“Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. (How beautifully the allegory of the flock and the Father and the Son(s) is perpetually woven throughout Scripture; some sons imitating the Good Shepherd in their character, behaviour and choices, and some putting His Perfect example to shame in how they act on behalf of the Father who sent them.) And Israel said to Joseph, (I am awestruck whenever I behold how utterly Jacob’s old identity as a deceiver is made obsolete when the Father insists upon only referring to him according to his new identity whenever he best represents Him in the earth.) “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So he said to him, “Here I am.” (Notice the humility, willingness to serve and complete yieldedness of the prototype of the Good Son – also see dear Samuel [3:4] & Isaiah [6:8] responding in like manner.) Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” (It is clear that Israel is concerned both for the well-being of his sons and the flock, but there is a subtle allusion made here that Israel does not fully trust his sons to faithfully shepherd his flock; for if one fully trusts the shepherd one need only enquire after his wellbeing: if a good shepherd is alive and well then by proxy, so is the sheep he is responsible for. One also doesn’t have to dig very deep to understand that Israel is effectively asking young Joseph – whom he trusts implicitly – to check up on his brothers and report on what he finds.) So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem. Now a certain man (I do enjoy this particular turn of phrase in the Word of God, namely, “now a certain man” : it seems to be shrouded in mystery, implying on the one hand that this individual is noteworthy more for the particular action he performs than his identity, but on the other hand it also subtly hints at the possibility that he might be a messenger from God or even incarnation of a Saint, sent to fulfill the purposes of God) found him (and not the other way around; highlighting the Sovereignty of God), and there he was, wandering in the field (it is not wholly clear whether or not young Joseph the Dreamer was daydreaming [wink-wink, nudge-nudge] and consequently distracted unto wandering or if he was in fact completely lost). And the man asked him, saying, “What are you seeking?” (Either way it was clear to “the certain man” that Joseph had a purpose to fulfill and was struggling to find his way there.) So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.” (Another subtle allusion indicating that this was an agent of God, possibly even a semblance of the Holy Spirit – our ultimate Guide – for Joseph seems to instinctively understand that this man is not only capable of-, but wholeheartedly willing to-, help him, and almost presupposes that he knows who his brothers are and consequently where they are without him needing to explain it to him.) And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” (Once again, this is the wide open fields and hills of the countryside, it would be near impossible for some random man to stand close enough to a party of strangers to hear such deliberations amongst themselves without arousing suspicion; and even if it were possible, what are the odds that he would happen to be there at the precise moment that the very matter was discussed which would answer our Joseph’s question so exactly, or even just that a random man would be so sincerely interested as to commit this particular piece of information to memory.) So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan (exactly as the “now a certain man” had said!).”

“¹²Then his brothers went to feed their father’s flock in Shechem. ¹³And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem?

Come, I will send you to them.”

So he said to him, “Here I am.”

¹⁴Then he said to him, “Please go and see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flocks, and bring back word to me.” So he sent him out of the Valley of Hebron, and he went to Shechem.

¹⁵Now a certain man found him, and there he was, wandering in the field. And the man asked him, saying^, “What are you seeking?”

¹⁶So he said, “I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are feeding their flocks.”

¹⁷And the man said, “They have departed from here, for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’ “So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.”

– Genesis 37:12-17 (NKJV)