Genesis 37:31 - Meaning and Application

Joseph would soon be missed, and people would start asking where he was. So his brothers planned one more lie, hoping to make everyone believe that a wild animal had torn Joseph apart. They did this, first, to clear themselves, so no one would suspect that they had harmed him. We all seem to have learned from Adam how to hide our wrongdoing (Job 31:33). When the devil leads people into one sin, he often teaches them to cover it with another, such as theft and murder with lying and perjury. But anyone who hides his sin will not prosper for long.

Joseph’s brothers kept their secret for a time, but their wickedness was exposed in the end. Here it is made known to the world, and the memory of it is passed on to every generation. They also did this, second, to hurt their good father, Jacob, on purpose. It seems they meant to punish him for loving Joseph more than the others. They sent Jacob Joseph’s coat of many colors, now stained with blood (Genesis 37:32). They claimed they had found it in the fields, and they mockingly asked him, “Is this your son’s coat?” The mark of Joseph’s honor became the sign of his supposed death, and from the bloody coat Jacob rashly concluded that Joseph had surely been torn apart.

Love is quick to fear the worst for the one it loves, unless it is a perfect love that drives out fear. Anyone who knows a parent’s heart can imagine Jacob’s agony, and can try to stand in his place. He kept picturing Joseph’s terrible suffering. Whether asleep or awake, he imagined the wild beast attacking him, heard the cries in his mind, and trembled as he thought of the animal tearing Joseph apart and leaving only the coat to bring back the sad news. It surely made his sorrow worse that he had sent Joseph out alone on that dangerous journey, which had ended so badly. This cut him to the heart, and he could hardly help feeling that he had helped bring about his son’s death.

Efforts were made to comfort him. His sons hypocritically tried to do so themselves (Genesis 37:35), but they were miserable comforters indeed. If they had truly wanted to comfort him, they could have told him the truth: “Joseph is alive. He was sold into Egypt, and it would not be hard to send there and ransom him.” That would quickly have taken off his sackcloth and filled him with joy. It is strange that their faces did not betray their guilt, or that they could pretend to grieve with Jacob over Joseph’s death when they knew he was alive. Sin hardens the heart in a remarkable way.

But their effort was useless. Jacob refused to be comforted (Genesis 37:35). He was fixed in mourning and determined to go down to the grave grieving. This was not a sudden outburst, like David’s words, “Would I had died for you, my son!” Rather, like Job, he hardened himself in sorrow. Great love for any created thing often brings great pain when that thing is taken away or becomes a source of grief. Uneven love usually ends in uneven sorrow. As strongly as a pendulum swings one way, it swings back the other.

Those who decide ahead of time to keep mourning do not care for the comfort of their own souls or for the honor of their religion. We should never say, “I will go to my grave mourning,” because we do not know what joyful days God may still give us. It is wiser and better to yield ourselves to God’s providence. We often trouble ourselves with imagined sorrows. We think things are worse than they really are, and then we grieve more than we need to. Often all we need is a clearer view of the truth. It is good to hope for the best.

The Ishmaelites and Midianites had bought Joseph only to make money from him, and now he was sold again, this time to Potiphar, an Egyptian official (Genesis 37:36). Jacob was lamenting the loss of his son’s life. If he had known everything, he would also have lamented, though less fiercely, the loss of Joseph’s freedom. How soon the land of Egypt became a house of slavery for Jacob’s descendants! Jacob’s freeborn son was made to trade the best robe of his family for the uniform of an Egyptian master, along with all the signs of servitude.

This is a reminder that parents should not raise their children too delicately, because they do not know what hardships and humiliations God may allow them to face before they die. Jacob never imagined that his beloved Joseph would one day be bought and sold as a servant.