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Jacob had twelve sons:—Reuben,
Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, and Zebulon, who
were grown up: Joseph, who was seventeen years old, and little
Benjamin. The ten eldest were wicked men, but Joseph feared
God: and Jacob loved him more than the others, and he gave him a
coat of many colors. The ten brothers were jealous, when they saw
their father loved Joseph so much, and they hated Joseph, and were very
unkind to him. But God was with Joseph, to love and keep him. One
night, God sent a wonderful dream to Joseph. He thought he was
binding sheaves of corn in the field with his brothers; and the sheaves of
his brothers arose, and stood up, and bowed before Joseph's sheaf.
God told Joseph, by this dream, that his brothers should obey him, and
that he should rule over them; but they laughed, and were very angry, when
he told them his dream. Soon after, he dreamed again, and saw the
sun, and moon, and eleven stars bow before him. Joseph told his
dream to his father, and his brothers: Jacob understood the meaning
of the dream, and thought much about it; but the brothers only envied him
still more. Jacob's sons
were shepherds, and took care of their father's flocks: and the ten
eldest went to feed the sheep in Shechem; but Joseph and little Benjamin
were with Jacob. One day, Israel called Joseph, and said, "Go
now, and see if thy brethren are well, and if the flocks are well, and
bring me word again." So Joseph went away from Hebron, and came
to Shechem; but his brothers were not there, and he was told that they
were gone to Dothan. Then Joseph went on to Dothan, and there he
found them. And now some of these wicked men said, when they saw him
afar off, "Here comes the dreamer: now let us slay him, and
cast him into a pit, and say an evil beast has devoured him;; and we shall
see what will become of his dreams." But Reuben said, "Let
us not kill him, but cast him into this pit;" for Reuben was less
cruel, and thought he could then take him out, and bring him home safely
to his father. So when Joseph came to them, his cruel brothers
seized him, and tore off his coat of many colors, and threw him into the
pit; the pit was empty, there was not water in it; and then they sat down,
and ate bread. While these
wicked, cruel brothers were eating, they looked up, and saw a great many
people coming towards them. The people were Ishmaelites, children of
Ishmael, the son of Hagar. They came from Gilead; and they had
camels, which carried the spices they were going to take into Egypt.
When Judah saw the Ishmaelites, he persuaded his brothers to sell Joseph
to them, for Judah loved money; so Joseph was taken out of the pit, and
sold for twenty pieces of silver; and the Ishmaelites took him, and
brought him to Egypt, and there they sold him again to a man named
Potiphar. Reuben was not with his brothers when Joseph was sold; and
when he came back to the pit, and did not find him, he rent his clothes,
and ran to his brothers, and said, "The child is not; and I, whither
shall I go?" But they cared nothing for Reuben's sorrow.
They killed a kid, and dipped Joseph's coat of many colors in the blood;
and then they went home, and showed the coat to their father, and said,
"This have we found; know now if it be thy son's coat or
not." Jacob remembered the coat directly; and he said, "It
is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is, without
doubt, rent in pieces." And then Jacob wept, and rent his
clothes, and refused to be comforted. We read that, many years
before, Jacob deceived his father Isaac; now Jacob's children deceived
him. God does not forget sin; He had forgiven Jacob; but Jacob
suffered for his wicked deceit all his life, to teach him what an evil
thing sin is!
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