Genesis 37:24-27

And they took him, and cast him into a pit: and the pit was empty, there was no water in it.
And they sat down to eat bread: and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and, behold, a company of Ishmeelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.
And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood?
Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmeelites, and let not our hand be upon him; for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content.

That empty pit points forward.

Joseph is cast into a place of death, shut away from sight, cut off from help, abandoned by his brothers. And already you can see the shadow of another place, another day, another beloved Son laid in a borrowed tomb. Luke tells us that tomb had never held a body before. Empty. Untouched. Waiting.

Joseph goes down into an empty pit.

Jesus would be laid in an empty tomb.

The picture is there.

And then the scene turns colder.

Joseph is in the pit, and his brothers sit down to eat.

That is hard to take in. They can hear him. They know exactly what they have done. And still they carry on like nothing happened. That is what a hardened heart looks like. It can push someone into darkness and then go about its business without pause.

Then Judah speaks.

“What profit is it if we kill him?”

Not mercy. Profit.

He is not trying to save Joseph. He is trying to improve the outcome for himself. Killing Joseph gives them nothing. Selling him gives them something. So he dresses it up. “He is our brother.” But the decision is already made. Joseph is going to suffer either way.

And again, Joseph points us straight to Jesus.

Joseph is handed over to Gentiles.

Jesus was handed over to Gentiles.

The leaders said they could not execute Him under Roman law, so they delivered Him to Pilate. But that was not because they suddenly respected the law. They had been ready to stone the woman in John 8. They had already tried to throw Jesus off a cliff in Luke 4:29.

So why stop now?

Because God was working through it.

Crucifixion was a Gentile form of execution. And prophecy had already spoken. The Messiah would die in a very specific way. So even in their rejection, even in their hatred, they were unknowingly moving Jesus exactly where He needed to be.

Men thought they were deciding.

God was directing.

Judah says, “Let us sell him.”

The leaders, in effect, say, “Let Rome handle Him.”

Same pattern.

The beloved son is rejected by his own.
He is handed over to Gentile hands.
Men think they are ending the story.
God is just beginning it.

And even the details whisper something deeper. The Ishmeelites are carrying spicery, balm, and myrrh. Burial language. The whole scene feels like death. Joseph is as good as gone in their minds.

But God is not finished.

The pit was not the end.

Egypt would not be the end.

And the tomb would not be the end.

There are moments when it looks like everything has collapsed. When evil seems organized. When compromise seems to be winning. When the innocent are handed over and no one steps in.

But Genesis 37 reminds us of something steady.

God is still working.

Joseph in the pit was not abandoned.

Jesus in the tomb was not defeated.

And neither are you when it feels like everything has gone dark.