Joseph’s is a coming-of-age story, a dramatic account of failures and successes, of hopes and dreams. His path from coddled youngster to powerful benevolent ruler inspires to this day, and his resolute faith serves as an example of endurance.
Joseph is born the eleventh of Jacob's twelve sons, but he is the first of Jacob’s most beloved wife, Rachel. Rachel’s sister, Jacob’s first wife, Leah, bears him children, whereas Rachel remains barren for years. As she becomes jealous and desperate, Rachel implores Jacob to beget her, lest she die. Jacob becomes enraged with her, so Rachel asks Jacob to marry her maid, Bilhah, so she may bear him children in her stead. Bilhah gives birth to two sons, as does Leah’s maid Zilpah. It is only after Jacob is father to ten sons and one daughter, that Rachel finally becomes pregnant.
Indeed Rachel bears another son, Benjamin, but she dies during childbirth in Bethlehem, where she is buried.Joseph grows up to become Jacob’s favored son, and Jacob makes him a unique coat of many colors. His special status, however, draws his brothers’ jealousy and scorn. This is amplified when Joseph tells his brothers of two dreams he dreamt.
One day, Jacob sends Joseph from their dwelling place in Hebron to check on the welfare of his brothers who took the flock to graze in Nablus. When a man finds Joseph wandering in the fields, he asks him what he is looking for? Joseph says that he is looking for his brothers and the man tells him that they have moved further north to Dothan. Joseph continues his journey and finds them, but they recognize him from a distance and are dismayed. “Look, the dreamer is coming,” they say, and they plot to kill him. Reuben, the eldest son, persuades them to instead throw him into a pit, intending to rescue him later.When Joseph reaches them, they strip him of his coat of many colors and throw him into a pit. As they sit down to break bread, they see a caravan of Ishmaelites traveling by on their way south to Egypt. Judah says to his brothers: “What profit do we gain from killing him and concealing his blood? Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites.” The brothers agree, and they sell Joseph for 20 silver coins, and when Reuben later returns to the empty pit he’s devastated. “The child is no more! As for me, where shall I go?” The brothers slaughter a goat, smear Joseph’s coat with its blood and return to their father Jacob.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, Joseph is sold to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh. God is with Joseph, and he succeeds with everything he does. This doesn’t go unnoticed with Potiphar who appoints him to oversee all his belongings, and thanks to Joseph’s presence, God blesses Potiphar’s dealings. However, Potiphar’s wife lays and eye on the fair boy, and tries to seduce him. Joseph refuses, out of loyalty to his master and God. After continued advances and refusals, one day the two find themselves alone in the house. Potiphar’s wife begins stripping Joseph of his coat, but Joseph flees. Holding his coat in her hands, she hysterically runs out, claiming that it was Joseph who tried to seduce her. When Potiphar hears of this, he becomes enraged and throws Joseph into prison.
Yet even there, Joseph’s diligence and providence is noticed, and the care of the prisoners is put into his charge. Years pass before two new prisoners are put in Joseph’s ward: Pharaoh’s chief butler and chief baker are imprisoned for offending Egypt’s ruler. Joseph is charged with seeing to them. One day, he notices both being sad. When he asks why, they each tell him that they’ve dreamed a dream and don’t know its meanings.
It’s only two years after Pharaoh’s chief butler is restored that he remembers Joseph’s capacity to interpret dreams. Pharaoh himself dreams two dreams and desperately looks for someone to tell him their meaning. After all his magicians fail to satisfy him with appropriate interpretations, the butler tells him of his own experience with the Hebrew boy in prison. Pharaoh immediately sends for Joseph, who is cleaned up and brought to him.
Joseph tells Pharaoh to appoint someone to gather a fifth of the harvest during the seven plentiful years and store it to supply Egypt during the subsequent seven years of famine. Pharaoh is so impressed with Joseph that he appoints him the viceroy of all Egypt, only subject to Pharaoh himself. Joseph, now 30 years old, is paraded through Egypt to celebrate his appointment. Joseph sets himself to work, taxing the harvest and storing it during the years in which there is plenty. He marries and begets two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And when the foreshadowed seven years come to an end, famine indeed rolls over the entire earth. Only Egypt was prepared for it, and from all other countries, including Canaan, where Joseph's family lives, hungry men turn to Egypt for food.
Jacob sends Joseph's brothers down to Egypt to buy food, yet he keeps his youngest, Benjamin, at home, for fear that something would happen to him. When they come before Joseph, they don’t recognize him, but he does. As they bow down before him, Joseph remembers his dreams and realizes their fulfillment. He decides to test his brothers, and accuses them of being spies. When they deny vehemently, he demands they must prove their sincerity by returning to Canaan and bring their youngest brother to him. When they do, Joseph further tricks them: he does give them food, but he instructs his servants to hide one of his valued goblets in Benjamin’s sack. As the brothers set out to return to Canaan, Joseph’s men chase after them and find the goblet. They are returned to Egypt, and Joseph tells them that Benjamin will remain his prisoner, while the other brothers shall go free. When Judah steps up and implores Joseph to let Benjamin go and that he would take his place, Joseph finally reveals his true identity.
Joseph forgives his brothers, and the entire family moves down to Egypt where he takes care of them. When Jacob and Joseph are reunited, “they fall onto each other’s neck and weep, and weep more.” Joseph lives to be 110 years old and is buried in Egypt. His descendants, the Israelites, eventually become enslaved in Egypt and are led to freedom by Moses several hundred years later.
Joseph is an emblem of the dreamer. His youthful hopes become true despite a long and arduous journey. His faith in God sustains Joseph through his difficulties and allows him to endure, to find forgiveness, and to reach greatness.