His brothers thought that Jo'seph was telling them these dreams because he expected some day to rule over them. They disliked him very much for having such hopes, and for even suggesting that he might become the head of his father's household.
When Jo'seph told his father of the second dream, Ja'cob scolded him, and said, "Do you think that I and your brothers will one day bow before you as if you were a king?" In spite of this rebuke from his father, Jo'seph did not lose hope, and it seems that Ja'cob himself wondered if the dream might well come true some day. The way that his brothers later treated Jo'seph makes one think that they, too, must have believed that he was likely to rule over them.
Some days after Jo'seph had told his father and brothers about his dreams, his ten older brothers were sent into the land near She'chem with a flock of sheep. This was a distance of about fifty miles from He'bron, and near the place where Ja'cob had purchased a plot of ground from Ha'mor.
Wishing to send a message to his sons, and to find out if all was well with them, Ja'cob told Jo'seph to go on an errand to his brothers at She'chem. Although it was a long journey for a boy of Jo'seph's age to make alone, and in spite of the knowledge that he would not be kindly received by his brothers, Jo'seph promptly and cheerfully did what his father told him. While Jo'seph and his father were thinking of their welfare, the older brothers were plotting how to do away with Jo'seph. All they were waiting for was a chance to deal with him where Ja'cob could not hinder them, and the chance was now about to come.
When Jo'seph reached the pasture land near She'chem where his brothers had been sent, he found that they were no longer there. While looking for them he met a stranger, and asked if he knew where his brothers had gone with their sheep. The stranger told him that they had gone to Do'than, which was about fifteen miles farther north. Jo'seph had already been walking over the hills and valleys for two or three days, and must have been very tired from the fifty mile journey, but he started off at once toward Do'than.
As Jo'seph drew near to the fields where his brothers were letting their sheep graze, they saw him from a distance, and knew who he was by the bright colors of the coat he wore. They began to say to one another, "Look, that dreamer is coming!" Then they began to plot among themselves what they might do to dispose of him. One of the brothers suggested that they slay him and put his body into an open well in the field, then they could tell their father that he had been killed and eaten by a wild animal.
