Sweet Revenge

There had been no rain in Canaan in several months.  The land was dry, the grass had withered and the crops had failed.  There was widespread famine and both people and animals were starving. 

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you keep looking at one another helplessly?   I have heard," he said, "that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die."

Ten of Joseph's brothers went on the long trip down to Egypt to buy grain. Jacob did not send Joseph's brother Benjamin with his other brothers, for he feared that harm might come to the brothers on their journey, and then he would be alone, with no sons left. 

Joseph was governor over all the land of Egypt and he was in charge of food sales to the population. When Joseph's brothers arrived in Egypt they went to Joseph and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.  Joseph recognized his brothers but he decided not to reveal who he was and so he treated them like strangers and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come from?" he said.

"From the land of Canaan, to buy food," they replied.

Although Joseph had recognized his brothers, they did not realize that Joseph was their younger brother.  Joseph remembered the many dreams that he had about them. He said to them, "You are spies; you have come to see the bareness of the land and how weak we are!"

They said to Joseph, "No, my lord; your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man.  We are honest men.  We have never been spies."

Joseph said to them, "No, you have come to see the bareness of the land!"

They pleaded with Joseph, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of a certain man in the land of Canaan; the youngest, however, remained at home with our father, and one brother is dead."

Joseph said, “As I said, I think you are spies!  There is a way that you can prove your story is true.  I am going to hold you as hostages here in Egypt until your youngest brother comes here!  One of you can go home to your father and bring your brother to me, while the rest of you remain in prison.  That way we will see whether you are telling the truth.  If your youngest brother does not return here to me we shall know that the rest of you are spies—and you will be treated accordingly."

Joseph put them all in prison for three days. Three days later Joseph had them brought to him and he told them, "If you follow my instructions you will live, for I respect Yahweh, your god.  If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here as a hostage. The rest of you shall go home with grain to relieve the famine of your households.  Then you must return here with your youngest brother.  Then I will know you are telling me the truth and you will not die.  Reluctantly they agreed to do what Pharaoh demanded. 

The brothers talked among themselves and concluded with remorse, "We brought this trouble on ourselves.  We are paying the penalty for what we did to our brother.  We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us not to put him in the pit, not to sell him as a slave, but we did not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us—we deserve it."

Reuben said to his brothers, "I told you not to bother the boy, but you would not listen. So now we have to pay the price for his blood."

They had been speaking in their own language, not in Egyptian, and had been using an interpreter to speak to Joseph. They did not know that Joseph understood them.  Joseph left the room quickly with tears in his eyes.  After he got himself under control and returned to the brothers, he picked out Simeon and had him tied up in front of his brothers.  Then Joseph gave orders to fill the brothers' sacks with grain and to return the money they had paid for the grain by putting each man’s money into his sack.  He also told his servants to give his brothers food and water for their journey home. The brothers loaded the sacks of grain onto their donkeys and departed for home, leaving Simeon behind in prison.

When they stopped for the evening one of the brothers opened his sack to get food for his donkey and saw his money at the top of the sack.  Surprised, he said to his brothers, “My money was put back in the top of my sack!”  The brothers became frightened because they feared that they were being set up to be charged with theft.  Why had their god Yahweh not protected them?

When they arrived home they told their father what had happened.  They told Jacob, "The man in charge of the country under the Pharaoh spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on his country.  We told him, "We are honest men, we are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of one father.  One of our brothers is dead and the youngest son is at home with our father in the land of Canaan.”

Then the man in charge, the lord of the land, said to us, "If you want to prove that you are telling me the truth as honest men you must leave one of your brothers here with me.  I will give you grain because of the famine of your households at home.  Go home, but you must return and bring your youngest brother to me.   Then I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will release your brother to you and you may do your business is my country."

As they were emptying their sacks in front of Jacob, the found a bag of money in each one's sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. Jacob said to them, "I have lost my children—Joseph is dead, and Simeon is gone, and now you want to take Benjamin to Egypt where he too will be killed. Why has all this happened to me?"

Reuben said to his father, "You may kill my two sons if I do not bring Benjamin back home to you. Trust me. Put him in my care and I will bring him back to you safely."

But Jacob said, "I will not let my son Benjamin go with you to Egypt—his brother Joseph is dead, and after you leave here to go to Egypt Benjamin is all I have left.  If he were harmed or killed on the trip to Egypt it would cause my death and I would go to the underground world with my gray hairs and a sorrowful heart." 

 

The sons of Israel (Jacob's name had been changed to Israel by Yahweh) were among many other peoples and tribes who came to Egypt to buy grain, for the famine had reached throughout the land of Canaan.  There is a word play on Israel here, Jacob as an individual and as a symbol of the Jewish people. Only ten brothers went on the journey—Benjamin was one of two sons of Jacob by his wife Rachel, the other being Joseph, and Benjamin was a favorite that he was not willing to risk on the journey.