Genesis 37 Footnotes

37:21-22,30-31 Two things probably motivated Reuben to try to save Joseph’s life. First, as the oldest son (35:23), he was most responsible to his father for the safety of his young sibling. Second, after having sexual relations with his father’s concubine, Bilhah (35:22), Reuben was undoubtedly attempting to get back in Jacob’s good graces.

37:35 When Jacob says that he will go down to “Sheol,” he does not mean he will go to hell (or heaven), but that he will be reunited with his son beyond death. In the Hebrew Bible, Sheol is the general term for the afterlife, the abode of departed spirits beyond the grave.