The message of the Lord is the way of the righteous, and the way of the wicked will perish [21]. Blessed is the man who does not go to the counsel of the wicked, who is not carried away by their way of thinking, their moral rules, their behavior, but in the law of the Lord is all his will.

Thus sings the heavenly, wondrous Singer; the hermit-dweller listened to his holy inspired song.

1847. Nikolaevsky Babaevsky Monastery.

{p. 14}

Joseph [22]

A sacred story,

borrowed from the Book of Genesis

(ch. 32–50)

In the midst of their misfortunes, the thought of thanksgiving to God miraculously comes to the righteous [23]. It tears their hearts out of sorrow and darkness, lifts them up to God, to the region of light and consolation. God always saves those who come to Him with simplicity and faith.

The holy Patriarch Jacob was returning from Mesopotamia to the land of Canaan, to the land of his birth, to his inheritance predestined by God [24]. Suddenly the news came to him that the angry Esau, his brother, was coming to meet him, that he had four hundred armed men with him. Even in the years of his youth, Esau, agitated by envy, made an attempt on Jacob's life. In order to avoid a premature, violent death, Jacob withdrew to Mesopotamia. He stayed there for twenty years. Time could have healed the heart of Esau, wounded by malice... no, he goes to meet his brother with an armed retinue. The large crowd and its belligerent appearance betrayed malicious intent. Time did not heal the hatred in Esau: he grew to manhood, and so did his hatred for his brother.

Jacob was afraid: he did not know what to do; he decided to divide his estate, which consisted of household members and numerous herds, into two regiments. "If the enraged Esau," he reasoned, "cuts down one regiment, perhaps his anger will be exhausted, and he will not touch another regiment." Behind the two regiments stood the wives and children of James; behind them all stood his second wife, Rachel, with her only son Joseph, the youngest of the sons of Jacob. They took the last place, as the youngest, but this place was also given to them by the peculiar prudent love of their husband and father, as the safest. The eye of love is quick-witted; the eye of jealousy is also quick-witted. Having made such an order, the righteous man hastens to the usual abode of the righteous, hastens to stand before God in reverent prayer. "I am oppressed," he confesses to God, "from all righteousness and from all truth, which Thou hast created for Thy servant: for with this rod this Jordan has crossed, and now it is in two regiments" [25]. Surrounded everywhere by misfortune, the righteous man pours out his heart before God, reconciles his calculations with fate, finds himself completely satisfied, finds that God, who commanded him to travel to Mesopotamia and return from it, has done everything according to His promise. "It weighs upon me from all righteousness, from all truth, which Thou hast created for Thy servant." Deep, true humility! It alone is worthy to stand before God, it alone is worthy to converse with God: it is never abandoned by God. God listens to him mercifully, pouring out abundant bounties on the one who prays with humility. By a wave of God, Esau's heart changed: hitherto it had burned with enmity, now it suddenly burned with love for his brother. Esau throws down his sword, runs into his brother's arms, and the two brothers weep in each other's arms [26].

Here is Jacob long in the land of Canaan. His beloved wife, Rachel, had already died by giving birth to his second son, Benjamin. Jacob had already experienced many sorrows from his violent sons, who behaved in the promised land as in a land acquired by conquest [27]. In the vicinity of his tabernacle, which was pitched near Hebron, they tended their numerous flocks, sometimes going quite far away to other, more fat pastures. Jacob was constantly at home, where both his years and spiritual progress kept him. It attracted the mind and heart of the elder to God, and therefore he fell in love with solitude in a tabernacle. There is no time and it is unnatural for such a person to go into worldly cares. Always with him was his favorite son, beautiful in soul and body, Joseph. Service to the elder-father and attention to the deep, holy teaching of the God-seeing father constituted the entire occupation, all the pleasure of the youth. The word of piety fell into his soul, as seed falls on fat ground, and soon it bore fruit: holy purity shone in the soul of Joseph. In the purity of the heart God begins to be reflected, as the sun is reflected in the mirror of still, clear waters. Joseph's virtue aroused in his brothers not emulation, but envy: this, unfortunately, happens most often in human society. The brothers invented and raised a malicious slander against Joseph - what exactly, the Scriptures are silent. But the shrewd and gracious Jacob was not deceived by the cunningly woven invention, he continued to love – to love Joseph, and as a sign of special love he gave his son a motley garment. The brightness and variety of colors were especially respected and are still respected in the nomadic East. Was not this garment a symbol of the life that lay ahead of the young man, speckled with opposite circumstances? Inspiration inspired the clairvoyant elder to depict the prophecy not with a word, but with a symbol: with motley clothing. This is where Joseph's strange adventures begin. He serves as an education, a distant Biblical shadow of our Lord Jesus Christ, and for an active life he is an example of a pious and virtuous person, subjected to various, strange disasters, during which he remains faithful to piety and virtue, is never and nowhere abandoned by God, is everywhere preserved, and, finally, is glorified wonderfully. Let us listen, let us listen to the curious tale of the wondrous and instructive adventures of the prophet-father clothed in motley garments.