ADVENTALES - THE STORY OF A DREAMER

  Jacob and his huge family of two wives, four concubines and twelve children, all lived in the land of nbgv. By his beloved Rachel, he had two sons - Joseph and Benjamin. These two he loved most and from these two, Joseph was his favourite. He also had sons by his wife Leah but he wasn't caring towards them because he did not love Leah. 

One day, Jacob gifted Joseph a beautiful multicolored coat. It was a very expensive one. Joseph loved his coat so much that he wore it everywhere he went - even to bed he went with it! 

As you can imagine, the other brothers started getting irritated with Joseph and thought him a show-off. 

Then one day, he told his brothers about a strange dream he had. "I dreamt that all our sheaves were in a field with mine in the centre. All your sheaves were bowing down to mine. What could this mean?" Joseph mused. The brothers thought he was crazy and ignored him. 

Again, another time, he got a dream that the sun,the moon and 11 stars were bowing down to him. This time his brothers got indignant and went to their father with the story. Jacob understood what Joseph was implying and reprimanded him. But, because he loved this son of his, he forgave him. The brothers, however, did not. They waited for a chance to teach him a lesson he would never forget. 

And that chance came on the day they set out for Goshen, a hilly area where there was lush pasture for grazing. They tooka long time and it was getting near sundown. Jacob decided to send Joseph to search for them to bring them home. 

Joseph set out, feeling proud of this important assignment, and he wore the beautiful coat his father had gifted him. When he neared the place, he saw his brothers huddled together and shouted out their names in greeting. 

The brothers saw that he was alone and one of them said, "Here is the opportunity we have been waiting for. Let's get rid of the telltale. We can say he was attacked by some wild animal and mauled to death." But one of them stopped the others saying he did not want murder on his hands. So,they decided to just throw him down the dry well and leave him there to die. 

Joseph did not understand why his brothers were surrounding him until he was picked up, and taken to the well. He began to scream in terror but it was to no avail. They threw him down the well. There was no way to get out. Joseph knew that they would leave him there to starve to death. He started praying earnestly to God for help. 

And his prayers were answered almost immediately. A caravan of Midianites were travelling across and they saw what had happened. One of them approached the brothers and struck a deal with them. For twenty coins of silver, a handsome amount in those days, Joseph was brought out of the well and sold as a slave. 

The brothers returned home with the sad tale of how Joseph had been mauled and showed Jacob the bloodied coat as proof. Jacob was heartbroken! Thereafter, he was a shadow of himself, always lamenting the loss to Benjamin who became his only hope. 

Meanwhile, Joseph was sold once again by the Midianites to an Egyptian overseer, Potiphar, for a large sum of money. 

Joseph grew to be a strong, handsome man and was given charge of important duties in the household. Potiphar's wife fell in love with  him but he avoided her because he was God-fearing and knew it was wrong to love another man's wife. Frustrated, she finally told lies and got Joseph thrown into prison. 

In prison, he was an exemplary prisoner. He told his cellmates that he got dreams and could interpret them. This made him very popular in prison. 

One day, the baker and the wine taster were both imprisoned together and both got dreams. They came to Joseph asking him for an interpretation. The wine taster first narrated his dream. He said, "I saw a vine in front of me. There were three branches on it which got buds, then flowered. Bunches of grapes grew on them. I plucked the grapes, squeezed them into the Pharoah's cup and gave the cup to him. What could this mean?"

 Joseph answered, "The three branches are three days. In three days,you will be set free and given back your job as wine taster. When you are reinstated, remember me and get me out of prison."

Now it was the baker's turn. Anticipating a favourable reply, he said, "My dream was that there were three baskets of bread on my head for the Pharoah but birds were pecking at them."

Joseph said that the three baskets also meant three days but that he would lose his head and the birds of prey would peck at his body kept on a pole for all to see. 

And what Joseph said actually happened. The baker was executed while the wine taster was reinstated. However, the latter completely forgot about his promise to Joseph until... PHAROAH HIMSELF HAD A DREAM !

To cut a long story short, Joseph was summoned, he interpreted the dream accurately and was not only released from prison but was made the governor of Egypt! 

Famine struck after seven years as predicted in Pharoah's dream but Egypt was provided for thanks to Joseph's wise governance of the food supplies.

But, Jacob and his family languished and were on the brink of starvation. They decided to go to Egypt to ask for help. Of course, they didn't know Joseph was there. How could they?

The brothers arrived and greeted by Joseph who recognised them. Benjamin was left behind as Jacob refused to part with him. Joseph gave them what they wanted but slyly put his own silver cupin one of the sacks of grain. As they were exiting the city, he sent his soldiers to intercept them and they were brought back to be thrown into prison. Judah pleaded to let his brothers go and that he would stay back in their stead. Joseph agreed on the condition that they bring back Benjamin. 

The brothers returned with Benjamin, Joseph revealed his true identity. There was so much joy and forgiveness at this happy reunion. Finally, Joseph with the Pharoah's blessings, was able to get all his family to Egypt to the fertile land of Goshen.