“And Reuben said unto them, Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no hand upon him; that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again.”
Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don't lay a hand on him. Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. The plan within the plan — throw him in the cistern to save him and take him home — is Reuben's attempt to work within the brothers' proposal while preventing the murder. The application: working within a bad situation to reduce harm, rather than simply opposing it, is sometimes the only available form of moral agency.
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