Joseph Sold Into Egypt

Genesis 37:1–38:30

Genesis 37 opens the Joseph narrative with family tension already in place. Joseph is favored by Jacob, receives symbolic garments, and tells dreams that imply future authority over his family. The brothers' jealousy escalates into conspiracy, and Joseph is sold to traders headed for Egypt. Genesis 38 interrupts with Judah and Tamar, but the placement is intentional: it reveals moral fracture in Judah's house while preparing his later transformation in the reconciliation scenes.

The Dreams and the Hatred

Jacob dwells in the land of Canaan. Joseph is seventeen years old, a young man who tends the flocks with his brothers. Jacob loves Joseph more than any other son because Joseph was born to him in his old age. Jacob makes Joseph a coat of many colors, a symbol of favor.

Joseph's brothers see that their father loves him more than them, and they hate him. Joseph makes things worse by reporting his brothers' bad behavior to their father.

Then Joseph has a dream. He tells his brothers: "Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright. And behold, your sheaves gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf."

His brothers say: "Are you indeed to reign over us? Or are you indeed to rule over us?" They hate him even more because of his dream and his words.

Joseph has another dream. He tells his family: "Behold, I have dreamed another dream. Behold, the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me."

His father rebukes him: "What is this dream that you have dreamed? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow ourselves to the ground before you?" But Jacob keeps the saying in mind. The narrative sets up both human conflict and providential foreshadowing.

The Plot and the Sale

Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothers, who are tending the flocks at Dothan. Joseph arrives and his brothers see him coming from afar. They plot against him: "Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits."

Reuben hears this and persuades them not to kill him outright. He says: "Let us not take his life. Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him." Reuben intends to rescue Joseph later and return him to his father.

They strip Joseph of his coat of many colors and throw him into a pit. Then they sit down to eat bread. They see a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, heading to Egypt. Judah says to his brothers: "What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh."

His brothers agree. They sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Joseph is carried to Egypt.

They take Joseph's coat, dip it in the blood of a goat, and send it to Jacob. They say: "We found this; please identify whether it is your son's coat or not."

Jacob recognizes it and says: "It is my son's coat. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces." Jacob tears his garments and puts sackcloth on his loins and mourns for his son many days. His sons and daughters try to comfort him, but he refuses to be comforted. He says: "No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning." Jacob's grief becomes a long background note in the narrative.

Judah and Tamar

Judah leaves his brothers and goes down to a man named Hirah in Adullam. He sees a Canaanite woman named Shua and takes her as his wife. She bears him three sons: Er, Onan, and Shelah.

Judah takes a wife for Er, named Tamar. But Er is wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord puts him to death.

According to the custom of the time—what later becomes formalized as levirate law—when a man dies without children, his brother is obligated to marry the widow and produce offspring in the dead man's name. This preserves the family line and ensures the widow's security and status. Judah tells Onan: "Go in to your brother's wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother."

But Onan knows that the offspring will not be his—the child would legally belong to Er's line, not his own. So whenever he goes in to his brother's wife, he wastes the semen on the ground, lest he should give offspring to his brother. He refuses the duty while still taking the benefit of the relationship. What he does is wicked in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord puts him to death as well.

Judah says to Tamar: "Remain a widow in your father's house, till Shelah my son grows up." He tells her to wait, promising that when Shelah is old enough, he will fulfill the levirate duty. But the text makes clear: he does not intend to give Shelah to her. He is afraid that Shelah will die like his brothers, and he blames Tamar for the deaths.

Tamar is left in a precarious position. She is a widow without children, without a husband, and without the protection that levirate marriage would provide. She is denied the security that custom and justice demand. She acts strategically to secure her rights and her future.

She learns that Judah is going to Timnah to shear his sheep. She removes her widow's garments, covers herself with a veil to conceal her identity, and sits at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah. She positions herself where Judah will see her.

Judah sees her and thinks she is a prostitute—a woman available for hire. He does not recognize her. He says: "Come, let me come in to you, for he does not know that she is his daughter-in-law." She asks: "What will you give me?" He says: "I will send you a young goat from the flock." She asks for a pledge to guarantee payment: "What pledge shall I give you?" He says: "Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand."

He gives them to her—his signet ring (a mark of his identity and authority), his cord, and his staff. These are not casual items; they are personal possessions that identify him. She conceives by him. She rises and goes away, removes her veil, and puts on her widow's garments again.

Later, Judah sends his friend Hirah to return the pledge and retrieve the signet and cord. But the friend cannot find her. He asks the men of the place: "Where is the cult prostitute who was at Enaim by the roadside?" They say: "There has been no cult prostitute here." Hirah returns to Judah and says: "I could not find her. Also, the men of the place said, 'There has been no cult prostitute here.'"

Judah says: "Let her keep the things as her own, lest we be laughed at. You see, I sent this young goat, and you could not find her." He is concerned about his reputation, but he lets the matter drop.

Then, about three months later, Judah learns that Tamar is pregnant. He says: "Bring her out, and let her be burned." His response is swift and harsh. He condemns her to death by fire for what he perceives as sexual immorality—a widow bearing a child outside of marriage.

But Tamar sends him the signet, cord, and staff, saying: "By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant. Please identify whose these are."

Judah recognizes them immediately. He says: "She is more righteous than I, inasmuch as I did not give her to my son Shelah." He acknowledges that he is the father. More importantly, he acknowledges that Tamar is right and he is wrong. She acted to secure what was justly owed to her. He failed in his duty. He does not go in to her again, but he acknowledges her claim and her child.

Tamar bears twins: Perez and Zerah. Perez becomes significant in later genealogies and appears in the lineage of David and Jesus. Matthew 1 includes Tamar in the genealogy of Jesus—one of only a few women named, and one whose story involves deception and sexual complexity.

Many scholars read Genesis 38 as a deliberate literary insertion that prepares Judah's moral arc from compromise toward leadership and self-giving in Genesis 44. The brother who failed Tamar will later offer himself in Benjamin's place. The man who condemned a woman for bearing a child will later become the advocate for his family's survival. Christian readers often note that Tamar and Perez appear in Matthew 1, showing that this difficult chapter is still part of redemptive lineage. God's purposes work through human failure and moral complexity.

What to Notice

Joseph's descent to Egypt begins through family betrayal, not personal ambition. Joseph does not choose to go to Egypt; he is sold by his brothers. His rise in Egypt will be shown as God's providence working through human sin.
Reuben and Judah both influence events differently, and both will matter later. Reuben tries to save Joseph; Judah proposes selling him. Both will play important roles in the reconciliation scenes later.
Genesis 38 is structurally important, not a random interruption. The Judah and Tamar story reveals moral fracture in Judah's house and prepares his transformation. It also shows that God's covenant line continues through unexpected means.
Jacob's grief anchors the emotional cost of the brothers' deception. Jacob's mourning is not brief; it is long and deep. The brothers' sin has real consequences for their father.