Genesis 42
1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” 2 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.” Then ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others, because he was afraid that harm might come to him. 5 So Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there was famine in the land of Canaan also.
Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person 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. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.” Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
“No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food. We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”
“No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”
Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies! And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” And 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.
They 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 on 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 came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes. 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.
At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.” Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”
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. But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies. We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.' “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, 'This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.' ”
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!”
Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.”
But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”
Gen 43
1 Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2 So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
3 But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' 4 If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' ”
6 Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?”
7 They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. 'Is your father still living?' he asked us. 'Do you have another brother?' We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?”
8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. 9 I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. 10 As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.”
11Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”
17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph's house. 18 Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to Joseph's steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don't know who put our silver in our sacks.”
23 “It's all right,” he said. “Don't be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 The steward took the men into Joseph's house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys.
25 They prepared their gifts for Joseph's arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there. 26 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. 27 He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”
28 They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.
29 As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. 31 After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 33 The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. 34 When portions were served to them from Joseph's table, Benjamin's portion was five times as much as anyone else's. So they feasted and drank freely with him.
Gen 42:
Things become lean for team Jacob. There is a great one-liner from Jacob as his sons are all sitting around grumbling about it while there was food in Egypt. He says, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” Such a modern sounding taunt. He tells them to do something about it. So all the brothers head down to Egypt. Except Benjamin…recall this is Joseph's only full brother. Benjamin was likely the new favorite and Jacob was keeping him close to home. I get this from later in the story where Joseph sets the trap to see if his brothers have changed. He takes a hostage and demands to see Benjamin.
Even after the 20 or more years that have passed, Joseph recognizes his brothers right away but they do not recognize him. Is it weird that they do not recognize their brother at all? I guess when you assume someone is dead or enslaved, you do not search the face of the governor expecting to find him. Probably seeing them together helped. And they were older than him – maybe they changed less. Plus, Joseph may have been wearing makeup like an Egyptian. I look different with makeup on.
Verse 9 also says he remembers the dream about them – probably the part where they are bowing to him since they were currently bowing. It took such pain in his life to get the brothers bowed down, even though God promised this. And the brother's bad behavior led to this place. Pain and suffering do that sometimes.
So he tosses his brothers in jail for three days (the number of perfection) saying he would not let them out until the other brother came. He then released all but one to go get Benjamin. Joseph plays dumb to understanding their language and hears them talking about how they are being punished for what they did to him. Oddly, the speculation is 100% true. Jacob is hassling them in revenge He also gives them supplies and sneaks the money they paid back onboard. We are not told if he does this out of compassion or as a part of the plan to entrap them. We are told the situation freak them out when they discover it. I would be thrilled if the grocery store returned my money, but I guess they were afraid they would be accused of theft.
When the brothers return and explain this to Jacob, he says, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.” He is the only one left. He is talking to another of his sons. That must have hurt. Still not relating to Jacob. As a side note - he is being tricked again.
The paintings all depict Benjamin as being a tween at this point. How old was everyone? Better check on that with the Bibleheads. Steve Shirley of Jesusalive did some of the math for us:
Joseph was 17 when sold into slavery (Gen 37:2). This means that Joseph was around 39 when his family came. Benjamin may have been alive at point of the wheat dream as there were 11 stars in the dream. This would make Benjamin around 30. But not everyone agrees about that since it could just be prophetic, and they seem to take some delight in verse slinging over it. I am thinking he was a grown-up at this point at any rate. But his dad probably still saw him as his precious little boy. Back to our story.
There is a theme in here about sacrificing a son to save the rest. Jacob is brutally sacrificed but returns as a savior. This theme is repeated throughout scripture as a type and as foreshadowing.
Benjamin. I get that they were not sure if they could trust the Egyptians, but still, poor Simeon. His name meant something like being less loved by Jacob and here Dad is proving it. Dad even says some pretty hurtful stuff about only having one son left. Even Bible families are messed up.
I cannot tell what the timeline is here, could have been years, but they eventually go back to Egypt to get more food. Joseph plans a big meal and the brothers are afraid they are being set up to be slaves. Of course, they should be afraid since they did the same thing to their brother! They bring lots of presents. Joseph gets so choked up when he sees Benjamin that he has to leave the room due to emotion.
I am a little surprised the brothers did not recognize Joseph at this point. They had clues. They serve the Egyptians separately since Egyptians detest eating with Hebrews. Just having dinner together was very odd. Joseph takes an interest in the extended family. Odd. And Joseph has them seated in order of age. Very odd. Benjamin gets 5x as much food. Unfair and odd. Lots of clues.
I keep thinking of the prodigal's son here. In this variation, it is the family that comes home and is thrown a feast. I also am thinking about forgiveness. Joseph, our forefather in faith, was so human in his response. He is getting back at his brothers. He is testing his brothers. He is also caring for his family despite what happened. A mixed reaction just like I have when I am hurt. Some of what he does is petty and some is generous. The Bible. Would be so much less useful if it was full of perfect behavior instead of petty people, like me.
