Jacob had twelve sons. That’s right — twelve!
His favourite son was Joseph. Jacob spoiled him and gave him special gifts — like a beautiful coat decorated with many colours.
Reds and greens. Blues and yellows. Purple and pinks. Joseph was bright as a rainbow and proud as a peacock.
Joseph’s older brothers did not like this one bit. But what they hated even more were Josephs dreams!
“I had a dream last night”, boasted Joseph.
“Oh no,” groaned his brothers.
“I dreamed that we were all bundles of wheat. And guess
what happened? Your bundles of wheat bowed down and
worshipped mine!”
“And I had another dream,” Joseph bragged.
“Go on,” his brothers sighed.
“I dreamed we were all start. And guess what? Your stars bowed down to mine, just as if I were your king!”
It didn’t take long for Joseph’s brothers to grow tired of this. But that’s no excuse for what they did.
The next time they were out of Jacob’s sight they grabbed Joseph, tore off his colourful coat, and dropped him down a dry well. They were just about to kill him, in fact, when they spotted a cloud of dust at the edge of the hill. It was a band of traders bound for Egypt, their camels loaded with goods for sale.
“Why should we kill Joseph,” asked one of the brothers, “when we can sell him to these traders and make some money for ourselves? He’ll be sold as a slave in Egypt and his foolish dreams well never come true!”
Twenty pieces of silver. That’s how much the traders gave them for Joseph. And when the traders had gone, the brothers ripped up Joseph’s coat, dipped it in the blood of a goat, and carried it home to their father.
“Joseph is dead,” they told Jacob. And they showed him Joseph’s coat, it’s long sleaves shredded, it’s beautiful colours smeared with blood.
Jacob wept and wept.
And Joseph wept, too, as the traders carried him far from home.
Read more about this story in Genesis 37.
Taken from The Lion’s Storyteller Bible by Bob Hartman.
Copyright © 2008 Bob Hartman and Lion Hudson.