Chapter 2: Blood on the Coat

Some time later, Joseph's brothers took their father's flocks to graze near Shechem. Days passed without word, and Jacob grew uneasy.

JACOB“Go to your brothers and see if all is well with them and with the flocks. Then bring word back to me.”— Genesis 37:14

Joseph obeyed. He set out alone, wearing the robe his father had given him - the robe his brothers despised.

The journey was long. When Joseph arrived at Shechem, his brothers were not there. A man found him wandering the fields and told him they had moved on to Dothan. So Joseph walked further, not knowing what waited for him.

The brothers saw him from a distance. That robe - unmistakable against the dust and sun. They watched him approach, and something dark rose up among them.

"Here comes the dreamer," one muttered.

The words spread like fire. Years of resentment, years of watching their father pour his affection onto this one son - it all surged to the surface. They began to speak of murder.

"Let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. We will say a wild beast devoured him. Then we shall see what becomes of his dreams."

But Reuben, the eldest, would not have blood on his hands. He convinced them to throw Joseph into an empty cistern instead, hoping to return later and pull the boy out in secret.

When Joseph reached them, they seized him. They tore the robe from his body - that symbol of everything they hated - and threw him into the pit. It was dry and deep. Joseph cried out from the darkness, but his brothers sat down to eat their bread as though nothing had happened.

Then a caravan appeared on the horizon. Ishmaelite traders, their camels heavy with spices and balm, heading toward Egypt.

Judah spoke up.

JUDAH“What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Let us sell him to the Ishmaelites. After all, he is our brother, our own flesh.”— Genesis 37:26-27

The others agreed. They pulled Joseph from the pit - trembling, desperate, pleading - and sold him for twenty pieces of silver. The traders took him and continued south. Joseph vanished into the dust of the road, bound for a land he had never seen.

Now came the lie.

The brothers slaughtered a young goat and dipped Joseph's robe in its blood. They carried it back to their father and laid it before him.

"We found this. Examine it. Is it your son's robe or not?"

Jacob knew it at once. The color drained from his face. He tore his garments and wept.

"It is my son's robe. A fierce animal has devoured him. Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces."

He mourned for many days. His sons and daughters tried to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.

"I will go down to the grave mourning my son," he said.

And in Egypt, Joseph was sold once more - this time to a man named Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard.