Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Genesis 37:30

And he returned unto his brethren, and said, The child [is] not; and I, whither shall I go?

30. The child is not ] Cf. Gen 42:13; Gen 42:32; Gen 42:36, Gen 44:31; Jer 31:15; Lam 5:7. The word “child,” yeled, is appropriate for a small boy: see Gen 21:8; Gen 21:14.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 30. The child is not; and I, whither shall I go?] The words in the original are very plaintive, haiyeled einennu, vaani anah, ani ba!

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

He calls him

the child comparatively to his brethren, though he was seventeen years old, Gen 37:2.

The child is not, i.e. is not in the land of the living, or is dead, as that phrase is commonly used, as Gen 42:13,36, compared with Gen 44:20; Job 7:21; Jer 31:15; Lam 5:7; Mat 2:18.

I, whither shall I go, either to find the child, or to flee from our father? He is more solicitous than the rest, because he being the eldest brother, his father would require Joseph at his hand; and being so highly incensed against him for his former crime, would be the more apt to suspect him, and deal more severely with him.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

And he returned unto his brethren,…. From the pit, and whom he suspected had took him and killed him, as was their first design, not being with them when they proposed to sell him, and did:

and said, the child [is] not; not in the pit, nor in the land of the living, but is dead, which is sometimes the meaning of the phrase,

Jer 31:15; he calls him a child, though seventeen years of age, because the youngest brother but one, and he himself was the eldest, and also because of his tender concern for him:

and I, whither shall I go? to find the child or flee from his father’s face, which he could not think of seeing any more; whom he had highly offended already in the case of Bilhah, and now he would be yet more incensed against him for his neglect of Joseph, who, he might have expected, would have taken particular care of him, being the eldest son: he speaks like one in the utmost perplexity, not knowing what to do, what course to steer, being almost distracted and at his wits’ end.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

30. And he returned. We may hence gather that Reuben, under pretense of some other business, stole away from his brethren, that, unknown to them all, he might restore his brother, drawn out of the pit, to his father; and that therefore he was absent at the time when Joseph was sold. And there is no wonder that he was anticipated, when he had taken his course in a different direction from theirs, intending to reach the pit by a circuitous path. But now at length Reuben having lost all hope, unfolds to his brethren the intention which before he dared not confess, lest the boy should be immediately murdered.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

30. Whither shall I go “It is a cry of distracting anxiety, which sounds touchingly mournful and pathetic in the Hebrew, from the repetition and alliteration . Reuben afterwards reminds his brethren, in the day of their distress, of the earnestness with which he had pleaded for Joseph . Gen 42:22. Only Reuben and Judah show any trace of humanity in this dark transaction, and they seem, on their return to their father, to be bound by the ban of silence . It is Reuben and Judah, also, that are afterwards foremost to take responsibility, and bear the blame, when they all stand before Joseph the judge. Chapters 42 and 44.” Newhall.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments