Bible Contradiction? Who brought Joseph into Egypt?

For today’s post we will tackle the question the Skeptic Annotated Bible asked: Who brought Joseph into Egypt?

Here are the answers which the skeptic believes indicate a Bible contradiction:

The Midianites

“Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, Pharaoh’s officer, the captain of the bodyguard.” (Genesis 37:36)

The Ishmaelites

“Then some Midianite traders passed by, so they pulled him out and lifted Joseph out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. So they brought Joseph into Egypt.” (Genesis 37:28)

“Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the bodyguard, bought him [a]from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there.” (Genesis 39:1)

(All Scriptural quotation comes from the New American Standard Bible)

Here’s a closer look at whether or not there is a contradiction:

1. When dealing with skeptics’ claim of Bible contradictions it seems one can never be reminded enough of what exactly is a contradiction.  A contradiction occurs when two or more claims conflict with one another so that they cannot simultaneously be true in the same sense and at the same time.  To put it another way, a Bible contradiction exists when there are claims within the Bible that are mutually exclusive in the same sense and at the same time.
2. One should be skeptical of whether this is a Bible contradiction given the Skeptic Annotated Bible’s track record of inaccurately handling the Bible.  See the many examples of their error which we have responded to in this post: Collection of Posts Responding to Bible Contradictions.  Of course that does not take away the need to respond to this claim of a contradiction, which is what the remainder of this post will do.  But this observation should caution us to slow down and look more closely at the passages cited by the Skeptic Annotated Bible to see if they interpreted the passages properly to support their conclusion that it is a Bible contradiction.
3. The skeptic tries to pit Genesis 37:36 as asserting “The Midianites brought Joseph into Egypt” against Genesis 37:28 and Genesis 39:1 as “The Ishmaelites brought Joseph into Egypt.”
4. One should ask if the skeptic correctly interpreted the passages.  Genesis 37:36 was correctly interpreted as indicating “The Midianites brought Joseph into Egypt.” Both Genesis 37:28 and Genesis 39:1 were properly interpreted as teaching “The Ishmaelites brought Joseph into Egypt.”
5. Yet I don’t think there’s a contradiction here.  I think the traveling convoy that Joseph was sold to consisted of both Midianites and Ishamelites.  Look at Genesis 37:28 and how it mentioned both Midianites and Ishamelites.  That verse mentioned the caravan were Midianites traders and Joseph was sold to Ishamelites.  
6. Genesis 37:28 mentioned both Midianites and Ishamelites.  Genesis 37:36 specifically mentioned the Midianites while Genesis 39:1 mentioned the Ishmaelites yet both these two verses aren’t contradictory.  In order for Genesis 37:3 to contradict with Genesis 39:1 the verse Genesis 37:3 has to say “Midianites only sold Joseph” but that’s not what Genesis 37:3 says.  Similarly in order for Genesis 39:1 to contradict with Genesis 37:3 the verse Genesis 39:1 has to say “Ishamelites only sold Joseph” but that’s not what Genesis 39:1 says.
7. Furthermore understanding understanding the background geographical and cultural context reinforce the truth that there’s not a contradiction when both Midianites and Ishamelites were mentioned since we know people from various ethnicities intermarry or are friends or do commerce together.  
   1. Don’t forget this was a time period in the MIddle East in which people group at times live next to each other.  Think of Abraham and his descendants living among Gentiles and at times that could be in Egypt, Canaan, etc.  There would be different ethnic groups.  So we shouldn’t be surprised that its possible both Midianites and Ishamelites are mentioned together.  
   2. Also ethnic groups can inter-marry too.  The skeptics cited Genesis 37:36, Genesis 37:28 and Genesis 39:1 and in the chapters next to these verses we see intermarriage of various people group.  For instance in Genesis 36:2 we learn of who Esau was married to: “Esau took his wives from the daughters of Canaan: Adah the daughter of Elon the Hittite, and Oholibamah the daughter of Anah, the [a]granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite.”  Note the reference of Hittite, Hivite and these wives were then collectively called “daughters of Canaan.”
   3. In Genesis 38:2 we learn about Judah intermingling with an Adullamite, in verse 3 it mentioned Judah married a Canaanite and verse 6 mentioned Esau’s firstborn son marrying a local woman that wasn’t Jewish.
8. There is no contradiction here.  Seems the skeptic needs to learn of How to Handle Bible Contradictions.
9. We shouldn’t miss that worldviews are at play even with the skeptic’s objection to Christianity.  The worldview of the author of the Skeptic Annotated Bible actually doesn’t even allow for such a thing as the law of non-contradiction to be meaningful and intelligible.  In other words for him to try to disprove the Bible by pointing out that there’s a Bible contradiction doesn’t even make sense within his own worldview.  Check out our post “Skeptic Annotated Bible Author’s Self-Defeating Worldview.”