Nearer, my God, to thee,
Nearer to thee.
8. THE SLAVE-BOY WHO BECAME A PRINCE
(Genesis 37 to 47)
Jacob had twelve sons, and Joseph was next to the youngest. He was the best loved of all, and his father showed how much he loved him by giving him a coat of many colors. This made his older brothers jealous and angry. When Joseph was sixteen years old he dreamed that he was binding sheaves of grain in a field with his eleven brothers and his father and mother, and all the other sheaves bowed down to his sheaf. Another dream he had was that the sun and moon and eleven stars bowed down to him. When Joseph awoke he told these queer dreams to his brothers. No wonder they called him “the dreamer” and teasingly said, “Shall we all, indeed, come to bow down to you?” Soon after this his nine big brothers caught this boy out in a field and put him down into a deep pit, and then sold him to camel-drivers as a slave for twenty pieces of silver (about one hundred and twenty dollars). Then they killed one of their own goats, dipped Joseph’s coat of many colors, which they had taken off him, into the blood, and taking it home, wickedly made their father think a wild beast had eaten Joseph. Jacob mourned for him as dead, and the brothers thought the dreamer would never tell any more of his dreams.
The camel-drivers sold Joseph as a slave in Egypt to a rich man who promoted him to be the chief ruler of his great house. It was a fine place for him. But one day some one told a very wicked lie about him, and he was cast into prison. But Joseph was so cheerful and kind and useful, even in prison, that he was soon placed over all the prisoners. When the king heard that Joseph had power to tell people the meaning of their dreams, he sent for him to tell the meaning of two dreams that troubled him. Joseph told the king his dreams. So Joseph was removed from prison to the king’s palace, and was dressed in fine clothes, with a gold chain around his neck and a gold ring on his finger, and made ruler over all the land, next to the king. Soon a great famine arose (just as Joseph had told the king) in all lands except Egypt, because Joseph had filled big barns with corn. Joseph’s ten brothers came from Canaan to Egypt to buy food to keep their families from starving. They were taken into the presence of the great ruler who sold the corn, and they bowed down to the earth before him. So the dreamer’s dream came true, though they did not know it then. Joseph knew them, and treated them kindly without letting them know he was their brother. He longed to see his youngest brother, Benjamin, and told the older brothers to bring him down with them when they came again, or they could have no more corn. When they brought him, and when Joseph looked upon Benjamin’s face, this great Prince of Egypt burst into tears and said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt, but whom God sent before you to preserve life.” Then they were afraid, but Joseph lovingly put his arms about their necks and kissed them and cried with them until they knew that he freely forgave them. So they went home quickly and brought their old father, Jacob, the good news, “Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” Jacob could scarcely believe them. But when they told him how he had forgiven their wickedness, he said, “I will go and see him before I die.” So all together they went to Egypt and lived in a beautiful house which Joseph gave them. Then he took good care of them all, and lived near his dear old father until the old man died, happily and peacefully, because he was with his beloved Joseph, whom he had lost as a slave and had found again as a prince.
9. THE BABY BROTHER IN A BASKET-BOAT
(Exodus 2)