Joseph - episode 4

We continue Joseph’s story. After interpreting Pharaoh’s dream Joseph is set over all the land of Egypt. The famine expected after the seven years of abundance duly comes; only in Egypt people can find something to eat, thanks to the food previously stored by Joseph. We are in chapter 42 of Genesis and onward. «Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” He said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die.” Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers; for he said, “Lest perhaps harm happen to him.”». The family situation did not change: Jacob still prefers Rachel’s sons and decides to keep with him Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, for his security. Jacob does not trust in his other sons, maybe he is suspecting that they were involved someway in Joseph’s accident.

«Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth. Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, “Where did you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.” They said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies.” He said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.”». Joseph does not want to be immediately recognized; he decides to test those who call themselves brothers to see if they have changed. The evil that they did must come out (it was a secret known only to them) in order to be finally overcome and forgiven.

 

 

«Joseph said to them [...], “Do this, and live, for I fear God. If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses. Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die.” They did so. They said one to another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.” Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required.” They did not know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes». With this request Joseph wants to see if the brothers are capable of conversion from their bad behavior: will they be able to regain the confidence of their father Jacob, accepting his preference to Benjamin and bringing him to Egypt without harming him (as they did to Joseph)? Will they leave their brother Simeon in prison or will they return to free him? Their first reaction seems positive: they recognize their blame towards Joseph (they call him brother!) and they repent.

Joseph adds one more temptation to their honesty putting the money they paid for the grain in their sacks before sending them back to their country. «It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.” Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons, if I do not bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again.” He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”». Jacob’s sorrow and distrust seem to prevent the brothers’ departure to Egypt: will they be able to go with Benjamin and free Simeon? Follow in the next post.