Charles Ellicott Commentary Genesis 37:22

"And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood; cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but lay no hand upon him: that he might deliver him out of their hand, to restore him to his father." — Genesis 37:22 (ASV)

Into this pit that is in the wilderness. —Reuben apparently pointed to some cistern in the desolate region that surrounds the little valley of Dothan. We learn from Genesis 42:21 that Joseph begged earnestly for mercy and to be spared such a painful death, but his brothers would not listen.

Though never represented in the Scriptures as a type of Christ, yet the whole of the Old Testament is so full of events and histories that reappear in the Gospel narrative, that the Fathers have never hesitated in regarding Joseph, the innocent delivered to death but raised from there to glory, as especially typifying our Lord to us.

Pascal (Pensées, 2:9. 2) sums up the points of resemblance—in his father’s love for him; his being sent to inquire about the welfare of his brothers; their conspiring against him; his being sold for twenty pieces of silver; and his rising from his humiliation to become the lord and saviour of those who had wronged him, and, with them, the saviour of the world also.

Furthermore, just as Joseph was in prison with two criminals, so our Lord was crucified between two thieves. And as one of these was saved and the other left to his condemnation, so Joseph gave deliverance to the chief butler, but to the chief baker punishment.

It would be easy to point out other resemblances but, leaving these aside, it is also important to notice that Joseph’s history is also a vindication of God’s providential dealings with humankind. He is innocent and pure in life, but wronged again and again; yet every wrong was merely a step on the pathway to his exaltation. And like the histories of all great lives, Joseph’s adventures do not begin and end with himself.

Upon him depended a great future. Noble minds care little for personal suffering if improvement for the world springs from their pain. Now, Joseph’s descent into Egypt was not only for the good and preservation of the people there, but was also an essential condition for the formation of the Jewish Church. In Egypt alone could Israel have multiplied into a nation fit to be the custodians of God’s law and to grow into a church of prophets.