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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 : -
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.
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.
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.
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