Midrash for Genesis 37:36

‎And the Midianites answered and said unto the sons of Jacob: Is this really your servant and ‎was he ministering to you? It is more likely that you all are his servants, for surely he is of a ‎very fine figure and of comely appearance, and the best looking of all of you and wherefore do ‎ye tell unto us these lies? And now we will not listen unto you nor give ear unto your words; ‎for we have found this lad in a pit in the wilderness and we took him, and we will go away with ‎him. And all the sons of Jacob advanced and stood up against them, saying: Give unto us our ‎servant, and why do ye seek to die by the edge of the sword ' And the Midianites shouted at ‎them and drew their swords, and they fought with the sons of Jacob. And Simeon rose up ‎from his feet jumping to the ground, and drawing his sword he approached the Midianites, ‎and he gave a fearful shriek before them. And his shouting was heard at a great distance, and ‎the earth shook at Simeon’s voice. And the Midianites were greatly afraid of Simeon and his ‎terrible shouting, and they fell upon their faces in terror. And Simeon said unto them: Verily I ‎am Simeon the son of Jacob, who destroyed single handed the city of Shechem, and the other ‎cities of the Amorites with the help of my brothers. And so may the Lord do unto me now and ‎in all future, that if all your brethren the people of Midian together with all the people of ‎Canaan were to come, they could not fight against me. And now give back unto us the lad you ‎have taken, or I will give your flesh to the birds of the heavens and to the beasts of the ‎field.And the Midianites approached the sons of Jacob in fear and trembling with soft words, ‎saying: And have ye not said that this lad is your servant who rebelled against you, wherefore ‎you have cast him into the pit? And now what will you do with a servant that hath rebelled ‎against his master? Sell him then unto us and we will give you for him whatsoever you ‎demand. And the Lord was pleased to do this, that the sons of Jacob should not slay their ‎brother.‎

And the sons of Jacob hearkened unto the Midianites, and they sold unto them their brother ‎Joseph for twenty pieces of silver; and their brother Reuben was not with them at that time. ‎And the Midianites took Joseph and continued on their way toward Gilead. And as they ‎passed on along the road, the Midianites were sorry for what they had done in buying the ‎youth, and they said one to the other: What is it that we have done to buy from the Hebrews ‎this young man of such comely appearance and fine figure? For he may have been stolen from ‎the land of the Hebrews, and if he be found in our hands all of us will be put to death on his ‎account. And verily they are strong and powerful men, like the one of those that sold him unto ‎us, and whose strength we have seen. They have certainly carried him away forcibly from his ‎land, and therefore they sold him unto us for such a small price as we have paid for him. And ‎while they were talking over this matter, behold the company of Ish maelites, which was first ‎seen by the sons of Jacob, came towards the Midianites. And the Midianites said to each ‎other: Come and let us sell this lad to the company of Ishmaelites that come towards us, and ‎even if we should receive for him only the little we have paid, let us get out of trouble. And ‎the Midianites did so, and they sold Joseph unto the Ishmaelites, for the twenty pieces of ‎silver which they had paid unto his brothers, and the Midianites continued their journey ‎towards Gilead, and the Ishmaelites took Joseph and seated him upon a camel and they led ‎him down into Egypt. And when Joseph heard that he was to be brought down to Egypt he ‎wept and lamented bitterly, to be removed so far away from the land of Canaan from his ‎father. And he wept greatly while riding upon the camel, and one of the men noticing his ‎weeping made Joseph alight from the camel and go on foot, but Joseph still kept on crying, oh ‎my father, my father! And one of the Ishmaelites arose and struck Joseph on his cheek, but he ‎still continued weeping. And Joseph became very fatigued from walking and from the ‎bitterness of his soul, and all of the Ishmaelites beat him and abused him and they terrified ‎him that he should cease crying. And the Lord saw Joseph’s affliction and the Lord brought ‎over these men darkness and dismay, and every hand withered that struck Joseph. And they ‎said to one another: What is it that hath happened to us on this journey? And they knew not ‎that it was done on account of Joseph.‎

"But ye, ye are not so, whereas (Deut. 20, 4) For the Lord your God, It is who goeth with you, etc. This refers to the camp containing the Holy Ark." And why so much? Because the Holy Scroll with all its accompanied things was placed in the ark. (Fol. 43) Similar to this says the passage (Num. 31, 6) And Moses sent them a thousand of each tribe to the army. This refers to the Sanhedrian; and Phinehas, this refers to the anointed priest as the chaplain of the army! with the Holy vessels, this refers to the ark and the tables; and the trumpets for blowing the alarm, these are the hornets. We are taught in a Baraitha: Phinehas did not go in rain into that war, but to pay off the judgment of his mother's father, concerning whom it is said (Gen. 37, 36) And the Medionites sold him into Egypt. Do you mean to say that Phinehas is a descendant of Joseph? Behold, there is a passage (Ex. 6, 26) And Elazar, the son of Aaron took himself one of the daughters of Putiel, for a wife. Does not the word Putiel refer to a descend of Jethro, who fattened calves for sacrificing unto idols. [Hence he was a descendant of Jethro and not of Joseph?] Nay the word Putiel refers to Joseph who [is surnamed Putiel because he] conquered his evil inclination. But were not tribes disgracing Phinehas saying to him: "Look at the son of Putti whose mother's father fattened calves to the sacrifice of the idols, should he execute a prince of the tribe of Israel," [hence he is a descendant of Jethro? We must therefore say that if his mother's father was a descendant of Joseph then his mother's mother was of the lineage of Jethro, and if his mother's mother was a descendant of Joseph then his mother's father was of the lineage of Jethro, [hence he was thus a descendant of both.] This may also be inferred from the above passage which is written, one of the daughters (plural) of Putiel, which refers to two names. The inference is finally sustained.