Genesis 37:19

And they said one to another,.... According to the Targum of Jonathan, Simeon and Levi said what follows: nor is it unlikely, since they were hot, passionate, cruel, and bloody minded men, as appears

And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him. When they saw him afar off.

Heb. This master of dreams, this crafty dreamer, that covers his own ambitious designs and desires with pretences or fictions of dreams.

Genesis 37:19 And they said one to another, Behold, this dreamer cometh.Ver. 19. Behold, this dreamer.] This captain dreamer, or, this architect of dreams. A lewd scoff, and, by it, a cruel calumny. Envy, so it may gall, or kill, cares not how true or false it be, that, it allegeth: it usually aggravates the matter beyond truth, to do mischief, as here. Their hearts were so big, swollen with spite and spleen, that they could not call him by his name, but "this dreamer." So the Pharisees called our Saviour, "this fellow." And "the Jews sought him at the feast, and said, Where is he?" - εκεινος - They could not find in their hearts to say, Where is Jesus? as Saul asked not for David, but for "the son of Jesse," by way of contempt. Christ tells his disciples that men shall, in hatred of them, cast out their names for evil, for his sake. Their persons should be proscribed, and their names expunged, as unworthy to breathe in the common air. That like as we give names to newly born babes; so when we cannot afford to mention a man’ s name, it shows we wish him out of the world: Nomine Christianorum deleto, qui Remp. exercebant. So those bloody tyrants of the primitive times sounded the triumph beforehand, and engraved the victory they never got, upon pillars of marble. Ubicunque invenitur nomen Calvini, deleatur, saith the Index Expurgatorius. After Stephen Brune the martyr’ s death, his adversaries commanded it to he cried, that none should make any more mention of him, under pain of heresy. So in Queen Mary’ s days, one Tooly, hanged for felony, for defying the Pope, was, after his death, suspended and excommunicated; and strict charge given, that no man should eat or drink with him; or if any met him by the way, he should not bid him good morrow, or call him by his name. It was not for nothing, surely, that our Saviour, in token of hearty reconciliation, requires men to greet their enemies, and to call them friendly by their names. Sic apud Latinos dicebantur capitis diminutionem pati, qui ex albo a censoribus expungebantur. Act. and Mon., fol. 820. Ibidem, fol. 1439.

(19) This dreamer.—Heb., this lord of dreams, a phrase expressive of contempt.

Verse 19. Behold, this dreamer cometh.] בעל החלמות baal hachalomoth, this master of dreams, this master dreamer. A form of speech which conveys great contempt.

19. this dreamer] Heb. master of dreams. This and the following verse are from E. Joseph’s brethren speak derisively of this “master (Heb. baal) of dreams” (cf. Genesis 49:23, “archers” = “masters of arrows”; 2 Kings 1:8, “a hairy man” = “a master of hair”). They will kill him, and so stop his dreams from coming true.

19. This dreamer — Heb, this master (or lord) of the dreams. We may suppose Joseph seeing them afar with joy, glad to find them after his long journey and searching. But they see him with malicious envy.