'''CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE BROTHERS REUNITE'''

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE BROTHERS REUNITE

Pharaoh stood up from his throne and approached Joseph. He said, “I have found the man to be my second-in-command over Egypt.

He is you!”

He took off his signet ring and placed it onto Joseph’s finger, and then had him clothed in expensive fine linen. He also placed a gold chain around Joseph’s neck. All of these things were signs of Joseph’s great office and power.

“From now on,” said Pharaoh, “you shall rule over my house. All my people will be ruled by you and shall obey your every command. In all Egypt, only I will be over you.”

Then Pharaoh had Joseph ride in a great chariot so that he could be seen by all. Pharaoh’s men told the people to bow before Joseph.

As Pharaoh’s second-in-command, Joseph had the power to sign important documents, and make decisions that would affect the entire kingdom of Egypt.

Pharaoh gave Joseph an Egyptian name, as well as a beautiful Egyptian wife—Asenath. She was the daughter of an important priest in the land.

After 13 long years of being sold into slavery, then wrongly thrown into prison, Joseph was finally free. He knew that God was with him (Genesis 41:39-46).

Grains Stored Away

During the seven years of plenty, Joseph gathered one-fifth of the food that had grown throughout Egypt and stored it in large storehouses in all the cities. He gathered so much grain that his men could no longer keep count of it (Genesis 41:47-49). The storehouses were almost bulging with food.

Meanwhile, Joseph’s wife gave him two sons—Manasseh and Ephraim (Gen 41:50-52).

When the seven years of plenty had ended, so began the seven years of famine. People throughout all the lands barely had enough food to survive; many others died.

Back in Egypt, now that farms were not producing as many crops as before, the people cried out for Pharaoh to give them food. But Pharaoh told them, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he commands you.”

As the famine spread throughout the world, Joseph opened the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. When peoples of other lands heard about Egypt’s large food supplies, many travelled there to buy grain.

This caused Egypt to become more powerful and famous (Gen 41:53- 57). Pharaoh was pleased.

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

Back in Canaan, Jacob and his family were suffering from the famine.

Many of the sheep had died. The food supplies were low. Jacob knew that if they didn’t find food soon, everything he owned would be gone.

So he told his sons to go to Egypt and bring back some food. “Buy as much food as you can carry.”

Except for Benjamin, all of the sons headed for Egypt. Jacob did not allow Benjamin to go because he was afraid of losing him, the way he had lost Joseph.

When the brothers arrived at Egypt, they stood in a long line of many other people. They, too, had come from distant lands to buy grain (Genesis 42:1-5).

Now Joseph, who was governor of Egypt, personally oversaw the selling of grain to the foreigners. When his brothers, who were next in line, were brought before him and bowed, Joseph could hardly believe his eyes. At first he wanted to rush over to them and greet them with a kiss. It had been so long since he had seen another family member. But then Joseph started to boil with anger for what his brothers had done to him.

But he decided to trust God and not seek revenge. “Perhaps it’s time my brothers learned a lesson,” he thought.

Because Joseph wore the clothing and jewellery of high Egyptian authority, his brothers did not recognize him. They thought he was just another Egyptian official.

Joseph decided to speak to his brothers through a servant who knew the Hebrew language. He wanted his brothers to think that he only spoke Egyptian.

Harshly, Joseph said, “Where do you come from?”

They said, “From the land of Canaan, lord.”

“Then you must be spies! You’ve come to search for our weakness, haven’t you?”

The brothers trembled at Joseph’s words. They saw the eyes of the Egyptian soldiers who stood on guard with weapons in their hands.

“No, my lord! We are your humble servants. We have only come to buy grain, nothing more.”

Joseph said, “I don’t believe you.”

They said, “What can we do to convince you, my lord? We are just twelve brothers sent by our aging father to bring back some grain.”

“There are only ten of you here. If you are 12, where are the other two brothers?” Joseph asked.

They said, “The youngest is with our father, and the other brother is no longer alive.”

“Liars! You are spies!” Then Joseph ordered his men to throw his brothers into prison.

Three days later, Joseph visited them. “You can have your grain,” he said, “but one of you must stay here in prison while the rest of you go back to Canaan and bring me your youngest brother. Only then will I set your other brother free.”

The brothers talked among themselves. “This trouble is happening to us because of what we did to Joseph.”

Reuben said, “I told you not to harm him, but none of you would listen. Now we’re going to have to pay for his blood.”

Unknown to them, Joseph understood what they said. Overcome with emotion, he turned his back to them and cried. Though they had greatly wronged him, Joseph still loved his brothers (Gen 42:6-24).

Brothers Return to Canaan

Joseph released his brothers, but kept Simeon in prison. Then he ordered that his brothers’ sacks be filled with grain and given extra supplies for the journey home. He also arranged to have their money hidden in the grain sacks.

On the way home, one of the brothers opened a sack and found money hidden in it. He told the others, “The money I used to buy grain is in this sack.”

All of them began to worry and fear. “This is the hand of God. He wants to get us in trouble with that Egyptian governor for what we did to Joseph” (Genesis 42:25-28).

One brother said, “Maybe that Egyptian governor is trying to make it look as though we are spies and thieves!”

When they reached home, they told Jacob everything that had happened in Egypt. Then they said, “Simeon will be stuck in prison if we don’t bring Benjamin back to Egypt with us.”

As Jacob thought this over, the brothers opened all of the grain sacks and found a surprise: each sack contained the money that was used to buy the grain!

The brothers trembled in fear. They knew that they could not go back to Egypt without being accused of stealing. The Egyptians could throw them back into prison—or even take their lives!

Jacob said to them, “Joseph is gone, and so is Simeon. And now you want to take Benjamin, my youngest son, into Egypt so that I can lose him, too?”

Reuben still wanted to go to Egypt and rescue Simeon. He stepped forward and said, “You may take the lives of my two sons if I fail to bring Benjamin back to you. And I will bring him back to you.”

But Jacob refused (Gen 42:29-38).

Return to Egypt

Time passed, and Jacob and his family had used up the grain they had bought. To make matters worse, the land was still suffering from famine. People were still dying from lack of food. Jacob knew that his family had no other choice but to go back to Egypt and buy more grain.

When he told his sons this, Judah said, “But we can’t go back to Egypt unless Benjamin is with us. That Egyptian governor will be there—he will expect us to bring Benjamin.”

But Jacob still refused.

Judah said, “Send the boy with me. I will be responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back, you can set the blame on me forever.”

Reluctantly, Jacob gave in.

Then he told the brothers to take with them gifts of fruit, nuts, honey, spices and oils, as well as twice the amount of money that they had found in their grain sacks earlier. “Perhaps these will smooth any harsh feelings the Egyptian governor may have toward you,” he said (Genesis 43:1-13).

So the brothers took the gifts, their brother Benjamin, the money and their donkeys, and headed for Egypt. When they arrived, they lined up with the other foreigners in order to buy grain.

Upon seeing that his brothers had returned with Benjamin, Joseph was happy and pleased. But he kept them from seeing his true feelings.

Joseph ordered his chief servant to take the brothers to his home and prepare a great feast for them.

When the brothers arrived at Joseph’s home, they were afraid.

“He’s trying to make us feel comfortable so that he can wrongly arrest us for stealing the money. Then he’ll make slaves out of us.”

Driven by fear, they tried to explain to Joseph’s chief servant about the money. “We don’t know how it got into our grain sacks, but we brought it with us. Plus we brought extra money with us.”

The chief servant said, “Do not worry. Your God and the God of your father put the money in your sacks. I have the money you bought the grains with the first time you came to our land.”

Then the chief servant brought out their brother Simeon to them.

The brothers were happy and excited to see him. “How have they treated you? Did you get enough food to eat? Did they beat you?”

Before Simeon could answer, the chief servant led them into the main dining hall of Joseph’s home. He had them sit down, gave them water, and then washed their feet. He also had their donkeys fed.

When Joseph came home, he greeted the men. In turn, they bowed down before him and trembled, and then gave him the gifts. When he asked them about their father, the brothers answered that Jacob was alive, though growing old and gray.

Joseph turned his back to them and smiled. He knew that he would be reunited with his father very soon.

When Joseph turned to face his brothers again, he saw young Benjamin with them.

“Is this the younger brother you spoke to me about?” he asked them.

They said that he was.

Joseph was filled with so many emotions that he had to leave the room. He went into his chambers and thanked God for protecting his family all these years, especially Benjamin. He also thanked God for this opportunity to be reunited with them.

Then he washed his face, and came back into the dining hall. They all sat down to eat. Joseph sat before a large setting that was separate from his brothers. This was because it was a custom for Egyptians not to eat with Hebrew people. Joseph did not yet want his brothers to know who he really was. He was not done teaching them their lesson.

As the brothers ate and drank before Joseph, they noticed that Benjamin was served five times as much food. “What does this mean?” they whispered (verses 15-34).

Joseph’s Cup

Joseph had his chief servant fill his brothers’ sacks with food. “As much as they can carry,” he said.

Joseph also told the servant to place each man’s money in the sack, and to put his special silver cup in Benjamin’s sack.

Early the next morning, the brothers asked Joseph’s permission to leave. “We must tend to our aging father. He will be sick with worry if we delay any longer.”

So Joseph gave them his permission, and they left.

When they had left the city with their donkeys and sacks of grain, all the brothers sighed with relief (Genesis 44:1-4).

“That was a close one! I thought we’d all end up in prison,” said one brother.

“You still may be right,” said another. He pointed to dust clouds that were off in the distance behind them. The dust clouds were getting closer.

“Chariots!”

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