Chapter 2.
HOW JOSEPH, THE YOUNGEST OF JACOB'S SONS, WAS ENVIED BY HIS
BRETHREN, WHEN CERTAIN DREAMS HAD FORESHOWN HIS FUTURE HAPPINESS.FJAJ 2.6
1. IT happened that Jacob came to so great happiness as rarely any other
person had arrived at
He was richer than the rest of the inhabitants of
that country; and was at once envied and admired for such virtuous sons,
for they were deficient in nothing, but were of great souls, both for laboring
with their hands and enduring of toil; and shrewd also in understanding.
And God exercised such a providence over him, and such a care of his happiness,
as to bring him the greatest blessings, even out of what appeared to be
the most sorrowful condition; and to make him the cause of our forefathers'
departure out of Egypt, him and his posterity
The occasion was this :
- When Jacob had his son Joseph born to him by Rachel, his father loved
him above the rest of his sons, both because of the beauty of his body,
and the virtues of his mind, for he excelled the rest in prudence
This
affection of his father excited the envy and the hatred of his brethren;
as did also his dreams which he saw, and related to his father, and to
them, which foretold his future happiness, it being usual with mankind
to envy their very nearest relations such their prosperity
Now the visions
which Joseph saw in his sleep were these : -FJAJ 2.7
2. When they were in the middle of harvest, and Joseph was sent by his
father, with his brethren, to gather the fruits of the earth, he saw a
vision in a dream, but greatly exceeding the customary appearances that
come when we are asleep; which, when he was got up, he told his brethren,
that they might judge what it portended
He said, he saw the last night,
that his wheat-sheaf stood still in the place where he set it, but that
their sheaves ran to bow down to it, as servants bow down to their masters.
But as soon as they perceived the vision foretold that he should obtain
power and great wealth, and that his power should be in opposition to them,
they gave no interpretation of it to Joseph, as if the dream were not by
them undestood: but they prayed that no part of what they suspected to
be its meaning might come to pass; and they bare a still greater hatred
to him on that account.FJAJ 2.8
3. But God, in opposition to their envy, sent a second vision to Joseph,
which was much more wonderful than the former; for it seemed to him that
the sun took with him the moon, and the rest of the stars, and came down
to the earth, and bowed down to him
He told the vision to his father,
and that, as suspecting nothing of ill-will from his brethren, when they
were there also, and desired him to interpret what it should signify
Now
Jacob was pleased with the dream: for, considering the prediction in his
mind, and shrewdly and wisely guessing at its meaning, he rejoiced at the
great things thereby signified, because it declared the future happiness
of his son; and that, by the blessing of God, the time would come when
he should be honored, and thought worthy of worship by his parents and
brethren, as guessing that the moon and sun were like his mother and father;
the former, as she that gave increase and nourishment to all things; and
the latter, he that gave form and other powers to them; and that the stars
were like his brethren, since they were eleven in number, as were the stars
that receive their power from the sun and moon.FJAJ 2.9
4. And thus did Jacob make a judgment of this vision, and that a shrewd
one also
But these interpretations caused very great grief to Joseph's
brethren; and they were affected to him hereupon as if he were a certain
stranger, that was to those good things which were signified by the dreams
and not as one that was a brother, with whom it was probable they should
be joint-partakers; and as they had been partners in the same parentage,
so should they be of the same happiness
They also resolved to kill the
lad; and having fully ratified that intention of theirs, as soon as their
collection of the fruits was over, they went to Shechem, which is a country
good for feeding of cattle, and for pasturage; there they fed their flocks,
without acquainting their father with their removal thither; whereupon
he had melancholy suspicions about them, as being ignorant of his sons'
condition, and receiving no messenger from the flocks that could inform
him of the true state they were in; so, because he was in great fear about
them, he sent Joseph to the flocks, to learn the circumstances his brethren
were in, and to bring him word how they did.FJAJ 2.10