Genesis 37:20
“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!” But Rueben heard this and rescued him out of their hands and said, “Let us not take his life.”
What does it take to get this the point where brothers are threatening brothers? In the previous chapter, it meantioned that they were jealous of him (37:11). Another verse says that they “hated him and could not speak to him on friendly terms” (37:4).
The ten brothers tended the livestock. They were out talking amongst themselves. There was most likely plenty of negative talk about Joseph. They were angry because their father’s favoritism. They also didn’t like Joseph’s dreams inwhich they were to be subserviant to him.
I think that the brothers did plenty of talk about Joseph. I think it escalated. Their hate became a force of energy amongst them. So, while Joseph’s coat was visible from far away, they fell into their natural gossip mode and the energy grew out of control. It then became talk of murder. Rueben tried to rein it in by talking them down, but he allowed them to entertain slavery.
Proverbs speaks of gossip as a fire. The more it’s done, the greater the fire. Stop the gossip and the fire dies. In this case, the fire is destructive. Whoever the target is gets damaged. The house of their life is partially burnt.
Joseph’s brothers allowed it to get out of control. They stopped just short of murder. Rueben thought he could allow a little gossip. But he couldn’t contain it.
Gossip tests: when we say something about a person, would we say it if he were present? If not, it’s probably gossip. If others are gossiping to us, we could do several things. We could defend the person. That will cause some sparks to fly. We could not respond or change the subject. The fire will die. Lord, help us to avoid gossip.