Joseph

In the first part of the story we learned how Joseph's father loved him more than all his brothers and made him a coat of many colours. His brothers were jealous of Joseph and began to hate him.

Now there were two other things that happened which made Joseph's brothers hate him even more. Sometimes they did not behave very well and if Joseph knew this he went to tell his father. Think about your class in school. Is there anyone there who goes to tell the teacher if someone does something they should not? If there is someone like this, do the other children in the class like them very Joseph having a dream much? I think you will see why Joseph's brothers did not like him.

The second thing was that Joseph had some dreams and told his family about them.

He said, "I dreamed that we brothers' sheaves bowing down.

were binding sheaves of corn in a field. My sheaf stood upright. All your sheaves stood round it and bowed down to mine".

His brothers were furious and said, "Are you going to rule over us?"

He dreamed another dream and told his family about it. He said, "I dreamed that the sun and the moon and the eleven stars bowed down before me." The family believed that the sun and the moon stood for Joseph's father and mother and the eleven stars stood for his eleven brothers. This time, even his father was annoyed. He said, "Do you really think that I and your mother and your brothers will bow down to you?"

All of this made Joseph's brothers jealous of him and to hate him even more.

One day Joseph's father, Jacob said, "Joseph, Your brothers are feeding the flock in a place called Shechem. I want you to go and see if your shepherd guarding sheep brothers are all right and if the sheep are all right".
When Joseph arrived in Shechem he could not find his brothers but a man told him that they had moved on to a place called Dothan. Joseph went there and found them.

His brothers saw him coming and said to each other, "Here is the dreamer. Let's kill him and throw him into a pit. We will tell our father that a wild beast has killed and eaten him. We will see what has become of his dreams."

But one of the brothers did not want to do this. His name was Reuben. He said "Let's not kill him. Let's throw him into a pit and leave him there." So the brothers did this. They took off Joseph's coat and threw him into a pit. Reuben went away but the rest of the brothers sat around the pit and ate bread. As they sat there they saw some Ishmeelites coming along with their camels. They were carrying spices and they were going to Egypt to trade. Ishmeelites and donkeys

One of the brothers was called Judah. He said, "What would we get out of it if we killed Joseph? Let's sell him to the Ishmeelites. They can take him to Egypt and sell him as a slave. It is better if we do not kill Joseph. Remember he is our brother".

They talked to the Ishmeelites and they agreed to buy Joseph. They paid the money and got hold of Joseph.

They set out for Egypt.

Later Reuben came back. He was hoping that his brothers had gone away and left Joseph. He hoped he would be able to get Joseph out of the pit and take him home. When Reuben came to the pit and saw that Joseph was not there he was so upset that he sat and tore his own clothes.

We can see that some bad things are starting to happen. This can be the result when people hate one another. In the end the story did have a happy ending because God had a plan. You can read what happened next in the next Kids' Zone.