Joseph with the Midianite Merchants

 

“Where are we going?” I asked the merchant next to me.

He stoked the fire which Illuminated the small makeshift camp we had just set up for the night, “To Egypt,” he replied.

I nodded and waited a few minutes before asking my next question, “What are you going to do there?” 

Epher sighed, “Eldaah and me are merchants, what do you think we’re going to do there?”

I nodded again then looked up at all the stars. What I really wanted to know was what they were going to do with me. My own brothers had sold me to these random merchants, and we had been travelling for many days. I am calmer now, but I still don’t know what’s going to happen to me. My whole life has been turned upside down.

Epher’s wife brought me a small chunk of bread. “Thank you, Keturah.” I said and slowly started eating it, making it last as long as I could. Eldaah, Epher’s brother, sat down on the other side of the fire and Keturah brought him and Epher their eveningfeast. I finished my bread then laid down on the sheet I had been sitting on, folding my arms under my head.

Looking up at the stars I remembered the things my father told me about my great grandfather Abraham. He said that Yahweh told Father Abraham to look up at all the stars and to count them. I tried counting them. After a few minutes I lost count and decided there were too many to count anyway. Father Abraham couldn’t count them either. Yahweh said to him that he would have more descendants than the stars in the heavens! I thought about that for a while.

“You’ve been quiet for too long, Joseph,” Eldaah said, I could tell he was joking, “What are you scheming?”

I chuckled, “I was just thinking about my great grandfather.”

“Your great grandfather huh? Are you missing him?” Epher asked.

“Well, he died before I was born, but my father would tell me about him.”

Eldaah grabbed the wood carving he had been working on the last few days and started whittling, “You have any good stories about him?”

I sat up, “I do actually, he was a great man. Would you like to hear one?”

“Go ahead,” Epher grinned, “I’m tired of Eldaah story about his fox encounter that he tells over and over and over and— “

“I think he gets it Epher.” Eldaah smiled and rolled his eyes, “Please start Joseph.”

I chuckled then began, “When my Great Grandfather Abraham was about 95 years old Yahweh appeared to him in a vision. He said, ‘Do not fear Abram—' for that was Abraham’s name before Yahweh changed it to Abraham, anyway, Yahweh said, ‘Do not fear Abram, I am a shield to you; your reward shall be very great.’ Abram didn’t understand how Yahweh could bless him because he had no children. His wife, Sarai, was too old to have children. Yahweh took Abram outside and showed him the stars. Yahweh said that Abram’s descendants would be as many as the stars in the heavens.

“Abram then believed in Yahweh and He reckoned it to him as righteousness. Yahweh told Abram to bring him a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. Abram cut them in half and laid them on the ground. Now when the sun was setting Abram fell into a deep sleep and behold a great terror and darkness fell upon him. And Yahweh said to him, ‘Know for certain that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs where they will be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years.’ But Yahweh also said that He would judge the nation whom they will serve afterward, and that the nation would give them many possessions. He also promised Abram what he would die in peace and be buried at a good age.

“And when the sun was set and everything was very dark, there appeared a smoking oven and a flaming torch which passed between the pieces of animals which Abram had laid out to affirm Yahweh’s covenant with Abram.”

We all sat in silence for a while, thinking about the story and the covenant. I laid back down to look at the stars again. Finally, Epher spoke up, “So how did Abram get kids?”

I continued looking up at the stars and answered, “A few years later Yahweh allowed Sarai to become pregnant once, and she bore a boy, Isaac, my grandfather.”

Eldaah put down his whittling, “Do you really believe in Yahweh and that He promised all that to your great grandfather?”

“Of course I do,” I answered, “My father has seen Yahweh, and both my father and my grandfather have also been promised a blessing and many descendants. Although I’m sure my father found it much more believable since he already has 12 sons.” I chuckled a little but soon became solemn thinking about my family. Would I ever see them again? I sat up and looked at Epher, “Epher, what’s going to happen to me when we get to Egypt?”

“Joseph,” Epher sighed, “You’re going to be sold as a slave.”

I closed my eyes and flopped back down. A slave? I was never going to see my family again. My mind wandered back to the story of Father Abraham. It didn’t seem like God was going to be able to keep his covenant with him. He had no children, and his wife was too old to have any. Yet when it seemed hopeless God kept his promise. God always keeps his promises. I felt a sudden wave of peace.

“So, Joseph,” Eldaah turned to him, “do you still think that Yahweh will keep his covenant with your family? You know, the one about the blessing and stuff?”

I looked up at the stars and a small smile spread across my tear-stained face, “Yes.”