The brothers were obviously concerned that Jacob knew and expressed this to Joseph, who had all the power over them as Pharoah's number one guy, after Jacob died. Genesis 50:15-21 When Joseph's brothers had seen that their father was dead they said "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!" So they sent instructions to Joseph, saying "Your father commanded us before he died, saying, "This is what you shall say to Joseph: "Please forgive, I beg you, the offense of your brothers and their sin for they did you wrong." And now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, "Behold, we are your servants." But Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for I am in God's place? As for you, you meant evil against me but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones." So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Arguments for Jacob knowing his 10 sons orchestrated Joseph's demise:
1. Jacob had been lead to believe that Joseph had been killed by wild animals and obviously this was a lie. Genesis 37:31-34 So they (the 10 brothers) took Joseph's tunic and slaughtered a male goat, and dipped the tunic in the blood; and they sent the multicolored tunic and brought it to their father and said, "We found this; please examine it to see whether it is your son's tunic or not." Then he examined it and said "It is my son's tunic A vicious animal has devoured him; Joseph has surely been torn to pieces!" So Jacob tore his clothes and put on a sackcloth undergarment over his waist and mourned for his son many days.
2. Jacob remembered the dream Joseph shared. Genesis 37:9-11 Then he had yet another dream, and informed his brothers of it, and said "Behold I have had yet another dream: and behold the sun and the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me." He also told it to his father as well as to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, "What is this dream that you have had? Am I and your mother and your brothers actually going to come to bow down to the ground before you?" And his brothers were jealous of him but his father kept the matter in mind. Did Jacob realize the jealous brothers had done what they could to prevent the fulfillment of this dream, and got rid of the dreamer?
3. Jacob also remembered what God had told his grandfather Abraham. Genesis 15:13 Then God said to Abram, "Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will be enslaved and oppressed for four hundred years. Was this 400 years to be spent in Goshen Egypt, where his whole family ended up after Joseph saved them from famine? Did Jacob realize that Joseph's elevation to Pharoah's number one guy could only have happened if he left the family, even if by awful means? This all correlated with the dream fulfillment in Genesis 37.
Arguments for Jacob NOT knowing his 10 sons orchestrated Joseph demise:
1. When Jacob was telling each son what would happen to them in the days to come, first son Reuben got an earful. Genesis 49:3-4 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. Uncontrollable as water you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it - he went up to my couch. In Genesis 35:22, we learn that Reuben slept with his father's concubine Bilhah who was also mother of two of this brothers - ick! And it came about, while Israel (Jacob) was living in that land, that Reuben went and slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. If Jacob had known that Reuben thwarted the plan to kill Joseph and planned on rescuing him, would he have forgiven the Bilhah offense? Genesis 37:21-22 But Reuben heard this and rescued him (Joseph) out of their hands by saying, "Let's not take his life." Then Reuben said to them, "Shed no blood Throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness but do not lay a hand on him" - so that later he might rescue him out of their hands to return him to his father.
2. Throughout Jacob prophesizing what would happen to each son in Genesis 49, he mentioned several times how his son's had failed him. Along with Reuben's affair, Simeon and Levi were chastised for avenging their sister's, Dinah's, rape by killing the men of Shechem. Genesis 49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their words are implements of violence. Genesis 49:6 For in their anger they killed men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen. Jacob called out adultery and violence against enemies, yet he never mentioned anything about the treatment of his favorite son Joseph, which makes one wonder if he knew about it.
3. It seems like Joseph recognized in Genesis 50 that everything that happened was part of God's plan and worked out well. Throwing his brother's under the bus would have been questioning God's plan. Did Joseph have this conversation with his father, Jacob, and did Jacob agree?
We do not know definitely if Jacob knew of the brother betrayal because God did not deem it necessary for us to know. Our take away should be that God is in charge, suffering can be used to glorify God, and God has a lot of plans that we can not even fathom.
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