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JOSEPH SOLD BY HIS BRETHREN.

JACOB loved his son Joseph more than any of his other children, because he was the son of his age, and of his dear wife Rachel who was since dead; but Joseph's brothers were very jealous and hated him in proportion as his father loved him. And he dreamed that he was in the fields at harvest time; and as he and his brothers were binding up the sheafs of corn, his sheaf stood upright while those of his brothers stood round and bowed to it. And he had a second dream, in which the sun, the moon, and the stars, left their spheres and did him homage. When he told these dreams to his brothers, they said, "Shalt THOU have dominion over us ?" and they hated him more than before.

And his brothers went away to feed their father's flocks at Shechem, and the patriarch sent Joseph to them to see how they prospered. When they saw him approach, they said sneeringly, "Behold this dreamer cometh; let us kill him, and say that some wild beast has devoured him!"

These wicked men agreed to do so, all except Reuben the eldest, who advised them to put him into a pit and leave him there, for he thought, when they were gone, he would return and release his brother. Then they cast Joseph into a dry pit, and sat down to eat, and be merry; while thus engaged they heard the tinkle of bells, and in the distance they saw a company of Midianite merchants approaching.

And Judah said it is better to sell Joseph to these men as a slave than to kill him; they will take him to Egypt, and we shall never hear of him again. The unnatural brothers were pleased at the hope of the profit; so they drew Joseph up out of the pit, and sold him as a slave for twenty pieces of silver.

JOSEPH'S COAT.

WHEN Joseph was sold by his brothers, he had on a curious coat of many colours, which had been given him by his father as an emblem of affection. Now these wicked men knew that they must account for the disappearance of Joseph; and as one crime naturally gives rise to another, they added deceit and falsehood to premeditated murder. They took Joseph's variegated coat from him, and, killing a young goat, stained the garment with blood, and then taking it to their father, said, “We have found this coat thus torn and soiled; is it not Joseph's ?"

This hypocrisy deceived their aged sire; he tore his clothes and wept bitterly, and cried out, "It is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces!" And Jacob's grief was very great, and he put on sackcloth as an emblem of mourning and affliction, and refused all comfort, saying, "I will go down into the grave unto my son mourning.' The hardhearted brethren stood by and beheld his sorrow, but none would comfort his breaking heart with the news that Joseph was not really dead. Such is the effect of envy; not only had it extinguished all natural affection in the bosoms of these wicked brothers, but had led them to the commission of dark and terrible crimes.

Joseph, in the meantime, was carried by the merchants to Egypt, and sold to one of the king's officers, named Potiphar, who grew much attached to him and made him manager of his house; but Potiphar's wife was a wicked designing woman, and she poisoned the mind of her husband against Joseph, and he sent the persecuted youth to prison. But the intentions of God are not to be defeated by the wickedness of man; and, in the course of time, the pure-minded Joseph arrived at great honour.

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