JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN
| Vesture | Clothing. |
| Famine | A time when the crops fail and there is no food, and people often starve. |
| Hostage | One who is held by an enemy to be sure that promises are kept. |
| Myrrh and balm | Precious gums very much used in the East. |
There was once a boy whose father loved him very much indeed. The boy's name was Joseph. His father's name was Jacob. The father gave the boy a coat of many colors. It was a very fine coat and he was very proud of it. He had eleven brothers, and they hated him because he was his father's favorite. He had a dream in which he saw the sun and the moon and eleven stars bowing down before him. This made the brothers hate him still more, and even his father was none too well pleased.
One day the brothers were taking care of the sheep in a distant pasture, and Jacob sent Joseph to see how the boys were getting along.
The shepherd boys saw him while he was still a long way off, and they said, "Here comes [{178}] the dreamer. Let us kill him and put him into some pit, and say to father, 'Some wild beast has killed him,' and then see what will become of his dreams!" They were very bad boys indeed.
They all agreed but Reuben, who was the only one who had any pity for Joseph. He really wanted to save his brother, but in order to deceive the others he said, "Do not kill him, but put him alive into some pit, in an out-off the-way place." He said this hoping to come back and rescue Joseph when the others had gone.
They finally consented; so, when Joseph came up, they took off his coat of many colors and put him into a pit. Probably they did not handle him at all gently!
Then Reuben went away and the others calmly sat down to eat their dinner. While they were eating, they looked up and saw a long caravan with camels loaded with spices and balm and myrrh going from the East down to Egypt.
Then an idea came to Judah, one of the brothers. "Let us sell Joseph," he said, "so we shall get rid of him and no guilt of his blood will be on our hands."
ONE OF THE PYRAMIDS
From an old photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.
Another one of the great pyramids which rise above the level country of Egypt, monuments to the departed greatness of her rulers. Recent explorations show that the civilization of Egypt goes back more than four thousand years before the time of Christ.
They drew Joseph, who must have been well frightened by this time, out of the pit, and sold him to the traders for twenty pieces of silver.
When Reuben came back he was very much distressed, but he did not dare to tell his father the truth. They agreed to dip Joseph's coat of many colors in blood and say that a wild beast had eaten him. Then they went home and pretended to be very sorry and told their poor old father this lie which they had made up. The father believed it because they showed him the coat of many colors which they had dipped in blood. Jacob was very sad and mourned a long time for his boy.
The traders carried Joseph to Egypt and sold him as a slave. He was treated badly and at last put into prison. While he was there the Pharaoh, the king of the country, had a dream. He dreamed that he saw seven fat oxen come up out of a river and feed in a meadow. Then seven lean and hungry oxen came out of the river and ate up the fat oxen. Then he saw seven fine full ears of corn on one stalk, but there grew also seven poor thin ears, which destroyed the good ears.
No one could tell the king what his dream [{182}] meant, until he heard that Joseph, who was in prison, was able to tell the meaning of dreams. So he called Joseph, who was very glad to come out of the dark prison. Joseph told the king at once what his dream meant. He said that there would be seven years of plenty in Egypt, when there would be great crops of grain. Then would come seven years of famine, when no crops would grow. Joseph advised the king to build great store houses and to store up the grain during the years of plenty, so that the people might not starve during the years of famine.
Pharaoh was much pleased because Joseph told him the meaning of the dream, and at once appointed him as the man to gather the grain during the years of plenty.
And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt."
And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and they cried before him, "Bow the knee!" and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt.
TEMPLE AT THEBES
From an old photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.
This is another of the great Egyptian temples, built thousands of years ago, with the massive columns still standing.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without thy consent no man shall lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt." So the shepherd boy, who had been sold as a slave in Egypt, became next to Pharaoh the chief man in all the country!
During the next seven years, there never had been such harvests, and Joseph went about gathering up the great loads of grain into all the storehouses.
Then came the terrible famine. No grain grew in the fields. But Joseph was ready. The people came to him and bought grain to keep them from starving.
All this time Joseph's father thought he was dead and he never ceased to mourn for his boy. By and by the famine reached the land where Joseph's father lived and he sent his sons down to Egypt to buy food, but of course they did not know that the ruler of Egypt was Joseph.
Ten of Jacob's sons, each with his donkey, went to Egypt, but the youngest boy, Benjamin, Jacob kept at home.
When they came to the palace where Joseph lived, he knew at once that they were his [{186}] brothers, but they did not know him. At first Joseph treated them roughly. He said they were spies. But they told him they were all brothers who lived in the land of Canaan and their youngest brother and their father they had left at home. Joseph still seemed to be very angry and put them in prison for three days.
Then he let them out and told them to go home, all but Simeon, whom he would keep as a hostage, and bring back their youngest brother, and then he would believe that they spoke the truth.
They started back, each with his donkey loaded with grain. When they stopped at an inn they found that the money which they had paid for the grain was in the top of each sack.
They reached home at last and told their father all that had happened. The story made the old man very sad. He would not let them go back to Egypt. He said that he had lost two sons, Joseph and Simeon, and he could not let Benjamin, whom he loved next to Joseph, go with them.
AN EASTERN HOUSE
From a photograph taken by Mrs. Louise Seymour Houghton, and used by her kind permission.
This house is made of mud--that is, sun-dried clay, with a roof of thatch, and shows how houses were made and looked in Bible times. The children of the village have come to have their eyes treated by the doctor. Many of the children in the hot countries of the East have trouble with their eyes, and blindness. The little village of mud houses where this was taken is on the site of the ancient Ashdod, one of the five powerful cities of the Philistines.
But the famine kept on. They had nothing to eat and at last Jacob was forced to let them go. They promised to take the best of care of Benjamin and started on their journey.
When they reached Egypt Joseph was more kind. He asked them how they were and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spoke? Is he yet alive?"
And they answered, "Thy servant, our father, is yet alive. He is in good health."
Then he saw Benjamin and said, "Is this your younger brother of whom ye spoke unto me?"
And he said, "God be gracious unto thee, my son."
He gave them a feast, and told them to go home, but as soon as they were gone he sent an officer after them. The officer caught up with them and opened the bags of grain, and there was Joseph's own golden cup in the mouth of Benjamin's sack!
They were wild with fear. They said that their poor old father would die if anything happened to Benjamin. But the stern officer took them back to Joseph.
Then Joseph told them who he was, and forgave them for the evil they had once done him.
He said to them, "Go home and say to Jacob, 'Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt; come down unto me, tarry not; and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou and thy children's children, and thy flocks and thy herds, and all that thou hast.' And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that ye have seen, and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither."
The brothers went home and the old man Jacob and all his family came to Egypt to live. So Jacob saw Joseph again before he died.
And Joseph ruled wisely and well over Egypt all the days of his life.
THE GREAT STATUES OF MEMNON
From a photograph in the possession of the Springfield Public Library, and used by kind permission.
These great statues, carved out of the solid rock, were erected to the honor of two of the Pharaohs of Egypt. You may realize something of the immense size of these monuments by noticing how small the camel standing at the base seems in comparison.
