37:24 And they took him, and cast {h} him into a pit: and the pit [was] empty, [there was] no water in it.
(h) Their hypocrisy appears in this that they feared man more than God: and thought it was not murder, if they did not shed his blood or had excuses to cover their fault.
37:24 They call him into a pit - To perish there with hunger and cold; so cruel were their tender mercies.
37:23-30 They threw Joseph into a pit, to perish there with hunger and cold; so cruel were their tender mercies. They slighted him when he was in distress, and were not grieved for the affliction of Joseph, see Am 6:6; for when he was pining in the pit, they sat down to eat bread. They felt no remorse of conscience for the sin. But the wrath of man shall praise God, and the remainder of wrath he will restrain, Ps 76:10. Joseph's brethren were wonderfully restrained from murdering him, and their selling him as wonderfully turned to God's praise.
