Chapter Three - Jacob’s Reaction
Jacob was concerned. Joseph should have been back from Shechem. ‘What could be holding him up? I wonder if he had problems finding them. Could he have had an accident along the way? Perhaps they asked him to stay for a few days? Could he have been beaten and robbed?’ Jacob turned over the possibilities in his mind. 'If he’s not back in the next couple of days I’ll have to send some of the servants to find him.’
A week went by and Jacob’s concerns continued to grow. 'Should I send the servants, or, am I just an old fool? Joseph is probably staying with the others.' Jacob decided he was being overly concerned about Joseph. 'He'll come home when they bring the flocks, they may have been on the way home when he met them. I’ll put the matter out of my mind.' Jacob resolved to stop worrying as Joseph was probably perfectly safe with his brothers.
Reuben was getting nervous, in a few days they would be back at Hebron. He knew Jacob would be grief stricken when they told him the story they had concocted between them. 'The others are not as worried; I’m the eldest and I’ll be held responsible if the real story comes to light.' His brothers knew their father would put most of the blame on Reuben; as a result, Reuben’s nervous tension was mounting. He kept rehearsing in his mind the story he would tell Jacob. He tried to imagine the scene; Jacob would be standing at the door of his tent. Jacob’s eyes would be scanning them all as they came into the camp. They would approach Father.
“Reuben, where is Joseph? I sent him to check how you and the flocks were getting on.”
“Father, we found this! Can you recognise if it is your son’s coat, or not?”
Reuben shuddered to think of Jacob’s reaction to the coat.
Jacob was concerned about Joseph. He hoped his sons and the flocks would be home soon.
“Father, Father!”
“What is it, Benjamin?”
“They are home, Father. One of the servants has seen them near the valley entrance.”
Jacob was relieved, ‘It will be good to see Joseph and the others.’
“Benjamin, tell me when they come to the valley entrance, I want to greet them all.”
“I’ll watch out for them, Father.”
Benjamin walked out of the camp and found a good vantage point to spot his brothers coming into the Hebron Valley. About half an hour later the shepherds leading the flocks came into view. Benjamin raced back into the camp and rushed to his father’s tent.
“Father, they have arrived at the valley entrance.”
Jacob was pleased; soon he would see his family all together again. He went out of his tent and leaning on his staff he limped to the outskirts of the camp. Benjamin and most of the servants were already there waiting to greet the family. At the head of the flocks, the shepherds could be seen as tiny figures in the distance. As the gathering watched, the figures gradually became larger, and all the flocks could now be seen. The excitement was building up, they had been away for months, and now they were back. Benjamin was really excited, ‘Joseph will soon be here!’
Reuben could feel his stomach muscles tightening, ‘Soon I’ll have to face Father and give him the bad news.' Judah was beginning to feel apprehensive; they would now have to tell the big lie about Joseph. Judah did not feel as courageous now that he had to face Father. Inwardly, the ten brothers were apprehensive, the younger brothers not quite as much; as the responsibility would be placed squarely on the older brothers. Yesterday, they had gone over their story again to ensure that each brother told exactly the same story. They had rehearsed it until each one was sure that there would be no slip up. They could see the welcoming party quite clearly now.
Father was there to greet them. They could also see Benjamin and several of the servants. Even the flocks seemed to sense that they were home. A tremendous wave of excitement was in the air! The brothers’ apprehension lifted for a moment as they too were swept up in the exhilaration of the homecoming. Jacob’s face was beaming, he was so happy to see his sons home again. In the excitement of seeing his sons he didn’t notice that Joseph was missing.
“Welcome home, my sons.” he called out.
Reuben, Judah, Simeon and Levi walked up to Jacob and Reuben said, “Father. It is good to see you again.”
Jacob said, “How was your journey? Did you find good pastures for the flocks?”
Reuben replied, “Our journey was prosperous, we found good pastures in Dothan.”
Even as Reuben spoke, Jacob suddenly recalled that he had sent Joseph to check on them.
“Reuben! Where is Joseph? I sent him to Shechem to see if you had found pasture for the flocks.”
Reuben turned to Judah, Judah went to his baggage to get Joseph’s coat. Reuben turned and said to Jacob, “Father, we have something to show you.”
Jacob realised that Judah must have gone to get something. He turned to watch him. Judah returned with the blood stained coat. Jacob watched Judah as he approached them and saw that Judah was holding what appeared to be a blood stained garment in his hand. A dreadful fear took hold of Jacob and a cold chill ran down his spine!
Judah walked up to Jacob and said, “Father, we found this! Look at it carefully and see if it belongs to your son?”
Jacob recognised Joseph’s coat. ‘Obviously, a wild animal has slain Joseph.’
“It’s my son’s coat! Joseph has been torn to pieces and eaten by some wild animal.”
Jacob ripped his clothes in despair! He was overcome with grief. 'It's my fault, I should not have sent him to Shechem and this would not have happened.’
He could not bear to look at the coat and said to Judah, “Judah take that away and bury it, I don’t ever want to see it again.”
Judah hurried away with the coat. Jacob limped slowly back to his tent with his sons trying to console him. Jacob went into his tent and ordered one of the servants to bring in some sackcloth.
When the sackcloth arrived he took off his clothes and wrapped the sackcloth around his loins and thighs as a sign of mourning. Jacob refused to be consoled; he blamed himself for Joseph’s death. Jacob commenced a long period of mourning for Joseph.
The ten brothers were relieved their lie had worked so well, but, they had not expected the extent of their father’s grief over Joseph.
“We must try and help Father get over this as quickly as possible.” said Reuben. “Yes, I agree with you.” said Levi.
Zebulon said, “Each of the families must help Father to forget about Joseph.”
Jacob continued his mourning for many, many days. His sons and their families tried to comfort him, but, he refused to be comforted. The ten brothers found this situation so appalling; they almost wished Joseph was back! Jacob kept up his continual state of mourning. The families tried hard to comfort him, but, he would not be comforted. There was no joy in Jacob’s camp.
He said to them, “I will go down into the grave mourning for my son.”
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Joseph watched his brothers slowly disappear from view. The gloating look on their faces was hard to bear. 'What have I done to make them hate me so much?’ His body ached from the physical abuse handed out by his brothers.
The steady sway of the camel did nothing to relieve the pain in his body. 'Tomorrow, all the bruises will come out.' His back was sore; he had landed heavily in the pit. Joseph looked ahead; the Ishmeelites seemed to be going down towards the Great Sea. ‘Maybe there is some way I can escape from them and return to Hebron. I will have to wait until nightfall; it will be useless during the day as they will catch me easily. I am tied securely to this camel; there is no way I can do anything until they take me off the camel.'
The afternoon passed slowly, the hot sun beat down relentlessly on the caravan. Joseph was thirsty, but he knew better than to ask for a drink, water was precious and scarce. 'They will give me a drink when we camp for the night.' The continuous swaying of the camel was monotonous and tiring. Joseph was used to walking eve
rywhere. His thoughts returned to planning his escape. 'It will depend on how securely they tie me up tonight.' Joseph did not realise that the Ishmeelites were old hands at selling slaves. They had paid for him in silver and would make sure they protected their investment.
The afternoon sun was sinking slowly in the sky; the Ishmeelites turned off the main trail and formed a circle with the camels. They unpacked the camels bearing the tents, and pitched camp. Joseph was left on his camel until it was time to eat. The Ishmeelites took him off the camel, but left his wrists and legs tied. He was given a drink of water and some food. After Joseph had eaten, he was taken to one of the tents and thrust inside.
Joseph was alone in the tent. 'Now it’s time to make a break for it.' His hands were tied behind his back. He sat down and wriggled around until he could bring his hands in front of him. Joseph then turned his attention to the rope around his wrists; he grabbed the knot in his teeth and worked at loosening the knot. He worked frantically. 'They may check up on me at any moment.'
A few minutes passed by, but the knot was not freeing up. In desperation, Joseph yanked hard at the knot; he felt a sharp pain in his gums, but the knot had loosened. He grabbed the knot again and grimaced at the pain in his gums. He tugged at the knot and the top layer came undone. 'Good!’ He began to work on the rest of the knot. In a few moments it was undone. Joseph rubbed his wrists to ease the soreness; then he untied the rope around his legs.
He crept silently to the tent opening and listened; he could hear the Ishmeelites talking among themselves. It was quite dark now; Joseph reasoned that they would be watching the tent opening. He moved stealthily to the back wall of the tent and lifted it up. He slowly lifted up the fabric and put his head out for a look.
Suddenly, he was grabbed by the head and pulled through the opening! One of the Ishmeelites held him securely!
“We thought you might try to escape, so we set a trap for you.” said the Ishmeelite. He was a big, powerful man and Joseph was no match for him. The Ishmeelite called out to the others and they came over.
“We’ll have to watch him all the time.” said the big man. He dragged Joseph back to the tent and tied him up again. One of the Ishmeelites was assigned to spend the night in the tent with Joseph.
Joseph was dismayed! With one in the tent and others on watch outside during the night, he could see no possible way of escape. 'They will be watching me very closely from now on.' He turned wearily and painfully on his side and lay there, feeling like a trapped animal.
Next morning Joseph was woken up by the sound of people moving about the camp. An Ishmeelite came into the tent with food and water for Joseph. They untied his hands. Joseph paused and silently gave thanks to God for the food. During the night he had had plenty of time to reflect on the events of yesterday. Joseph came to the conclusion that God had allowed this to happen to him; and that God must have some other form of rescue for him.
He waited for the Ishmeelites to come and put him back on a camel for the next stage of the journey. ‘If only the Ishmeelites were going towards Hebron, God could rescue me through Father.’
The steady sway of the camel and the hot sun beating down on his body made Joseph feel drowsy. His body was still sore and he could feel the bruises under his clothing. 'How long will this go on?’
That night, trussed up in the tent, Joseph listened to the Ishmeelites talking together and he realised for the first time that they were on the way to Egypt by the Way of the Sea. A shiver ran down Joseph’s back! He had heard that all shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. Joseph was trained as a shepherd! He prayed earnestly to God to deliver him speedily from the Ishmeelites.