Your Story Hour

Guest (Male): Hey, sis. Dad, mom, come on. Your story hour is on.

Guest (Male): Presenting your story hour. Building for a better tomorrow.

Uncle Dan: Hi, boys and girls. This is Uncle Dan.

Aunt Carole: And I'm Aunt Carol. We're happy to be with you again.

Uncle Dan: Today we begin a seven part series on Joseph, one of the most interesting and beloved heroes in all the Bible.

Aunt Carole: His story begins in Genesis, the first book of the Bible, chapter 37. We call our first episode The Coat of Many Colors.

Guest (Male): And Rachel died and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem. And Jacob set a pillar upon her grave that is the pillar of Rachel's grave unto this day.

Guest (Male): My Rachel, my wife.

Guest (Male): And Jacob continued his journey and all his household with him and came unto Isaac his father in the land of Mamre.

Guest (Male): Jacob, my son, long years have I waited your return from Mesopotamia. Now you're here with a large family, 12 sons, a beautiful daughter, and oh, how I would have loved to have seen Rachel, the mother of thy beautiful son Joseph and the little tot Benjamin. But God has withheld that blessing from me.

Guest (Male): Jacob remained in Mamre during the closing years of his father's life. To Isaac, now old and blind, the kind attentions of his long absent son were a comfort during the years of loneliness and bereavement. Now Jacob loved Joseph more than all his children. And Joseph, being 17 years old, was feeding his father's flock along with several of his brothers.

Guest (Male): Come on, brothers. It's time to water the sheep.

Guest (Male): You water them. Can't you see we're busy?

Guest (Male): Busy doing what?

Guest (Male): It's none of your business what we're doing. Just you mind your own business and water those sheep like you're supposed to do.

Guest (Male): Just a minute there, Joseph, my lad. Levi, you just said that it's none of Joseph's affair what we're doing, right?

Guest (Male): Right, Judah, my brother.

Guest (Male): Well, I think it is some of his business. What I mean is that Joseph is a very unusual lad, hm? Yes, indeed. Now now you take you and me, for instance, and some of our other brothers, we're well, we're rough and kouth and sinful. But Joseph, he's a widely different character.

Guest (Male): Oh, indeed he is, brother Judah. He's pure, active, morally good. He loves to obey father. He's gentle, truthful, and loyal. Come to think of it, Joseph is a pretty fine lad, too fine, in fact, for this world, wouldn't you say?

Guest (Male): Oh, I would say so. But brother Levi has nothing we can do about it, is there? We could do away with him.

Guest (Male): Kill Joseph, brother Levi? No, no, no. That that's too easy for him. Let's do something to make life miserable for him. Like like make him do more than his share of the work.

Guest (Male): Yes, a good idea. A perfect idea.

Guest (Male): We're to leave the sheep with servants and go home immediately?

Guest (Male): That's what the messenger said.

Guest (Male): I wonder what father wants. Just another family conference, probably.

Guest (Male): Sons, I I I must talk to you. I do not wish to anger you or make you resentful, but my sons, you are not conducting yourselves as you ought to. It's difficult for me to speak to you of this because of my own past life. But I implore you for your own sakes, do not continue in your evil ways. Have respect for my council, my gray hair. Do not bring reproach upon the family name and above all, do not dishonor God by disregarding his precepts.

Guest (Male): Father, we're we're sorry.

Guest (Male): Yes, father, we are sorry and we'll change our ways.

Guest (Male): Thank you, sons.

Guest (Male): You know, Judah, I've been thinking.

Guest (Male): Yes, brother Levi?

Guest (Male): I think I know how father found out about our our wickedness, as he calls it.

Guest (Male): Joseph?

Guest (Male): Joseph? A tattletale?

Guest (Male): Sure, why not? You know how innocent he is. Well, he would tell father not to get us into trouble, but to help us overcome our wicked ways.

Guest (Male): You would think he's doing us a favor by telling Actually though, Levi, we can't blame Joseph too much. We can't. Why? Because it's mostly father's fault. He's always showing Joseph preference. He is father's favorite son.

Guest (Male): Yes, like that coat of many colors father gave Joseph. It's a coat usually worn by men of distinction such as princes, generals, kings.

Guest (Male): Joseph a king?

Guest (Male): You laugh, but it might come true. Joseph may become king.

Guest (Male): King Joseph? A king over what?

Guest (Male): Us. It's obvious that father loves Joseph more than any of the rest of us and it wouldn't surprise me if father doesn't intend to pass by Reuben, the eldest, and give the birthright to Joseph. Then he would become head of our family, king as it were.

Guest (Male): He'll never become head of the family as long as there's a breath left in me.

Guest (Male): Me either.

Guest (Male): You you dream that?

Guest (Male): Yes, Judah. Last night.

Guest (Male): Repeat that for me, will you, Joseph? I am not sure I heard right.

Guest (Male): The dream?

Guest (Male): Yes, will you?

Guest (Male): Well, surely we were all harvesting wheat, binding the sheaves in the fields, and lo and behold, my sheaf arose and stood upright.

Guest (Male): Your sheaf suddenly came to life and stood up all by itself?

Guest (Male): That's what I dreamed.

Guest (Male): Then what?

Guest (Male): Your sheaves, all of them, stood around and made obeisance to my sheaf. Our sheaves bowed down to your sheaf.

Guest (Male): Yes. Brother Judah?

Guest (Male): Yes, brother Levi.

Guest (Male): Know what I think?

Guest (Male): What do you think, brother Levi?

Guest (Male): I think that our brother Joseph thinks that someday he will rule over us.

Guest (Male): Really think he thinks that?

Guest (Male): Oh, I'm sure of it. Why don't we ask him?

Guest (Male): Good idea. I'm sure that

Guest (Male): Why do you boys make fun of me? I merely told you what I dreamed.

Guest (Male): And it's obvious that you interpret the dream to mean that someday you will reign over us.

Guest (Male): You'll never reign over us, Joseph.

Guest (Male): Indeed you will not, never. You had another dream, Joseph.

Guest (Male): And what did you dream this time, Joseph, hm? Oh, come now, Joseph. Don't be bashful. What was the dream?

Guest (Male): Well, behold, the sun and the moon and the 11 stars made obeisance to me.

Guest (Male): The sun and the moon and 11 stars. What could the sun and the moon stand for?

Guest (Male): Don't you understand, Levi? The sun and the moon, they are father and mother. The 11 stars are we boys, the brothers of Joseph.

Guest (Male): Just a minute, my sons. You actually dreamed that Joseph

Guest (Male): Yes, father.

Guest (Male): Shall I and thy mother and thy 11 brothers indeed come to bow down to thee, to the earth?

Guest (Male): It's just a dream, father. We'll never bow down to Joseph, never.

Guest (Male): Never.

Guest (Male): You spoke pretty harshly to Joseph, didn't you?

Uncle Dan: Yes, perhaps, but I believe that the Lord was revealing the future to Joseph.

Guest (Male): You believe that Joseph will someday have dominion over us?

Uncle Dan: Yes. Yes, I I do believe that.

Guest (Male): You're overly fond of Joseph, aren't you? Surely Joseph will never be our master, our overlord or king. Joseph is not that aggressive.

Uncle Dan: Perhaps perhaps you're right.

Guest (Male): Father?

Uncle Dan: Yes, Levi.

Guest (Male): The pasture, it's getting pretty poor. The sheep are losing weight.

Uncle Dan: I know and I've been concerned about it.

Guest (Male): We'll have to take the flock somewhere where there's better grazing.

Uncle Dan: But where?

Guest (Male): What about that parcel of land you bought outside of Shechem?

Uncle Dan: Shechem? Oh, no. No, no.

Guest (Male): What's the matter with Shechem? It's good pasture land.

Uncle Dan: It's too dangerous. The Shechemites hate you, boys, for what you did to them.

Guest (Male): Is that what you're worried about? We can take care of ourselves.

Uncle Dan: Levi, listen to me. Of course you can take care of yourselves individually and collectively. That's just the trouble. You boys are impatient and quarrelsome. The slightest provocation you're ready to fight, but you can't go through life like that. You have to become patient, kind, long-suffering. Give the other fellow some rights too. And you you're not listening to a word I've said.

Guest (Male): Father, the sheep, they need new pasture.

Uncle Dan: Oh, son, son, I failed to rear you and your brothers properly. But where? I don't know.

Guest (Male): Father, you over-dramatize. We're not bad boys, not really. Oh, we have ambitions, energy, yes. And we are boys, real boys, but we're not perfect like Joseph. No one is, except Joseph. He is a good boy, beautiful of countenance, a spirit of helpfulness, and he but oh, father, he overdoes it. He Are we going to take the sheep to Shechem or are we going to let them starve to death?

Uncle Dan: All right, Levi. You and your brothers take the sheep to Shechem, but do be careful.

Guest (Male): Joseph?

Guest (Male): Yes, father.

Guest (Male): Your brothers, they they've been gone a long time now and I I haven't heard a word from them.

Guest (Male): Well, they're all right, father.

Guest (Male): That's probably, but I I'm not sure and I'm worried.

Guest (Male): You want me to go to Shechem and see if they're all right?

Guest (Male): Will you, Joseph?

Guest (Male): Glad to, father.

Guest (Male): It's a long way, over 50 miles.

Guest (Male): Oh, I'll make it all right.

Guest (Male): And your brothers, they don't seem to like you. They seem resentful of you or something. Perhaps it isn't even safe to trust you with them. They

Guest (Male): Oh, father, my brothers wouldn't hurt me.

Guest (Male): No, I guess they wouldn't. All right, Joseph, my son. You may prepare for the journey and leave early in the morning. Goodbye, Joseph. I 'll be awaiting your return.

Guest (Male): I'll hurry, father.

Guest (Male): Bye, Joseph.

Uncle Dan: You be a good boy, Benjamin.

Guest (Male): I am a good boy.

Guest (Female): We'll all be anxiously awaiting your return, Joseph.

Guest (Male): I know, mother. Goodbye.

Uncle Dan: Goodbye.

Guest (Female): Goodbye, Joseph.

Guest (Male): Goodbye, my son.

Guest (Male): But it's hot. I wonder how many more miles it is. Probably about 25. I guess I'd better rest here a few minutes. I didn't realize 50 miles was so far.

Guest (Male): Beg your pardon, sir, but is this Shechem?

Guest (Male): Uh, you're a stranger to these parts, eh?

Guest (Male): Yes, sir.

Guest (Male): You're looking for Shechem?

Guest (Male): No, sir. My brothers.

Guest (Male): Your brothers? Who are they?

Guest (Male): They're shepherds, 10 of them, sons of Jacob.

Guest (Male): Yeah, don't know 'em.

Guest (Male): You you haven't seen them?

Guest (Male): Nope.

Guest (Male): This is Shechem.

Guest (Male): Yeah, sure is.

Guest (Male): And you don't know where my 10 brothers are?

Guest (Male): No, I Say, just a minute. You say there're 10 of them?

Guest (Male): Yes, sir.

Guest (Male): Yes, I I think I did hear about them. Are they the 10 men who heaped revenge on Shechem because of their sister?

Guest (Male): Yes, they're my brothers.

Guest (Male): Yes, I heard they came back a short time ago.

Guest (Male): Do you know where they are now?

Guest (Male): No, and I don't want to know. They're dangerous men and I'm going to stay out of their way.

Guest (Male): Maybe father was right. Maybe these Shechemites have done harm to my brothers in revenge for what they did to them.

Uncle Dan: Listen to what three of our adventures in the Holy Bible Club members have to say.

Aunt Carole: From Kentucky, 15-year-old Ashley writes, these lessons have helped me grow in my Christian faith with Jesus. I just hope these stories motivate others like they have me.

Uncle Dan: And from Tennessee, 13-year-old Igor writes, I thank you for the wonderful CD Mary of Nazareth and Born Under a Star. My family and I enjoyed it very much. I thank you for the CDs and for the worksheets.

Aunt Carole: From Idaho, 11-year-old Galina writes, thank you so much for the quiz sheets. They're so much fun. They also encourage me that only through Jesus will you have everlasting life.

Uncle Dan: Well, Aunt Carol, after hearing what Ashley, Igor, and Galina wrote, how bet hundreds of kids are wondering just how they can become club members too. So let's tell them all the requirements and how much it's going to cost.

Aunt Carole: All the requirements, Uncle Dan?

Uncle Dan: Uh-huh.

Aunt Carole: The only one I know is that they must be at least nine years old to sign up. And as to cost, well, there isn't any. The adventures are a gift.

Uncle Dan: But surely there's a charge for the fully dramatized CDs from our Life of Jesus album that they'll collect as they complete and return their quizzes.

Aunt Carole: Uh-uh, they're free too.

Uncle Dan: Oh, kids, you heard it for yourself. The adventures are free, fun, and they'll help you get to know Jesus as your best friend. So if you're at least nine years old, just visit our website at yourstoryhour.org, click on the Adventures icon, and sign up right there. That's at yourstoryhour.org.

Aunt Carole: If you don't have access to the web, just mail a request for Adventures membership to Uncle Dan and me at Your Story Hour, Box 8, Niles, N I L E S, Michigan 49120.

Uncle Dan: Let's get back to our story The Coat of Many Colors.

Guest (Male): The 10 older brothers of Joseph had been absent for some time. Their father Jacob, becoming concerned, sent Joseph to find them and bring back news of their welfare. Arriving in Shechem, Joseph was unable to locate his 10 brothers.

Guest (Male): Maybe father was right. Maybe the Shechemites have done harm to my brothers in revenge for what they did to them. If I keep on looking and asking questions, I'll find out something bound to sooner or later.

Guest (Male): Say, want to know about those 10 men, sons of Jacob, eh?

Guest (Male): Yes, sir.

Guest (Male): Well, son, they're gone.

Guest (Male): They're gone? Where did they go?

Guest (Male): Quite some distance. They've gone to Dothan, 15 miles away.

Guest (Male): Thank you, sir.

Guest (Male): You're welcome, son.

Guest (Male): Brothers, brothers, gather around and listen to me. I have an important announcement to make.

Guest (Male): An announcement, brother Levi?

Guest (Male): Gather around, gather around.

Guest (Male): All right, Levi, say away. What's your announcement?

Guest (Male): I wish to show you something.

Guest (Male): What's you got to say?

Guest (Male): Lift up your eyes, my brothers, and cast your gaze southward. Tell me, what do you see?

Guest (Male): A traveler on foot.

Guest (Male): Well, there's nothing so unusual about a traveler on foot.

Guest (Male): Judah, look closer. That is a special traveler.

Guest (Male): Oh, it it can't be. It just can't.

Guest (Male): But it is.

Guest (Male): It can't be what?

Guest (Male): The traveler. What is he wearing?

Guest (Male): A coat of a bright and colorful coat. No, it isn't Joseph.

Guest (Male): But it is Joseph, Joseph with the coat of many colors.

Guest (Male): Dreamer of dreams, behold the dreamer of dreams cometh. For what purpose is he come all the way up here to Dothan?

Guest (Male): To spy on us and report us to father. Oh, how I hate that dreamer, him and his coat of many colors. Are we to bow ourselves down to the ground to him? I say never, never, never.

Guest (Male): It's about time we put an end to his ambition to reduce us to servants, his servants.

Guest (Male): I agree, brother Judah. Yet how can we be rid of him?

Guest (Male): Kill him.

Guest (Male): We we will slay him and cast his body into one of those many empty pits around here and and we'll tell father that some evil beast devoured him.

Guest (Male): Then what will become of his dreams?

Guest (Male): All in favor say aye.

Guest (Male): Aye.

Guest (Male): Just just a minute, fellows. You're not in favor of slaying Joseph Reuben?

Guest (Male): I hate him just as much as the rest of you do, but well, after all, Joseph is our brother and and I for one do not want his blood on my hands.

Guest (Male): How else can we be rid of him?

Guest (Male): You yourself just said, Levi, that there are a lot of empty pits around here. Well, we'll cast Joseph alive into one of the pits. He can't get out and in time he will die. We'll be rid of him forever rid of him. Yet his blood will not be on our hands.

Guest (Male): I say slay him, slay him. Judah, Judah.

Guest (Male): Are you willing to be the one personally to yield the knife and slay Joseph? Could you face father being guilty of such a thing? Could you?

Guest (Male): No.

Guest (Male): And you, Simeon?

Guest (Male): No.

Guest (Male): None of us could. We think too much of father to harm Joseph even though we hate him. We're all agreed then that we will cast Joseph alive into a pit and leave him there.

Guest (Male): Reuben, having persuaded all his brothers to consent to this plan, left them fearing that he might not be able to control his feelings. He fully intended to return to the pit later and secretly released Joseph. Joseph, unaware of these plottings against him, drew near and near to the camp. He was rejoicing that his long journey to find his brothers was at an end.

Guest (Male): Evidently that's their camp up there on that hill. I but I'll be glad to see my brothers again. Well, they they tease me a lot and they are sort of jealous of me, but they're nice boys and I love them. Oh, I wonder what they'll have for supper. My, I'm hungry. Tired too, but but I don't mind. The main thing is to see my brothers and get back home and relieve father's anxiety. Hello there, brothers. Don't you recognize me? It's Joseph, your brother. I'm I'm surely glad I found you. I had quite a time of it though.

Went first to Shechem, but you'd left there. Now father is worried. What's the matter with you, fellows? It It's Joseph. Me don't you recognize?

Guest (Male): We recognize that coat of many colors.

Guest (Male): You you look angry, all of you. What have I done that you hate me so? Aren't you glad to see me?

Guest (Male): Grab him, Levi.

Guest (Male): Oh, wait. What are you doing?

Guest (Male): Now I'll rip that beautiful coat of many colors off him.

Guest (Male): And let me do that, Judah. I love it.

Guest (Male): I shall rip the beautiful coat of the beautiful lad.

Guest (Male): Why did you rip off my coat?

Guest (Male): And now you still beg, Joseph.

Guest (Male): What are you going to do?

Guest (Male): You'll see.

Guest (Male): Hold on, please. Please, for father's sake, stop. Let me go home, please.

Guest (Male): You know what, Joseph, my lad. You are in our power now, completely in our power. And you know something else? We are madmen. We're mad and we're tired of your lording it over us. You will never be our master like those dreams of yours seem to indicate.

Guest (Male): Away with him. Drag him to the pit.

Guest (Male): Fellows, here's a deep pit, just what we're looking for.

Guest (Male): He won't get out of this one.

Guest (Male): Heave ho, fellows. In the pit he goes.

Guest (Male): Having cast Joseph into a deep pit, the brothers returned to camp and sat down to eat. At last they were rid of the one whose pure life reproved them of their evil ways. But some of the brothers were ill at ease. Their cruel treatment of Joseph did not bring the satisfaction they had expected. Then too, there was the boys' father. How would they explain the lad's disappearance to him? Perhaps his grief would be more than he could endure.

Guest (Male): Fellows, fellows, look. Look, coming down the road, a caravan.

Guest (Male): Well, what of it? There's nothing unusual about a caravan. Lots of them use this route on the way to and from Egypt.

Guest (Male): But that caravan is made up of Ishmaelites from beyond the Jordan.

Guest (Male): What do you know?

Guest (Male): They're on their way, no doubt to Egypt, with spices and and other merchandise.

Guest (Male): Oh, I imagine, my brother Judah, that you're right. That caravan is on its way to Egypt to sell spices and merchandise and anything saleable. Yes. Hey, you're not thinking that we should pull Joseph out of the pit and sell him to those Ishmaelites?

Guest (Male): Exactly.

Guest (Male): He would be effectively out of our way and we would be clear of his body. After all, Joseph is our brother, our flesh and blood.

Guest (Male): An excellent idea. I'm in favor of it.

Guest (Male): Quick quick, let's draw Joseph out of the pit and get him presentable before the caravan gets here.

Guest (Male): Slave? Oh, no. No, you you're not going to sell me as a slave.

Guest (Male): You'd make a good slave, Joseph.

Guest (Male): Levi, please. Please don't sell me as a slave. Dan, Dan, won't you try to get our brothers not to sell me, please? Zebulun, will you? Dad, you're a kind man. Won't you please help me? Asher, you Issachar, Simeon, will you please? Oh, please, please, brothers, don't sell me.

Guest (Male): I'll say one thing, at that price you got a bargain.

Guest (Male): Yes, I guess you're right. All right, driver, let's get on the move. It's a long way to Egypt.

Guest (Male): Simeon, Judah, Dan, Levi, wake up. Wake up.

Guest (Male): Oh, what's up, Reuben? What

Guest (Male): Joseph's gone. He's not in the pit. He's been killed.

Guest (Male): Oh, is that all that's wrong? I'm going back to sleep.

Guest (Male): Just a minute, fellows. You say, Reuben, that Joseph isn't in the pit where we put him?

Guest (Male): He's gone. I tell you, he's been killed.

Guest (Male): How do you know Joseph's not in the pit?

Guest (Male): I just came from there.

Guest (Male): And what were you doing at the pit? Were you going to let Joseph out?

Guest (Male): I well well I well I wanted to be sure.

Guest (Male): You were going to let him out, weren't you?

Guest (Male): Yes, I was.

Guest (Male): Shouldn't have helped put him in the pit in the first place.

Guest (Male): Turning soft, Reuben?

Guest (Male): I'm not turning soft. I'm just getting some sense into this thick skull of mine. All of us were supposed to be grown men. We're acting like jealous fools.

Guest (Male): Have you forgotten how Joseph treated us, how he larded it over us with his dreams?

Guest (Male): I'm not forgetting anything. What did I could what did I could forget what we've done this night? It will forever haunt us, be on our consciences.

Guest (Male): Oh, stop talking and let's go to sleep. Joseph's all right.

Guest (Male): Joseph's all right?

Guest (Male): That's what I said.

Guest (Male): You fellows are keeping something from me. What is it? Dan, you tell them what's happened in my absence. Asher, you tell me. Someone had better tell me or I'll tell father everything that's happened here today.

Guest (Male): Oh, calm down, Reuben. I 'll tell you.

Guest (Male): And it better be the truth, Levi, or I'll show you what meanness really is.

Guest (Male): We we released Joseph ourselves.

Guest (Male): You you released him?

Guest (Male): We did. We sold him to a caravan of Ishmaelite traders.

Guest (Male): You sold him, Joseph as a slave?

Guest (Male): That's better than death.

Guest (Male): But it isn't. Slavery is worse than death.

Guest (Male): He's alive at least and his blood is not on our hands.

Guest (Male): But father, what about him? Are we going to tell him the truth?

Guest (Male): We've already taken care of that. Judah and I dipped Joseph's coat of many colors into blood. We'll show it to father and he'll think a wild beast has killed Joseph.

Guest (Male): It is. It is my son's coat. Surely some wild beast has devoured him. Oh, oh, my son. Joseph, my son.

Guest (Male): Shall we tell father that Joseph is alive in Egypt?

Guest (Male): No.

Guest (Male): Oh, no. We must never tell father.

Guest (Male): I will go down to my grave mourning Joseph's death. Oh, my son, my son.

Uncle Dan: Before we say goodbye, listen to just one more letter.

Aunt Carole: From Kentucky, Betty writes, I'm a grandma and I listen to your story hour and I enjoy it very much. I would like to get your adventures in the Holy Bible. I hope I'm not too old to get it.

Uncle Dan: Bless your heart, Betty. We've signed you up. Nobody's too old to get to know Jesus better.

Aunt Carole: So if you like Betty or wondering if you're too old, perish the thought and sign up today.

Uncle Dan: Bye for now.

Aunt Carole: And God bless.

Guest (Male): This has been your story hour. Building for a better tomorrow.

Aunt Carole: This is Aunt Carol.

Uncle Dan: And Uncle Dan saying,

Guest (Male): Goodbye everyone. See you again next time.

Aunt Carole: Goodbye everyone. See you again next time.