When there are chapters in which God does not appear, I see man without God, left to his own devices, and usually coming to a bad end.
And interesting study would be:
What is each instance where God had direct contact with anyone in the bible?
What was going on in that person’s life at the moment he encountered God?
How did their personality change after their encounter?
Starting with Adam and Eve.
This should exclude Jesus in the New Testament, to stay out of the debate whether he is God incarnate, the son of God, the true Messiah, or a major prophet.
Angels of the Lord:
Visitations by angels should be looked at on a case-by-case basis. While they are serving as God’s messengers, there could be other circumstances.
Dreams:
Treat on a case-by-case basis. Joseph has a dream here but was this precognition or was this God sending him a message?
My theory is that, these individuals were at a crisis point when they had their encounter with God and that the experience had a profound on them. I don’t know if direct contact with God happens outside the Old Testament.
The Kabbalistic interpretation is that we were created as vessels to receive God’s love. The fall of man was not some sadistic, cosmic game that trickster God played on us. It was a necessary step to draw down the veil of separation between us and God. There was a moment in which God’s creation shattered and every soul was created. There are a finite number of souls or facets of God’s awareness. When we are not incarnated, we are in a heavenly realm. Each incarnation is a purification brings us closer to reconnecting to that oneness with God. Our incarnation is voluntary. More hardship, more purification.
Reuben is the brother who tries to intervene and just have them dump Joseph in the cistern. Judah is the one who suggests selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites:
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.