Joseph has been preparing the people of Egypt for a lengthy famine. The famine spreads to Palestine where Jacob and his family begin to suffer. And so opens one of the most colorful and fascinating stories of the Old Testament.
When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you just keep looking at each other?" He continued, "I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die."
The famine has become so severe that starvation and death are possible. Jacob sends the ten older brothers to Egypt. But believing he has already lost one of Rachel's sons, cannot spare sending his youngest son away.
Genesis 42: 5-8, Joseph pretends to be a strangerSo Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also. Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked.
In a beautiful piece of justice, Joseph's brothers come to him, begging him for food. (Don't all of us fantasize, at some time, about a meeting like this with those who have wronged us?)
As foretold in a dream years ago, his brothers are bowing down to him!
Genesis 42: 9-16, Joseph accuses his brothersI cannot blame Joseph for getting a bit of payback. It is conceivable that he is not sure what to do with this situation. Who are these men? The last time he saw them he had to plead for his life. He recalss that Reuben slept with his father's concubine and Simeon and Levi massacred a village. Is his only true brother, Benjamin, even alive? Joseph does not trust his ten step brothers, and so he tests them.
Genesis 42: 17-24, Joseph insists on seeing BenjaminAnd he put them all in custody for three days.
On the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die." This they proceeded to do.
Joseph threatens his brothers with imprisonment (maybe even death) and then negotiates for them to bring Benjamin to Egypt. He and Benjamin were the only children of Rachel and the ten mistreated him -- how have they treated Benjamin?
Genesis 42: 17-20, Joseph in Potiphar's houseThey said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that's why this distress has come upon us."
Reuben replied, "Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood."
They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter. He turned away from them and began to weep, but then turned back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.
We learn here (points out Alter) that Joseph pleaded for his life long ago, when thrown into the pit.
Genesis 42: 25-28, Joseph in Potiphar's house
Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man's silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.
Genesis 42: 29-34, Brothers report to Jacob
When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, "The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land.
The conversation in Egypt is repeated for Jacob.
Genesis 42: 35-38, Joseph in Potiphar's house
As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. Their father Jacob said to them, "You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!"
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