the fields. And the man asked him, “What are you seeking?” 16 “I am seeking my brothers,” he said. “Tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.” 17 And the man said, “They have gone away, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
18 They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. 20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” 21 But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” 22 And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him”—that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colors that he wore. 24 And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. 26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? 27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes 30 and returned to his brothers and said, “The boy is gone, and I, where shall I go?” 31 Then they took Joseph's robe and slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 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.” 33 And he identified it and said, “It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” 34 Then Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth on his loins 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 and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father wept for him. 36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.
I cannot imagine how much hatred is needed to kill your stepbrother in broad daylight! All the brothers felt it was in their common interest to kill Joseph, so they did not hesitate to discuss it in the open. Why did they hate Joseph to that extent? Is it because of the extraordinary treatment Joseph got from their father? Is it because he had a different mother? Perhaps it is a combination of many factors. I think his dream must be an essential factor among the many factors. That is why they called him "this dreamer".
The title does not just suggest that Joseph dreamed a lot but indicates that he is impractical or incapable. Even if those were the truth, it should not cause them to kill him. Unfortunately, he even told them about his dreams that he would be glorified above all of them. That hurt them severely.
So now we know that their arrogance is what drives them to kill. In addition, the brothers also wanted to kill Joseph to ensure his dream would never come true. That's why in verse 20, they said, "We will see what will become of his dreams."
Yet, among the brothers, not everyone was so heartless. At least the big brother, Reuben, wanted to save him. He persuaded his brother to throw Joseph into a pit and planned to come back later to rescue him. Why did he have to do that? He could have asserted his authority as a big brother to stop them. He could threaten them that he would tell their dad if they insisted. Yet, he was not courageous to stand out against the other nine brothers. He would be unpopular if he did that. So, he instead shut his mouth.
Similarly, today God wants us to be the light of the world. When people do wrong, we are supposed to tell them. However, we know we will become very unpopular if we do so. Will we still do it? Will we say to the world that LGBT is wrong? Will we tell people they need salvation? Are we like Reuben, avoiding confrontation?
In this passage, we discovered two things:
Pride kills.
Avoiding confrontation for fear of being unpopular often stops us from doing the right things.
May God help us to surrender our pride to Him and to have courage when we got to stand out for righteousness.
