Jacob Comes Home
121
ing the apparent severity of his words, Jacob believed that the Lord
was revealing the future to Joseph.
As the lad stood before his brothers, his beautiful countenance
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lighted up with the Spirit of Inspiration. They could not withhold their
admiration, but hated the purity that reproved their sins.
The brothers were obliged to move from place to place to secure
pasturage for their flocks. After the circumstances just related, they
went to Shechem. Some time passed bringing no tidings, and the father
began to fear for their safety on account of their former cruelty toward
the Shechemites. He therefore sent Joseph to find them. Had Jacob
known the real feeling of his sons toward Joseph, he would not have
trusted him alone with them.
With a joyful heart, Joseph parted from his father, neither the aged
man nor the youth dreaming of what would happen before they should
meet again. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, his brothers and their
flocks were not to be found. Upon inquiring for them, he was directed
to Dothan. He hastened on, forgetting his weariness in the thought of
relieving the anxiety of his father and meeting the brothers whom he
still loved.
His brothers saw him approaching; but no thought of the long
journey he had made to meet them, of his weariness and hunger, of his
claims upon their hospitality and brotherly love softened the bitterness
of their hatred. The sight of the coat, the token of their father’s love,
filled them with frenzy. “Behold, this dreamer cometh.” Envy and
revenge now controlled them. “Let us slay him,” they said, “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.”
But Reuben shrank from the murder of his brother and proposed
that Joseph be cast alive into a pit and left there to perish; secretly
intending, however, to rescue him and return him to his father. Having
persuaded all to consent to his plan, Reuben left, fearing that his real
intentions would be discovered.
Joseph came on, unsuspicious of danger. But instead of the ex-
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pected greeting, he was terrified by the angry and revengeful glances
which he met. He was seized and his coat stripped from him. Taunts
and threats revealed a deadly purpose. His entreaties were unheeded.
Those maddened men rudely dragged him to a deep pit, thrust him in,
and left him there to perish.