What does Genesis 37:12 Mean?

Context Summary

Throughout Joseph was a very remarkable type of our Lord. There was, first, this mission of the beloved son to inquire after the well-being of his brethren, which reminds us so vividly of the advent of God's Beloved and Only Begotten Son, who brought us the Father's greeting, and came to see and know by personal inquiry how we fared. Dothan was in the northern portion of the land, and the journey must have taken time and strength; but he persisted until he found them, and came where they were. Their plot against their helpless brother was as the plot of Caiaphas and the rest against our Lord. Pilate knew that for envy they had delivered him into his hands. The pit was one of those rock-hewn cisterns that abound in Palestine, and as there was no water in it Joseph's life was not sacrificed; and there he awaited what was a kind of resurrection. The scene at the pit's mouth was recalled by Joseph in Genesis 42:9; and was never forgotten by the others, Genesis 42:21-22. [source]

Chapter Summary: Genesis 37

¹  Joseph is loved by Jacob, but hated by his brothers
⁵  His dreams and the interpretation
¹²  Jacob sends him to his brothers, who counsel to slay him
²¹  At Reuben's desire they cast him into a pit;
²⁵  and afterwards sell him to the Ishmaelites;
²⁹  while Ruben grieves at not finding him
³¹  His coat, covered with blood, is sent to Jacob, who mourns him inordinately
³⁶  Joseph is brought to Egypt and sold to Potiphar