Who Sold Joseph to Egypt?

The Aish Rabbi Replies

You are right that this is an extremely tricky topic. The verses are almost impossible to work out no matter how you understand them. I’ll begin by summarizing all the relevant verses in order to outline the difficulty.

(a) Immediately after throwing Joseph in the pit, the brothers see a caravan of Ishmaelites heading towards Egypt. Judah says to his brothers that rather than leaving their brother to die, they should preserve his life and sell him (Genesis 37:25-27).

(b) Meanwhile, Midianite merchants pass by, draw Joseph from the pit, and sell him to the passing Ishmaelites (v. 28).

(c) Reuben returns to the pit and can’t find Joseph. He frets to his brothers that the lad is missing and he does not know what to do (vv. 29-30).

(d) Later, at the beginning of the tale of Joseph in Egypt, the verse states that Potiphar, Pharaoh’s chief butcher, buys Joseph from the Ishmaelites who brought him down there (Genesis 39:1).

So far the verses seem unequivocally clear. Joseph’s brothers did not sell him into slavery. The Midianites found him, gave him to the Ishmaelites, and they sold him in Egypt. And the brothers have no idea what happened. Now, however, the contradictions begin.

(e) At the end of the story of Joseph’s abduction, the Torah concludes that the Midianites – not the Ishmaelites – sold Joseph to Potiphar in Egypt (37:36). Note further that this verse calls them Medanites rather than Midianites. That could just be a variant spelling, as is very common in the Torah, but it also leaves open the conjecture that they belonged to yet another tribe. In fact, Genesis 25:2, which names the sons of Abraham from his later wife Keturah, lists both Medan and Midian, making them closely related tribes.

(f) Most significant of all, when Joseph at last reveals himself to his brothers years later, he says to them: “I am Joseph your brother whom you sold to Egypt” (45:4)! And indeed, the Sages often discuss the sin of the brothers for selling Joseph into slavery – and how they attempted to find and rescue him when they later descended to Egypt themselves.

Based on the unequivocal nature of the final verse, most commentators conclude that the brothers in fact did sell Joseph. They therefore interpret the earlier verses (see (b) and (c) above) not according to their simple reading. Below is the understanding of Rashi, considered the foremost Torah commentator, who follows this approach.

Although verse 28 (b above) seems to say that Midianites took Joseph out of the pit, the subject of the sentence actually changes. The beginning of that verse reads: “And Midianite men, merchants, passed.” The verse then continues: “And they” – meaning the brothers – “drew Joseph up from the put and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty silver pieces.” Afterwards, the verse concludes: “And they brought Joseph to Egypt.” This time, according to Rashi, the “they” refers to the Midianites, mentioned just above (as is clear from (e) above) who had bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites who in turn bought Joseph from the brothers. In other words, the Midianites are mentioned in the beginning of the verse not because they were the ones to draw Joseph from the pit, but because they were also involved in the dealings with Joseph in some way. Their role was actually that they afterwards purchased Joseph from the Ishmaelites and sold him further – to Potiphar. As Rashi explains, they are mentioned in order to convey that Joseph was sold several times to several parties before he ultimately made it to Egypt. (This is probably the meaning of 39:1 (d) according to Rashi, which states that the Ishmaelites – not the Midianites – sold Joseph to Egypt. That verse is mainly meant to convey that Joseph exchanged hands several times – with both Ishmaelites and Midianites involved in his sale.)

What about verses 29-30 (c) – that Reuben returned to the pit, was shocked to see that Joseph is no longer there, and reported it to his brothers? Rashi, following the Midrash (Bereishis Rabbah 84:15,19), explains that Reuben was absent during the short time his brothers sold Joseph – either because he was off taking care of his father Jacob, or because he went aside to mourn his sin of moving his father’s bed (see Genesis 35:22) – as was his regular practice.

As I noted, many other commentators follow along the lines of Rashi, albeit with slight variations in their understanding of the precise meaning of the verses. Attempting to summarize all the opinions and their exact interpretations would test the patience of even the most studious reader. I will therefore instead list the major commentators who agree with Rashi and point out a few of their more significant points of contention.

Da’as Zekeinim understands that the brothers sold Joseph to the Midianites while he was still in the pit, and then – as the verse implies – it was the Midianites who drew Joseph from the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites. Later, the Ishmaelites sold him to the Medanites (distinct from the Midianites) who sold him to Egypt. See also Ibn Ezra, Ramban, Chizkuni, Sforno, and Ohr HaChaim who attempt to resolve the apparent inconsistencies in the verses in their seemingly interchangeable references to Ishmaelites and Midianites.

Several other authorities explain the earlier verses according to their simple meaning – that the Midianites, and not the brothers, drew Joseph from the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites. This is the opinion of Rashbam, Chizkuni, and R’ Bachya, as well as several more recent commentators. (See Ha’amek Davar that the brothers did see the Midianites draw Joseph out and sell him to the Ishmaelites – and they were happy that the deed was done but they didn’t have to do it personally.) If so, what did Joseph mean when he revealed himself to his brothers, saying “I am Joseph … whom you sold to Egypt?” It just means that they, by casting him into the pit, began the process which resulted in his eventual sale to Egypt. Chizkuni further adds that had the brothers actually believed Joseph was still alive, as soon as they regretted their actions (which they surely did after – see Gen. 37:30 and 42:21-22), they would have undoubtedly combed the earth searching for him rather than leaving matters as they were. It’s also much more likely that they would have identified the Egyptian viceroy as Joseph had they suspected he was still alive.

(Rashbam and Chizkuni also entertain that it was in fact the brothers who sold Joseph, but they had the Midianites draw him out of the hole, as the verse implies. See similarly Da’as Zekeinim cited above.)