One of the great stories of the Hebrew Scriptures is that of the patriarch Joseph. Beloved eleventh son of Jacob and firstborn of his mother Rachel, his life began with warmth and great promise as well as a special divine enabling manifested in dreams. Yet his jealous brothers were driven by rage to change his life, and he became a slave, sold into bondage in Egypt. Perhaps more than any other Biblical character, Joseph seems to have conquered bitterness, and learned how to accept difficulty as from God's hand. He did not resign to fatalism; he thrived amid the tough times and came through it all with a richer vision of God's goodness.