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Patriarchs and Prophets
come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?” Notwithstanding
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
lighted up with the Spirit of inspiration, they could not withhold their
admiration; but they did not choose to renounce their evil ways, and
they hated the purity that reproved their sins. The same spirit that
actuated Cain was kindling in their hearts.
The brothers were obliged to move from place to place to secure
pasturage for their flocks, and frequently they were absent from home
for months together. After the circumstances just related, they went
to the place which their father had bought at Shechem. Some time
passed, bringing no tidings from them, 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, and bring him words as to their
welfare. Had Jacob known the real feeling of his sons toward Joseph,
he would not have trusted him alone with them; but this they had
carefully concealed.
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, after his long and solitary journey, Joseph arrived
at Shechem, his brothers and their flocks were not to be found. Upon
inquiring for them, he was directed to Dothan. He had already traveled
more than fifty miles, and now an additional distance of fifteen lay
before him, but he hastened on, forgetting his weariness in the thought
of relieving the anxiety of his father, and meeting the brothers, whom,
despite their unkindness, 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
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of their hatred. The sight of the coat, the token of their father’s love,
filled them with frenzy. “Behold, this dreamer cometh,” they cried in
mockery. Envy and revenge, long secretly cherished, 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.”
They would have executed their purpose but for Reuben. He shrank
from participating in the murder of his brother, and proposed that