And Reuben returned unto the pit; and, behold, Joseph was not in the pit; and he rent his clothes.
Reuben returned unto the pit. He seems to have designedly taken a circuitous route, with a view of secretly rescuing the poor lad from a lingering death by starvation. By the law of the go'el, the oldest was constituted protector of his younger brother; hence, finding that Joseph was not in the pit, he rent his clothes, and uttered that wail which, in Hebrew, is so touching from its sounds: "The child is not, and I, whither shall I go." His excessive grief arose from a sense of his personal responsibility. His intentions were excellent, and his feelings no doubt painfully lacerated, when he discovered what had been done in his absence. But the thing was of God, who had designed that Joseph's deliverance should be accomplished by other means than his.