PART ONE

_Brothers should not be envious of one another. Especially should older brothers be glad of special favor shown to their younger brothers and sisters._

Father Jacob had a big family--twelve boys! What a happy time they could have had together! Let us see why they did not. Ten of the brothers were grown men but Joseph was seventeen. There was only one younger than he. This one’s name was Benjamin. The old father loved Joseph very much, and gave him a beautiful coat of many colors. The older brothers did not love and obey their father as did Joseph, and when their father gave him the beautiful coat, they began to hate Joseph. Soon they hated him so much that they would not even speak kindly to him. The brothers were not having happy times together. Besides this, Joseph had dreamed that they were binding sheaves in a field, and that his sheaf arose and stood upright, and that the sheaves of all the others bowed down before his sheaf.

Joseph dreamed again that the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars had bowed down before him.

When he told those dreams to his brothers, they hated him still more, and said: “Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou have dominion over us?”

Now, Jacob had a great many sheep. The older sons took care of these sheep, and led them where they could find green grass. Sometimes they went far from home to find grass enough for all the sheep. Once when the sheep had eaten all the grass near home, the brothers took them a great way to Shechem. After a while Jacob began to wonder how his sons were, and if the sheep and lambs were doing well. So he called Joseph and said to him:

“Go now, see whether it is well with your brothers, and well with the sheep, and bring me word again.”

Joseph knew it was a long way to Shechem. He knew a bear might spring upon him by the way. He knew his brothers would not be glad to see him, and would not even speak kindly to him. But he did what his father told him to do. He started off to Shechem.

Joseph went on until he came to the fields of Shechem. But there were no sheep in the fields and his brothers were not there. As Joseph was still looking for them a man said to him:

“They have departed hence! for I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothan.’”

So Joseph went to Dothan, and there he saw sheep feeding in the fields and men moving about. They were his brothers. He had found them at last. To-morrow we shall find out how the brothers treated him.

JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN