First Trip to Egypt for Food – Genesis 42

Can you put yourself in Joseph’s place?  What would you be feeling as you recognize the brothers who were initially going to kill you, then decided to sell you despite all your pleading and appealing to them.  Almost 20 years have passed and here they are before you.  You recognize them, but they don’t recognize you.

[1] When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” [2] And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” [3] So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. [4] But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. [5] Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

[6] Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. [7] Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” [8] And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. [9] And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” [10] They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. [11] We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.”

[12] He said to them, “No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see.” [13] And 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.” [14] But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you. You are spies. [15] By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. [16] Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” [17] And he put them all together in custody for three days.

[18] On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: [19] if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, [20] and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. [21] Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” [22] And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” [23] They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. [24] Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. [25] And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.

[26] Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. [27] And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. [28] He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

[29] When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, [30] “The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. [31] But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. [32] We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ [33] Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. [34] Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.’”

[35] As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. [36] And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” [37] Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” [38] But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.” (Genesis 42, ESV)

The famine has reached Canaan and Jacob has heard there is food in Egypt, so he sends ten of his sons to buy grain.  He is reluctant to send Benjamin for fear he will come to harm.  Is it possible he doesn’t trust his sons with Benjamin’s life, that he has doubts about what caused Joseph’s death?  When the sons come before Joseph they bow to the ground, just as Joseph dreamed they would.

But Joseph doesn’t greet them as family but rather accuses them of being spies and demands proof that they are not, proof in the form of corroborating their story of who they are by bringing Benjamin to Egypt.  They also mention that one of their brothers is no more.  That isn’t true but that is the story they told their father.  Why does Joseph put on this ruse?

Joseph is not testing them to see if they are spies, but to see if they have changed in their ways.  They keep asserting their honesty, but they have not been honest with Jacob about the fate of his son Joseph.  Joseph keeps Simeon and sends the others back with grain and with their money hidden in their bags.  Why keep Simeon?  Did Joseph choose him or did the brothers?  Some have speculated that perhaps Simeon was the more hardened brother and deserved to be left behind, or that perhaps he was the brother who would be least missed, so that they would return, not so much for their devotion to Simeon as because of their commitment to him as their brother.  The brothers obviously see this whole episode as a measure of justice from Yahweh for what they did to Joseph.

The discovery of the money in their bags creates tremendous fear in the family.  Will they be accused of stealing, also?  Jacob seems to care about Simeon, but he is not willing for Benjamin to be forfeited in order to get Simeon back.  Reuben’s strange offer to let Jacob kill his two sons if he does not bring Benjamin back does not persuade Jacob to let him go.

The brothers have changed to some extent.  But there is still so much dishonesty in these family relationships.  How would you untangle it?