HATRED COMES TO A HEAD
Not long afterward, Jacob sent Joseph on a long journey. The older sons were tending to the flocks up north near Shechem, where they had recently made bitter enemies. Naturally, Jacob was concerned about his sons, so he sent Joseph to check on their welfare. Can you imagine Joseph's feelings? He knew that his brothers hated him more than ever! How would they like it when he came to them as their father's spokesman? Nonetheless, Joseph obediently set out. - GENESIS 34:25-30; 37:12-24.
It was quite a trek-in all, perhaps four or five days of walking. Shechem lay about 50 miles (80 km) to the north of Hebron. But at Shechem, Joseph learned his brothers had moved on to Dothan, which lay another 14 miles (22 km) or so to the north. When Joseph finally neared Dothan, his brothers saw him coming from a distance. Immediately, their hatred boiled to the surface. The account reads: "They said to one another: 'Look! HGere comes that dreamer. Come, now, let us kill him and pitch him into one of the waterpits, and we will say that a vicious wild animal devoured him. Then let us see what will become of his dreams." Reuben, however, persuaded his brothers to throw Joseph into a pit alive, hoping that he could rescue the boy later on. - GENESIS 37:19-32.
Unsuppecting Joseph approached them, no doubt hoping for a peaceful meeting. Instead, his brothers attacked him! Roughly. they stipped off his special robe, dragged him to a dried-out waterpit, and pushed him in. Down Joseph fell! Recovering from the shock, he struggled to his feet, but he could never climb out on is own. He saw only a circle of sky, as his brothers voices receded. He cried out to them, pleading but they ignored him. Callously, they ate a meal nearby While Rueben was absent, they again considered killing the boy. But Judah persuaded them to sell him to passing merchants instead. Dothan was near the trade route to Egypt, and it was not long before a caravan of Ishmaelites and Midianites came by. Before Reuben returned, the deed was done. For 20 shekels, they had sold their brother as a slave. - GENESIS 37:23-28; 42:21.
So we find ourselves back at our starting point. As Joseph was taken south along the road to Egypt, he seemed to have lost everything. He was cut off! For years, he would know nothing of his family-nothing of Rueben's anguish when he returned to find Joseph gone; nothing of Jacob's grief when he was deceived into believing that his beloved son was dead: Nothing of his aged grandfather Isaac, who still lived; and nothing of his beloved younger brother, Benjamin, whom eh would miss dearly. But was Joseph left off with nothing at all? - GENESIS 37:29-35.
Joseph still had something that his brothers could never take from him: faith. He knew much about his God, Jehovah and nothing could rob him of that-not the loss of his home, not the hardships of captivity on the long journey to Egypt, and not the humiliation of being sold as slave to a wealthy Egyptian named Potiphar. (Genesis 37:26) Joseph's faith and his determination to stay close to his God only grew stronger through such hardships. In future articles, we will se ehow that faith made Joseph ever more useful to his God, Jehovah, as well as gto his troubled family. How wise we would be to imitate the faith of Jehovah!
Next time: Women in the Bible-What Can We Lean From Them?/The Bible's answer
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