Joseph's Story, Genesis chapter 44

Hey guys!! I clearly forget to write on my blog sometimes.

But today is Saturday, and it is time for JOSEPH'S STORY!!

So, remember, Joseph's brothers have all come to Egypt to buy more food. Joseph had invited them to eat at his house with him and they had.

Now, they are getting ready to leave. Joseph tells his Steward to fill his brother's sacks with food, and also to put their money back into their sacks. And then he tells him to put Joseph's favorite cup into Benjamin's bag.

So the Steward does as he is told.

The brothers leave, unaware that the treasures have been placed in their grain sacks.

They are just barely out of the city when Joseph sends his Steward after them and ask them why they have done such a wicked thing, why have they stolen Joseph's cup that he drinks out of and practices divination with?

I don't personally think that Joseph really practiced divination, but because he is pretending to be Egyptian, I think he just said that to scare his brothers and make them realize what thing they have taken. That would have been a very valuable thing to take from him.

When the Steward catches up to the brothers, he asks them why they have stolen Joseph's cup.

The brothers are so sure that none of them took anything that they tell the Steward to search their sacks. They say that whoever has the cup should die and the rest of them be Joseph's slaves.

So the Steward searches the sacks, of course knowing what was in them because he put it there. He starts with the oldest and makes his way down to Benjamin, who has the cup.

The brothers are incredibly upset. They return to Joseph's house with the Steward. Joesph, knowing what was going on, has stayed at his house instead of going back to work.

Joseph pretends to be upset and asks them why they have done this evil thing to him, when all he has ever done was be kind to them.

Judah responds by saying that he does not know what to tell him. He does not know how the money got there but clearly, it was there. So he says that he has no choice but to declare himself and his brothers slaves.

Joseph says that he would never do such a thing, he doesn't want to punish them all because of something that Benjamin did. So he tells the rest of them that they can leave, but Benjamin will stay as a slave.

Judah then proceeds to tell Joseph that Benjamin is the only remaining son of their father's most loved wife. He tells him that the other son had been torn apart by wild animals years before (I bet Joseph is rolling his eyes at this point). He says that unless he can bring Benjamin back, their father will likely die of sorrow.

Judah offers himself to take the place of Benjamin as a slave instead.

That is the end of the chapter, but there is something that I have been wondering about.

Obviously, the brothers knew that Joseph had been sold as a slave into Egypt, or at least, that was the last they had head of him, that he was headed to Egypt.

I wonder if they were afraid of running into him when they had to go buy food. They had kept up the lie that he was torn apart on his way to come see them that day, they had never told their father the truth.

But they all knew the truth. But even now, after all these years, they are keeping up the lie, telling Joseph what they had told their father.

Joseph had not known until then what they had told their father when they got home. He had not known anything about his family until the famine hit. For all he knew, they could have all been dead, or his brothers could have killed Benjamin, or they could have moved into a distant country, or they could have stayed where they were, knowing what had become of Joseph and just no cared. He had no way of finding out.

But know he knows what they had said to their father. He knows where they live. He knows what became of Benjamin, and of his father, and of the brothers who had sold him.

But his brothers still don't know what has become of Joseph. Well, I mean, they do know, but they don't know that they know.

I wonder if they felt guilty every time they went to buy food, not knowing that it was the very brother that they despised who was feeding them.

I wonder if they ever looked around while they were in Egypt, hoping to catch a glimpse of his face.

I wonder if they hope he was dead so that he wouldn't trouble them anymore.

I wonder if they even cared at all.

I guess that is something that we will not know while we are on Earth.

Anyway, that is all for today.

Cheers!!