Now the Spirit moved in rapid succession, skipping Reuben, skipping Jacob, down to Thebes⁴⁷ He took me, to the world-renowned market where also slaves were auctioned off. There stood Joseph among many other slaves on one of those large concrete slabs, neck, hands and feet fettered⁴⁸, naked except for his loin-cloth. 

He stood out from among the others to be sold as slaves like a sore thumb: his skin was fair, not darkened like of the others; he was smooth and not hairy, his bodily shape like of one of the artist’s marble sculptures, and his facial features noble and very handsome⁴⁹, crowned by a mane of shining, chestnut-colored locks.

During the endless days of journeying toward Egypt (although no longer dragged behind the camel, as he was a very valuable “merchandise” and this arduous trek would have ruined him), Joseph pondered the dreams he had been given, the actions of his brothers and the reality of his situation over and over, while suffocating in the stifling heat of day and freezing at night in the wilderness they traversed on the trade route along the Dead Sea and the Red Sea.

Was he indeed imagining things, pursuing a foolish “bunny-trail?” Were his brothers right with mocking him for his beliefs, and his father with rebuking him? They hated him because of the dreams. He wished he had not told of them.

But where was G-d in all of this? Was it not He Who had given him these dreams? 

“Have I really been merely imagining things?” Joseph asked himself over and over again. He had been so sure, so certain it were divinely given visions that showed him his future. But now it looked as though G-d had forsaken him, for He did not spare him this nightmare; He had not saved him from the murderous hatred of his brothers.

“Bunny-trail! Bunny-trail!,” it echoed inside him. “Who is going to bow before a slave? That’s all you are now, a slave! You won’t be a chieftain, ever, and certainly not one before whom your brothers bow. It would be best you had never been born!”

Joseph was like in a wrestling match, grappling with conflicting thoughts and feelings, struggling for his faith, to have his hope and trust in G-d, and the love for Him, survive this ordeal.

Here he stood, naked, humiliated, no longer the favorite of his doting father, in the midst of a tossing sea of humanity – shouting slave traders praising their “merchandise;” slaves whimpering, crying, cussing, insulting both slave traders and buyers; and buyers touching, fingering and searching the bodies of the “merchandise” in a most embarrassing manner, opening their mouths like of horses to check their teeth; bargaining with the traders over the price of each slave – when suddenly he felt himself lifted out of it like into a solitary place. He did not know if this was real, physical, or in his mind or spirit. He found himself in a sort of space-less dimension, soothing, calm, with soft colors floating about him moved as by a gentle breeze. Then he heard a voice:

“Do not fear Joseph; I Am the Lord, the G-d of your fathers. I am with you, and will not leave you nor forsake you. Only trust in Me and wait patiently for Me, and I will bring to pass everything you have seen in those two visions. Do not lose faith, do not abandon hope, for it is I Who is with you and will accomplish all My purpose for you and through you. Here I Am.”

Just as suddenly as he had been lifted out of the market place and it’s turmoil into this lovely space of peace and quietness, so suddenly he stood again on that concrete slab. But he was changed, no longer beset with despair, with anger, hopelessness, fear and doubt. He knew now: no matter what it looked like, G-d was with Him and would deliver him, and perform everything the visions had promised.

He was not pursuing a “bunny-trail,” as his brothers had alleged.