JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS

BOOK OF GENESIS

CHAPTER 42

            Aha!  There you are!  Knew you’d be back soon to find out what happened after our last story.  Let’s refresh our mind's a lil, shall we?  Joseph interpreted the Pharaoh’s dreams.  For his blessed insight, he was put in charge of the land of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh.  There were seven years of plenty and Joseph stored food for Egypt for the anticipated famine.  Then the famine struck the whole earth.  People from other countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy corn. 

            Right about now you’re probably wondering how Israel and Joseph’s brothers are faring back in Canaan, so let’s take a look in on them and find out.  As we said once before, you can have all the money in the world, but money can’t make the land grow food … however, it can buy it.  Now, when Israel heard that there was corn in Egypt, he said to his sons, Don’t just stand there staring at one another, there’s corn in Egypt.  Go down there and buy some so we don’t starve to death.  So Joseph’s ten brothers left for Egypt, but Israel didn’t let Benjamin, Joseph’s youngest brother, go with them in case anything bad happened.

             When Joseph’s brothers got there, they bowed down in front of him with their faces to the ground.  Joseph knew who they were, but they didn’t recognize him.  He didn’t reveal his identity to them, but talked through an interpreter to them and asked roughly, Where are you from?  They answered him, From the land of Canaan to buy food. 

            Joseph remembered the dreams he had about them, and said to them, You’re spies!  You’ve come to see the weakness of the land.  They replied, No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food.  We are all the sons of one man, we are honest men, your servants aren’t spies.  Joseph repeated himself, No, to see the weakness of the land is why you’re here.  They told Joseph, Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan.  The youngest stayed home with our father, and one has died.

            Joseph said to them, Prove that you aren’t spies by bringing your youngest brother here.  One of you will go and get him and the rest will stay in prison until they return.  He put all of them together in jail for three days.  On the third day he said to them, Do this and live, because I respect God.  If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be held in prison. Go take corn to your houses, but bring your youngest brother back to me, then you will prove your innocence and you will not die.  

            In their minds, they were remembering what they did to Joseph and knew that it was coming back to haunt them.  Thinking that Joseph could not understand them because of the interpreter, they said to one another, We are so guilty about what we did to Joseph.  We saw the anguish in his soul when he pleaded with us and we wouldn’t listen.  That’s why this is happening.  Reuben said, I warned you not to sin against him, but you wouldn’t listen, so now we’re paying for it.

            Joseph turned his back to them so they couldn’t see his face, and wept.  Then he faced them again and tied Simeon up in front of them all.  He gave orders to his servants to fill their sacks with corn and put every man’s money back in his sack along with food for the way.

            They left for Canaan and when they came to the inn on the way, one of them opened his sack to get food for his donkey, and saw his money.  He said to his brothers, The money that I used to pay for the corn is still in my sack!  This worried them terribly, and they said to one another, Why has God done this to us?

            When they got home, they told Israel everything that happened, and when they emptied their sacks, each and every man’s money was back in his sack.  When they and their father saw it, they were all afraid.  Israel said, Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone and you will take Benjamin away too.  All these things are against me. 

            And Reuben said, Kill my two sons if I don’t bring Benjamin home to you.  Let me take him and I will bring him back again.  But Israel couldn’t part with Benjamin, even with Reuben’s solemn promise.  Israel said, My son will not go down with you.  His brother is dead and he’s left alone.  If anything happens to him, you’ll send me in sorrow to my grave.

            If you stop and think about this story, not many people would have blamed Joseph if he put all his brothers in prison and left it at that.  He could have sold all of them as slaves, just as they did to him.  He could have done many things in revenge of how they wronged him.  But this man, blessed by God through the many years since it happened, and through many circumstances, both fortunate and unfortunate, chose to act differently.  We’ll continue this story in our next Daily Bread, so come back and join us.

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