(Genesis 41:46 - 42:38)
In the service of the Pharaoh, Joseph (who was but 30 years old) departed from the court and set out on an inspection tour to every part of the country.
During the seven years of plenty, harvests were bountiful. Under Joseph's supervision, the surplus wheat was gathered and stored in granaries located in nearby cities. The quantity of grain was so great -- as numerous as the sands on the beach -- that Joseph gave up measuring it.
Before the famine came, Joseph was given two sons by his wife Asenath, the daughter of the priest Potipherah of On. The first was Manasseh [which sounds "made me forget" in Hebrew], for Jehovah had made him forget his travails and his former home. The second was called Ephraim [related to the word "fruitful" in Hebrew], for Jehovah had made him fruitful in this land of his troubles.
The seven years of plenty ended, and the seven years of want began. They came as Joseph had predicted. For a time, as the famine spread over the neighboring countries, there was still food in Egypt. But when the famine struck Egypt, the populace appealed to the Pharaoh to feed them. He told them, "Go see Joseph and do whatever he tells you."
When the severity of the famine increased across the region, Joseph opened up the storehouses and sold grain to Egyptians who were suffering from extreme want. Those from other countries came to Egypt to purchase its food, too, since the famine was widespread.
Thus Jacob, learning that there was grain in Egypt, rebuked his sons, "What are you doing standing around staring at each other? I hear that wheat is being sold in Egypt. Get down there and buy some, so we can stay alive and not starve to death!" And so ten of Joseph's brothers set out to Egypt to purchase grain. (Benjamin, Joseph's full brother, was kept at home, because, in his father's words, "something terrible might happen to him on the journey.")
The sons of Israel were among many from those parts that sought to buy grain in Egypt, since the famine was severe in Canaan. Joseph, who governed Egypt, was in charge of selling the grain to those who came for it. When his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him. Joseph recognized his brothers, but, pretending not to know them, he addressed them curtly, as if they were strangers.
"Where do you come from? he demanded. They replied, "We come from the land of Canaan to buy food."
While Joseph knew his brothers, they failed to recognize him. Recalling the dream he had of his brothers bowing before him, he accused them, "You are spies! You've come here to scout out the weaknesses in our defenses caused by the famine."
"No, master," his brothers replied, "your servants are here only to buy food. We are all the sons of the same father. We're honest men, not spies!"
"No, I think you have come instead to scout out the weaknesses in our defenses."
'Your servants are ten of twelve brothers, the sons of a man living in Canaan," they claimed. "The youngest is still with his father and another is no longer living."
But Joseph insisted, "It is as I said before: you are spies! ... I will put your honesty to the test. As the Pharaoh lives, you will not be allowed to leave the country, unless your youngest brother comes here. One of you must go back and bring him here. As the Pharaoh lives, the others will be held in custody until such time as it is proved whether what you claim is true or whether you are, in fact, spies."
Joseph put them into a prison cell together for three days. On the third day he relented and released them. "Do as I say," he told them, "and you shall live -- for I fear God. If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain in the jail house while the others take home the grain you purchased for the famine. But bring your youngest brother back here. If you do this, that'll confirm you're telling the truth, and your lives will be spared."
The brothers assented. They said to one another, "We are being punished for what we did to our brother Joseph. We saw his despair when he pleaded with us for his life, but we refused to hear him. That's why we're in all this predicament now."
Reuben added, "Didn't I tell you not to harm the boy! But you wouldn't listen to me. Now we're getting our comeuppance."
(They didn't know that Joseph could understand what they were saying, because he had spoken to them only through an interpreter.)
Joseph absented himself for a time to shed some tears, but then returned to converse further with his brothers. He selected as a hostage, Simeon, and, in their presence, had him shackled and taken away. Joseph ordered his men to fill his brothers' sacks with the grain they had purchased and then to put back the money they had used to pay for it. He also told them to furnish his brothers with provisions for their journey home, which they did.
The brothers loaded the sacks of grain onto their donkeys and went on their way. At a halting place on the trail, one of them opened a grain sack in order to feed his donkey and noticed the money inside. He told his brothers, "My money has been returned to me. Look, it's inside the sack!" Dumbstruck, puzzled, and perturbed, they asked one another, "What has God done to us?"
When they returned home to the land of Canaan, they recounted to Jacob all that had happened to them.
"The governor of the country spoke to us harshly and accused us of being spies. But we told him, ‘We're honest men, we aren't spies. We are of twelve brothers, the son of our father. One is no longer living, the youngest remains with his father in Canaan.’ And this man, the governor of the country, told us, 'I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, take the food to feed your hungry families, and be gone. But bring your youngest brother here so that I may know you are not spies, but honest men. The brother left behind as a hostage I will release, and you can thereafter trade freely in the country.'"
When they all emptied their grain sacks, each man found his money inside the sack. When Jacob and his sons saw all the purses filled with silver, they were quite alarmed.
Jacob complained to them, "You are taking all my sons away from me. Joseph's gone. Simeon's gone. Now you want to take away Benjamin. You'll leave me with no one!"
Reuben pleaded with his father, "If I can't bring Benjamin back to you, you can put my two sons to death. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back to you."
Jacob refused. "No, my son won't go there with you! I've already lost his brother Joseph and now, he's the only son of Rachel left. If something happens to him on the journey, it'll drive this sad, old gray-head to his grave."
Notes
1. Joseph, by far the most admirable character (including Jehovah) so far presented in the Old Testament, does not, however, yet aspire to the Christian ideal of charitable forgiveness. Pretending not to know his own brothers, he shows he is obviously a member of a family noted for deviousness. But his subterfuge is somewhat understandable, and his trickery, unlike that of his father, does not seem despicable. Indeed, one would not blame him too much if he choose to put his half brothers to death for the treachery they had committed against him -- even though it all turned out pretty well for Joseph.
2. The young Benjamin becomes a pivotal character in this story without doing anything. He is Joseph's only full brother, they both being the children of Rachel. Joseph apparently has feelings for his much younger brother and devises any scheme he can to coerce his half brothers to bring him down to Egypt, apparently so he can be with him. Benjamin, Jacob's youngest, is still his father's favorite, though, and Jacob, overly protective, seems unwilling to part with him or even to allow him to experience any kind of hazard.
3. Reuben, who is Jacob's eldest son, tries to take a leadership role. Years before, he had failed to persuade his brothers from selling Joseph into slavery, and now he tells them, "I told you so." He takes the initiative in offering to escort Benjamin to Egypt, but his father (maybe still mad at him for having an affair with one of his wives) doesn't trust him enough to allow it.
4. At this point Jacob gives the impression of being a crotchety, self-centered old man who is disgruntled with his seemingly worthless grown sons. He clings to the cherished memory of his great love, Rachel, and showers all his affection upon what he believes to be their remaining son, Benjamin.
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