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."
[Illustration: _For twenty pieces of silver they sold Joseph_]
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.
THE DREAMS OF A KING
The men who bought Joseph from his brothers were called Ishmaelites,
because they belonged to the family of Ishmael, who, you remember, was
the son of Hagar, the servant of Sarah. These men carried Joseph
southward over the plain which lies beside the great sea on the west of
Canaan; and after many days they brought Joseph to Egypt. How strange it
must have seemed to the boy who had lived in tents to see the great
river Nile, and the cities thronged with people, and the temples, and
the mighty pyramids!
The Ishmaelites sold Joseph as a slave to a man named Potiphar, who was
an officer in the army of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. Joseph was a
beautiful boy, and cheerful and willing in his spirit, and able in all
that he undertook; so that his master Potiphar became very friendly to
him, and after a time, he placed Joseph in charge of his house, and
everything in it. For some years Joseph continued in the house of
Potiphar, a slave in name, but in reality the master of all his affairs,
and ruler over his fellow-servants.
But Potiphar's wife, who at first was very friendly to Joseph,
afterward became his enemy, because Joseph would not do wrong to please
her. She told her husband falsely, that Joseph had done a wicked deed.
Her husband believed her, and was very angry at Joseph, and put him in
the prison with those who had been sent to that place for breaking the
laws of the land. How hard it was for Joseph to be charged with a crime,
when he had done no wrong, and to be thrust into a dark prison among
wicked people!
But Joseph had faith in God, that at some time all would come out right;
and in the prison he was cheerful, and kind, and helpful, as he had
always been. The keeper of the prison saw that Joseph was not like the
other men around him, and he was kind to Joseph. In a very little while,
Joseph was placed in charge of all his fellow-prisoners, and took care
of them, just as he had taken care of everything in Potiphar's house.
The keeper of the prison scarcely looked into the prison at all; for he
had confidence in Joseph, that he would be faithful and wise in doing
the work given to him. Joseph did right, and served God, and God blessed
Joseph in everything.
While Joseph was in the prison, two men were sent there by the king of
Egypt, because he was displeased with them. One was the king's chief
butler, who served the king with wine; the other was the chief baker,
who served him with bread. These two men were under Joseph's care; and
Joseph waited on them, for they were men of rank.
One morning, when Joseph came into the room where the butler and the
baker were kept, he found them looking quite sad. Joseph said to them:
"Why do you look so sad today?" Joseph was cheerful and happy in his
spirit; and he wished others to be happy also, even in prison.
And one of them said, "Each one of us dreamed last night a very strange
dream, and there is no one to tell us what our dreams mean."
For in those times, before God gave the Bible to men, he often spoke to
men in dreams; and there were wise men who could sometimes tell what the
dreams meant.
"Tell me," said Joseph, "what your dreams are. Perhaps my God will help
me to understand them."
Then the chief butler told his dream. He said, "In my dream I saw a
grape-vine with three branches; and as I looked, the branches shot out
buds; and the buds became blossoms; and the blossoms turned into
clusters of ripe grapes. And I picked the grapes, and squeezed their
juice into king Pharaoh's cup, and it became wine; and I gave it to king
Pharaoh to drink, just as I used to do when I was beside his table."
Then Joseph said, "This is what your dream means. The three branches
mean three days. In three days, king Pharaoh shall call you out of
prison and shall put you back in your place; and you shall stand at his
table, and shall give him his wine, as you have given it before. But
when you go out of prison, please to remember me, and try to find some
way to get me, too, out of this prison. For I was stolen out of the land
of Canaan, and sold as a slave; and I have done nothing wrong to deserve
being put in this prison. Do speak to the king for me, that I may be set
free."
Of course, the chief butler felt very happy to hear that his dream had
so pleasant a meaning. And the chief baker spoke, hoping to have an
answer as good:
"In my dream," said the baker, "there were three baskets of white bread
on my head, one above another, and on the topmost basket were all kinds
of roasted meat and food for Pharaoh; and the birds came, and ate the
food from the baskets on my head."
And Joseph said to the baker:
"This is the meaning of your dream, and I am sorry to tell it to you.
The three baskets are three days. In three days, by order of the king
you shall be lifted up, and hanged upon a tree; and the birds shall eat
your flesh from your bones as you are hanging in the air."
And it came to pass just as Joseph had said. Three days after that, king
Pharaoh sent his officers to the prison. They came and took out both the
chief butler and the chief baker. The baker they hung up by his neck to
die, and left his body for the birds to pick in pieces. The chief butler
they brought back to his old place, where he waited at the king's table,
and handed him his wine to drink.
You would have supposed that the butler would remember Joseph, who had
given him the promise of freedom, and had shown such wisdom. But in his
gladness, he forgot all about Joseph. And two full years passed by,
while Joseph was still in prison, until he was a man thirty years old.
But one night, king Pharaoh himself dreamed a dream--in fact, two dreams
in one. And in the morning he sent for all the wise men of Egypt, and
told to them his dreams; but there was not a man who could give the
meaning of them. And the king was troubled, for he felt that the dreams
had some meaning which it was important for him to know.
Then suddenly the chief butler who was by the king's table remembered
his own dream in the prison two years before, and remembered, too, the
young man who had told its meaning so exactly. And he said:
"I do remember my faults this day. Two years ago king Pharaoh was angry
with his servants, with me and the chief baker; and he sent us to the
prison. While we were in the prison, one night each of us dreamed a
dream; and the next day a young man in the prison, a Hebrew from the
land of Canaan, told us what our dreams meant; and in three days they
came true, just as the young Hebrew had said. I think that if this young
man is in the prison still, he could tell the king the meaning of his
dreams."
You notice that the butler spoke of Joseph as "a Hebrew." The people of
Israel, to whom Joseph belonged, were called Hebrews as well as
Israelites. The word Hebrew means, "One who crossed over," and it was
given to the Israelites because Abraham, their father, had come from a
land on the other side of the great river Euphrates, and had crossed
over the river on his way to Canaan.
Then king Pharaoh sent in haste to the prison for Joseph; and Joseph was
taken out, and he was dressed in new garments, and was led in to Pharaoh
in the palace. And Pharaoh said:
"I have dreamed a dream; and there is no one who can tell what it
means. And I have been told that you have power to understand dreams and
what they mean."
And Joseph answered Pharaoh:
"The power is not in me; but God will give Pharaoh a good answer. What
is the dream that the king has dreamed?"
"In my first dream," said Pharaoh, "I was standing by the river: and I
saw seven fat and handsome cows come up from the river to feed in the
grass. And while they were feeding, seven other cows followed them up
from the river, very thin, and poor, and lean--such miserable creatures
as I had never seen before. And the seven lean cows ate up the seven fat
cows; and after they had eaten them up, they were as lean and miserable
as before. Then I awoke.
"And I fell asleep again, and dreamed again. In my second dream, I saw
seven heads of grain growing up on one stalk, large, and strong, and
good. And then seven heads came up after them, that were thin, and poor,
and withered. And the seven thin heads swallowed up the seven good
heads; and afterward were as poor and withered as before.
"And I told these two dreams to all the wise men, and there is no one
who can explain them. Can you tell me what these dreams mean?"
And Joseph said to the king:
"The two dreams have the same meaning. God has been showing to king
Pharaoh what he will do in this land. The seven good cows mean seven
years, and the seven good heads of grain mean the same seven years. The
seven lean cows and the seven thin heads of grain also mean seven years.
The good cows and the good grain mean seven years of plenty, and the
seven thin cows and thin heads of grain mean seven poor years. There are
coming upon the land of Egypt seven years of such plenty as have never
been seen; when the fields shall bring greater crops than ever before;
and after those years shall come seven years when the fields shall bring
no crops at all. And then for seven years there shall be such need, that
the years of plenty will be forgotten, for the people will have nothing
to eat."
[Illustration: _"The two dreams have the same meaning"_]
"Now, let king Pharaoh find some man who is able and wise, and let him
set this man to rule over the land. And during the seven years of
plenty, let a part of the crops be put away for the years of need. If
this shall be done, then when the years of need come, there will be
plenty of food for all the people, and no one will suffer, for all will
have enough."
And king Pharaoh said to Joseph: "Since God has shown you all this,
there is no other man as wise as you. I will appoint you to do this
work, and to rule over the land of Egypt. All the people shall be under
you; only on the throne of Egypt I will be above you."
And Pharaoh took from his own hand the ring which held his seal, and put
on Joseph's hand, so that he could sign for the king, and seal in the
king's place. And he dressed Joseph in robes of fine linen, and put
around his neck a gold chain. And he made Joseph ride in a chariot which
was next in rank to his own. And they cried out before Joseph, "Bow the
knee." And thus Joseph was ruler over all the land of Egypt.
THE STORY OF THE MONEY IN THE SACKS
When Joseph was made ruler over the land of Egypt, he did just as he had
always done. It was not Joseph's way to sit down, to rest and enjoy
himself, and make others wait on him. He found his work at once, and
began to do it faithfully and thoroughly. He went out over all the land
of Egypt, and saw how rich and abundant were the fields of grain, giving
much more than the people could use for their own needs. He told the
people not to waste it, but to save it for the coming time of need.
And he called upon the people to give him for the king one bushel of
grain out of every five, to be stored up. The people brought their
grain, after taking for themselves as much as they needed, and Joseph
stored it up in great storehouses in the cities; so much at last that no
one could keep account of it.
The king of Egypt gave a wife to Joseph from the noble young women of
his kingdom. Her name was Asenath; and to Joseph and his wife God gave
two sons. The oldest son he named Manasseh, a word which means "Making
to Forget."
"For," said Joseph, "God has made me to forget all my troubles and my
toil as a slave."
The second son he named Ephraim, a word that means "Fruitful."
"Because," said Joseph, "God has not only made the land fruitful; but he
has made me fruitful in the land of my troubles."
The seven years of plenty soon passed by, and then came the years of
need. In all the lands around people were hungry, and there was no food
for them to eat; but in the land of Egypt everybody had enough. Most of
the people soon used up the grain that they had saved; many had saved
none at all, and they all cried to the king to help them.
"Go to Joseph!" said king Pharaoh, "and do whatever he tells you to do."
Then the people came to Joseph, and Joseph opened the storehouses, and
sold to the people all the grain that they wished to buy. And not only
the people of Egypt came to buy grain, but people of all the lands
around as well, for there was great need and famine everywhere. And the
need was as great in the land of Canaan, where Jacob lived, as in other
lands. Jacob was rich in flocks and cattle, and gold and silver, but his
fields gave no grain, and there was danger that his family and his
people would starve. And Jacob--who was now called Israel also--heard
that there was food in Egypt and he said to his sons: "Why do you look
at each other, asking what to do to find food? I have been told that
there is grain in Egypt. Go down to that land, and take money with you,
and bring grain, so that we may have bread, and may live."
Then the ten older brothers of Joseph went down to the land of Egypt.
They rode upon asses, for horses were not much used in those times, and
they brought money with them. But Jacob would not let Benjamin, Joseph's
younger brother, go with them, for he was all the more dear to his
father, now that Joseph was no longer with him; and Jacob feared that
harm might come to him.
Then Joseph's brothers came to Joseph to buy food. They did not know
him, grown up to be a man, dressed as a prince, and seated on a throne.
Joseph was now nearly forty years old, and it had been almost
twenty-three years since they had sold him. But Joseph knew them all, as
soon as he saw them. He wished to be sharp and stern with them, not
because he hated them; but because he wished to see what their spirit
was, and whether they were as selfish, and cruel, and wicked as they had
been in other days.
They came before him, and bowed, with their faces to the ground. Then,
no doubt, Joseph thought of the dream that had come to him while he was
a boy, of his brothers' sheaves bending down around his sheaf. He spoke
to them as a stranger, as if he did not understand their language, and
he had their words explained to him in the language of Egypt.
"Who are you? And from what place do you come?" said Joseph, in a harsh,
stern manner.
They answered him very meekly: "We have come from the land of Canaan to
buy food."
"No," said Joseph, "I know what you have come for. You have come as
spies, to see how helpless the land is, so that you can bring an army
against us, and make war on us."
"No, no," said Joseph's ten brothers. "We are no spies. We are the sons
of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan; and we have come for food,
because we have none at home."
"You say that you are the sons of one man, who is your father? Is he
living? Have you any more brothers? Tell me all about yourselves."
And they said: "Our father is an old man in Canaan. We did have a
younger brother, but he was lost; and we have one brother still, who is
the youngest of all, but his father could not spare him to come with
us."
"No," said Joseph. "You are not good, honest men. You are spies. I
shall put you all in prison, except one of you; and he shall go and
bring that youngest brother of yours; and when I see him, then I will
believe that you tell the truth."
So Joseph put all the ten men in prison, and kept them under guard for
three days; then he sent for them again. They did not know that he could
understand their language, and they said to each other, while Joseph
heard, but pretended not to hear: "This has come upon us because of the
wrong that we did to our brother Joseph, more than twenty years ago. We
heard him cry, and plead with us, when we threw him into the pit, and we
would not have mercy on him. God is giving us only what we have
deserved."
And Reuben, who had tried to save Joseph, said: "Did I not tell you not
to harm the boy? and you would not listen to me. God is bringing our
brother's blood upon us all."
When Joseph heard this, his heart was touched, for he saw that his
brothers were really sorry for the wrong that they had done to him. He
turned away from them, so that they could not see his face, and he wept.
Then he turned again to them and spoke roughly as before, and said:
"This I will do, for I serve God. I will let you all go home, except
one man. One of you I will shut up in prison; but the rest of you can go
home and take food for your people. And you must come back and bring
your youngest brother with you, and I shall know then that you have
spoken the truth."
Then Joseph gave orders, and his servants seized one of his brothers,
whose name was Simeon, and bound him in their sight and took him away to
prison. And he ordered his servants to fill the men's sacks with grain,
and to put every man's money back into the sack before it was tied up,
so that they would find the money as soon as they opened the sack. Then
the men loaded their asses with the sacks of grain, and started to go
home, leaving their brother Simeon a prisoner.
When they stopped on the way to feed their asses, one of the brothers
opened his sack, and there he found his money lying on the top of the
grain. He called out to his brothers: "See, here is my money given again
to me!" And they were frightened, but they did not dare to go back to
Egypt and meet the stern ruler of the land. They went home and told
their old father all that had happened to them, and how their brother
Simeon was in prison, and must stay there until they should return,
bringing Benjamin with them.
When they opened their sacks of grain, there in the mouth of each sack
was the money that they had given; and they were filled with fear. Then
they spoke of going again to Egypt and taking Benjamin, but Jacob said
to them:
"You are taking my sons away from me. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is
gone, and now you would take Benjamin away. All these things are against
me!" Reuben said: "Here are my own two boys. You may kill them, if you
wish, in case I do not bring Benjamin back to you." But Jacob said: "My
youngest son shall not go with you. His brother is dead, and he alone is
left to me. If harm should come to him, it would bring down my gray
hairs with sorrow to the grave."
THE MYSTERY OF THE LOST BROTHER
The food which Jacob's sons had brought from Egypt did not last long,
for Jacob's family was large. Most of his sons were married and had
children of their own; so that the children and grandchildren were
sixty-six, besides the servants who waited on them, and the men who
cared for Jacob's flocks. So around the tent of Jacob was quite a camp
of other tents and an army of people.
When the food that had come from Egypt was nearly eaten up, Jacob said
to his sons:
"Go down to Egypt again, and buy some food for us."
And Judah, Jacob's son, the man who years before had urged his brothers
to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites, said to his father: "It is of no use
for us to go to Egypt, unless we take Benjamin with us. The man who
rules in that land said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your
youngest brother be with you'."
And Israel said, "Why did you tell the man that you had a brother? You
did me great harm when you told him."
"Why," said Jacob's sons, "we could not help telling him. The man asked
us all about our family, 'Is your father yet living? Have you any more
brothers?' And we had to tell him, his questions were so close. How
should we know that he would say, 'Bring your brother here, for me to
see him'?"
And Judah said, "Send Benjamin with me, and I will take care of him. I
promise you that I will bring him safely home. If he does not come back,
let me bear the blame forever. He must go, or we shall die for want of
food; and we might have gone down to Egypt and come home again, if we
had not been kept back."
And Jacob said, "If he must go, then he must. But take a present to the
man, some of the choicest fruits of the land, some spices, and perfumes,
and nuts, and almonds. And take twice as much money, besides the money
that was in your sacks. Perhaps that was a mistake, when the money was
given back to you. And take your brother Benjamin, and may the Lord God
make the man kind to you, so that he will set Simeon free, and let you
bring Benjamin back. But if it is God's will that I lose my children, I
cannot help it."
So ten brothers of Joseph went down a second time to Egypt, Benjamin
going in place of Simeon. They came to Joseph's office, the place where
he sold grain to the people; and they stood before their brother, and
bowed as before. Joseph saw that Benjamin was with them, and he said to
his steward, the man who was over his house:
"Make ready a dinner, for all these men shall dine with me today."
When Joseph's brothers found that they were taken into Joseph's house,
they were filled with fear. They said to each other:
"We have been taken here on account of the money in our sacks. They will
say that we have stolen it, and then they will sell us all for slaves."
But Joseph's steward, the man who was over his house, treated the men
kindly; and when they spoke of the money in their sacks, he would not
take it again, saying:
"Never fear; your God must have sent you this as a gift. I had your
money."
The stewards received the men into Joseph's house, and washed their
feet, according to the custom of the land. And at noon, Joseph came in
to meet them. They brought him the present from their father, and again
they bowed before him, with their faces on the ground.
And Joseph asked them if they were well, and said: "Is your father still
living, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he well?"
And they said, "Our father is well and he is living." And again they
bowed to Joseph.
And Joseph looked at his younger brother Benjamin, the child of his own
mother Rachel, and said:
"Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious
unto you, my son."
And Joseph's heart was so full that he could not keep back the tears. He
went in haste to his own room, and wept there. Then he washed his face,
and came out again, and ordered the table to be set for dinner. They set
Joseph's table for himself, as the ruler, and another table for his
Egyptian officers, and another for the eleven men from Canaan; for
Joseph had brought Simeon out of the prison, and had given him a place
with his brothers.
Joseph himself arranged the order of the seats for his brothers, the
oldest at the head, and all in order of age down to the youngest. The
men wondered at this, and could not see how the ruler of Egypt could
know the order of their ages. And Joseph sent dishes from his table to
his brothers, and he gave to Benjamin five times as much as to the
others. Perhaps he wished to see whether they were as jealous of
Benjamin as in other days they had been toward him.
After dinner, Joseph said to his steward: "Fill the men's sacks with
grain, as much as they can carry, and put each man's money in his sack.
And put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest, with his money."
The steward did as Joseph had said; and early in the morning the
brothers started to go home. A little while afterward, Joseph said to
his steward:
"Hasten, follow after the men from Canaan, and say, 'Why have you
wronged me, after I had treated you kindly? You have stolen my master's
silver cup, out of which he drinks'."
The steward followed the men, and overtook them, and charged them with
stealing. And they said to him: