The Bible does not seek to give chronological detail when telling a story, so Isaac’s death is reported before the selling off of Joseph by his brothers. In reality, Joseph was born when Jacob was 91 years old. Joseph was 17 when he was sold to the Israelites. The math is simple—Jacob was 108 years old when Joseph went missing and 120 years old when Isaac died. Isaac was alive for the tragedy but not for his recovery.

My point—Isaac lived to be 180 years of age (Genesis 35:28), and Jacob was born when Isaac was 60 years old (Genesis 25:26). Isaac would not have lived until Jacob reached 120 years of age. For those who enjoy these kinds of calculations, the table below might help:

Hatred by Reason of a Coat (1-4)

We come to Joseph who, by being the focus of his father’s affection, was given a special coat, which served as a constant reminder that Joseph was the chosen one of his father. The coat gave Joseph an air of superiority among his brothers and set him apart as the favored one. This all caused the brothers to hold themselves aloof from Joseph. One day, the brothers of Zilpah and Bilhah were in the field with Joseph (the older brothers appear to be off somewhere else) and began to mock and taunt Joseph, treating him unkindly. Joseph reported their actions to his father (1-3). When the brothers noticed their father’s favor toward Joseph and his not correcting the tattling of a spoiled son, they hated him and were unable to speak to him without hiding their hatred (4).

Hatred by Reason of Dreams (5-11)

To make matters worse, Joseph had two dreams—one of the field and one of the heavens.

• Dream One: While they were in the field harvesting and binding sheaves, God did a curious thing—He made the sheaf Joseph had been binding stand upright and not bow, as heads of grain usually bow. At the same time, each of his brothers’ sheaves gathered around Joseph’s sheaf and were bowing to the ground.

  The implication was clear—Joseph was implying that his sense of being chosen was going to result in his leading the family. His brothers’ hatred grew (5-8).

• Dream Two: A more curious activity took place—the sun, moon, and stars were bowing to Joseph. How they appeared to be in bowing position in Joseph’s dream is unclear, but even Jacob captured who were meant by the celestial planets and softly rebuked Joseph as having gone too far (9-10).

Joseph's brothers’ hatred grew to a point where they were perpetually jealous for their father’s love and attention. Jacob, however, did not reject the dream out of hand, but kept the dream in his mind even after Joseph’s apparent death (11).

The Conspiracy of Joseph’s Brothers (12-20)

Jacob's herds were so vast that his sons had taken them back to the area of Shechem for grazing. Israel, being concerned for their welfare, sent Joseph to go get news of his sons and his flocks. Joseph left Hebron for the last time to journey to Shechem (12-13).

Joseph arrived at Shechem and was wandering aimlessly in the fields, trying to figure out where his brothers might be (14). A man came upon Joseph by accident, and the stranger asked Joseph what he was seeking (15). Joseph asked him if he had any idea where ten brothers and a vast number of grazing sheep might have gone (16). The man had been with Joseph’s brothers and had heard them make plans to go to Dothan. Joseph then traveled to Dothan and found his brothers there (17).

Joseph's brothers saw him with his coat flapping in the breeze while he was a good way off. Before he reached the brothers, they allowed their jealousy for their father’s love and their deep hatred for Joseph’s aloof attitude turn them into schemers planning murder. The plan was to kill Joseph, bury him in a pit, and claim he was devoured by an animal, then see if his dreams had any substance (18-20).

Reuben’s Attempt to Save Joseph (21-24)

Reuben, not being present during the scheming, was clued in by one of the brothers (21) as to what they were planning, as they had already taken Joseph, stripped off his coat, and bound him in some way (23). Reuben, Jacob’s birth-order firstborn, sought to save Joseph with another plan. He directed his brothers to throw him in a hand-dug cistern and let him die of exposure or by other means. In this plan, Reuben reminded his brothers they would not directly shed his blood. Reuben’s plan was to rescue and restore his brother to his father later (22). When Joseph arrived, the brothers threw him in a pit without water (24).

Joseph Sold (25-28)

As the brothers were eating, some distant cousins were passing by in a caravan—Ishmaelites (25). Judah's eyes registered greed and posed a plan of selling Joseph for money as a slave to the Ishmaelites (26-27). When profit was involved, murder seemed a less desirable route of action to Judah. The brothers agreed and Joseph was drawn up out of the cistern and sold for 20 pieces of silver. Joseph was taken as a slave to Egypt (28).

The Cover-Up (29-33)

Reuben, not being present during the selling of Joseph, returned to the cistern where they had dropped Joseph, only to find it empty. In a panic and with grave concern, he tore up his clothes as an act of grief (29) and found his brothers to ask what they had done with Joseph (30). Upon finding out, he fell in line with the plan, slaughtered one of the goats for supper, and mopped up the blood with Joseph’s princely coat (31). Eventually, they took the coat to their father so he could determine for himself the fate of his son (32). Without the sons’ having to outright-lie, they directed their father to the false conclusion that Joseph had been torn to pieces by a wild animal and devoured; Jacob did not suspect his sons capable of such a wicked deception nor the desire to murder Joseph (33).

The Mourning (34-36)

Jacob led his family into deep and prolonged mourning and decided he would not come out of mourning, but would go to his grave a mourning father. Jacob wept for his son (34-35). While Jacob was weeping Joseph’s death, Joseph was being strategically sold in Egypt to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh (36).