"Please Listen to This Dream"

JOSEPH looked longingly toward the east, wishing he could break away from the caravan and make a run for it. Somewhere beyond those hills, at no great distance, lay his home in Hebron. His father Jacob , would be settling in for the evening, utterly unaware of what had befallen  his favorite son. But Joseph  could not to get to him now; for all the young man knew, he might never see that dear old face again.  The traders eyed him as they urged their camels along the well-worn track of the road heading south.  They owned Joseph now, and they would not let him out of their sight.  To them, this boy was like their precious cargo of fragrant gums and oils-valued merchandise that would fetch a profit in faraway Egypt.

Joseph could not have been much  more than 17 years old. Imagine him turning to squint into the western sky, where the sun was nearing the horizon of the Great Sea, as he tried to fathom how his world had fallen apart. It was hard to believe that his own brothers had come close to murdering him and had then sold him as a slave.  It must have been a struggle  for Joseph to hold back his tears.  He could not guess what his future would hold.

How did Joseph get into such a terrible predicament?  And what can we learn from the faith of a young man who was victimized and rejected by members of his own family? 

Next time: A Complicated Family Background

From the Watchtower magazine, 2014