No sooner was the sale of Joseph an accomplished fact than the sons of
Jacob repented of their deed. They even hastened after the Midianites
to ransom Joseph, but their efforts to overtake them were vain, and
they had to accept the inevitable. Meantime Reuben had rejoined his
brethren.[59] He had been so deeply absorbed in penances, in praying
and studying the Torah, in expiation of his sin against his father,
that he had not been able to remain with his brethren and tend the
flocks, and thus it happened that he was not on the spot when Joseph
was sold.[60] His first errand was to go to the pit, in the hope of
finding Joseph there. In that case he would have carried him off and
restored him to his father clandestinely, without the knowledge of his
brethren. He stood at the opening and called again and again, "Joseph,
Joseph!" As he received no answer, he concluded that Joseph had
perished, either by reason of terror or as the result of a snake bite,
and he descended into the pit, only to find that he was not there,
either living or dead. He mounted to the top again, and rent his
clothes, and cried out, "The lad is not there, and what answer shall I
give to my father, if he be dead?" Then Reuben returned unto his
brethren, and told them that Joseph bad vanished from the pit, whereat
he was deeply grieved, because he, being the oldest of the sons, was
responsible to their father Jacob. The brethren made a clean breast of
what they had done with Joseph, and they related to him how they had
tried to make good their evil deed, and how their efforts had been
vain.
Now there remained nothing to do but invent a plausible explanation for
their brother's disappearance to give to Jacob. First of all, however,
they took an oath not to betray to his father or any human being what
they bad actually done with Joseph. He who violated the oath would be
put to the sword by the rest. Then they took counsel together about
what to say to Jacob. It was Issachar's advice to tear Joseph's coat of
many colors, and dip it in the blood of a little kid of the goats, to
make Jacob believe that his son had been torn by a wild beast.[61] The
reason he suggested a kid was because its blood looks like human blood.
In expiation of this act of deception, it was ordained that a kid be
used as an atonement sacrifice when the Tabernacle was dedicated.[62]
Simon opposed this suggestion. He did not want to relinquish Joseph's
coat, and he threatened to hew down any one that should attempt to
wrest it from him by force. The reason for his vehemence was that he
was very much enraged against his brethren for not having slain Joseph.
But they threatened him in turn, saying, "If thou wilt not give up the
coat, we shall say that thou didst execute the evil deed thyself." At
that Simon surrendered it,[63] and Naphtali brought it to Jacob,
handing it to him with the words: "When we were driving our herds
homeward, we found this garment covered with blood and dust on the
highway, a little beyond Shechem. Know now whether it be thy son's coat
or not." Jacob recognized Joseph's coat, and, overwhelmed by grief, he
fell prostrate, and long lay on the ground motionless, like a stone.
Then he arose, and set up a loud cry, and wept, saying, "It is my son's
coat."
In great haste Jacob dispatched a slave to his sons, to bid them come
to him, that he might learn more about what had happened. In the
evening they all came, their garments rent, and dust strewn upon their
heads. When they confirmed all that Naphtali had told him, Jacob broke
out in mourning and lamentation: "It is my son's coat; an evil beast
hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn in pieces. I sent him
to you to see whether it was well with you, and well with the flock. He
went to do my errand, and while I thought him to be with you, the
misfortune befell." Thereto the sons of Jacob made reply: "He came to
us not at all. Since we left thee, we have not set eyes on him."
After these words, Jacob could doubt no longer that Joseph bad been
torn by wild beasts, and he mourned for his son, saying: "O my son
Joseph, my son, I sent thee to inquire after the welfare of thy
brethren, and now thou art torn by wild beasts. It is my fault that
this evil chance hath come upon thee. I am distressed for thee, my son,
I am sorely distressed. How sweet was thy life to me, and how bitter is
thy death! Would God I had died for thee, O Joseph, my son, for now I
am distressed on thy account. O my son Joseph, where art thou, and
where is thy soul? Arise, arise from thy place, and look upon my grief
for thee. Come and count the tears that roll down my cheeks, and bring
the tale of them before God, that His wrath be turned away from me. O
Joseph, my son, how painful and appalling was thy death! None hath died
a death like thine since the world doth stand. I know well that it came
to pass by reason of my sins. O that thou wouldst return and see the
bitter sorrow thy misfortune hath brought upon me! But it is true, it
was not I that created thee, and formed thee. I gave thee neither
spirit nor soul, but God created thee. He formed thy bones, covered
them with flesh, breathed the breath of life into thy nostrils, and
then gave thee unto me. And God who gave thee unto me, He hath taken
thee from me, and from Him hath this dispensation come upon me. What
the Lord doeth is well done!" In these words and many others like them
Jacob mourned and bewailed his son, until he fell to the ground
prostrate and immovable.
When the sons of Jacob saw the vehemence of their father's grief, they
repented of their deed, and wept bitterly. Especially Judah was
grief-stricken. He laid his father's head upon his knees, and wiped his
tears away as they flowed from his eyes, while he himself broke out in
violent weeping. The sons of Jacob and their wives all sought to
comfort their father. They arranged a great memorial service, and they
wept and mourned over Joseph's death and over their father's
sorrow.[64] But Jacob refused to be comforted.
The tidings of his son's death caused the loss of two members of
Jacob's family. Bilhah and Dinah could not survive their grief. Bilhah
passed away the very day whereon the report reached Jacob, and Dinah
died soon after, and so he had three losses to mourn in one month.
He received the tidings of Joseph's death in the seventh month, Tishri,
and on the tenth day of the month, and therefore the children of Israel
are bidden to weep and afflict their souls on this day. Furthermore, on
this day the sin offering of atonement shall be a kid of the goats,
because the sons of Jacob transgressed with a kid, in the blood of
which they dipped Joseph's coat, and thus they brought sorrow upon
Jacob.[65]
When he had recovered somewhat from the stunning blow which the tidings
of his favorite son's death had dealt him, Jacob rose up from the
ground and addressed his sons, tears streaming down his cheeks all the
while. "Up," he said, "take your swords and your bows, go out in the
field, and make search, perhaps you will find the body of my son, and
you will bring it to me, so that I may bury it. Keep a lookout, too,
for beasts of prey, and catch the first you meet. Seize it and bring it
to me. It may be that God will have pity upon my sorrow, and put the
beast between your hands that hath torn my child in pieces, and I will
take my revenge upon it."
The sons of Jacob set out on the morrow to do the bidding of their
father, while he remained at home and wept and lamented for Joseph. In
the wilderness they found a wolf, which they caught and brought to
Jacob alive, saying: "Here is the first wild beast we encountered, and
we have brought it to thee. But of thy son's corpse we saw not a
trace." Jacob seized the wolf, and, amid loud weeping, he addressed
these words to him: "Why didst thou devour my son Joseph, without any
fear of the God of the earth, and without taking any thought of the
grief thou wouldst bring down upon me? Thou didst devour my son without
reason, he was guilty of no manner of transgression, and thou didst
roll the responsibility for his death upon me. But God avengeth him
that is persecuted."
To grant consolation to Jacob, God opened the mouth of the beast, and
he spake: "As the Lord liveth, who hath created me, and as thy soul
liveth, my lord, I have not seen thy son, and I did not rend him in
pieces. From a land afar off I came to seek mine own son, who suffered
a like fate with thine. He hath disappeared, and I know not whether he
be dead or alive, and therefore I came hither ten days ago to find him.
This day, while I was searching for him, thy sons met me, and they
seized me, and, adding more grief to my grief over my lost son, they
brought me hither to thee. This is my story, and now, O son of man, I
am in thy hands, thou canst dispose of me this day as seemeth well in
thy sight, but I swear unto thee by the God that bath created me, I
have not seen thy son, nor have I torn him in pieces, never hath the
flesh of man come into my mouth." Astonished at the speech of the wolf,
Jacob let him go, unhindered, whithersoever he would, but he mourned
his son Joseph as before.[66]
It is a law of nature that however much one may grieve over the death
of a dear one, at the end of a year consolation finds its way to the
heart of the mourner. But the disappearance of a living man can never
be wiped out of one's memory. Therefore the fact that he was
inconsolable made Jacob suspect that Joseph was alive, and he did not
give entire credence to the report of his sons. His vague suspicion was
strengthened by something that happened to him. He went up into the
mountains, hewed twelve stones out of the quarry, and wrote the names
of his sons thereon, their constellations, and the months corresponding
to the constellations, a stone for a son, thus, "Reuben, Ram, Nisan,"
and so for each of his twelve sons. Then he addressed the stones and
bade them bow down before the one marked with Reuben's name,
constellation, and month, and they did not move. He gave the same order
regarding the stone marked for Simon, and again the stones stood still.
And so he did respecting all his sons, until he reached the stone for
Joseph. When he spoke concerning this one, "I command you to fall down
before Joseph," they all prostrated themselves. He tried the same test
with other things, with trees and sheaves, and always the result was
the same, and Jacob could not but feel that his suspicion was true,
Joseph was alive.[67]
There was a reason why God did not reveal the real fate of Joseph to
Jacob. When his brethren sold Joseph, their fear that the report of
their iniquity might reach the ears of Jacob led them to pronounce the
ban upon any that should betray the truth without the consent of all
the others. Judah advanced the objection that a ban is invalid unless
it is decreed in the presence of ten persons, and there were but nine
of them, for Reuben and Benjamin were not there when the sale of Joseph
was concluded. To evade the difficulty, the brothers counted God as the
tenth person, and therefore God felt bound to refrain from revealing
the true state of things to Jacob. He had regard, as it were, for the
ban pronounced by the brethren of Joseph.[68] And as God kept the truth
a secret from Jacob, Isaac did not feel justified in acquainting him
with his grandson's fate, which was well known to him, for he was a
prophet. Whenever he was in the company of Jacob, he mourned with him,
but as soon as he quitted him, he left off from manifesting grief,
because he knew that Joseph lived.[69]
Jacob was thus the only one among Joseph's closest kinsmen that
remained in ignorance of his son's real fortunes, and he was the one of
them all that had the greatest reason for regretting his death. He
spoke: "The covenant that God made with me regarding the twelve tribes
is null and void now. I did strive in vain to establish the twelve
tribes, seeing that now the death of Joseph hath destroyed the
covenant. All the works of God were made to correspond to the number of
the tribes—twelve are the signs of the zodiac, twelve the months,
twelve hours hath the day, twelve the night, and twelve stones are set
in Aaron's breastplate—and now that Joseph hath departed, the covenant
of the tribes is set at naught."
He could not replace the lost son by entering into a new marriage, for
he had made the promise to his father-in-law to take none beside his
daughters to wife, and this promise, as he interpreted it, held good
after the death of Laban's daughters as well as while they were
alive.[70]
Beside grief over his loss and regret at the breaking of the covenant
of the tribes, Jacob had still another reason for mourning the death of
Joseph. God had said to Jacob, "If none of thy sons dies during thy
lifetime, thou mayest look upon it as a token that thou wilt not be put
in Gehenna after thy death." Thinking Joseph to be dead, Jacob had his
own fate to bewail, too, for he now believed that he was doomed to
Gehenna.[71] His mourning lasted all of twenty-two years, corresponding
to the number of the years he had dwelt apart from his parents, and had
not fulfilled the duty of a son toward them.[72]
In his mourning Jacob put sackcloth upon his loins, and therein be
became a model for the kings and princes in Israel, for David, Ahab,
Joram, and Mordecai did likewise when a great misfortune befell the
nation.[73]