Did Joseph Slander His Brothers?

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Hi C____,

Thank you for bringing the meaning of the Hebrew word ‘dibbah’ to my attention. I honestly never realized that the meaning of that word is ‘slander’. So thank you for doing that.
But I must point out to you that we are not told that Joseph slandered his brothers.

Joh 1:42 And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.
Act 9:36 Now there was at Joppa a certain disciple named Tabitha, which by interpretation is called Dorcas: this woman was full of good works and almsdeeds which she did.
Act 13:6 And when they had gone through the isle unto Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew, whose name was Barjesus:
Act 13:7 Which was with the deputy of the country, Sergius Paulus, a prudent man; who called for Barnabas and Saul, and desired to hear the word of God.
Act 13:8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so is his name by interpretation) withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith.
Heb 7:1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him;
Heb 7:2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

What the scriptures do say, and for this I thank you, is that Joseph brought to his father the evil slandering of his brothers:

Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and the lad was with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought unto his father their evil report [ slander].

It was “their evil” which caused them to hate their brother who refused to take part in “their evil slander”. Just as you or I refuse to slander our heavenly Father by telling others that our heavenly Father has every intention of burning people in hell fire for all eternity, Joseph’s brothers were also slandering, and Joseph simply brought “their evil report [ slander]” to His father.
I hope this helps you to see who was doing the slandering, and I want to thank you for helping me to see that it was indeed slander as opposed to selling off their father’s sheep behind his back, as I have always supposed it to be.

Your brother in the Christ,
Mike

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