Read Genesis 37:1-36 at Bible Gateway.
the teaching tools of scripture
Hebrew paragraph divisions
Gen 37:1-36 {p} Joseph’s advancement and enslavement
Joseph advanced over his brothers
Strong themes of the parashah
Gen 36:1-37:36 {sx3+p} The two seeds of Esau and Jacob (Joseph and his brothers)
Gen 37:1-36 chiastic structure
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, His father gave Joseph a 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, Israel sent Joseph to his brothers in Shechem;
central axis) Gen 37:15-16, Joseph: “I am seeking my brothers;”
2g) Gen 37:17, He found his brothers in Dothan;
2f) Gen 37:18, His brothers conspired against him to kill him;
2e) Gen 37:19-20, They said: This dreamer is coming;
1a) Gen 37:19, Then they said to one another, “Look, this dreamer is coming!
1b) Gen 37:20a, Come therefore, let us now kill him;
central axis) Gen 37:20b, And cast him into some pit;
2b) Gen 37:20c, And we shall say, ‘Some wild beast has devoured him;’
2a) Gen 37:20d, We shall see what will become of his 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/ 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: Sell him to the Ishmaelites/ his brothers listened;
2b) Gen 37:28, They sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites + 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, They dipped Joseph’s tunic in the blood of a kid of the goats;
2b) Gen 37:32-35, The brothers’ bad report about Joseph + Israel mourned Joseph;
2a) Gen 37:36 {p} Joseph in Egypt.
Theme of the parashah
Joseph’s advancement and enslavement
Finding Messiah in Torah
Joseph’s first dream comes to pass, as we find out in the next chapters. His second dream, however, does not seem to come to pass, because there is no record of Jacob or Rachel, who has of course passed away, bowing down to Joseph, even when Jacob came to him in Egypt. But this prophetic dream will indeed come to pass, when we consider that the fathers, mothers, and children of Israel will indeed come to bow down – to the Messiah as King. This is our first clue that Scripture gives us, that the life of Joseph, like Isaac, is a type of Messiah in Torah.
Additional readings for this parashah
Psa 30 (my notes) | Jer 38 (my notes) | Joh 19 (my notes)
Further study off site
The Joseph Narrative in Archaeology – Assoc. for Biblical Research
Joseph – Hebrew word study – Brad Scott
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