5e Joseph and His Brothers [Genesis 42–45]
The Bible passage: [Genesis 42–45]
The Story:
Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt and sent his sons to buy grain, but he didn’t send his youngest son, Benjamin.
Joseph was the governor in the land, and people coming to buy grain had to go before him first.
When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but they didn’t recognize him. He pretended to be harsh with them and accused them of being spies. They tried to assure him that they just came to buy food.
They tried to reassure him by telling him, “We used to be twelve brothers, the son of one man, who lives in Canaan. The youngest brother is with his father, and one is no more.”
Joseph told them, “This is how we will test you. One of you will go back to Canaan and bring your youngest brother here. The rest of you will be held in prison.”
He put them all in custody for three days.
After the three days, Joseph told them, “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 families. BUT, do not come back without your youngest brother.”
They discussed the proposition in the Hebrew language, not realizing that Joseph could understand them. All of their previous discussions had been carried out using an interpreter.
Joseph had Simeon bound and sent back to prison. He gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s money back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey.
When they stopped for the night, they discovered their money in their sacks.
When they got home to their father, Jacob, they told him all that had happened while they were in Egypt. They also told him about the requirement to bring Benjamin with them when they went back.
Jacob said to his sons, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more and now you want to take away Benjamin.”
Reuben said to their father, “Trust me to bring everyone safely home. If I don’t, you may put both of my sons to death.”
But Jacob said, “I won’t send my son with you. His brother is dead, and he is the only son I have left from his mother. If something happened to him, it would be the death of me.”
The famine was severe.
When they had eaten all the grain they had brought back from Egypt, Jacob told them to go back and buy more. The brothers told him that the man in Egypt told them that they would not be able to do anything there without their youngest brother.
At first, Jacob didn’t want to risk sending Benjamin, but he finally relented.
He told them to bring gifts from the land of Canaan with them. He also told them to bring double the amount of money with them so they could return the money that was put back in their sacks and buy more grain.
They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph.
When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he told his house steward to take them to his house, slaughter an animal, and prepare a meal for them to eat with him at noon.
His brothers were frightened when they were taken to his house. They were afraid that they were being taken there because of the silver that was in their grain bags.
They talked to the steward and explained how they had found the silver in their bags. He assured them that they had nothing to fear. He said, “Your God, the God of your father, gave you treasure in your bags. I received your money.”
When Joseph returned to his home, they presented the gifts to him. He asked about their father, whether he was alive and well.
When the meal was served, Joseph had his brothers seated in age order, from the oldest to the youngest. The brothers were astonished that Joseph seemed to know their ages.
When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s.
As the brothers prepared to return to Canaan, Joseph instructed the steward to fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they could carry and put their money back in their sacks. He then told the steward to put Joseph’s own silver cup in the top of Benjamin’s sack.
The next morning, the men were sent on their way.
Before they had gone far from the city, Joseph sent the steward to catch up with them ask, “Why have you stolen my master’s silver cup?”
The men said, “We would never do such a thing. Search our belongings and if anyone has your master’s cup, let him be put to death and the rest of us will become your slaves.”
The steward then searched through each of their belongings and found the cup in Benjamin’s grain sack.
When they were brought back to Joseph, he told the brothers that the one who stole his cup would stay as his slave, but the others would be free to go back home to Canaan.
Judah stepped up and told Joseph how his father had not wanted to let Benjamin go to Egypt because he couldn’t bear to lose his youngest son. Judah then asked Joseph to let him stay as Joseph’s slave so the boy could go home to his father.
At this point, Joseph could no longer contain himself and he ordered all of the Egyptians out of the room.
Joseph told his brothers who he was. At first, they were terrified, but Joseph assured them that he held no ill will toward them. Joseph told them, “It wasn’t you that sent me here, but it was God who sent me ahead of you to save our family from the famine.
“Hurry back to my father and tell him I am alive. Bring him and all of our family down here to live in the region of Goshen so you will be near me. I will provide for you there. There will be five more years of famine.
“Tell my father how I am honored here in Egypt and everything you have seen here.”
When Pharaoh heard about Joseph’s brothers, he sent carts back to Canaan with the brothers so they could bring all of their possessions and live in Egypt.
When the brothers arrived back in Canaan and told everything to their father, he said, “My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die!”
The Lessons:
- After all that Joseph’s brothers had done to him and all that he had been through, he still forgave them and wanted to take care of them. Wonderful pictures of a person showing mercy and grace to others.
- I didn’t take the story this far, but sometime after Jacob had moved to Egypt to be with Joseph, Jacob died. Once their father was gone, his brothers were afraid that Joseph would take vengeance against them. In [Genesis 50:19-20], Joseph told them, “Am I in the place of God? You planned evil against me; God planned it for good…” (CSB) The story of Joseph is a great example of [Romans 8:28], which says, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.” (CSB) Notice that it doesn’t say everything will be good; just that everything works together for good.
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