Genesis 37:22
Read Genesis 37:22 Using Other Translations
What does Genesis 37:22 mean?
And Reuben said unto them, shed no blood
Innocent blood, as the Targum of Jonathan; the blood of a man, a
brother's blood, one that had not done anything wherefore it
should be shed, and which would involve in guilt, and bring
vengeance on them: he seems to put them in mind of the original
law in ( Genesis 9:6 ) ;
[but] cast him into this pit that [is] in the wilderness,
and lay no
hand upon him:
which might seem to answer the same purpose, namely, by depriving
him of his life in another way, by starving him; but this was not
Reuben's intention, as appears by the next clause, and by his
going to the pit afterwards, as it should seem, with a view to
take him out of it privately; this advice he gave,
that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to
his father
again;
safe and sound, in order, as it is thought by many interpreters,
to reconcile his father to him, whose bed he had abused.
