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.