Genesi 37:29

29 Or Ruben tornò alla cisterna; ed ecco, Giuseppe non era più nella cisterna. Allora egli si stracciò le vesti,

Genesi 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.

Genesi 37:29 In-Context

27 Venite, vendiamolo agl’Ismaeliti, e non lo colpisca la nostra mano, poiché è nostro fratello, nostra carne". E i suoi fratelli gli diedero ascolto.

28 E come que’ mercanti Madianiti passavano, essi trassero e fecero salire Giuseppe su dalla cisterna, e lo vendettero per venti sicli d’argento a quegl’Ismaeliti. E questi menarono Giuseppe in Egitto.

29 Or Ruben tornò alla cisterna; ed ecco, Giuseppe non era più nella cisterna. Allora egli si stracciò le vesti,

30 tornò dai suoi fratelli, e disse: "Il fanciullo non c’è più; e io, dove andrò io?"

31 Essi presero la veste di Giuseppe, scannarono un becco, e intrisero del sangue la veste.