forgiving charitableness of his nature. When Simon was
held in durance in Egypt as a hostage, Joseph, so far from
bearing him a grudge, ordered crammed poultry to be set
before him at all his meals.[42]

Not satisfied with exposing Joseph to the snakes and
scorpions, his brethren had stripped him bare before they
flung him into the pit. They took off his coat of many
colors, his upper garment, his breeches, and his shirt.[43]
However, the reptiles could do him no harm. God heard
his cry of distress, and kept them in hiding in the clefts
and the holes, and they could not come near him. From the
depths of the pit Joseph appealed to his brethren, saying:
"O my brethren, what have I done unto you, and what is
my transgression? Why are you not afraid before God on
account of your treatment of me? Am I not flesh of your
flesh, and bone of your bone? Jacob your father, is he not
also my father? Why do you act thus toward me? And
how will you be able to lift up your countenance before
Jacob? O Judah, Reuben, Simon, Levi, my brethren, deliver
me, I pray you, from the dark place into which you
have cast me. Though I committed a trespass against you,
yet are ye children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, who were
compassionate with the orphan, gave food to the hungry,
and clothed the naked. How, then, can ye withhold your
pity from your own brother, your own flesh and bone? And
though I sinned against you, yet you will hearken unto my
petition for the sake of my father. O that my father knew
what my brethren are doing unto me, and what they spake
unto me!"