Page:Legends of Old Testament Characters.djvu/237

XXVIII.] him, but Judah said, "Slay not Joseph, for to slay is a crime; but cast him into a well, on the way that the caravans pass, that he may be found by a caravan, and be drawn out." Joseph was then aged seventeen.

His brethren fell on him and stripped him, and were about to cast him into the well which was by the wayside to Jerusalem, when he said, "O my brothers, wherewith shall I cover my nakedness in this pit?"

They replied, "Bid the sun, the moon, and the stars, which adored thee, bring thee clothes to cover thy nakedness."

Having thus mocked him, they let him down into the well. There was much water in it; and a stone had fallen into it; on this Joseph stood, and was above the surface of the water. Not so, say the Rabbis, it was dry, but it was full of scorpions and adders.

Judah, according to the Mussulman account, had not consented to this, he being absent; and when he had learned what had been done, he took food and let it down into the well, and told Joseph to be of good cheer, his brothers' anger would turn away, and then he would bring him back to them. But the Jews say that Reuben was absent, as he was fasting on a mountain, because he had incurred his father's anger, and was in disgrace, and he hoped, by restoring Joseph to Israel, to recover his father's favour. The sons of Jacob then slew a lamb and dipped the garment of Joseph in the blood, and brought it to their father, and said, "We left Joseph in charge of our clothes, and a wolf has fallen upon him, and has devoured him." But Jacob looked at the garment and said, "I see that it is bloody, but I see no rents; the wolf was merciful to my son Joseph, for he ate him and left his garment whole!" Then Jacob went to commune with God, and the spirit of prophecy came upon him, and he said, "No wolf, no enemy has slain him, but a bad woman is against him."

Now Joseph was three days and three nights in the pit, but it was not dark, for the angel Gabriel hung in it a precious stone to give him light.