Even though I have read today’s passage numerous times, a few parts stood out to me that I do not recall in the past. Here they are:
In verse 2, it mentions that Joseph is 17 years old. For some reason I always thought of Joseph as being so much younger than his other brothers. But in googling it, it was predicted that Reuben, being the oldest brother, is only about 7 years older that Joseph. However, being the junior he was, he would not have had enough authority to reprove, rebuke, or correct his brothers, so instead he reports their actions to their father. No one likes a tattletale, and it’s no different for the 10 older brothers.
Reuben does not want to take Joseph’s life and tries to convince his brothers to not lay a hand on him. Perhaps being the first born, Reuben felt responsible for Joseph and felt that it was his duty to bring him safely back home. We then read that when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his coat and threw him into a cistern.
In verse 28, the brothers sold Jacob to the Midianite merchants that came across their path. According to a commentary on BibleHub, during that time Reuben had apparently gone to fetch some distant cattle and was not aware of this transaction. Reuben would have wanted to pass by the cistern (believing he would still there), so that he could have freed Joseph without the other brothers knowledge, and send him safely back home.
The last part that jumped out for me is that Judah comes up with the plan in verse 26 to sell Joseph for 20 pieces of silver. I find it interesting that Jesus was sold for 30 pieces of silver, by one of the same name too, Judas.
Lock Your Wings 
Those are some interesting thoughts, I hadn’t thought of most of those!
In one of Joseph’s dreams, it said that the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. The sun and the moon represent Jacob and Joseph’s mother. But Rachel had already passed away at that point. I don’t know why but this kind of stood out as interesting, why would Joseph be dreaming about his dead mother?
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I think it was interesting that it was Judah that suggested the selling of Joseph. There were 10 brothers but we only really think of Reuben (who attempted to rescue him) and Judah (who came up with the idea of selling him). One would guess that the family line of Jesus would include Reuben because of his noble plan but instead it includes Judah. God looks past our broken sinful nature ands uses them for his purpose.
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That is interesting. I’ve never thought of that before!
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Yes, good point.
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Read the crowd Joseph. It is interesting that he felt he needed to tell his brothers and father about his second dream, given their response to his first dream. Perhaps Joseph was that pesky, annoying younger brother. But either way, we can see how God was in this situation in order to fulfil His purpose.
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