The Midianite Merchantmen

The “master story” of Judaism revolves around the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt, but why were the Israelites not in the lands promised by God to Abraham and his numerous descendants? Why would God’s chosen people be in Egypt (amidst an afterlife-obsessed polytheistic culture) where they were subjected to the yoke of pharaoh’s slave masters and eventually required divine intervention for emancipation? Joseph, the favored son of Jacob and Rachel, is the cornerstone by which the Israelite people’s presence in Egypt may be explained. A prologue to Exodus, Joseph’s tale is epic in length when compared to the previous narratives; nine chapters and over 300 verses compare with Jacob’s struggle with the angel in ten verses and Isaac’s binding in only 19. Yet, this verbosity explains how God’s chosen people (the descendents of Abraham) were relocated to Egypt, where they were enslaved, and subsequently freed through Moses by God.

There is (of course) a key moment when the actions and decisions of involved parties may have changed the course of history had other paths been chosen. In this case, Joseph’s sale into slavery for twenty pieces of silver results in his timely presence in the Egyptian Empire. Thereafter, drought and famine cause Jacob’s other sons to seek aid from their fertile Nile-fed neighbors, only to be met covertly by Joseph, and eventually relocated to Egypt’s Goshen area. Yet, responsibility for Joseph’s sale into slavery, which is the key to the Israelite presence in Egypt, remains suspect. Who accepted the twenty pieces of silver and is inadvertently responsible for the Jewish faith, which is rooted in the Exodus and liberation of God’s people from Egypt?  Was it Joseph’s brothers, jealous of the affection and favoritism shown by their father Jacob? Or, was it the Midianites (a group of nomadic people who were distant relatives) that pulled Joseph from the pit and sold him into slavery?

Per Alter’s text, Joseph’s brothers were tending the flocks at Shechem when Jacob (A.K.A. Israel) sent his beloved son to see how the brothers and flock fared (Gen. 37.12). Joseph found his siblings in Dothan, and his bothers (free of their watchful father’s eye) potted against the favored one. All were intent on the death of Joseph, save Reuben who advised, “Shed no blood! Fling him into this pit in the wilderness and do not raise a hand against him” (Gen. 37.22). Joseph is summarily stripped of his clothing and cast into a pit without provisions (Gen. 37.27). While the remaining brothers ate, Ishmaelites from Gilead (descendents from Abraham and Sarah’s slave girl Hagar) are recommended by Judah as buyers for Joseph. However, a discrepancy occurs in Genesis 37:28 when a “Midianite merchantman passed by and pulled Joseph up out of the pit and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver, and they brought Joseph to Egypt.” Genesis 37:36 then states, “But the Midianites had sold him into Egypt to Potphar.” So, despite the brothers’ intent to sell Joseph themselves, Genesis 37 indicates that the Midianites retrieved and sold Joseph in advance of his family’s plan to do the same.  

However, every subsequent reference throughout the text indicates that the brothers themselves were responsible for the sale of Joseph into slavery. The Midianites are not mentioned again in the story, but Judah’s plan (Gen. 37:27) is mentioned throughout. In Genesis 42:21, the brothers admit their guilt while pleading with Joseph, whom they do not recognize because of his official Egyptian costume. Their guilt is revisited in verse 27 when silver is found in the brothers’ baggage. Interestingly, their astonishment is redundantly repeated in verse 35, when the same silver appears to be discovered a second time. Furthermore, the victim himself points the finger at his brothers in Genesis 45:4, “I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt,” but he does not punish or hold a grudge. Instead, Joseph see a divine plan at work and states, “And so, it is not you who sent me here but God” (Gen. 45:8).

Consequently, the sale of Joseph into slavery was God’s will, and the conflicting recipients of the twenty pieces of silver are likely the awkward splicing of two stories into one. Nevertheless, the majority of textual evidence indicates that the brothers (and not the Midianites) sold Joseph to their second cousins, the Ishmaelites. Therefore, the brothers are indirectly responsible for Abraham’s descendants’ relocation to Egypt, Joseph’s family’s survival during the drought, and (generations later) the Jewish people’s enslavement. Joseph had to be sold into slavery in order for the Israelite people to be in Egypt to be enslaved and set free by Moses at God’s command. This series of events over the generations allowed the birth of Judaism and created its master story which we now find in the book of Exodus.