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.