Jacob settled in
Chanaan, the Promised Land. He had
twelve sons, and among these he loved Joseph most of all. The other sons of Jacob resented this
preference and therefore, they hated Joseph.
When Joseph was sixteen years old, Jacob had a coat of many colors made
for him. This all the more enkindled his
brothers’ jealousy, and they never spoke kindly to Joseph again.
Now, Joseph had two
dreams – two very strange dreams. In
one, he saw himself and his brothers binding sheaves of corn in a field. As they worked, his sheaf stood upright while
his brothers’ sheaves all gathered around it and bowed to it. In another dream, he saw the sun, the moon,
and eleven stars bow before him and honor him.
When he heard of
Joseph’s dream, Jacob wondered. “What,”
he cried, “shall you rule over us? Shall I and your mother and brothers bow
before you?”
When Joseph related his
dreams to his brothers, they hated him without bounds. They were jealous of him because in both
dreams, honors went to Joseph.
Joseph and his brothers
were shepherd. One day, Jacob sent
Joseph to the field where his brothers were tending the flocks. When his brothers saw him coming, they said
to one another: “Let us kill him and throw his body into a pit. We shall tell our father that a beast killed
him.” But Ruben, the oldest brother,
wished to save Joseph’s life. He said:
“Let us not kill him. Let us throw him
into a deep hole in the ground here in the wilderness; but let us not shed his
blood.”
As soon as Joseph
arrived, his brothers took his coat of many colors and threw him into a big
hole. Then they all sat down to eat,
except Ruben who had gone away.
A little later, some
merchants who were on their way to Egypt passed by. Juda, one of the brothers, said: “What good
will it do to us if we kill our brother? Let us sell him to these merchants
instead.” The others agreed. They pulled
Joseph out of the Pit and sold him to the merchants for twenty pieces of
silver. Thus, Joseph was brought by the
merchants to Egypt.
Jacob answered: “Indeed
it is. A wild beast must have eaten
Joseph.” And believing that his son was dead, Jacob was inconsolable.
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