Genesis 37 records the sale of Joseph into slavery by 10 of his brothers.
The brothers then deceive their father Jacob to make him think Joseph is dead.
The brothers dip Joseph’s distinctive coat into goat blood and send it to Jacob.
Jacob Mourns for Joseph
Jacob recognizes the coat and concludes that Joseph was torn to bits by a wild animal.
34. And Jacob tore his clothes, and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days.
35. And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted; and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning. Thus his father wept for him.
In this article I will look closely at these two verses.
Genesis 37:34
And Jacob tore his clothes – Malbim writes that this is an act of mourning.
This is still the practice in many Jewish communities that the close relatives of the deceased tear their outer garments at the time of death or burial.
and put sackcloth upon his loins – Malbim points out that this is not an act of mourning. Rather, Jacob put on sackcloth as an act of repentance.
Malbim cites Rabbi Yaakov Weil (Germany, about 1380 – 1460) who writes that a person who sends a messenger to a place of danger and the messenger is killed, the one who sent him must repent.
and mourned for his son – Rabbi Hirsch points out that “mourned” (Hebrew: yitabel) is a hitpael verb form. Hitpael is (usually) a reflexive verb. The reflexive describes an action that a person does to himself.
In this case, Jacob kept himself in mourning for his son. He put on sackcloth, a garment of goat hair, so that its rough texture would constantly remind him that Joseph was gone.
many days – Rashi writes that Jacob mourned for 22 years. Here’s that calculation:
- Joseph was 17 when he was sold (Genesis 37:2).
- He was 30 when he interpreted Pharaoh’s dream and became viceroy of Egypt (Genesis 41:46).
- Then there were 7 years of plenty.
- There were 2 years of famine before Jacob came to Egypt.
- Thus the total is 13 + 7 + 2 = 22 years.
Rashi points out that this was also the length of time that Jacob was separated from his father Isaac.
Genesis 37:35
And all his sons – This would be the 10 sons who participated in the sale of Joseph plus Benjamin.
and all his daughters – In the Bible, only Dinah is mentioned as a daughter of Jacob.
The commentators suggest several possibilities for the identity of these daughters.
Rashi (based on Midrash Rabbah) writes that Rabbi Yehuda says each son who was born to Jacob had a twin sister. All of the sons married a sister from a different mother.
The midrash continues that Rabbi Nehemiah says Jacob’s sons married Canaanite women. So in this verse “daughters” means “daughters-in-law.”
Ramban offers a simpler explanation. Daughters are Jacob’s daughter (Dinah) and a granddaughter (Serach daughter of Asher). He adds that perhaps the phrase also includes his daughters-in-law.
but he refused to be comforted – Rashi comments that it’s a principle that a person will be comforted after the death of a loved one. There is a sort of forgetfulness that that happens gradually over time that permits the bereaved to carry on with life. That is not so when the “deceased” person is actually alive.
Chizkuni writes that Jacob thought he was responsible for the death of Joseph. If he had not sent Joseph to meet with his brothers then Joseph would still be alive. Therefore he blamed himself and could not accept their attempts to comfort him.
and he said, For I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning – Sheol is the grave [Rashi].
Chizkuni writes it does not mean “to my son” but “concerning my son.” Even though Jacob knew Joseph was hated, he still sent him to his brothers.
Chizkuni seems to be saying that Jacob knew it was his sons who had acted. That is to say, he doesn’t accept their story of a wild animal killing Joseph.
Sforno explains that he accepted mourning on himself for the rest of his life. That is because this event happened due to him sending Joseph to his brothers.
Thus his father wept for him – Clearly, the simple understanding of this phrase is that Jacob wept for Joseph.
Netziv in HaEmek Davar explains that weeping should have been mentioned from the very beginning once Jacob heard that Joseph was dead. Jewish tradition is that there are 3 days of weeping at the very beginning of the mourning period.
Not mentioning weeping until the end of this verse teaches that Jacob wept for Joseph the entire time he was mourning him.
Abarbanel writes that there were 2 aspects to Jacob’s mourning. Each aspect was expressed in a different way. From the aspect that Joseph was his son, Jacob tore his garment and put on sackcloth. From the aspect of who Joseph was as a person, Jacob wept for him.
Tzror Hamor offers a radical explanation. He writes that Jacob blamed himself for Joseph’s death. Either because he sent him alone to a dangerous place. Or because he sent him to his brothers when he knew they hated Joseph.
Therefore Jacob wept, not for Joseph, but for himself because he was responsible for Joseph’s death.
Rashi and others write that it is Isaac (father) who wept for Jacob (his son) because of Jacob’s pain. But Isaac did not mourn for Joseph because he knew Joseph was alive.
Tell Jacob that Joseph is Alive
Why didn’t anyone tell Jacob that they were sure Joseph was still alive?
The 10 brothers knew that they had not killed him.
Granted that in Genesis 37:27-28 it is unclear about exactly what happened to Joseph. But the brothers knew he was not in the pit. Based on one reading of those verses, they are the ones who sold him.
Rabbi Hirsch writes that telling Jacob would have been more cruel than not telling him.
His basic idea is that Jacob could live with the idea of one dead son. However, if he knew what the other sons had done, then it would have been as though he lost 10 sons all at once.
Picture Credits
Biagio d’Antonio (Italian, 1446 – after 1508) The Story of Joseph, about 1485. The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles. Digital image courtesy of Getty’s Open Content Program.
Here is the explanation of the painting by the Getty Museum:
Drawn from the Old Testament, a series of continuous narratives depicts episodes from the life of Joseph, the favorite son of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob. To make the story easier to follow, Biagio d’Antonio included inscriptions identifying the principal characters.
In the left-hand loggia, Jacob, seated on a throne, sends Joseph to his half-brothers tending sheep in the field. In the far left corner, the brothers, jealous of their father’s love for Joseph, strip him of his jacket and throw him into a pit. Passing merchants purchase the young boy from his brothers for twenty pieces of silver. In the background to the right, the merchants board the ship that will take them and their cargo to Egypt. In the right-hand loggia, the brothers show a blood-smeared coat to their father as evidence that Joseph is dead. With his head in his hand, Jacob mourns his son, whom he believes to be dead.
[NOTE: I don’t know any Jewish tradition that indicates Joseph arrived in Egypt on a ship.]