BROTHERS IN EGYPT
And as for you,
go up in peace to your father.
—Joseph
“When Jacob hears there is grain in Egypt he says to his sons, ‘Why do you look at one another?’”
“Yeah,” said the boy, “do something!”
“Precisely,” said the man. “In Jacob’s growing age he becomes unusually impatient, and he tells his sons to ‘go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.’”
“Seems like a pretty good idea,” said the boy.
“So Joseph’s brothers go down to buy grain in Egypt, but Jacob doesn’t send Joseph’s younger brother Benjamin in fear something may happen to him.”
“He probably thinks his second favorite son would disappear like Rachel’s first,” said the boy.
“That’s right,” said the man. “So Jacob’s sons go to Egypt, and when they find the man who sold grain to the people they bowed their heads before him. Joseph recognizes them immediately, of course, but he pretends to be a stranger because they don’t recognize him. He speaks to them harshly and says, ‘Where do you come from?’ To which they reply saying they traveled from the land of Canaan to buy food. Then Joseph remembers his dreams, but instead of revealing himself he says, ‘You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!’ Meaning its defenseless positions in these times.”
“Burn them!” said the boy. “Burn them!”
“Actually you’re not so far off,” said the man. “In those times, spies would have been put to death for the sake of national security. It would have been easy for Joseph to take revenge on all his brothers at once, but revenge isn’t what he’s after.”
“Well, what is he after?”
“You’ll see,” said the man. “So Joseph’s brothers plead with this governor of Egypt, saying they are not spies but honest men, and all one man’s sons who have come to buy food. But Joseph carries on with his ruse, saying, ‘No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.’”
“Seems like a reasonable accusation,” said the boy, “considering the surrounding nations know Egypt is the only one with food.”
“Reasonable indeed. But here’s how his brothers respond,” said the man:
“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!”186
“Then he throws them all in prison for three days.”
“I mean he’s probably skeptical they didn’t sell Benjamin into slavery like they did him,” said the boy. “Jacob doesn’t trust them, Joseph doesn’t trust them. This doesn’t say much about the state of this family.”
“Ah, very good,” said the man. “We’ll get to that shortly. But before we do, on the third day Joseph tells his brothers that they can leave, and to take their grain back home, but he says one of them must stay behind until their youngest brother is brought before him to prove they aren’t lying. Only then shall they all live. And so the brothers talk amongst themselves regarding what happened with Joseph years before, saying, ‘We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear, therefore this distress has come upon us.’”
“Seems like a few days in jail gave them some time to think about what karma’s brought around,” said the boy.
“Even the passing of twenty years cannot bury what a guilty conscience holds onto,” said the man. “Though they concealed their deed from men, God sees all.”
The boy agreed with a nod.
“Anyway, Reuben says to his brothers, ‘Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you didn’t listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.’”
“What’s that mean exactly?”
“It means a reckoning is required for their brother’s blood on their hands.”
“Seems like Reuben is just trying to comfort himself,” said the boy. “Probably overcompensating for the extra guilt of sleeping with his father’s concubine.”
“Yes,” said the man, “often the most insecure is the loudest in the room. But here we learn the conversation was being held amongst the brothers in their native tongue, that Joseph had been using an interpreter to speak with them prior. But obviously Joseph can understand when he hears these admissions of guilt. So he turns himself away from them and weeps, because he was hearing for the first time that at least one of his brothers tried to save him.”
“Yeah, that or because he hears the other nine brothers wanted to kill him.”
“That’s your glass half empty, my boy.”
“Well, good for him then. I’m not sure I would have been so forgiving.”
“Keep in mind, twenty years have passed where Joseph has gone through many ups and downs. By this time he must have been missing his family deeply, regardless of what had been done. He was likely starting to wonder if he’d ever see them again,” said the man. “We don’t hear much about Joseph’s feelings on the matter until they all come welling to the surface. It must have been immensely emotional, even healing, for Joseph to hear his brothers’ remorse.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said the boy. “What’s next?”
“Next, Joseph takes Simeon, the next oldest in line behind Reuben, and ties him up before their eyes. He does this either because of Reuben’s innocence in the matter or because the eldest should be responsible for reporting to their father.”
“Either way,” said the boy, “he doesn’t want them thinking Simeon will be too comfortable while they’re gone.”
“That’s right,” said the man. “Then Joseph takes his servant aside and gives the command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. So the servant does so, and then the brothers pack up to leave for their journey home. But along the way, they break for camp and one of them opens their sack to feed his donkey and sees the money returned. He says to his brothers, ‘My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!’ And their hearts fail them as they become afraid, saying to one another, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’”
“Burn them!” said the boy. “Burn them!”
“Stealing from the governor of Egypt would certainly warrant a severe punishment,” said the man, “but whether or not this was a trap set by Joseph in order to secure more accusations, or merely an act of kindness because he could never accept his father’s money to feed his family, is not explicitly shared. Either way it has the effect of driving fear into his brothers’ hearts, furthering their belief that God is punishing them for their previous deed. Here we can see a guilty conscience can interpret good fortune in a bad way.”
“I vote for setting up further accusations,” said the boy.
“I had a feeling you would,” said the man. “So when they return to Jacob in Canaan they tell him what happened, informing their father that they must return with Benjamin in order to rescue Simeon. And when the rest of their brothers open their sacks and find each of their bundles of money, they become even more afraid.” Then the man read:
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!”187
Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”188
“Wow,” said the boy. “Tell the guy obsessed with losing sons that if you don’t return his other favorite child he can go ahead and snap the necks of his grandchildren. That’ll calm him down. That’ll make up for the fact that you slept with his concubine.”
“Yes, well, no one ever said Reuben was the brightest of Jacob’s children. And apparently Jacob didn’t care for this desperate attempt to get back in his good graces either. He tells him, ‘My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.’”
“I like how he refers to Benjamin as ‘my son,’” said the boy, “like the rest of you chumps are chopped liver.”
“Yes, the insensitivity of Jacob’s favoritism is astonishing. ‘He is left alone’ doesn’t say much about the rest of his children either. But this may be an indication of suspicion that these older brothers had something to do with the disappearance of Joseph. He doesn’t exactly trust them with Rachel’s only other child now, does he?”
“No,” said the boy, “he doesn’t. So what happens?”
The man read:
Now the famine was severe in the land. And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.”189
“I love how they just sit around for months stuffing their faces before they remember, ‘Oh yeah! Our other brother is still tied up in a dungeon somewhere!’ This family is a real piece of work.”
“Keep in mind, a journey conveyed in a few words here is many days there. This wasn’t like driving down to your county jail to put up Simeon’s bail. Also, they had to feed numerous families with what little they carried on their backs on the first trip. We can assume the amount of time that passed was on the shorter end, not the longer.”
“Mhm,” said the boy. “Let’s hear it then.”
So the man continued:
But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’”
Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”
They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”190
“That’s not how it happened,” said the boy. “They coughed up that information on their own.”
“That detail may be true,” said the man. “But they had no reason to lie to the Egyptian governor when being charged with those accusations. Perhaps they were trying to paint a little humanity around themselves as a plea for compassion to spare their lives. They were desperately trying to show their innocence as honest men.”
“Yeah, well, they weren’t exactly honest here,” said the boy.
“I think we’ll have to let it slide,” said the man, reading on again:
Judah said to his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will be on our way. Otherwise we will all die of starvation, and not only we, but you and our little ones. I personally guarantee his safety. You may hold me responsible if I don't bring him back to you. Then let me bear the blame forever. If we hadn’t wasted all this time, we could have gone and returned twice by now.”191
“Ah, so it’s Jacob’s fault they were dragging their feet this time.”
“Yes, it appears Judah is the one to express some urgency in the situation now. Jacob’s fear and favoritism seems to put the family at risk of starvation, only giving in when faced with running out of food. But Judah’s words seem to convince his father, based on Jacob’s response here,” said the man:
“If it must be so, then do this. Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks, perhaps it was an oversight. Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”192
“Looks like Benjamin might become the ‘son of my sorrows’ after all,” said the boy.
“Yes, Jacob has a lot on the line here, so he makes sure to send his sons off with gifts in addition to returning the money. Perhaps in youth he would have kept it, but in old age he’s learned that when fortune comes to us by the mistake of others, it deserves restitution. Though we receive it by oversight, keeping it falls under dishonesty.”
“At least someone has learned a lesson so far.”
“Finally,” said the man. “So Jacob’s sons take the gifts and Benjamin down to Egypt to see Joseph once more. When Joseph sees them with Benjamin he tells the steward of his house, ‘Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for these men will dine with me at noon.’ But when the time comes to enter Joseph’s house, the brothers were afraid, thinking they were being led to an ambush, to be charged with the accusations of stealing the money and then enslaved. They explained to the steward what happened and told him they’ve returned with all the money as well as doubly more to buy food again, but the steward surprises them by saying not to fear, that he’d received their money the first time. Then he brings Simeon out to meet them and gives them water to wash their feet and even feeds their donkeys.”
“Well that must’ve been a relief,” said the boy.
“I imagine so. And with this they prepare their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon. And when Joseph arrives, they bow before him and present their gifts. So Joseph asks about their and their father’s well-being,” said the man, reading the next line:
“Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”
And they said, “Your servant our father is well, he is still alive.” Then they bowed down again in homage.
And as he raised his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”193
“So while Joseph’s older brothers seek favor in Joseph, the lord of the land, Joseph directs Benjamin’s favor toward God, the lord of lords. And then his heart yearns for his brother Benjamin, and he has to excuse himself again to weep.”
“Big crybaby,” said the boy. “Keep it together, man.”
The old man said, “Keep in mind, he never knew if he’d see his mother’s only other son again.” Then he read on:
Then he washed his face and came out, and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.” So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.194
“Does Joseph have to sit alone because he’s a Hebrew?”
“At this point he’s long absorbed into Egyptian culture,” said the man, “so I think it’s more likely because he’s a minister of the state, unlikely to eat with Egyptians below him in class.”
“Ah, okay. That makes sense,” said the boy.
So the man read on:
Now they were seated before him, from the firstborn according to his birthright to the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment.195
“Why? What does that mean?”
“As if by some supernatural insight, the governor of Egypt, a stranger to their family, or so they think, has arranged their family in order of age.”
“Ohhh, right,” said the boy.
“He then goes a step further by serving Benjamin a portion five times the size of theirs, a custom meant to distinguish a special guest of honor.”
“So Joseph’s testing his brothers to see if the favored youngest inspires murderous jealousy again.”
“Yes indeed,” said the man. “But the text says they drank and were merry with him, so from what he could see, it did not. And after the feast, Joseph commands the steward to fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they could carry, but then he also tells him to put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack again. Then he instructs the steward to place his silver cup in the mouth of Benjamin’s sack along with the money.”
“Uh-oh,” said the boy. “I smell a plan stewing.”
“Your nose doesn’t deceive you, for when morning dawns the brothers are sent away, and just when they are out of the city limits, Joseph sends his steward after them to hatch his plan. The steward rides up to stop and question them here,” said the man:
“Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.”
But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”196
“Probably Reuben opening his big mouth again.”
“Perhaps so,” said the man. “So the steward agrees but lessens the terms. He says, ‘Now also let it be according to your words, he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.’ Then each man opens his sack and the steward searches them, beginning with the oldest, ending with the youngest.”
“And of course it was in Benjamin’s sack,” said the boy.
“Of course,” said the man. “So they were forced to return to the city. And when they arrive back at Joseph’s house he says to them, ‘What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?’ Which, of course, he doesn’t. He is merely playing this role of an Egyptian official to drive fear into their hearts.”
“Seems like it’s working,” said the boy.
“It sure is. But then Judah speaks up and tells him this,” said the man:
“Oh, my lord, what can we say to you? How can we explain this? How can we prove our innocence? God is punishing us for our sins. My lord, we have all returned to be your slaves. All of us, not just our brother who had your cup in his sack.”197
But [Joseph] said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.”198
“Smart,” said the boy. “Here’s the real test of whether or not they’re willing to sacrifice another brother to benefit themselves.”
“Precisely,” said the man. “Joseph isn’t going to reveal himself to the same foolish brothers who will go on repeating their same evil deeds wherever they go. He needs to know if they’ve learned from their mistakes and grown, to see if there’s hope in reuniting this family.”
“And if not,” said the boy, “Benjamin is probably better off with Joseph anyway.”
“Likely so,” said the man. “And notice the use of the line, ‘And as for you, go up in peace to your father,’ as he knows there will be no peace for them if Benjamin is not returned.”
“Rubs their noses right in it,” said the boy.
“Just think though,” said the man, “they could go back to their father with a free conscience. And when Jacob asks where his favorite son is, they could have said, ‘Your favorite son was a fool! He stole a silver cup from Pharaoh’s court and they put him to death!’ They could have rid themselves of both the favorite sons and restored proper order of the birthright in the family, where there were no favorites, where there were no beloved sons, where no two children were named as if they were the only ones. ‘What would you have had us done?’ they could have said. ‘Your beloved son was a thief! He did this to himself! Look how wrong you were to favor him!’”
“I guess that’s all true,” said the boy.
“But Judah couldn’t bear the thought of it,” said the man, “so he comes forth and says, ‘O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant, for you are even like Pharaoh.’ Then he relays the series of events from his family’s point of view, highlighting his father’s reaction if something were to happen to his youngest son, saying it would surely kill his father for them to return without his favorite son. He reveals his promise to bear the blame before their father for the rest of his life, and therefore he offers himself to remain as a slave in the place of his youngest brother. But he does so for a stunning reason,” said the man. “He’s willing to sacrifice himself for the love of his father knowing that Jacob loves Benjamin more than he loves Judah. Now think about that for a moment.”
There was a pause before the boy said, “I’m not gonna admit there’s a tear coming to my eye, but that is pretty touching.”
“There bloody well should be,” said the man. “With all of the favoritism Jacob has been showering upon Joseph and Benjamin, Judah is willing to swallow years of sibling rivalry and sacrifice his own freedom, all for the love of his father and the unwillingness to watch him mourn a brother who is loved more than he is.”
“Yeah,” said the boy, “that is a tear-jerker.”
“Joseph apparently feels the same way,” said the man, looking down at the Bible:
Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”199
“You can’t help but wonder if he would have done the same for Canaan had his brothers not sold him into slavery,” said the boy. “Then all the surrounding countries would have been coming to Canaan to make it a well-known trading post instead of Egypt.”
“Perhaps Canaan didn’t have the infrastructure or the land or the manpower that Egypt had,” said the man. “Remember, Joseph alone didn’t grow and farm and harvest enough wheat to feed those nations. He merely foresaw what was coming and was placed in a position of power to orchestrate his plan. Had he not been in jail for the butler to see his power of prophecy, and had Pharaoh not appointed him to a position of power where people had to listen to him, perhaps he would have been ridiculed, like the first time he interpreted dreams.”
“I stand corrected,” said the boy.
“The moral here is not around growing of food,” said the man, “but around forgiveness. Sure, sinners should grieve and be angry over their sins, but leave it up to God to humble them by making good from their evil. And leave it up to us to see the light in God’s ways and accept the apologies of others when they’re offered. If we held one another accountable for every little thing all the time, without hope for forgiveness, then relationships would be impossible, because there would be no room for error.”
“I’m gonna look past the fact that we’re talking about selling someone into slavery,” said the boy, “because I think the overall point you’re making is a good one.”
“Joseph finds his brothers humbled for their sins, mindful of their remorse, and respectful of their youngest brother, even when they had the chance to let him take the fall to save themselves. He sees they’ve learned their lesson and changed their ways.”
“I get it,” said the boy. “So what happens?”
“So Joseph says, ‘For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you who sent me here, but God, and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.’ Then he tells his brothers to return to Jacob and bring him to Egypt, to dwell in the land of Goshen with his children, and his children’s children, and all of his flocks and herds, because there he can provide for all of them in the remaining years of famine. Then he falls on Benjamin’s neck and he weeps, and then all of his brothe—”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” said the boy. “They have a big weepy powwow. Next?”
“Next the news spreads throughout the house of Pharaoh that Joseph’s brothers have arrived, and this pleases Pharaoh and he tells Joseph that he will give his father and his households the best of the land of Egypt to dwell. He even tells Joseph to give them carts to carry their wives and little ones and provisions for the journey. So Joseph does so, and he also gives each brother a change of garments, but to Benjamin he gives three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments.”
“You have to wonder what all of this spoiling is doing to Benjamin’s ego,” said the boy.
“These gifts will serve as evidence to Jacob that Joseph has become as rich and powerful as his brothers have claimed,” said the man. “So Joseph loads twenty donkeys with Egyptian goods and food as a gift for his father. Then he sends his brothers along on their journey back home.”