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Place

Dothan

Summary

The field where Joseph was sold by his brothers (Gen 37:17).

  • Joseph's brothers found him at Dothan and sold him to traders bound for Egypt (Genesis 37:17, 28).
  • A caravan passing Dothan on the trade road from Gilead to Egypt turned Joseph's brothers' plan to kill him into a sale instead.
  • Centuries later, Elisha's servant saw the hills around Dothan full of horses and chariots of fire (2 Kings 6:17).
  • Elisha led a blinded Aramean army away from Dothan into Samaria, then had them fed and sent home instead of killed.

On this page

In Scripture

Verses
2
Books
2
See it on Reference map of ancient Palestine→

Near Dothan

Straight-line distances, computed from the gazetteer coordinates.

Where it is

the country around it

Coordinates
32.4206° N, 35.1802° Efind it on the Atlas →
Region
Northern Israel

1 place the record names with Dothan, the farthest 16 km away

The JordanThe Great SeaShechemShechemNazarethNazarethJezreelJezreel1 SamariaDothan25 km · 16 miN
  1. 1Elisha leads them to Samaria instead2 Kings 6:19 · 16 kmAnd Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.
  • Located: the gazetteer fixes one site
  • A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix

Not located: Egypt. The gazetteer records no location for it, so it is not marked.

Each line joins Dothan to a place one of its verses names, and carries that verse. Every line is headed the way its verse sends it. The lines are straight between two coordinates and are not roads. A dashed line ends at a place the gazetteer does not fix. The Jordan is drawn from Natural Earth's public-domain outlines. The Great Sea is a stylized outline drawn for orientation. Every mark sits at the coordinates the gazetteer records for it.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the coast, the hill country, the Jordan rift and the Dead Sea, with the towns of the biblical narrative marked.
Reference map of ancient Palestine: the land from Dan to Beersheba: most of the historical books happen on this one sheet.Rand McNally reference map (1926), public domain.Open this plate full size in The Atlas →

Why Dothan matters

Dothan was a good pasturing ground south of the Jezreel valley, which is why Joseph's brothers moved their father's flocks there from Shechem. It also sat near a trade route down toward Egypt, and both facts converge in one chapter: pasture brought the brothers to Dothan, and a passing caravan turned their plot against Joseph from murder into a sale. Joseph came looking for his brothers on his father's errand and found them plotting his death instead. Reuben's plan to spare him by putting him in an empty pit almost worked, until Judah proposed selling him to the Ishmaelites passing by with spices, balm and myrrh bound for Egypt. Twenty shekels of silver sent Joseph toward the very slavery and later exaltation that Genesis goes on to tell. Centuries later, Dothan is the setting for one of the most striking scenes in Elisha's ministry. The king of Aram sent an army by night to seize the prophet, and Elisha's servant woke to find the city surrounded. Elisha prayed that the servant's eyes would be opened, and he saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire around Elisha. Elisha then struck the invading army with blindness, led them into Samaria, and had the king feed them and send them home rather than kill them, and the raiders did not come into Israel again.

What has been found

the evidence, and where it is disputed

Excavations led by Joseph P. Free for Wheaton College (1953-1964) uncovered a fortified city at Tell Dothan across several periods. The Early Bronze Age city stood behind a massive wall, and the Iron Age city was defended by a casemate wall, inner and outer walls about a meter thick with a gap of roughly two and a half meters between them, a defensive style consistent with other fortified cities of the ninth and eighth centuries BC.

Joseph sold at Dothan, outlined

Genesis 37:12-28, in the order it happens

Read Genesis 37:12-28, in the order it happens
  1. Jacob sends Joseph to check on his brothersGenesis 37:14Then Israel told him, “Go now and see how your brothers and the flocks are faring, and bring word back to me.” So he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. And when Joseph arrived in Shechem,
  2. Redirected to DothanGenesis 37:17“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
  3. The brothers plot to kill himGenesis 37:20“Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We can say that a vicious animal has devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams!”
  4. Reuben's plan: the empty pitGenesis 37:24and they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty, with no water in it.
  5. A caravan from Gilead passes byGenesis 37:25And as they sat down to eat a meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were carrying spices, balm, and myrrh on their way down to Egypt.
  6. Judah's proposal: sell him insteadGenesis 37:27Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay a hand on him; for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And they agreed.
  7. Joseph sold for twenty shekels of silverGenesis 37:28So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.

Elisha's own story at Dothan, 2 Kings 6:8-23, is told next, in the timeline below.

Joseph: the full study

What happened here, in order

in the order the canon tells it

  1. Joseph follows his brothers to DothanGenesis 37:17“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
  2. Joseph sold to the IshmaelitesGenesis 37:28So when the Midianite traders passed by, his brothers pulled Joseph out of the pit and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
  3. The king of Aram learns Elisha is in Dothan2 Kings 6:13So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”
  4. An army surrounds the city by night2 Kings 6:14the king of Aram sent horses, chariots, and a great army. They went there by night and surrounded the city.
  5. Elisha's answer to his frightened servant2 Kings 6:16“Do not be afraid,” Elisha answered, “for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.”
  6. The servant's eyes opened2 Kings 6:17Then Elisha prayed, “O LORD, please open his eyes that he may see.” And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw that the hills were full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.
  7. The Arameans struck blind2 Kings 6:18As the Arameans came down against him, Elisha prayed to the LORD, “Please strike these people with blindness.” So He struck them with blindness, according to the word of Elisha.
  8. Elisha leads them to Samaria instead2 Kings 6:19And Elisha told them, “This is not the way, and this is not the city. Follow me, and I will take you to the man you are seeking.” And he led them to Samaria.
  9. Fed and sent home rather than killed2 Kings 6:22“Do not kill them,” he replied. “Would you kill those you have captured with your own sword or bow? Set food and water before them, that they may eat and drink and then return to their master.”
  10. The raiders did not return2 Kings 6:23So the king prepared a great feast for them, and after they had finished eating and drinking, he sent them away, and they returned to their master. And the Aramean raiders did not come into the land of Israel again.

Dothan in Scripture

2 verses name it, in 2 books

Open a book to read its mentions here. Text: Berean Standard Bible.

First namedGenesis 37:17“They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’” So Joseph set out after his brothers and found them at Dothan.Last named2 Kings 6:13So the king said, “Go and see where he is, that I may send men to capture him.” On receiving the report, “Elisha is in Dothan,”

Old TestamentNew Testamentsegment width = share of mentions

The account

Read the account as one telling
The pasturing place where Joseph finds his brothers and is cast into a pit and sold to Ishmaelite traders bound for Egypt.

Common questions

Why does the story mention both Ishmaelites and Midianites?

Readers differ; the positions are named

Genesis 37:25-27 names Ishmaelites in the plan to sell Joseph, and verse 28 says Midianite traders were the ones who actually pulled him from the pit and sold him to the Ishmaelites. Readers have proposed that the two names overlap for one caravan in this period, or that both groups were genuinely involved in the transaction. The text itself does not settle which reading is correct.

Why didn't Reuben's plan to save Joseph work?

Reuben proposed throwing Joseph into an empty pit rather than killing him outright, intending to come back later and rescue him. While he was away, the other brothers saw the passing caravan and sold Joseph before Reuben returned, so his plan was overtaken by his brothers' own decision.

What did Elisha's servant actually see at Dothan?

The servant woke to find the city surrounded by an army with horses and chariots, and was afraid. Elisha prayed that his eyes would be opened, and he then saw the hills around Dothan full of horses and chariots of fire surrounding Elisha, an army the enemy troops could not see.

Why did Elisha spare the blinded Aramean army instead of destroying it?

Elisha compared it to a soldier asking whether he would kill prisoners he had captured with his own sword or bow, the implication being that the men had not been captured in ordinary battle. He had the king feed them and send them home, and the account says the Aramean raiders stopped coming into Israel after that.

Sources cited

Every source behind MannaFest →

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