Genesis 37:15

15 a man found him wandering in the field and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

Genesis 37:15 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 37:15

And a certain man found him
Many of the Jewish writers

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FOOTNOTES:

F12 say, this was an angel, the angel Gabriel, in the likeness of a man; but according to Aben Ezra, it was a traveller he met on the road; but it is more probable, as Schimidt observes, that it was some man at work in the field that came upon him and took notice of him:

and, behold, [he was] wandering in the field;
in some field near Shechem, perhaps the same his father Jacob had purchased, and where he expected to have found his brethren, and was looking out for them, going to and fro in search of them; which the labouring man in the field observed:

and the man asked him, saying, what seekest thou?
seeing him walking about, and first looking one way, and then another, concluded he was in search of something, either of some man or of some creature, a sheep or an ox that was lost; and therefore put this question to him, with a view to give him what direction and assistance he could.

F12 Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc.

Genesis 37:15 In-Context

13 Israel said to Joseph, "Aren't your brothers tending the sheep near Shechem? Come, I'll send you to them." And he said, "I'm ready."

14 Jacob said to him, "Go! Find out how your brothers are and how the flock is, and report back to me." So Jacob sent him from the Hebron Valley. When he approached Shechem,

15 a man found him wandering in the field and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

16 Joseph said, "I'm looking for my brothers. Tell me, where are they tending the sheep?"

17 The man said, "They left here. I heard them saying, ‘Let's go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.