BRAGADAYJAH 125

After Joseph told his brothers his second dream, he left them in no doubt about the fact that he was going to be head of the family after Israel’s death, and so their evil feelings of jealousy and envy were now solidified. And so, when his brothers were out in the field tending the flocks one day, Israel sent him out to see how they and the flock were doing and to report back to him. Joseph went after them, but was having difficulty finding his brothers; and so he chanced upon a stranger who directed him where to find them. The stranger told Joseph that he heard his brothers speaking among themselves and heard them say that they were going to a place called Dothan; and suggested to Joseph that he may find them there; and so Joseph went to Dothan in search of his brothers. However, as Joseph approached them they spotted him, and said among themselves, “Here comes that dreamer;” and at that instant hatched a plan to kill Joseph Strangely enough, it would seem they all agreed to the conspiracy to murder their brother, all that is except Rueben, who was the eldest of them all. One would have thought that Rueben being the eldest would have had the strongest motive for getting rid of Joseph, seeing he would have been the natural lawful heir, possessing the right of first born; but it was Rueben who exercised the voice of reason and compassion and say, ”Let us not kill him; let us throw him into a pit, and let him perish there.” But Rueben’s true intention was to rescue him later and return him to his father. Rueben, we will remember was no coward and not afraid of blood; he it was who led the plot against Shechem and Hamor his father and the men of the city, and had slaughtered them all for the rape of his sister Dinah; but he did not have the heart to murder his younger brother and used a stratagem, this time not to kill the enemy; but to save his younger brother. More