The brothers ask rhetorically to ridicule Joseph’s prophetic dreams and express their outrage at the implied hierarchy. By framing their scorn as questions rather than flat denials, they amplify their contempt and invite Joseph to defend the absurdity of his vision. The interrogative form intensifies their rejection, turning their hatred into a public challenge.

Joseph’s brothers responded with escalating hatred. The text records no verbal reply from Joseph, but states explicitly that ‘they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words’ (Genesis 37:8). Their hostility deepened from the earlier jealousy over Jacob’s favoritism, now compounded by Joseph’s prophetic claims.

The brothers’ double question, ‘Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us?’, employs emphatic Hebrew repetition (infinitive absolute construction) to stress the absurdity they perceive in Joseph’s dreams. The pairing of malak (reign) and mashal (rule) escalates from political authority to absolute dominion, revealing their recognition of Joseph’s dream as a comprehensive claim to supremacy. They choose interrogative form rather than declarative denial because the question format allows them to express derision while forcing Joseph to confront the implausibility of his vision. This rhetorical strategy transforms their rejection into a public humiliation. The passage carries profound theological weight: human mockery cannot nullify divine revelation, and the very question posed in scorn became prophetic truth when these same brothers later bowed before Joseph as Egypt’s vice-regent (Genesis 42:6).