Parshat Vayeshev5 min read

Gabriel Walked with Joseph from the Pit to Egypt

When Joseph was thrown into the pit naked, God sent Gabriel to clothe him. That angel never left, guiding him to his brothers, shielding him in Egypt.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. What the Targum Added
  2. The Pit
  3. The Journey South
  4. Potiphar's House
  5. The Pattern of the Pit

What the Targum Added

The Hebrew text of Genesis says a man found Joseph wandering in the fields near Shechem and directed him to his brothers. The Targum Jonathan identified the man. He was not a man. He was the angel Gabriel, and his appearance was not coincidental. He had been dispatched to ensure that the sequence of events about to unfold would unfold as God intended, even though what was about to happen to Joseph was terrible and would remain terrible for years before it improved.

Gabriel pointed Joseph toward Dothan. Joseph went. His brothers saw him coming from a distance and began planning before he arrived. By the time he reached them, the plan was set: throw him in the pit, sell him to whoever came by, and go back to their father with a story.

The Pit

They stripped him first. The coat that had marked him as the favorite, the coat that had inflamed the rivalry from the beginning, came off first. Then they threw him into the pit. The pit was empty, no water, which the text notes, and which the rabbis noted the text noting. It contained snakes and scorpions, which the rabbis added, because "empty" in the Torah never means only empty.

Joseph was naked in the pit. Humiliated, exposed, with his brothers sitting above eating lunch as though he had already ceased to exist. The Legends of the Jews did not leave him there in that nakedness. God sent Gabriel down to the pit. The angel clothed Joseph, covering him with garments that had no earthly origin. When the Ishmaelite merchantmen found him, they found a man dressed, not a stripped boy.

The Journey South

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer traced Gabriel's involvement in the family history that preceded the sale. Jacob's particular love for Joseph, the source text noted, was not simple favoritism. Rabbi Ishmael's reading of Genesis parsed it more carefully: Jacob recognized in Joseph something specific, a quality that connected the boy to his own spiritual formation. The coat, the dreams, the special status, these were not arbitrary. They came out of Jacob's perception of something Gabriel and the angels had already observed and marked.

What Gabriel protected Joseph from in the pit was not death, Joseph would go through worse things, but dehumanization. The nakedness was an attempt to reduce him to nothing before selling him as a thing. The clothing was a restoration of his basic dignity as a person, which was also a theological statement: God maintained a claim on Joseph's personhood even when his family had abandoned it.

Potiphar's House

In Egypt, Joseph landed in the household of Potiphar, an Egyptian priest. The Legends of the Jews did not prettify Potiphar's initial interest in Joseph. His intentions toward the handsome young Hebrew were not professional. Gabriel intervened again, this time more drastically: he acted directly on Potiphar's body in a manner that made those intentions impossible to carry out.

This left Joseph in a position that looked like success but sat on unstable ground. Potiphar's wife was still in the house. Whatever her husband's frustrated desires had left behind, she took up and directed at Joseph herself. He ran. He ran so completely that he left his garment in her hand, which was the evidence she used to accuse him. The coat had been stripped from him by his brothers. Now a garment was stripped from him again, and again it became the instrument of his destruction.

The Pattern of the Pit

The rabbis who traced Gabriel through the Joseph story were reading a pattern: every time Joseph was reduced to his lowest point, naked in the pit, falsely accused, imprisoned, the angel was present at the bottom of it. Not to prevent the fall but to ensure that the fall did not become annihilation. Joseph kept his life in the pit. He kept his dignity in the pit. He kept his moral integrity in Potiphar's house, even at the cost of his freedom. He kept his interpretive gifts in prison, even when Pharaoh's cupbearer forgot him for two years after he had saved the man's life.

The question the rabbis were answering was how a seventeen-year-old survives that sequence. Not just physically, though that too. How he survives it without becoming someone else, without the pit burning out his capacity for generosity, without Egypt dissolving the covenant that had been written into him from his father's house. The answer was not that Joseph was strong. It was that he was not alone at the bottom of the pit.

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From the tradition

Sources

6 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Targum Jonathan on Genesis 37Targum Jonathan

Joseph's sale into slavery is one of the most dramatic episodes in Genesis. But the Targum Jonathan adds details that the Hebrew original never mentions, turning a family tragedy into a cosmic drama orchestrated from heaven.

The first surprise comes in the opening verses. Where (Genesis 37:2) simply says Joseph brought a bad report about his brothers, the Targum specifies the accusation: he had seen them "eat the flesh that had been torn by wild beasts, the ears and the tails." This is not a vague complaint. The brothers were violating what would later become the laws of kashrut, eating treif meat. The Targum transforms Joseph from a generic tattletale into a witness reporting genuine religious violations.

The strangest addition involves the mysterious man who finds Joseph wandering in a field near Shechem (Genesis 37:15). The Hebrew text leaves this figure completely unidentified. The Targum names him: it was Gabriel, the archangel, appearing "in the likeness of a man." And Gabriel does not merely give directions. He tells Joseph something prophetic, something heard "beyond the Veil," that from this day the servitude in Egypt would begin, and that the Hivites would seek war against the brothers.

The Targum also identifies exactly which brothers plotted the murder. Where Genesis says only "they said to one another," the Aramaic specifies: Shimeon and Levi, "who were brothers in counsel." These are the same two who massacred the city of Shechem, and Israel himself feared the Hivites would retaliate, which is why he sent Joseph to check on them in the first place.

Reuben's absence during the actual sale gets an explanation too. He had been "sitting and fasting on account that he had confounded the couch of his father," a reference to the incident with Bilhah (Genesis 35:22). He was doing penance in the hills while his brothers were selling Joseph for twenty pieces of silver.

Perhaps most striking is Jacob's reaction to the bloodied coat. In Genesis, he simply says a wild animal devoured Joseph. The Targum has Jacob say something entirely different: "A beast of the wilderness hath not devoured him, neither hath he been slain by the hand of man; but I see by the Holy Spirit, that an evil woman standeth against him." Jacob, through prophecy, already foresaw Potiphar's wife.

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Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 38:9Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer

That’s definitely not a new phenomenon. to a story from Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 38, a text filled with midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) interpretations and expansions of biblical narratives, and see what we can glean from the drama surrounding Jacob and his sons.

The scene is set: Jacob is dwelling peacefully, seemingly, in the land. But beneath the surface, things are brewing. The verse reads, "Then Jacob dwelt safely and in peace in the land of his possession, and in the land of his birth, and in the land of the sojournings of his father." It sounds idyllic. But remember, peace is often a fragile thing.

Rabbi Ishmael offers a fascinating insight into Jacob's special affection for Joseph. The familiar version gives us the verse: "Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age" (Genesis 37:3). But Rabbi Ishmael challenges this simple reading. Was Joseph really the son of Jacob’s old age? What about Benjamin?

The answer, according to Rabbi Ishmael, is deeper. Jacob, through prophetic insight, foresaw Joseph’s future greatness. He knew Joseph would rule. That’s why he favored him. And as the text continues, “And they envied him with a great envy, as it is said, ‘And his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren; and they hated him’” (Genesis 37:4). Can you imagine the tension?

It gets worse! Joseph, young and perhaps a bit naive, shares his dreams of future dominion. "And they hated him yet the more" (Genesis 37:8), the verse says. These dreams, foretelling his rise above his brothers, only fuel their resentment.

But it's not just dreams. Joseph also brings reports to Jacob about the behavior of his father’s concubines' sons. Apparently, they were engaging in some pretty gruesome practices – eating the flesh of live animals! This, understandably, didn't sit well with Joseph, and his tattling further alienated him from his brothers. The result? "And they could not speak peaceably unto him" (Genesis 37:4). The rift is widening, the tension palpable.

Now, Jacob, concerned about his sons and the flock, sends Joseph to check on them. “Go now, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flock” (Genesis 37:14). This seemingly simple act sets in motion a chain of events that will change everything.

Here’s where it gets really interesting. The text says, "And the lad was wandering in the field, and the angel Gabriel met him, as it is said, 'And a certain man found him, and, behold, he was wandering in the field' (Genesis 37:15)." But who is this "man"?

Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer identifies him as none other than the angel Gabriel. The text clarifies that the word "man" in this context is Gabriel, referencing (Daniel 9:21): "The man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision." Gabriel, a powerful messenger of God, appears to Joseph as he’s wandering, lost and searching for his brothers. What was Gabriel's role? The text doesn't explicitly say. Was he there to guide Joseph, to test him, or perhaps to set the stage for the unfolding drama?

This encounter with Gabriel adds a layer of divine intervention to the story. It reminds us that even in the midst of human drama, there are forces at play beyond our immediate understanding. The story of Joseph and his brothers is a powerful reminder of the complexities of family, the dangers of envy, and the ever-present hand of the divine in our lives. What do you think Gabriel's purpose was in meeting with Joseph? What do you think this says about divine interventions in our own lives?

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Legends of the Jews 1:31Legends of the Jews

Take the story of Joseph, for instance. The familiar version gives us the highlights: jealousy, betrayal, slavery, imprisonment, and ultimately, triumph. But what about the in-between moments?

We pick up the story just after Joseph's brothers have thrown him into that pit. They’ve stripped him of his clothes, left him for dead, and gone off to… what? Have lunch? As if nothing happened?

Here’s a detail you might have missed: Joseph is naked in that pit. for a second. Humiliating, vulnerable, exposed. But according to Ginzberg's retelling in Legends of the Jews, God wasn't about to let Joseph suffer that indignity for long.

The merchantmen, who stumble upon him, find him in this state. So, God sends the angel Gabriel down to him. What happens next is pure Midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) magic.

Joseph wore an amulet around his neck. Now, Gabriel enlarges that amulet until it miraculously becomes a full garment, covering him entirely. Imagine the scene! This small, personal object transforming into something that restores his dignity.

Now, here's where it gets even more interesting. As Joseph is led away with the Midianites, his brothers see him. They see him clothed. And they’re furious. They shout, "Give us his raiment! We sold him naked, without clothes!" They’re worried about appearances, about their story holding up. Hypocrites!

The Midianites, understandably, refuse. But they do offer the brothers a consolation prize: four pairs of shoes. A paltry sum, really, for the weight of their guilt.

But what about the garment itself? Joseph keeps it. According to Legends of the Jews, this is no ordinary piece of clothing. This is the same garment he wears when he arrives in Egypt and is sold to Potiphar. The same garment he wears when he's unjustly imprisoned. The same garment he wears when he finally stands before Pharaoh. And, incredibly, the same garment he wears when he rises to become ruler over all of Egypt! This single piece of clothing, born of divine intervention, accompanies him through every stage of his journey. From the depths of despair to the heights of power. It’s a constant reminder of God's presence, of the miracle that saved him, and perhaps, a symbol of the dignity that could never truly be taken from him.

It makes you wonder, doesn't it? What are the seemingly small, insignificant details in our own lives that might actually be holding profound meaning? What "amulets" do we carry, unaware of their potential to transform into something greater than ourselves?

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Legends of the Jews 1:90Legends of the Jews

Legends of the Jews turns to Gabriel Protected Joseph from Potiphar's Wicked Intentions.

He ends up in the service of Potiphar – or Poti-phera as he's sometimes known – an Egyptian priest steeped in idolatry. Now, Ginzberg’s Legends of the Jews (that incredible treasure trove of midrashic (rabbinic interpretive commentary) lore) tells us that Potiphar had less-than-holy intentions for the handsome young Joseph. Let's just say Potiphar's intentions were "lewd."

The angel Gabriel, ever watchful, intervenes! According to the legend, Gabriel “mutilated him in such a manner that he could not accomplish it.” It makes you wonder about the behind-the-scenes battles being fought for Joseph’s soul.

Despite his circumstances, Joseph remains steadfast in his faith. Potiphar notices that Joseph, even while performing his duties, is constantly murmuring prayers. "O Lord of the world," Joseph would whisper, "Thou art my trust, Thou art my protection. Let me find grace and favor in Thy sight and in the sight of all that see me, and in the sight of my master Potiphar."

Can you picture it? Joseph, in this foreign land, clinging to his belief in Adonai, in the face of… well, everything.

Potiphar, naturally suspicious, confronts Joseph. "Dost thou purpose to cast a spell upon me?" he asks. It's a fair question, considering the prevalent belief in magic and incantations in those times.

But Joseph's response is simple and direct. "Nay," he replies, "I am beseeching God to let me find favor in thine eyes."

It’s such a human moment, isn't it? Joseph isn't trying to manipulate or deceive. He's simply asking for divine favor, for grace in the eyes of his master. And it highlights a key theme throughout the Joseph narrative: his unwavering faith, even when surrounded by temptation and adversity.

It begs the question: In our own lives, when faced with difficult circumstances, do we remember to whisper our own prayers, asking for grace and favor? And do we, like Joseph, remain true to our values, even when no one is watching?

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Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayeshev 13:4Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Vayeshev

"And behold, he was wandering" (Genesis 37:15). The angel said to him: Do you not know that you are going to go astray? He said to him: "I am seeking my brothers" (Genesis 37:16). "And the man said: They have journeyed on from here" (Genesis 37:17). What is the meaning of "from here"? Once they see you, they become cruel.

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Midrash Aggadah, Genesis 37:15Midrash Aggadah

"And a man found him" (Genesis 37:15). Three kings were joined to him. "And a man found him", that is one. "And the man asked him", that is two. "And the man said", that is three. "And a man found him", this is Gabriel, as it is said, "the man Gabriel" (Daniel 9:21).

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