08/09/2026
THE PROCLAMATION
Genesis 37:1-4, 12-28
Jacob settled in the land where his father, Isaac, had lived as an alien, the land of Canaan.
This is the story of the family of Jacob.
Joseph, being seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers; Joseph was a helper to the sons of Bilhah and Zilpah, the handmaids of Jacob’s wives; and Joseph brought a bad report of his brothers to their father.
Now Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his children, because he was the son of his old age; and Jacob had made Joseph a long robe with sleeves.
But when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father loved Joseph more than all his brothers, they hated Joseph and could not speak peaceably to him.
Now Joseph's brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem.
And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem?
Come, I will send you to them.’
Joseph answered, ‘Here I am.’
So Jacob said to Joseph, ‘Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.’
So Jacob sent Joseph from the valley of Hebron.
Joseph came to Shechem, and a man found Joseph wandering in the fields; the man asked Joseph, ‘What are you seeking?’
‘I am seeking my brothers,’ Joseph said; tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.’
The man said, ‘They have gone away, for I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.”
’So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan.
They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.
They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.’ But when Reuben heard it, he delivered Joseph out of their hands, saying, ‘Let us not take his life.’
Reuben said to them, ‘Shed no blood; throw Joseph into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him’—that Reuben might rescue Joseph out of their hand and restore Joseph to Jacob.
So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore; and they took him and threw him into a pit.
The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
Then Judah said to his brothers, ‘What profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.’
And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, the brothers drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver.
And the Ishamaelites took Joseph to Egypt.
God of Surprises
The Reverend Candasu Cubbage
