18 When they saw him from a distance and before he came close to them, they plotted against him to put him to death. 19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer! 20 “Now then, come and let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, `A wild beast devoured him.’ Then let us see what will become of his dreams!” 21 But Reuben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.” 22Reuben further said to them, “Shed no blood. Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay hands on him”–that he might rescue him out of their hands, to restore him to his father. 23 So it came about, when Joseph reached his brothers, that they stripped Joseph of his tunic, the varicolored tunic that was on him;24 and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, without any water in it.
25 Then they sat down to eat a meal. And as they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, on their way to bringthem down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 “Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, ourown flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. 28 Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him up and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. Thus they brought Joseph into Egypt.
As if we needed further proof that Joseph’s brothers were not to be trusted, here they go again. They want to kill their own brother. Why? Over a few lousy dreams. It just goes to show that if you let something small fester in your heart, it can grow into something big and ugly. They were willing to commit murder over their brother’s dreams. I had to repeat that part just to let it sink in. Don’t let things fester and grow. Get them out in the open, and let God deal with it.