Then they took Joseph’s tunic, slaughtered a kid, and dipped the tunic in the blood. They had the ornamented tunic taken to their father, and they said, ‘We found this. Please examine it; is it your son’s tunic or not?’ He recognized it, and said, ‘My son’s tunic! A savage beast devoured him! Joseph was torn by a beast!’  (Genesis  37:31-33)

The unbearable report of Joseph’s untimely death is brought to his adoring father Jacob along with his coat of many colors. The coat Jacob made for Joseph symbolized his intense connection with his beloved son. This bond is now severed forever; Joseph is no more, and the coat has been ravaged. In the biblical account, Rachel is not present. Rembrandt has chosen to include her, along with Jacob and two messengers, perhaps to intensify the impact of the devastating news. The utter horror of Jacob’s expression wordlessly conveys his anguish, which determines the tone of the painting.

In fact, a wild beast had not devoured Joseph. He was alive and well, embarking upon his next adventure. While the reader is immediately reassured that all will be well with Joseph, Jacob is inconsolable. The Rabbis embellish the picture of Jacob, affording us a glimpse into his broken heart.

And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Your brothers are pasturing at Shechem, Come, I will send you to them.’ He answered, ‘I am ready’. Rabbi Hama the son of Rabbi Hanina: These words Jacob recollected and his bowels writhed: ‘You knew that your brothers hated you and you answered, here I am!’ (Genesis Rabbah 84:13)

Jacob will not see his son for twenty-two years. He will mourn him intensely and he will be haunted by the reverberation of his son’s one word response, hineni – here I am. This word, used by Abraham when challenged by the Akedah, is echoed in Joseph’s own journey to slaughter. Jacob will eat himself up alive, believing that he sent his beloved son to his death. 

The dramatic irony is highlighted in the narrative. While Jacob wails uncontrollably over Joseph’s death, a caravan carrying products used by the highest echelon of Egyptian society is providentially carrying off the latter. It is to this stratum that he will be sold. Jacob remains oblivious to the theological plane operating here. His son is the instrument of God enacting the patriarchal covenant, which presaged the descent to Egypt. The text artfully clues us in to this through Joseph’s journey to Shechem.  

One time when his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flock at Shechem, Israel said to Joseph, ‘Your brothers are pasturing at Shechem, Come, I will send you to them.’ He answered, ‘I am ready.’ And he said to him, ‘Go and see how your brothers are and how the flocks are faring, and bring me back word.’ (Genesis 37:12-14)

The brothers went to pasture their father’s flock in Shechem, the historical capital of Samaria. Scripture informs us that Jacob had purchased fields there; hence the brothers’ visit to Shechem was not out of the ordinary. But Shechem was also the scene of the rape of Deena, Jacob’s daughter and a contemptible act of deception and violence by Jacob’s sons. Why would Jacob have chosen to send Joseph, the apple of his eye, to check on the welfare of his brothers in Shechem, a locale of such ill omen for their family? Sending Joseph afield to his siblings, who seethed with anger, jealousy, and hatred toward him, was tantamount to casting him to the wolves.

Perhaps Jacob’s own experience with his disgruntled brother may have lead him to believe that away from home turf the brothers could be placated.  Maybe he sent Joseph to Shechem with this in mind.

A careful examination of the salient biblical verse suggests another explanation. It was, in fact, not Jacob who sent Joseph to Shechem – it was Israel. The Bible uses Jacob’s two names (Jacob/Israel) in different contexts, and the particular choice of name in each case is always carefully selected. Jacob sending Joseph to Shechem defied reason; literarily, though, it can be explained as a case of dual causality. Ostensibly, the action was motivated by Jacob’s concern for his other sons and his interest in his flocks. In fact, it was far beyond his control; it was a step in the course of Jewish history. Israel (not Jacob) dispatching Joseph set in motion the unfolding of the covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 15. Little did Joseph know what awaited him there. The biblical saga of oppression and redemption was about to begin, and he was to play the lead role. His journey to Shechem served as the catalyst for the unfolding of destiny of the Children of Israel.