Jacob released the wolf out of the hands of his sons, and he dismissed his sons, for he abhorred the sight of their faces; only Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, and the youngest child of Rachel, did he retain near him.[408]
On the third morning, a party of Arabs passed near the well, and were thirsty. Now the chief of these Arabs was Melek-ben-Dohar; the second, who accompanied Melek, was an Indian, a freed man of Melek, and his name was Buschra.
Melek reached the well carrying a bucket and a rope, and let down the bucket into the well. Then Joseph put his hand on it, and, however much Melek and Buschra pulled, they could not raise the bucket. Then Melek looked down into the pit, and exclaimed: “O Buschra, the bucket was heavy because a young man has hold of it.”
Now the face of Joseph illumined the well like a lamp: Buschra and Melek tried to raise Joseph, but they could not.
Then Melek asked, “What is thy name, and whence art thou?”
Joseph answered, “I am a young man of Canaan; my brothers have cast me into this cistern, but I am not guilty.”
Melek said to his companions, “If we tell the rest of the caravan that we have drawn this youth out of the well, they will demand a share in the price he will fetch. Now I can sell this youth for a large sum in Egypt. I will therefore tell my comrades that I have bought him from some people who were at the well. Do thou say the same thing, and we will share the money between us.”
Next day, being the fourth day, the brethren, finding that their father’s face was turned against them, went to the cistern to draw forth Joseph, and when they found him not, they went to the caravan, and they saw Joseph among the Arabs.
They answered, “He belongs to us; he ran away from us.”
Melek replied, “Well, I will give you money for him.”[409]
So he bought him for twenty pieces of silver; thus each of the brothers obtained two drachmæ, and therewith they bought shoes.[410] To this the prophet Amos refers in two places (ii. 6; viii. 6), and in the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, which is received as canonical by the Armenian Church, Zebulun relates the same circumstance, that the brethren supplied themselves with sandals from the money which they got by the sale of Joseph.