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After Jacob came back to the land of Canaan with his eleven sons,
another son was born to him, the second child of his wife Rachel,
whom Jacob loved so well. But soon after the baby came, his mother
Rachel died, and Jacob was filled with sorrow. Even to this day you
can see the place where Rachel was buried, on the road between
Jerusalem and Bethlehem. Jacob named the child whom Rachel left,
Benjamin; and now Jacob had twelve sons. Most of them were grown-up
men; but Joseph was a boy seventeen years old, and his brother
Benjamin was almost a baby.
Of all his children, Jacob loved Joseph the best, because he was
Rachel's child; because he was so much younger than most of his
brothers; and because he was good, and faithful, and thoughtful.
Jacob gave to Joseph a robe or coat of bright colors, made somewhat
like a long cloak with wide sleeves. This was a special mark of
Jacob's favor to Joseph, and it made his older brothers envious of him.
 Then,
too, Joseph did what was right, while his older brothers often did
very wrong acts, of which Joseph sometimes told their father; and
this made them very angry at Joseph. But they hated him still more
because of two strange dreams he had, and of which he told them. He
said one day: "Listen to this dream that I have dreamed. I
dreamed that we were out in the field binding sheaves, when suddenly
my sheaf stood up, and all your sheaves came around it and bowed down
to my sheaf!"
And they said scornfully, "Do you suppose that the dream means
that you will some time rule over us, and that we shall bow down to you?"
Then, a few days after, Joseph said, "I have dreamed again. This
time, I saw in my dream the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars, all
come and bow to me!"
And his father said to him, "I do not like you to dream such
dreams. Shall I, and your mother, and your brothers, come and bow
down before you as if you were a king?"
His brothers hated Joseph, and would not speak kindly to him; but his
father thought much of what Joseph had said.
At one time, Joseph's ten brothers were taking care of the flock in
the fields near Shechem, which was nearly fifty miles from Hebron,
where Jacob's tents were spread. And Jacob wished to send a message
to his sons, and he called Joseph, and said to him:
 "Your
brothers are near Shechem with the flock. I wish that you would go
to them, and take a message, and find if they are well, and if the
flocks are doing well; and bring me word from them."
That was quite an errand, for a boy to go alone over the country, and
find his way, for fifty miles, and then walk home again. But Joseph
was a boy who could take care of himself, and could be trusted; so he
went forth on his journey, walking northward over the mountains, past
Bethlehem, and Jerusalem, and Bethelthough we are not sure those
cities were then built, except Jerusalem, which was already a strong city.
When Joseph reached Shechem, he could not find his brothers, for they
had taken their flocks to another place. A man met Joseph wandering
in the field, and asked him, "Whom are you seeking?"
Joseph said, "I am looking for my brothers; the sons of Jacob.
Can you tell me where I will find them?"
And the man said, "They are at Dothan; for I heard them say that
they were going there."
Then Joseph walked over the hills to Dothan, which was fifteen miles
further. And his brothers saw him afar off coming toward them. They
knew him by his bright garment; and one said to another: "Look,
that dreamer is coming! Come, let us kill him, and throw his body
into a pit, and tell his father that some wild beast has eaten him;
and then we will see what becomes of his dreams."
One of his brothers, whose name was Reuben, felt more kindly toward
Joseph than the others. He said:
"Let us not kill him, but let us throw him into this pit, in the
wilderness, and leave him there to die."
But Reuben intended, after they had gone away, to lift Joseph out of
the pit, and take him home to his father. The brothers did as Reuben
told them; they threw Joseph into the pit, which was empty. He cried,
and begged them to save him; but they would not. They calmly sat down
to eat their dinner on the grass, while their brother was calling to
them from the pit.
After the dinner, Reuben chanced to go to another part of the field;
so that he was not at hand when a company of men passed by with their
camels, going from Gilead, on the east of the river Jordan, to Egypt,
to sell spices and fragrant gum from trees to the Egyptians.
Then Judah, another of Joseph's brothers, said, "What good will
it do us to kill our brother? Would it not be better for us to sell
him to these men, and let them carry him away? After all, he is our
brother, and we would better not kill him."
His brothers agreed with him; so they stopped the men who were
passing, and drew up Joseph from the pit, and for twenty pieces of
silver they sold Joseph to these men; and they took him away with
them down to Egypt.
After a while, Reuben came to the pit, where they had left Joseph,
and looked into it; but Joseph was not there. Then Reuben was in
great trouble; and he came back to his brothers, saying: "The
boy is not there! What shall I do!"
 Then
his brothers told Reuben what they had done; and they all agreed
together to deceive their father. They killed one of the goats, and
dipped Joseph's coat in its blood; and they brought it to their
father, and they said to him: "We found this coat out in the
wilderness. Look at it, father, and tell us if you think it was the
coat of your son."
And Jacob knew it at once. He said: "It is my son's coat. Some
wild beast has eaten him. There is no doubt that Joseph has been torn
in pieces!"
And Jacob's heart was broken over the loss of Joseph, all the more
because he had sent Joseph alone on the journey through the
wilderness. They tried to comfort him, but he would not be comforted.
He said: "I will go down to the grave mourning for my poor lost son."
So the old man sorrowed for his son Joseph; and all the time his
wicked brothers knew that Joseph was not dead; but they would not
tell their father the dreadful deed they had done to their brother,
in selling him as a slave.
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