Now, the most notable facts in connection with this story are those “between the lines.”  It is not merely that such and such events are said to have happened, but that for generations, perhaps centuries, Hebrew fathers and mothers kept the story of these events alive, telling it over and over again to their children.  On numberless days, no doubt, in this shepherd life there were bickering and angry words among the children by the spring or at meal time, or in their games.  The older brothers were tyrannical toward the younger, or one or another cherished black and unforgiving looks toward a brother or sister who he thought had done him a wrong.  And many a time after such a day the old father would gather all the family together in the evening around the camp fire in front of the tent and would begin to tell the story of Joseph.  And as the tale went on, with its thrilling episodes, and its touches of pathos leading up at last to the whole-souled generosity and the sweet human tenderness of Joseph, many a little heart softened, and in the darkness many a little brown hand sought a brother’s hand in loving reconciliation.

=The tribe as a larger family.=—­To some extent the desert shepherds of all ages have carried this family spirit into the relations between members of the tribe as a whole.  Since they had to stand together for protection, quarrels between tribesmen were discouraged.  Moreover, they were not separated into classes by difference of wealth.  There were some who had larger flocks than others, but for the most part all members of the tribe were equal.  Even from among the slaves who were captured now and then in war there were some who rose to positions of honor.  There were no kings nor princes; the chief of the tribe held his position by virtue of his long experience and practical wisdom.  The distinction between close blood relationship and the brotherhood of membership in the same tribe was not sharply drawn; all were brothers.  This is true to-day of all these desert tribes.

Only a tribe, however, with an unusual capacity for brotherly affection and for making social life sweet and harmonious could have produced a Joseph or the story of Joseph, or would have preserved that story in oral form through the centuries until it could be written down.  It is worth while looking into the later history of such a tribe, and seeing what happened to them and how they thought and acted, and what they contributed to the life of the world.

STUDY TOPICS

1.  Get some cotton at a drug store, and see if you can spin some cotton thread, with a homemade spindle, such as is described in this chapter.

2.  Who had the harder work among the Hebrew shepherds, the women or the men?

3.  Find other stories in Genesis besides the story of Joseph which show how the Hebrews felt in regard to the relations between brothers.

4.  Compare the home life in America with the home life of the Hebrews.  Are American brothers and sisters growing more quarrelsome or more kindly and loving toward one another?