JOSEPH 



3174 



JOSEPH 



stood upright, while the sheaves of his brothers 

 gathered round and bowed down to it. In 

 the second dream it appeared to him as if the 

 sun, moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. 



So one day, while the brothers were watching 

 their flocks in the pastures of Dothan, they 

 saw Joseph in the distance coming towards 

 them, and one of them said, "Behold, this 

 dreamer cometh. Let us slay him." But 

 Reuben, who was not so cruel, urged them to 

 put him in a deep pit without harming him. 

 To this they finally agreed, after taking his 

 beautiful coat from him. Soon after, as they 

 were eating, a band of Ishmaelites suddenly 

 appeared with their camels laden with spices 

 and precious things which they were carrying 

 from Gilead down into Egypt. Upon Judah's 

 suggestion the brothers, during Reuben's ab- 

 sence, drew Joseph out of the pit and sold him 

 to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. 

 The brothers killed a kid, rent the coat, stained 

 it with the kid's blood and took it to Jacob, 

 telling him that a wild beast had destroyed 

 Joseph. The old man said that he should go 

 down to his grave weeping fo'r his son. 



A Slave in Egypt. The band of Ishmaelites 

 carried Joseph to Egypt, where Potiphar, the 

 captain of Pharaoh's guard, bought him. Here 

 he served his master so faithfully that he was 

 made overseer of the household; but he of- 

 fended Potiphar's wife, and she had him 

 imprisoned upon false accusations. He soon 

 obtained the confidence of the jailor, who 

 placed him in charge of all the prisoners. 



It happened that Pharaoh's chief butler and 

 baker offended their lord, so they also were 

 cast into prison. One night they both had 

 strange dreams which Joseph interpreted cor- 

 rectly for them, for he told the butler that in 

 three days he would be freed, while the baker 

 was to be hanged at the same time. Before 

 the butler left the prison Joseph asked him to 

 try to obtain his pardon, but he forgot him 

 completely until two years later, when Pharaoh 

 had two very strange dreams which no one 

 could interpret. Then Pharaoh, upon being 

 told about the dreams in prison, sent for Joseph 

 to come to interpret his dreams. The first 

 was that seven fat kine that is, cattle were 

 grazing in a field near the river when seven 

 lean kine came and ate them up; the second 

 was of seven good ears of corn which sprang 

 up, but were devoured by seven thin ones. 

 Joseph said that both these dreams meant that 

 there would be seven years of plenty in Egypt 

 followed by seven years of famine, and he 



advised Pharaoh to choose some wise man to 

 gather in the extra food ffbm the land of 

 Egypt during the time of plenty, so the people 

 could be fed when the famine came. 



The Prime Minister. Pharaoh was so pleased 

 with Joseph's sense and wisdom that he chose 

 him as the man to oversee the storing of corn 

 and grain, making him ruler over all of Egypt. 

 For seven years there were abundant crops in 

 all lands and Joseph carefully watched ever 

 Egypt, so when the famine suddenly spread 

 over all the known world his country was not 

 in want. 



Up in Canaan no grain had been saved, so 

 Jacob and his family soon were much in need 

 of food, and the ten oldest sons were sent 

 down into Egypt to buy corn. Of course they 

 did not recognize their brother Joseph when 

 they were brought before him, for it was 

 twenty years since they had sold him into 

 slavery. Joseph, however, knew them imme- 

 diately, for some of the older ones had changed 

 but little. Pretending to think that they were 

 spies, he asked them about their home, and 

 when they said that they had another brother, 

 Benjamin, at home, he told them to go and 

 get him to prove what they said was true, 

 they left he ordered their bags to be fille 

 with corn, and the money which they had paic 

 hidden in the bags, while he kept one brother, 

 Simeon, as hostage until they returned. 



When the old father Jacob heard the thinj 

 his sons told him he refused at first to 

 Benjamin go back with them, but after all 

 corn had been eaten he was obliged to le 

 the brothers take the boy with them on the 

 return for more food. As Joseph saw Benjamir 

 he longed to take him in his arms and weej 

 for joy, for Benjamin was his own brother, 

 the son of Rachel, Joseph's mother, while the 

 others were all half-brothers. But instead, 

 did not tell any of them who he was until he 

 tested their character. Then when he four 

 how thoughtful they were of their father, he 

 sent the servants from the room and told all 

 about himself. 



The brothers were ashamed to look at him, 

 but Joseph told them that he forgave them 

 for their wickedness. After this happy re- 

 union, he told them to go and bring their 

 father, with all their families, down into Egypt, 

 where they could have plenty of food for 

 themselves as well as for their cattle. When 

 Pharaoh heard the good news he gave thn--. 

 wagons and provisions sufficient to last until 

 they could return to Egypt. 



