Judah looked toward his father’s camp, wondering what was keeping Reuben. Had something happened? It was not like their father to call them away from their work unless something important had happened. Judah’s thoughts swam with possibilities, but it did no good to speculate.
He turned to the flock of sheep grazing a short distance from him. His brothers were spaced about the large field, and some had taken part of the flock north of Hebron in the direction of Jerusalem and Shechem. He looked once more toward the camp and at last saw Reuben coming at a steady though rather slow gait over the rise and down into the valley.
“There you are,” Judah said, coming up beside him. “What happened?”
Reuben rubbed the back of his neck and twisted his head from side to side as if trying to release the tension in his shoulders.
“It cannot be good if it has you aching like an old man.” Judah gripped his staff harder and pushed it deeper into the ground. “Tell me.”
“Father has requested that I convince all of you to respect Joseph. He is not happy with the way we treat him. And now Father has made him household manager. Joseph will know far more than any of us do and be ready to take over our father’s affairs when he goes the way of all the earth.” Reuben’s disheartened expression matched the hurt behind his words.
“You are the firstborn. You should be the one who manages these things.”
“You know that no longer applies to me.” Reuben seemed resigned to do as he’d been asked.
“I know that. But Joseph is the youngest and the most spoiled among us. No one wants to take orders from a child!” Judah’s anger rose swiftly, and he fought to tamp it down.
“I know that, but what was I to say? I don’t think Joseph wanted Father to ask it of me. I think the whole thing embarrassed him.” Reuben sank to the earth, and Judah sat with him. “I have to do what he says, and I need you to help me. Help our brothers to do as Father asks, at least in his presence. We can try to be civil to the boy. If we continue to provoke him or, as the sons of the concubines have done, completely disregard him, Father could do worse things than ask for respect.”
“When our father rests with his fathers, who will protect Joseph then?” Judah did not like the direction of his own thoughts, but the very idea of Rachel’s son having authority over them? Impossible.
“Before that happens, Father could do as Abraham did and send away the sons of the concubines, and even us, the sons of Leah, and give all of the land to Joseph and Benjamin—or at least all of his worldly goods. We don’t actually own the land God has promised yet.”
Judah scratched at a sudden itch on his arm. “Do you really think Father would send all of us away in favor of Rachel’s sons?”
“Does that seem so impossible to you? It’s been done before.”
“That can’t happen.” Where would they go? They would have nothing! All of their hard work would be for naught. Even their father had bested their grandfather Laban before they left him and went away wealthy. He couldn’t possibly send Leah’s sons away. She was the first wife!
“It could happen if we don’t treat Joseph better. You know it could.” Reuben’s gaze was firm. “Will you help me convince our brothers?”
“They will argue with us. They might even fight over it. You know how hostile Simeon and Levi can be.” The massacre of the men of Shechem was never far from anyone’s thoughts, especially when they interacted with their sister, Dinah. Simeon and Levi had murdered all of them because the prince had raped their sister.
“I know. Which is why I came to you first. Will you help me?”
Reuben’s question did not sit well with him, but what could he say? At last he nodded. “I will do what I can. You know I don’t like Joseph. But I will do it for Father and for you and hope that Father looks on us all with favor one day, as he does his spoiled son.”
Reuben rose slowly. “I will go and find the others. We must tell them now so that by the time we return home tonight, they are amiable.”
Judah stood as well. “I will wait here with the sheep. Do what you must.”
Joseph sat beside his father around the central fire, listening to the distant sound of his brothers returning with the sheep. Voices rose and fell, and the sound was not entirely pleasant. They were arguing, as they usually did. But this time was he the cause?
He rose as his grandfather hobbled with the help of his servant to join them around the fire. The noise coming from the pens grew heated, but Joseph attempted to block out the sound. He approached Isaac and kissed his cheek.
“Greetings, Sabba. How good it is to see you tonight.” Joseph took Isaac’s hand and squeezed it, since his grandfather relied on sound and touch to connect with each person.
“Thank you, Joseph. I am well and glad to be able to join you again.” He gripped Joseph’s hand and released it, then made his way to his seat. Joseph returned to his seat just as his brothers entered the compound. Their voices had stilled, and one after another they approached first Isaac, then Jacob in order of age.
“Greetings, Grandfather,” they each said. Isaac recognized each one by name, which Joseph noted brought a slight smile to their lips and seemed to ease the tension in the air.
When they approached Jacob, however, the tension heightened again. “Greetings, Father.” Reuben spoke first, kissed his father’s cheek, then nodded at Joseph and sat in his place. Each brother did the same, though many of them barely looked Joseph’s way, and none spoke to him.
Food appeared at the hands of the wives and concubines and servants, and Benjamin bounced on Dinah’s knee beside Joseph, cooing and making all manner of noises as she tried to feed him.
Joseph turned his attention to the boy and laughed softly at his insistence. Conversation among his brothers carried to him in a low tone, but Joseph could not make out the words above the sounds of Benjamin eating and flapping his arms in the air, waiting for Dinah to give him more. Dinah laughed at the boy and Joseph smiled at him, but a moment later he felt as though all eyes were watching him. The discomfort drained him.
“They are ignoring you,” his father said softly, leaning close to his ear.
Joseph turned slightly toward him. “Yes. But that is no different than they always act.”
“Reuben should have said something to them,” Jacob said. “They cannot treat you with such disrespect.”
“It is all right, Abba. Perhaps Reuben could not yet convince them. It may take them time to change old habits.” Joseph touched his father’s arm in a comforting gesture, then quickly removed it when he glanced up and saw every one of his brothers staring at him.
“I do not like it,” Jacob said, lifting his eyes to meet the gazes of Joseph’s brothers. His obvious disapproval caused them to look down at their food, silence descending on the group.
Joseph grew increasingly uncomfortable, despite Benjamin’s playfulness. Even Dinah grew quiet and said only a few words to the boy. Were his brothers angrier than they had been because Jacob had forced Reuben to speak to them? If only their father could have simply let things be.
As Joseph left the group to return to his tent and put Benjamin to bed, he listened to the bickering begin again in the distance. Simeon and Levi raised their voices, and Joseph crept closer to the edge of his tent, straining to hear.