Genesis 37:29

29 When Reuben came back to the well and Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes to show he was upset.

Genesis 37:29 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 37:29

And Reuben returned unto the pit
It is very probable he had pretended to go somewhere on business, with an intention to take a circuit, and come to the pit and deliver his brother, and go home with him to his father. The Jews say ^F2 he departed from his brethren, and sat down on a certain mountain, that he might descend in the night and take Joseph out of the pit, and accordingly he came down in the night, and found him not. So Josephus ^F3 says, it was in the night when Reuben came to the pit, who calling to Joseph, and he not answering, suspected he was killed:

and, behold, Joseph [was] not in the pit;
for neither by looking down into it could he see him, nor by calling be answered by him, which made it a clear case to him he was not there:

and he rent his clothes;
as a token of distress and anguish of mind, of sorrow and mourning, as was usual in such cases; Jacob afterwards did the same, ( Genesis 37:34 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F2 Pirke Eliezer, ut supra. (c. 38.)
F3 Antiqu. l. 2. c. 3. sect. 3.

Genesis 37:29 In-Context

27 Let's sell him to these Ishmaelites. Then we will not be guilty of killing our own brother. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." And the other brothers agreed.

28 So when the Midianite traders came by, the brothers took Joseph out of the well and sold him to the Ishmaelites for eight ounces of silver. And the Ishmaelites took him to Egypt.

29 When Reuben came back to the well and Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes to show he was upset.

30 Then he went back to his brothers and said, "The boy is not there! What shall I do?"

31 The brothers killed a goat and dipped Joseph's robe in its blood.