So Reuben intervened, hoping to be able to come back and rescue Joseph and restore him to his father. Perhaps he was seeking to make up for the dishonor that he had caused his father by sleeping with concubine Bilhah.
First, he counseled against his murder. He said in verses 21-22, "Let us not kill him. . . shed no blood." Next he planned to go away and come back secretly to rescue Joseph from the pit. The story says that he wanted to take him back to his father, perhaps to atone in part for his wrong against Jacob. But while Reuben was gone, the Midianite merchants came along and Joseph was sold to them. When Reuben returned, all he could do was bewail the situation.
I call Reuben "every man"—because I believe that most of us are like him. In verse 21, it says:
What that does is show us that Reuben's motive was good. He wished to save life. And he intended—as soon as he was done with whatever he felt was pressing that he had to do—to return to deliver Joseph safely in the hands of their father.
