Joseph and his Brethren
91
Jacob’s sons were shepherds, and fed their flocks where they could
find the best pastures. In traveling from place to place with their cattle,
they often wandered quite a distance from their father’s house, so that
they did not see their father for several months at a time. In his anxiety
for them, he sent Joseph to see if they were all well. With the true
interest of a brother, Joseph searched for his brethren, where his father
supposed he would find them, but they were not there. A certain man
found him wandering in the field in search of his brethren, and directed
him to Dothan. This was a long journey for Joseph. But he cheerfully
[140]
performed it, because he loved his brethren, and also wished to relieve
the anxiety of his father. But he was illy repaid for his love to them,
and obedience to his father.
“And when they saw him afar off, even before he came near unto
them, they conspired against him to slay him. And they said one to
another, Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let
us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil
beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his
dreams. And Reuben heard it, and he delivered him out of their hands
and said, Let us not kill him. And Reuben said unto them, Shed no
blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and lay no
hand upon him, that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him
to his father again.”
Joseph, unsuspicious of what was to befall him, approached his
brethren with gladness of heart to greet them after his long, wearisome
journey. His brothers rudely repulsed him. He told them his errand,
but they answered him not. Joseph was alarmed at their angry looks.
Fear took the place of joy, and he instinctively shrank with dread from
their presence. They then took hold of him violently. They taunted
him with the admonitions he had given them in the past, accused him
of relating his dreams to exalt himself above them in the mind of their
father, that he might love him more than themselves. They accused
[141]
him of hypocrisy. As they gave utterance to their envious feelings,
Satan controlled their minds, and they had no sense of pity, and no
feelings of love for their brother. They stripped him of his coat of
many colors that he wore, which was a token of his father’s love, and
which had excited their envious feelings.
Joseph was weary and hungry, yet they gave him neither rest nor
food. “And they took him, and cast him into a pit; and the pit was