37:28 Then there passed by Midianites merchantmen; and they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the {i} Ishmeelites for twenty [pieces] of silver: and they brought Joseph into Egypt.
(i) Moses writes according to the opinion of those who took the Midianites and Ishmaelites to be one, and here mixes their names: as also appears in Ge 37:36,39:1 or else he was first offered to the Midianites, but sold to the Ishmaelites.
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.
