Page:The Story of Joseph and His Brethren.djvu/48

Rh being the sons of one mother, Rachel. In these times the children of the same mother loved each other more than the children of different mothers; and the circumstance of the ten brethren being the children of other mothers, though of the same father, was in a great measure the cause of their hating and persecuting Joseph. Having accused his brethren of being spies, and affecting to doubt the truth of their assurance that they were true men, Joseph proposed that they should prove the truth of their assertion by sending one of their number to bring down Benjamin; but he afterwards agreed with them to leave one of their number bound in the house of the prison, where Joseph himself had been so long confined, while the others returned with provisions, to bring Benjamin with them when they came again.

This unexpected stroke of adversity greatly disturbed the sons of Jacob, and, as is often the case in seasons of affliction, their conscience was awakened, and they began to trace their present distress to their former misconduct. No doubt they had often thought