The Dramatization of Bible Stories / An experiment in the religious education of children

by Elizabeth Miller Lobingier

At the first meeting the story was told in terms that followed closely the Bible version. The children were asked to select the big events, or pictures, in Joseph's life. They readily spoke of his life in Canaan as a boy; his being put into the pit and sold to the merchants; his life in Egypt with Potiphar; the prison experience and the interpretation of Pharaoh's dream; the change of fortune in becoming ruler of the land; the famine and the visits of his brothers; and, finally, his kindness to his father and brothers in giving them a home in Egypt.

The story was told to the children very much as follows:

Jacob was an old man, too old to care for his large flocks. He sat in the door of his tent day after day, and sent his twelve sons off with the sheep and goats to find grassy fields.

Now of all the twelve sons Jacob loved Joseph, a lad of seventeen years, the best. Joseph was next to the youngest and often stayed with his father while the older brothers went away. Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors and showed him often that he was the favorite. This made the older brothers very jealous of Joseph, and they began to dislike him.

Once Joseph dreamed a dream, which he told to his brothers, and it made them hate him all the more. He said to them, "Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: Behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about and bowed down to my sheaf." Then his brothers said to him, "Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou have power over us?"

Then Joseph dreamed yet another dream, and he told it again to his father and brothers, and said, "Behold, the sun and moon and the eleven stars bowed down to me." And his father said unto him, "What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee?" And the brothers remembered what their father had said, and they wished that harm might come to Joseph.

It happened soon after this that Jacob sent his ten older sons with the flocks to Shechem, a place some distance away where there was good grass. Now the brothers were gone for so long a time that their father became anxious and decided to send Joseph after them. He said to Joseph, "Do not thy brethren feed the flock in Shechem? Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren and well with the flocks; and bring me word again." So Joseph took money and food in his bag, and his staff in his hand, and went out to find his brothers.

At Shechem there were no brothers to be seen. Joseph was wondering what he should do next, when he saw a man coming toward him over the field. "What seekest thou?" said the man. And Joseph answered, "I seek my brethren; tell me, I pray thee, where they feed their flocks." "They have departed from here," said the man, "and have gone to Dothan." Then Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.

Now when the brothers saw Joseph afar off, they knew that it was he from his coat of many colors, and they plotted against him. One of them said, "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come, now, let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say unto our father that some evil beast hath devoured him; and we shall see what will become of his dreams." Reuben, one of the brothers, felt more kindly toward Joseph than did the others and said to them, "Let us not kill him, but let us cast him into this pit that is near." Reuben thought that he would come back later after the brothers had gone and help Joseph out of the pit and take him to his father.