Genesis 37.36-Midianites Sell Joseph in Egypt to Pharaoh's Officer, Potiphar
Wednesday November 8, 2006
Genesis: Genesis 37:36-Midianites Sell Joseph in Egypt to Pharaoh’s Officer, Potiphar
Lesson # 235
Please turn in your Bibles to Genesis 37:2.
This evening we will complete our study of Genesis 37, which presents to us the story of Joseph being sold into slavery by his brothers.
By way of review of Genesis 37, we have noted the following:
Genesis 37:2 presented the account of Jacob’s sons as well as Joseph giving his father Jacob a slanderous report of his brothers.
In Genesis 37:3a, we noted that since the name “Israel” is divine in origin and was used in the context of the unfair treatment that Joseph suffered at the hands of his brothers, that these events were a manifestation of the providence of God, which refers to the fact that Joseph’s life was not ruled by chance or fate but by God.
In Genesis 37:3-4 we saw Israel favoring Joseph over his other sons because he was the son of his old age, which led to Joseph’s brothers resenting him.
Then, in Genesis 37:5-11 we saw Joseph having two prophetic dreams, which he relates to his brothers resulting in Joseph being the object of his brother’s hate and jealousy, which eventually led to their plotting to kill Joseph.
In Genesis 37:12-24, we read the account of Joseph’s brothers attempting to kill Joseph but are restrained by Reuben who suggests an alternative plan to throw Joseph into a cistern and let him die by natural causes.
However, Reuben’s real intent was to buy time so he could deliver Joseph at a more opportune moment when his brothers were not around.
In Genesis 37:25-28, we read of Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery.
On Sunday, we studied Genesis 37:29-33, which records for us Jacob’s sons deceiving him into believing that Joseph was dead when in reality he had been sold by them into slavery.
Last evening we noted Genesis 37:34-35, which records Jacob mourning over Joseph since he has been deceived by his sons into thinking that Joseph was killed by a wild animal when in reality his sons sold him into slavery to the Midianites.
This evening we will study Genesis 37:36, which records that the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to a man named Potiphar who was Pharaoh’s officer.
Genesis 37:2, “These are the records of the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when seventeen years of age, was pasturing the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, along with the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives. And Joseph brought back a bad report about them to their father.”
Genesis 37:3, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons, because he was the son of his old age; and he made him a varicolored tunic.”
Genesis 37:4, “His brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers; and so they hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms.”
Genesis 37:5, “Then Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.”
Genesis 37:6-7, “He said to them, ‘Please listen to this dream which I have had; for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.”
Genesis 37:8, “Then his brothers said to him, ‘Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule over us?’ So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.”
Genesis 37:9, “Now he had still another dream, and related it to his brothers, and said, ‘Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’”
Genesis 37:10, “He related it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, ‘What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?’”
Genesis 37:11, “His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in mind.”
Genesis 37:12, “Then his brothers went to pasture their father's flock in Shechem.”
Genesis 37:13, “Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers pasturing the flock in Shechem? Come, and I will send you to them.’ And he said to him, ‘I will go.’”
Genesis 37:14, “Then he said to him, ‘Go now and see about the welfare of your brothers and the welfare of the flock, and bring word back to me.’ So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.’”
Genesis 37:15, “A man found him, and behold, he was wandering in the field; and the man asked him, ‘What are you looking for?’”
Genesis 37:16, “He said, ‘I am looking for my brothers; please tell me where they are pasturing the flock.’”
Genesis 37:17, “Then the man said, ‘They have moved from here; for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.”
Genesis 37:18, “When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death.”
Genesis 37:19, “They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer!’”
Genesis 37:20, “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, ‘A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!”
Genesis 37:21, “But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, ‘Let us not take his life.’”
Genesis 37:22, “Reuben further said to them, ‘Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him’ -- that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father.”
Genesis 37:23-24, “So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him; and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.”
Genesis 37:25, “Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bring them down to Egypt.”
Genesis 37:26, “Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood?’”
Genesis 37:27, “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh. And his brothers listened to him.”
Genesis 37:28, ‘Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they (Joseph’s brothers) pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.”
Genesis 37:29, “Now Reuben returned to the pit, and behold, Joseph was not in the pit; so he tore his garments.”
Genesis 37:30, “He returned to his brothers and said, ‘The boy is not there; as for me, where am I to go?’”
Genesis 37:31-32, “So they took Joseph's tunic, and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they sent the varicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, ‘We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son's tunic or not.’”
Genesis 37:33, “Then he examined it and said, ‘It is my son's tunic. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!’”
Genesis 37:34, “So Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days.”
Genesis 37:35, “Then all his sons and all his daughters arose to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. And he said, ‘Surely I will go down to Sheol in mourning for my son.’ So his father wept for him.”
Genesis 37:36, “Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's officer, the captain of the bodyguard.”
The “Midianites” (midhyani, “strife”) (yn!y*d+m!) (mid-yaw-nee) were the descendants of “Midian” the fourth son of Abraham and Keturah according to Genesis 25:1-2 and were a well-known Arabian tribe east of the Gulf of Aqabah and the Red Sea.
The names “Ishmaelites” and “Midianites” in Genesis 37:25, 27, 28, 36 and Genesis 39:1 are synonymous terms, which is confirmed by Judges 8:24, which says of the Midianites “they had golden earrings, because they were Ishmaelites.”
The use of these two terms in Genesis 37 indicates that the term “Ishmaelite” was as a generic term or general designation for “nomadic traders” or “desert tribes” whereas “Midianite” indicates a specific ethnic affiliation.
Or in other words, the term “Midianites” in Genesis 37 refers to a specific ethnic affiliation among the league of desert tribes or nomadic traders known by the generic use of the term “Ishmaelites.”
“Egypt” is the proper noun mitsrayim (<y!r^x+m!) (mits-ra-yim), which means, “double straits.”
Genesis 10:6 records that “Mizraim” was the second son of Ham and was the ancestor of the ancient Egyptians as indicated in that his name was the customary name for Egypt in the Bible.
Also, further confirming this interpretation is that Egypt is also called “the land of Ham” in Psalm 104:23, suggesting that Ham accompanied his son Mizraim in the original settlement of the Nile Valley (see Psalm 78:51).
Genesis 10:13-14 records the genealogy of the sons of “Mizraim” better known as Egypt.
Genesis 10:13, “Mizraim (miz’ra-im-“double straits”) became the father of Ludim (lu’dim-“to the firebrands: travailings”) and Anamim (an’a-mim-“affliction of the waters”) and Lehabim (le-ha’bim-“flames”) and Naphtuhim (naf’tu-him-“openings”).”
Genesis 10:14, “and Pathrusim (path-ru-sim-“a morsel moistening”) and Casluhim (kas’lu-him-“forgiven ones”) (from which came the Philistines [“immigrants”]) and Caphtorim (kaf-tor-im-“knob or bud”).”
Ancient Egypt was divided into three geographical sections: (1) Upper Egypt in the south (2) Middle Egypt in the center (3) Lower Egypt or Delta in the north.
Most scholars divide into two sections: (1) Upper (2) Lower.
Upper Egypt is very narrow and surrounded by mountains, which rarely take the form of peaks and the northern coast of Egypt is low and barren, and without good harbors.
The political history of Egypt traditionally begins with Menes, the Upper ruler who conquered Lower Egypt according to Egyptian tradition.
The history of dynastic Egypt can be divided into the Old Kingdom (2700-2200 B.C.), the Middle Kingdom (2100-1800 B.C.) and the New Kingdom (1550-1069 B.C.).
The pyramids were built during the Old Kingdom and the Middle Kingdom coincides with the lives of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph whereas the birth of Moses and Exodus of Israel took place during the New Kingdom.
Eugene H. Merrill provides us an insightful comment regarding the time that Joseph lived in Egypt in relation to the Pharaohs of Egypt, he writes the following:
“Joseph was born in 1916 B.C., entered Egypt in 1899 B.C., rose to power in 1886, and died in 1806 at the age of 110. His whole lifespan was contemporaneous with the magnificent Dynasty 12 of Middle Kingdom Egypt, a dynasty which commenced in 1991 and ended in 1786 B.C. Though the chronology of this period is notoriously difficult to reconstruct, the Cambridge Ancient History dates used here cannot be far off. By this system of reckoning Joseph was sold into Egypt in the closing years of the reign of Ammenemes II (1929-1895). His was a peaceful reign characterized by an improved agricultural and economic life and by the fostering of close relationships with western Asia. Joseph would have been welcomed on the basis of his ethnic background. His imprisonment would have occurred under Sesostris II (1897-1878), approximately a decade after his arrival in Egypt (1889). It was Sesostris II whose dreams Joseph interpreted and whom he served as prime minister. It is significant that Sesostris II was in power at the time the nomarch of Beni Hasan welcomed the Semitic chieftain Abisha to his city, an event celebrated in the famous murals of Beni Hasan. Sesostris also imported and employed great numbers of Asiatic slaves and mercenaries, a policy, which shows anything but an anti-Semitic bias. Most striking of all perhaps were the massive land-reclamation and flood-control projects undertaken under the administration of this enlightened monarch. A principal feature of these was a canal dug to connect the Fayyum basin with the Nile, a canal whose ruins to this very day bear the name Bahr Yusef, “the River of Joseph.” Can it be that this name survives as a testimony to the contribution of Joseph to the public works projects of Sesostris II?” (Kingdom of Priests, pages 49-50, Baker Book House).
Genesis 37:36, “Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh's officer, the captain of the bodyguard.”
“Potiphar” is the proper noun potiphar (ro^yf!w)O) (po-tee-far), which is the shortened form of the Egyptian name Potiphera, which means, “he whom Ra (the sun-god) has given.”
The occupation of “Potiphar” is identified as “Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.”
“Pharaoh” is the proper noun par`oh (hu)r+P^) (Hebrew: par-o) (English: phay-row), which means, “great house” and was the title of the kings of Egypt until 323 B.C.
The term was originally used to describe the palace of the king but around 1500 B.C. this term was applied to the Egyptian kings and meant something like "his honor, his majesty."
“Officer” is the noun saris (syr!s*) (saw-reece), which refers to either court officials or to literal eunuchs and is regarded as a loanword from Akkadian referring to a high-ranking court official, which in early biblical literature appears to be the meaning.
However, in later times, the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians adopted the practice of castrating those who served in the royal palace and the harems.
Consequently, the term came to mean “eunuch” meaning a castrated male, thus one who is sexually impotent.
Kings did not wish to risk a son of a servant being an heir to the throne.
Potiphar was an officer of Pharaoh, yet he had a wife, thus clearly indicating that he was not castrated and therefore, not a eunuch.
Therefore, the expression “Pharaoh’s officer” (seris par`oh)” refers to the fact that Potiphar was a “high ranking official” under Pharaoh of Egypt.
The expression “the captain of the bodyguard” defines Potiphar’s role as a high ranking official under Pharaoh of Egypt.
“Bodyguard” is the noun tabbach (jBf^) (tab-bawkh), which means, “butcher,” or “cook” and is derived from the verb tavach (jb^f) (taw-vakh), which means, “to slaughter.”
Basically, the connotation of the verbal root is to deliberately “butcher” or “slaughter” an animal for food.
However, this concept is also used metaphorically to indicate the killing of human beings.
When tabbach appears in the plural as it does in Genesis 37:36, it means, “bodyguards” or “executioners.”
The word appears 32 times in the Hebrew Old Testament and appears twice in 1 Samuel 9:23f with the meaning “cook” and 30 times and always in the plural with the meaning “bodyguards” (cf. Genesis 39:1; 2 Kings 25:8; Jeremiah 39:9ff).
This latter meaning is unique to the Hebrew Old Testament.
The history of this term tells us that the bodyguards had as one of their responsibilities the slaughtering and preparing of animals for food (Compare Genesis 40:2) and these men functioned also as executioners.
Therefore, the expression “the captain of the bodyguard” reveals that Potiphar was the leader of not only the royal bodyguards offering protection to Pharaoh and his family but also they were the royal executioners for Pharaoh who executed capital sentences order by Pharaoh.
Therefore, we can see that through the providence of God Joseph was taken to the capital city of Egypt, which during the 12th Dynasty was Memphis and sold to a high ranking official in Pharaoh’s cabinet, namely, Potiphar.
The providence of God is the divine outworking of the divine decree, the object being the final manifestation of God’s glory and expresses the fact that the world and our lives are not ruled by chance or fate but by God.
Therefore, the fact that Joseph ended up in Egypt with Potiphar did not happen by chance or fate but because God ordained for it to take place in order to fulfill His plan for Jacob’s family and to bring glory to Him.
God has figured into the divine decree so as to fulfill His sovereign will and thus to bring glory to Himself not only the resentment of Joseph’s brothers towards him but also their selling him into slavery and Joseph ending upon in Egypt.
God rendered certain to take place that Joseph would end up in Egypt and be sold to Pharaoh’s officer, and captain of the bodyguard, Potiphar and it was thus a part of God’s plan.
The fact that Joseph would end up in Egypt, was part of God’s plan for Jacob’s family from eternity past.
The fact that Joseph ended up with Potiphar, a high ranking official in Pharaoh’s government in Egypt was part of God’s chosen and adopted plan for not only Joseph but his entire family.
The fact that Joseph ended up in Egypt was part of God’s eternal purpose according to the counsels of His own will for His own glory.
The fact that Joseph ended up in Egypt was known by God in eternity past before anything was created and was sovereignly determined by God to take place at the time these events did.
It was God’s eternal and immutable will that Joseph would be purchased as a slave by Potiphar and end up in Egypt and God decreed that this would take place in time and the precise order of events leading up to these events and the manner in which these events would transpire.
The Lord looked down the corridors of time and decreed to take place that Joseph would end up in Egypt.