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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comJamieson Fausset Brown Commentary - Genesis 37:4 - 37:4
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could not speak peaceably unto him - did not say “peace be to thee” [Gen 43:23, etc.], the usual expression of good wishes among friends and acquaintances. It is deemed a sacred duty to give all this form of salutation; and the withholding of it is an unmistakable sign of dislike or secret hostility. The habitual refusal of Joseph’s brethren, therefore, to meet him with “the salaam,” showed how ill-disposed they were towards him. It is very natural in parents to love the youngest, and feel partial to those who excel in talents or amiableness. But in a family constituted as Jacob’s - many children by different mothers - he showed great and criminal indiscretion.