אור החיים — ויעברו אנשים מדינים סוחרים

Q — The sale of Yosef seems internally contradictory: the brothers propose selling to the Yishmaelim, the verse says they sold him to the Yishmaelim, and Potiphar buys him 'from the Yishmaelim' — yet the Midyanim are mentioned passing by, and another verse says 'the Medanim sold him to Egypt.' Who actually sold Yosef?

A — Or HaChaim raises the textual difficulty sharply: the references to Midyanim/Medanim appear to contradict the plain account of a sale to Yishmaelim. He resolves the sequence by reconstructing a chain of transactions — the brothers, the passing Midyanim who drew him up, the Yishmaelim, and the Medanim — so that each verse describes a real link in how Yosef ended up in Egypt, none contradicting the others.