And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?
Reuben returned to the pit to find Joseph gone from it. On finding it empty he tore his clothes in distress. His declaration that the child was missing and his question, whither could he himself go, expressed shock and helplessness, alarm and self-reproach at being unable to rescue and recover Joseph. He had planned to deliver Joseph and bring him back to their father.
When he returned his brothers told him that Joseph had been sold. This cry belongs to the account of Joseph's persecution for doing right, in which though virtuous and steadfast in goodness he was maligned, persecuted, and treated as a criminal. His suffering did not mean God had forsaken him, for God brought signal victories through his life.
Reuben returned to the pit to find Joseph gone from it. On finding it empty he tore his clothes in distress. His declaration that the child was missing and his question, whither could he himself go, expressed shock and helplessness, alarm and self-reproach at being unable to rescue and recover Joseph. He had planned to deliver Joseph and bring him back to their father.
When he returned his brothers told him that Joseph had been sold. This cry belongs to the account of Joseph's persecution for doing right, in which though virtuous and steadfast in goodness he was maligned, persecuted, and treated as a criminal. His suffering did not mean God had forsaken him, for God brought signal victories through his life.