"What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?"

As I study the Old Testament this year, I am going out of my way to study several different translations, and I'm frequently checking the underlying Hebrew text whenever a verse catches my attention.  The Old Testament is delightfully written, with so many layers of meaning and puns waiting to be discovered.

Here's an example from the familiar story in Genesis 37 where Joseph's brothers have just taken away his coat and cast him into a pit. Judah tries to persuade the brothers to reconsider their plan to kill him:

26 And Judah said unto his brethren, What profit is it if we slay our brother, and conceal his blood? (Genesis 37, KJV)

I can't help but think of Cain and Abel when I read that verse, so I looked into it further. The word translated to "profit" is:



betsa (בֶּצַע): gain made by violence, unjust gain, profit

This plot of the brothers is a secret combination, a plan to gain at the great expense of their little brother.

Here is the same verse in the Berean Study Bible, which does a better job emphasizing the connection to the story of Cain and Abel:

Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?

Given that the name Cain means "to gain" I like how this translation carries some of that meaning into the English.

10 And he said, What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto me from the ground.

11 And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; (Genesis 4)

In both accounts, jealous older brothers kill (or plot to kill) their younger brother, which is a recurring theme in these stories as well as the story of Isaac and Jacob.. 

Symbolic connections to the Book of Mormon

As I ponder the significance of this account, I see how the story of Joseph mirrors the story of the arc of God's covenant people in some ways.  For example, many years after Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers only to later rescue them from a famine in the land, the descendants of Judah in Jerusalem would seek to kill Lehi, a descendant of Joseph, who would instead escape by the hand of the Lord.  His posterity would produce the Book of Mormon, which would be hidden in the ground for centuries until our day, when it has come forth in a time of spiritual famine to reunite and gather scattered Israel.