Genesis 37:14

14 Then he said to him, "Go now, see {if it goes well for your brothers and for the flock}, then return word to me." And he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he arrived at Shechem.

Genesis 37:14 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 37:14

And he said to him, go, I pray thee
Or "now" ^F11, directly, immediately, which is more agreeable to the authority of a father:

see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks;
it having been many days, and perhaps months, since he had heard anything of them; and the rather Jacob might be under a concern for them, because of the danger they were exposed to from the neighbouring tribes and nations of the Canaanites, on account of their having some time ago destroyed the Shechemites; so the Targum of Jonathan, paraphrasing on the preceding part, makes Jacob to say,

``I am afraid, lest the Horites should come and smite them, because of their smiting Hamor and Shechem, and the inhabitants of that city; come, and I will send thee''

and bring me word again;
of their welfare, and of the state of their flocks:

so he sent him out of the vale of Hebron:
the same with the plains of Mamre near the city of Hebron, which was built on a hill:

and he came to Shechem:
after he had travelled sixty miles.

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FOOTNOTES:

F11 (an) "nunc", Pagninus, Montanus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Drusius.

Genesis 37:14 In-Context

12 Now his brothers went to pasture the flock of their father in Shechem.

13 And Israel said to Joseph, "Are not your brothers pasturing in Shechem? Come, let me send you to them." And he said, "Here I [am]."

14 Then he said to him, "Go now, see {if it goes well for your brothers and for the flock}, then return word to me." And he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he arrived at Shechem.

15 And a man found him, and behold, he was wandering about in a field. And the man asked him, "What do you seek?"

16 And he said, "I am seeking my brothers. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing."

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "see the peace of your brothers and the peace of the flock"