tried the same test with other things, with trees and sheaves,
and always the result was the same, and Jacob could not but
feel that his suspicion was true, Joseph was alive.[67]

There was a reason why God did not reveal the real fate
of Joseph to Jacob. When his brethren sold Joseph, their
fear that the report of their iniquity might reach the ears of
Jacob led them to pronounce the ban upon any that should
betray the truth without the consent of all the others. Judah
advanced the objection that a ban is invalid unless it is decreed
in the presence of ten persons, and there were but nine
of them, for Reuben and Benjamin were not there when the
sale of Joseph was concluded. To evade the difficulty, the
brothers counted God as the tenth person, and therefore God
felt bound to refrain from revealing the true state of things
to Jacob. He had regard, as it were, for the ban pronounced
by the brethren of Joseph.[68] And as God kept the truth a
secret from Jacob, Isaac did not feel justified in acquainting
him with his grandson's fate, which was well known to him,
for he was a prophet. Whenever he was in the company of
Jacob, he mourned with him, but as soon as he quitted him,
he left off from manifesting grief, because he knew that
Joseph lived.[69]

Jacob was thus the only one among Joseph's closest kinsmen
that remained in ignorance of his son's real fortunes,
and he was the one of them all that had the greatest reason
for regretting his death. He spoke: "The covenant that
God made with me regarding the twelve tribes is null and
void now. I did strive in vain to establish the twelve tribes,