Among Jacob’s twelve sons was one whom he loved better than the others. That one was Joseph—the eleventh born in his household and the eldest son of Rachel, his beloved wife. Joseph was a good boy indeed, just the kind of boy that a father can trust to do right. Sad to say, his elder brothers were not so careful to always do right, and their wrong-doing brought much pain to Jacob’s heart.
Because Jacob loved Joseph so tenderly his brothers became envious of him. And when Jacob made a wonderful coat of many colors and gave it to Joseph, the older sons allowed a bitter feeling of hatred to creep into their wicked hearts. They hated Joseph. One day while he was in the field with four of them he saw their evil conduct and on his return home he told his father how wrongly they had behaved. By doing this he increased the bitter feeling that was growing against him in his brothers’ hearts, for wicked people are always angered when some one exposes their wickedness. Joseph’s brothers would no longer speak kindly to him.
Joseph was now about seventeen years old. One night he had a strange dream. He told his brothers about it. “We were together in the field binding sheaves,” he said, “and my sheaf stood upright while yours bowed down around it.”
“Do you think you are some day going to rule over us?” the brothers asked in angry voices; and they hated him even more than before.
Soon Joseph dreamed again, a dream more strange than the other one had been. This time he saw the sun, the moon, and eleven stars bowing down before him. If such a dream had any meaning at all, how could it mean anything else than that he should some day become a ruler before whom his relatives should bow themselves? Joseph wondered about the dream and he told it to his father and brothers. His father Was displeased, because he thought it would be wrong for a man to bow down before his son. That would seem to make Joseph greater, better, and wiser than he. Still he wondered what such a dream could mean, and he thought much about the matter.
Now Jacob and his family were living at Hebron, where Abraham had lived so long ago with his many servants and flocks and herds. Jacob’s flocks were so large that they could not find enough pasture near by at all seasons, and sometimes they had to be taken far from home to find grass and water. The time came again when it was necessary to find pasture elsewhere, so Jacob sent his ten eldest sons to Shechem with the cattle and sheep. After they had been away from home for some weeks, Jacob sent Joseph on an errand to learn whether or not the young men were getting on well with their work.
Joseph started out alone on his long journey of fifty miles to Shechem. When he came to the place, he could not find his brothers, nor their flocks. He did not know where to go in search of them. Soon a man who lived in a town near by met him and told him that his brothers had gone to Dothan, to find better pasture. Joseph then journeyed on, over the hills and across the valleys, to Dothan, which was’ fifteen miles further from Hebron, and there he saw the flocks feeding on the green grass long before he arrived at the place.
When the brothers saw a young man coming across the fields clad in a beautifully colored coat they said at once to each other, “Here comes the Dreamer. Let us kill him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.” The eldest brother, Reuben, felt more kindly toward Joseph and wished to save his life. But he feared the others would not listen if he should tell them not to harm Joseph, so he said, “Let us not kill him; only throw him down into this pit and leave him alone to die.” The others quickly agreed to do as Reuben said, and when Joseph approached they seized him, tore off his beautiful coat, and roughly put him into the deep pit. Then they sat down on the ground and ate their lunch, paying no heed to his pitiful cries.
Now Reuben did not intend to leave Joseph alone to die. He planned to come back as soon as the others should go away, and rescue his young brother from such a sad death. But it was not going to be Reuben, after all, who should draw Joseph from the pit.
While the brothers were eating their lunch, Reuben went to an-other part of the field, and during his absence a company of traveling merchants came riding by on camels. Some of these travelers were called Ishmaelites, because they were descendants of Ishmael, and they were going to Egypt to sell rich spices and perfumed gum, which had been gathered from trees in other countries. “Now!” thought Judah, another of Joseph’s elder brothers, “here is an opportunity to make some money, and to get rid of our brother without letting him die.” So, calling his brothers, he said, “It would be better to sell Joseph to these merchants than to leave him to die in the pit; for even though we despise him, he is our brother.” The others were quite willing to sell Joseph; so they drew him out of the pit, and soon he saw himself being exchanged to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
Poor Joseph! this was a sad time for him. Now he knew that he should be taken far away by rough strangers who had become his masters. Now he was sold! All his pleading and all his tears did not soften the hearts of his wicked brothers, who greedily divided the money among themselves and supposed that they were forever rid of him. Perhaps they did not even watch the caravan as it moved slowly away toward the south, and disappeared from view behind the green-clad hills.
After the Ishmaelites passed on and the brothers too went away to different parts of the field, Reuben came hurrying back to the pit. Stooping down, he called to Joseph; but no answer came from the dark hole. Again and again he called, thinking perhaps that Joseph had fallen asleep, but still the silence was unbroken—Joseph did not reply. Then, after a while, Reuben knew that his brother was not there. What should he do? Now he forgot he had been afraid to let his brothers know that he had intended all the while to rescue Joseph from their hands. He forgot everything except the fact that Joseph had disappeared. He believed some dreadful thing had happened to the poor boy. Perhaps a wild beast had devoured him. Tearing his clothes as people did when they were in deep trouble, he returned to his brothers and said, “The child is gone, and what shall I do?” Being the eldest son, he felt that he should have taken care of his brother. Next came the question of how they should account to their father for the disappearance of his favorite son. Finally they decided to dip Joseph’s coat in blood, killing a young kid for this purpose, and take the blood-stained garment back to their father, telling him that they had found it in that condition. We see that they were planning to use a wicked lie to cover up their wicked deed.
Jacob was alarmed when his sons returned without Joseph. When he saw the blood-dyed coat he knew it was the very one that he had made for the lost boy, and he believed at once that wild animals had torn Joseph in pieces. Tearing his own garments apart and dressing himself in rough cloth called sackcloth, he sat down and mourned bitterly for many days, refusing to be comforted.