# The Story of Joseph and His Brethren/Part 1/Chapter 3

CHAPTER III.
JOSEPH'S brethren went to feed their father's flock in Shechem, and Jacob sent Joseph to see if it was well with his brethren, and well with the flock, and to bring him word. When Joseph came to Shechem, he learned from a man, of whom he inquired, that they had gone to Dothan. "And Joseph went after his brethren and found them in Dothan." He was now some miles away from the house where his father lived. "When his brethren saw him afar off, and before he came near unto them, they conspired against him to slay him." How cruel must have been their hatred! Their brother, and but a lad, came a distance from home to see them and inquire after their welfare. One might suppose that if they could not love him, they could not have it in their hearts to injure him: yet no sooner does he appear in the distance on his ​weary way, than they are inspired with the wicked purpose of taking away his life. What a warning is this against being "angry with a brother without a fault!" How guarded should we be against allowing any thing of hatred or envy to have a place in our thoughts, much less to take possession of our hearts, against a brother, or indeed against any human being! One of the strongest reasons against killing their gentle brother was the grief his loss would bring upon their aged father. They thought, indeed, of him, but it was only to think how they might deceive him, by accounting for the death of his beloved son, so as to conceal their own wickedness. The father was to be told that some evil beast had devoured him!
While this plan was agreed upon, one of the brothers appears to have been absent. This was Reuben, the eldest brother, who seems to have had some feelings of tenderness towards Joseph and his father. When Reuben heard what was the intention of his brethren, he said unto them—"Shed no blood, but cast him into this pit that is in the wilderness, and ​lay no hand upon him;" and Reuben's object was "that he might rid him out of their hands, to deliver him to his father again." The brethren consented to this proposal, seemingly without having altogether given up the idea of afterwards carrying out their first bloody purpose. All this was discussed and settled while Joseph was approaching them. When the unsuspecting youth came to his brethren, instead of meeting with a kind reception, he was seized, and they stript him of his coat of many colours, and cast him into a pit. The heartlessness of his cruel brethren is strongly indicated, for it is related that as soon as they had committed this wicked act they sat down to eat bread. While engaged, with unconcern, perhaps with joy, at their unblest meal, "they lifted up their eyes and looked, and behold a company of Ishmaelites came from Gilead with their camels bearing spicery, and balm, and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt." It was now that a new and more humane mode of disposing of Joseph was suggested to the brethren by Judah. He said—"What profit is it if we slay our brother ​and conceal his blood? Come and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hands be upon him, for he is our brother and our flesh. And his brethren were content. Then they drew and lifted up Joseph out of the pit, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver." Reuben was again absent when Joseph was thus sold as a slave. When he returned he found the pit empty, and rent his clothes, which was a sign of mourning, and showed signs of great distress.
The scene which ensued is deeply affecting. "They took Joseph's coat, and killed a kid of the goats, and dipped the coat in the blood; and they brought it to their father and said, This we have found; know now whether it be thy son's coat or no? And he knew it, and said. This is my son's coat; an evil beast hath devoured him; Joseph is without doubt rent in pieces." Thus cruelly deceived by his own children, and led by them to believe that Joseph had been devoured by some wild beast, Jacob rent his clothes and put sackcloth upon his loins, and mourned for his son many days, ​and said that he would go down to the grave unto his son mourning.
It is remarkable that those very sons who had caused him all this sorrow rose up with his other children to comfort him. And it is no less remarkable that Reuben, as well as the other brethren, kept the truth concealed from their father, and never revealed it to him till after Joseph had made himself known to them in Egypt, when on their return home they announced to their father the extraordinary tidings—"Joseph is yet alive, and is governor over all the land of Egypt."
The Ishmaelites who had bought Joseph carried him down to Egypt, and there sold him to Potiphar, an officer, a captain of the guard. Away from his father's house and from all his kindred—away from that home which he loved, he is now not only a stranger but a captive in a strange land. But although he was away from all that he loved and that loved him, there was One who had not forsaken him nor left him. "The Lord was with Joseph." How blessed and comforting is this truth! His cruel brethren could separate him ​from his earthly father, but they could not separate him from his Heavenly Father. None can separate us from Him, or remove us from His presence. No one can do this but ourselves. So long as we are faithful to Him, He will be faithful to us; and the further we are from our kindred the nearer we may be to God. Trial serves but to bring the good to nearer connection with Him. How finely does the Apostle Paul deal with this subject! "who can separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is Christ Jesus our Lord." (Rom. viii. 35-39.)