Joseph is Sold - Genesis 37:28

Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.

Stop and think for a moment. Joseph is sent to find his brothers who were out tending his father Jacob’s flocks and bring word back to him. His brothers plot to kill him, but one of the brothers, Reuben, persuades them to just throw him in a pit. Later, another brother, Judah, persuades them to sell him to some Ishmaelites, and in particular Midianite, traders who are passing buy in a caravan, carrying spices, and en route to Egypt.

The brothers pull him up from the pit and sell him for twenty shekels of silver, or given there were ten brothers with Benjamin still being at home, two shekels for each of them. Not much is known about the value of a piece of silver in those days, likely a small ingot. But surely it was not enough to make anyone rich and self-supporting for the rest of their lives. But one would estimate that it was better than nothing for their trouble of selling Joseph. The deed was done. Joseph was taken into Egypt, likely to be sold. The separation from his brothers, and more importantly his father, was complete. He was totally alone, except for God.

Have you ever been sold by your brothers? Maybe not literally, but have others ever left you to hang, all by yourself? And if so, what was their gain? Likely it was not much. And the relationship was broken. You were isolated. You felt very alone. But you weren’t. God was there. Well, from personal knowledge, I can tell you that that very experience can be one of the best beginnings of a life worth living.

There is no need to feel alone. Instead, we need to know that God is with us even as we are been carried away into our own ‘Egypt’. And though it does not seem like it at all, the best is yet to come, for He is with us. May it be so with you, today.

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