 Taking advantage of this, Miller tells the story in poetical form, leaving out events and background information which give it a fragmentary feel if read straight through.The story (but not the oratorio) begins when Joseph's eleven brothers, jealous that their father Jacob loved Joseph best of all of them, seize him and sell him into slavery, telling their father that he has been eaten by wild beasts.The slave traders took Joseph to Egypt, where he became a servant in the house of Potiphar, captain of Pharaoh's guard.