And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him.
What does Genesis 37:18 mean?
How readily does Joseph wait his father's orders! Those children who are best beloved by their parents, should be the most ready to obey them.
Key themes
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Keep this verse inside Genesis 37:15-19 and alongside a few nearby related passages.
Commentary on Genesis 37:18
His brothers cast him into a pit. "This master of dreams;" an eastern phrase for a dreamer. "Let us slay him." They had a foreboding that his dreams might prove true, and that he would become their arbitrary master. This thought at all events would abate somewhat of the barbarity of their designs. It is implied in the closing sentence of their proposal. Reuben dissuades them from the act of murder, and advises merely to cast him into the pit, to which they consent. He had a more tender heart, and perhaps a more tender conscience than the rest, and intended to send Joseph back safe to his father.
Context in Genesis 37
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Genesis 37 belongs to the middle movement of the book, especially the section often described as the family line through Isaac and Jacob. Genesis opens the whole Bible with creation, fall, flood, Babel, and the long patriarchal story that carries the reader from Eden to Egypt. Read this chapter with the wider themes of creation, fall, and covenant in view so the individual verses keep their proper weight.
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