Genesis 37:15

15 and was wandering around in the country when a man saw him and asked him, "What are you looking for?"

Genesis 37:15 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 37:15

And a certain man found him
Many of the Jewish writers


FOOTNOTES:

F12 say, this was an angel, the angel Gabriel, in the likeness of a man; but according to Aben Ezra, it was a traveller he met on the road; but it is more probable, as Schimidt observes, that it was some man at work in the field that came upon him and took notice of him:

and, behold, [he was] wandering in the field;
in some field near Shechem, perhaps the same his father Jacob had purchased, and where he expected to have found his brethren, and was looking out for them, going to and fro in search of them; which the labouring man in the field observed:

and the man asked him, saying, what seekest thou?
seeing him walking about, and first looking one way, and then another, concluded he was in search of something, either of some man or of some creature, a sheep or an ox that was lost; and therefore put this question to him, with a view to give him what direction and assistance he could.


F12 Pirke Eliezer, c. 38. Targum Jon. & Jarchi in loc.

Genesis 37:15 In-Context

13 Jacob said to Joseph, "I want you to go to Shechem, where your brothers are taking care of the flock." Joseph answered, "I am ready."
14 His father told him, "Go and see if your brothers are safe and if the flock is all right; then come back and tell me." So his father sent him on his way from Hebron Valley. Joseph arrived at Shechem
15 and was wandering around in the country when a man saw him and asked him, "What are you looking for?"
16 "I am looking for my brothers, who are taking care of their flock," he answered. "Can you tell me where they are?"
17 The man said, "They have already left. I heard them say that they were going to Dothan." So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.