Joseph's story, Genesis 43

Hey guys!

Oh my gosh, I have so much blogging to do! That's what I get for forgetting about my blog for too long!

I guess I can write several posts today, but first, lets start off with Joseph's story in Genesis chapter 43.

The famine is still in the land, so there is only grain in the store houses in Egypt.

When they said 'famine', I think what they mean is a lack of wheat, and therefore, a lack of bread, because, as we will discover in a moment, there was other food.

Remember, Simeon is in a prison in Egypt because Jacob will not allow Benjamin to go to Egypt with his brothers.

Eventually though, the food they bought in Egypt runs out, and the family is again in desperate need of food.

Jacob tells his sons that he needs them to go back and buy some more food.

But Judah reminds his father what Joseph had said. He had told them not to come back unless they were to bring Benjamin with them.

Judah knows that his family needs food, so he tells his father that he will take care of Benjamin and make sure that he comes home safe.

Jacob accepts this offer.

Notice that Jacob *did not* accept the offer when Reuben said he would take care of Benjamin, but allowed Judah to be in charge of his younger brother. Jacob possibly still did not trust Reuben, since he had been in charge both when Joseph went missing and when Simeon got left in Egypt.

So the brothers set off for Egypt, bringing with them extra money, as well as the money that was in their sacks when they got back home, and additional gifts, being some balm, some honey, spices and myrrh, some pistachios and some almonds. Obviously, they had *some* food, but they need the grain in order to have proper nutrition.

When they arrive in Egypt, and Joseph sees Benjamin with his other brothers, he tells the Steward of his house (Joseph was the Steward of Potiphar's house) to get some food ready and bring the Hebrew men into his house.

The brothers were afraid. They thought they were probably brought to Joseph's house because he discovered the missing money and knew that it was in their bags.

When they get to the door of his house, they start telling the Steward about the mistake that had been made about the money, telling him that they never meant to take it with them.

The Steward sets them at ease, telling them that he had known where the money was the entire time, and their God had blessed them with treasure (being the money).

After this, he gets Simeon out of prison and brings him into the house with the other brothers.

The servants prepared the meal for noon, because that is when Joseph was to come home. After all, he was a busy man, and didn't sit around at home all day, he had a very important job to do.

When Joseph comes home, his brothers bring him the gifts they had brought with them from home and bowed down to him.

Here we see Joseph's dreams coming true again. His brothers had scorned him when he told them, and now, without even realizing it, they are bringing to pass the very thing that they were angry with him over in the first place.

Joseph asks them about his father, calling him 'the old man of whom you spoke'. They tell him that their father is doing quite well, which was no doubt something that made Joseph very happy.

Then he sees Benjamin.

He asks them, even though he knows the answer, if he is the younger brother of whom they spoke. They reply that yes, he is.

Joseph tells Benjamin that he hopes that God is gracious to him.

After this, he hurries away for a little while. He hides in his room and cries, swept away with emotion.

After he has had his cry, he comes back out and refrains himself from crying anymore in the presence of his brothers.

The Egyptians consider eating with the Hebrews an abomination, so the Egyptians eat on one side of a curtain, the Hebrews on the other. Joseph sits at a table by himself, because he is the head of the household.

Joseph has his brothers seated in order of age, which really surprises them.

So the servant took food to the brothers, but Joseph makes sure than Benjamin gets more than his other brothers.