Joseph Sold By His brothers

Joseph, the elder of the two sons of the Old Testament patriarch Jacob and his much loved second wife Rachel, was born only after his parents had been married for many years and, as 'the son of his <father's> old age' (Genesis ch. 37, v. 3), was Jacob's favourite (ibid. ch. 29, v. 31; ch. 30, vv. 1-24; ch. 37, v. 3).

Joseph's ten half-brothers, the children of Jacob's first wife, Leah, and of the two servant girls, Zilpah and Bilhah, were jealous of his place in their father's affections, and they hated him all the more when, as a token of his special love, Jacob made him a distinctive coat 'of many colours' (ibid. ch. 37, v. 3). Joseph further antagonised his brothers when he told them about two of his dreams, which he interpreted as prophetic of his future authority over the rest of the family (ibid. ch. 37, vv. 3-11).

One day, when his half-brothers were away from home looking after the flocks and herds in Dothan (north of Shechem), Joseph was sent by his father to discover if all was well with them. When the brothers saw him coming, their first thought was to kill him, but the eldest, Reuben, persuaded the others that it would be better to throw him into a deep pit. So Joseph was thrown into the pit and left there. Reuben went off by himself, intending to come back secretly and rescue Joseph, while the others set off in a different direction and happened to meet a group of Ishmaelites who were on their way to Egypt. They decided that, rather than leaving Joseph in the pit, they would sell him to the Ishmaelites, and so they returned to the pit, where they stripped Joseph of his distinctive coat 'of many colours' and sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 pieces of silver. When Reuben returned to the pit and found it empty, he was distraught and did not know what to do. Meanwhile the other brothers had dipped Joseph's coat in goat's blood, and when they reached home, showed it to Jacob, who, believing that Joseph must have been eaten by a wild animal, was overcome with grief at the presumed death of his favourite son (ibid. ch. 37, vv. 12-35).

In fact, Joseph was still alive and had been sold on by the Ishmaelites to Potiphar, a high-ranking official in the service of the ruler of Egypt, the Pharaoh (ibid. ch. 37, v. 36).

For the rest of Joseph's life see Joseph in Egypt and Joseph Reunited With His Brothers

The story of Joseph's life has been retold in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, which was first produced in London's West End in 1973 and opened in New York on Broadway in 1982. With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Tim Rice, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat has been outstandingly successful, and there have been several major revivals..