FRAMEWORKS:
Genesis 42: Joseph meets his Brothers
v.1-6
Joseph's Brothers sent to Egypt by Jacob
v.6-8
Joseph Recognizes his Brothers
v.9-14
He gets them to share about their Family
v.15-20
He insists on the youngest brother being brough there
v.21-23
His Listens while they talk of what they had done
v.24-28
He holds Simeon and sends the rest home
v.29-35
The Return Home and tell Jacob what had happened
v.36-38
Jacob refuses to let Benjamin go
v.1-6
Joseph's Brothers sent to Egypt by Jacob
v.1
When
Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons,
“Why do you just keep looking at each other?”
v.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.”
v.3
Then
ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.
v.4
But
Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with the others,
because he was afraid that harm might come to him.
v.5 So
Israel's sons were among those who went to buy grain, for there
was famine in the land of Canaan also.
[Notes:
Back
in Canaan it is just as bad as everywhere else and Jacob sends
ten of the brothers off to Egypt to buy food, but keeps Benjamin,
the youngest and son of his beloved Rachel, back with him.]
v.6-8
Joseph Recognizes his Brothers
v.6
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.
v.7
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.”
v.8
Although
Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.
[Notes:
When
the brothers appear before Pharaoh's all-powerful right-hand man,
they do not recognise Joseph, but he recognizes them but did not
show it. He embarks on a course of confirming who they are and
then, later, what sort of men they now are.]
v.9-14
He gets them to share about their Family
v.9
Then
he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are
spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
v.10
“No,
my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food.
v.11 We
are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not
spies.”
v.12
“No!”
he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.”
v.13
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.”
v.14
Joseph
said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies!
[Notes:
He
remembers the past and so to get them talking freely he puts them
on the defence. They share something of the family numbers.]
v.15-20
He insists on the youngest brother being brough there
v.15
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.
v.16
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!”
v.17
And
he put them all in custody for three days.
v.18
On
the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live,
for I fear God:
v.19
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.
v.20 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.
[Notes:
Joseph
wants to know about his brother [the two had been born of Rachel]
and so insists they prove what they have been saying by bringing
him here.]
v.21-23
His Listens while they talk of what they had done
v.21
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.”
v.22
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.”
v.23
They
did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was
using an interpreter.
[Notes:
They
are distressed about this and talk together about what they had
done to Joseph thirteen years earlier, not realizing he could
understand all they were saying. Reuben in particular speaks about
how he hadn't want it to happen.]
v.24-28
He holds Simeon and sends the rest home
v.24
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.
v.25
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,
v.26
they
loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.
v.27
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.
v.28 “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?”
[Notes:
Joseph
is much moved by all this but had Simeon held as security for
them coming back with Benjamin. He gives them the grain they need
but puts their silver back in the sacks. When they discover this
on the way home, they are dismayed.]
v.29-35
The Return Home and tell Jacob what had happened
v.29 When
they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told
him all that had happened to them. They said,
v.30
“The
man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated
us as though we were spying on the land.
v.31
But
we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies.
v.32
We
were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and
the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.'
v.33
“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.
v.34
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.'”
v.35
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.
[Notes:
Back
at home they convey to Jacob what had transpired and the demand
that Benjamin be brought – and then how they had discovered their
silver in the sacks.]
v.36-38
Jacob refuses to let Benjamin go
v.36
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!”
v.37
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.”
v.38
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 grey head down to the
grave in sorrow.”
[Notes:
Jacob
is distraught. He had lost Joseph years before, and now Simeon
and now they are talking about Benjamin! Never! He's not going
to let him go.]