The Fulfilling of Joseph's Dreams and His Testing of His Brothers

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(Genesis 42:1) Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" (2) And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt; go down there and buy for us from there, that we may live and not die."

Joseph was in Egypt managing the seven years of famine with the food he had stored during the seven years of plenty.  We read in the last chapter that the famine was all over, in other countries, as well, and here we read that Joseph's family was also suffering from the famine.  Jacob had heard there was grain in Egypt, obviously hearing that he could buy it, and told his sons to go to Egypt to buy them some (rather than sitting around looking at one another in despair not knowing what to do).

(3) And Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy corn in Egypt. (4) But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers, for he said, "Lest some mischief befall him."

Jacob sent ten of Joseph's brothers to Egypt to buy grain.  He did not send his youngest son, Benjamin, Joseph's only full brother of his mother Rachel, because he feared something might happen to him.  Possibly it was because he felt he was too young, but more likely it was because Benjamin was his favorite and the one he thought to his only son by his beloved Rachel.

(5) And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. (6) And Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

Apparently there were other people from Canaan coming to buy grain in Egypt, or perhaps they were from other countries coming the same time as Jacob's sons from Canaan.  They came directly to Joseph as he was the one who sold the stored grain to all the people in all the lands.  Joseph's brothers bowed themselves before him when they approached him.

(7) And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but made himself a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them; and he said to them, "Where do you come from?" And they said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food." (8) And Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him.

Joseph immediately recognized his brothers, but he did not let on that he knew them.  He spoke roughly to them.  Knowing Joseph's character, I wonder if he truly spoke roughly or if that just meant there was no friendly familiarity.  He asked them a straight forward question to which they answered what he already knew, but they had no reason to even dream Joseph would be in the position he was, and did not recognize him.  Maybe the rough talk added to the disguise.

(9) And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!"

I can't decide if Joseph is behaving righteously in this or not.  He remembered his dreams of how his brothers would bow down to him and then he accused them of being spies who came to find out if the land was so defenseless that it could be attacked.  It would seem to me he was using and enjoying his position to force them to bow down to him, but then again if he wished to detain them to get more information from them about his father and brother, perhaps he felt he had to do something like this.  I suppose, knowing what they had done to him, it could have been he thought it possible they might have done something similar to his brother.  If he had been familiar with them, maybe he would not have received such information as that.  He could be testing his brothers to try to get the truth from them. 

(10) And they said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. (11) We are all one man's sons; we are true men; your servants are no spies."

The brothers deny the charge that they are spies.  By telling Joseph they were one man's sons they hoped to show it was very unlikely that ten brothers of one family would be sent on the dangerous mission as spies.  They told him they spoke the truth and had only come to buy food.

(12) And he said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land."

Perhaps this was Joseph's way of forcing them to give up more information about the rest of his family.  If the brothers felt in danger, they would perhaps spill all.

(13) And they said, "Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father this day, and one is no more."

This was surely what Joseph was waiting to hear, that his father and younger brother were alive.  It also must have been emotional for Joseph to hear them speak of him as dead.

(14) And Joseph said to them, "It is as I spoke to you, saying, 'You are spies!'  (15) In this manner you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. (16) Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proven to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!"

Of course, Joseph knew they were probably telling the truth, but as first in command under Pharaoh, it seemed reasonable that he would consider this suspect as first they had claimed to be ten brothers and now they said they were eleven; why would ten come and not all eleven?  In providing a way for the brothers to prove they were telling the truth to Pharaoh's right-hand man, Joseph would be able to see his younger brother again.

Many of the older Biblical commentaries that I read made a great deal about Joseph using the language "by the life of Pharaoh", many believing it was a sworn oath, and strictly forbidden by God.  To me, it's as if he was saying, "as surely as Pharaoh lives", and something completely in character with what Pharaoh's top governor would be expected to say.  I don't see that the words used constituted an oath, but even if they did, Joseph was human and made mistakes.  Some of the old commentaries seem to me to go to great lengths to make him the ultimate picture of Christ, in that he couldn't have sinned in anything he did in this picture.  Where I thought he may have been laying it on a little thickly and even enjoying a little bit that his brothers bowed down to him, there were some who suggested the noble and righteous Joseph was only doing what he did to bring his brothers to necessary repentance.  I'm not sure I buy that.  Just because Joseph's life may have been a picture of Christ's in that he was left for dead and risen up to a position that brought salvation from death to those who came to buy food from him, he was still a man.  There is and never was any sinless person other than Jesus Christ.  Just because God may have used Joesph's life and circumstances to be an example of what He would eventually do through the life of Christ, it did not mean that Joseph was expected to have been sinless in all that he did.  Even now God may use our lives to show Christ to a fallen world, and we are certainly all sinful people.  We are to strive to be Christ-like, but none of us ever were or ever will be sinless as Christ in this world.  So whether Joseph was completely righteous in his heart regarding how he handled his brothers in this, only God knows, but we will find that they all come to a place of forgiveness and reconciliation and even restoration, before it is all over, and that is what God desires for all of us as He brings us through difficulties in life.

(17) And he put them all together in ward three days. (18) And Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this and live, for I fear God: (19) If you are true men, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison house; but you, go and carry corn for the famine of your houses. (20) But bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die." And they did so.

Joseph put his brothers in prison for three days.  It gave them a sense of their grave situation, that Joseph, as second in command to Pharaoh, meant what he said, and it may have given them time to discuss their situation and decide what to do.  Joseph let them know he was a God-fearing man so that they could trust what he said and they could expect just dealings from him.  A man who feared the one true God in Egypt must have been a rare thing, so Joseph must have meant to ease their minds and let them know they could trust him with his word.  At first he had said they would all remain in prison while only one of them went back to fetch his youngest brother, but now his orders were to let one of their brothers be left in prison while the rest went back home and fetched their youngest brother.  When they went back, they wouldn't be empty-handed; they were to carry the corn they had come to purchase in the first place.  Apparently, that is what they did.

(21) And they said one to another, "We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us." (22) And Reuben answered them, saying, "Did I not speak to you, saying, 'Do not sin against the child'; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us."

While they were preparing to carry out what Joseph had ordered, they talked among themselves.  They realized their guilt concerning their brother and seemed to be truly sorry as they recalled his anguish when he pleaded with them and they ignored his pleas.  They saw their predicament as they were now receiving just measure and punishment for what they had done.  Reuben reminded his brothers that he tried to convince them not to harm the boy, but they would not listen.  He, in fact, had convinced them to throw him into the pit where he had planned to go back and get him, but that didn't work out.  Now, feeling certain Joseph was dead, Reuben said they must now suffer for the blood of their brother.

(23) And they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them by an interpreter. (24) And he turned himself away from them and wept, and returned to them again, and talked with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

Apparently Joseph had previously only spoken to them through an interpreter, so they now spoke openly and candidly in their Hebrew language, not realizing that Joseph could understand them. Hearing them, he had to turn away from them because their words caused him to weep.  At first, I considered Reuben's words to be just an "I told you so", but Joseph was getting a chance to hear a part of the story he never knew, and it was very emotional for him.  Joseph then composed himself and returned to talking with and perhaps ordering the brothers to proceed along their way as he had directed.  Joseph himself chose to leave Simeon in prison, and let the others return to their father to fetch their brother.  Was there a reason he chose Simeon?  He may have been the most hardhearted.  From the affair of Shechem, we learned that he was rather cold-blooded in his premeditation of Shechem's murder.  Some of the early historical writers suggest it was Simeon who bound Joseph and cast him into the pit.  Perhaps Joseph chose Simeon because he remembered him to be his most bitter enemy among his brothers, or maybe because he was the least humbled and concerned about what he had done even now.  For whatever reason, it seems reasonable to suspect there was some motive on Joseph's part in binding Simeon, and he bound him before his other brothers' eyes to affect them all.

(25) Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey; and thus he did for them.  (26) And they loaded their donkeys with the corn, and departed from there.

Joseph commanded that the brothers returning home be loaded with corn, but it appears he gave their money back to them, unbeknownst to them, and they were given provisions for the journey.  Whoever it was that Joseph commanded to do this, a servant or steward or whatever the position, he did as Joseph instructed.  The donkeys were loaded and the brothers departed.

(27) And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed in the inn, he spied his money, for behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. (28) And he said to his brothers, "My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!" And their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, "What is this that God has done to us?"

When one of the brothers discovered his money had been given back to him, they were all very afraid.  They obviously realized the seriousness of their situation, being accused of being spies, and may have felt this was a trap and that they would surely be pursued and seized for taking corn without paying for it.  They felt certain this was God's divine judgment on them for what they had done.

(29) And they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, (30) "The man who is the lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. (31) And we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are no spies. (32) We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.' (33) And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men; leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. (34) And bring your youngest brother to me; then I shall know that you are no spies, but that you are honest men; so I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.'"

The brothers went back to the land of Canaan, to their father, and told him everything that had happened.

(35) And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

Apparently, earlier, only one of the brothers had seen his money returned to his sack.  Now as all the brothers unloaded their donkeys and sacks, they all found their money returned to their sacks.  They were all very afraid of what this might mean, their father included.

(36) And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children; Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you will take Benjamin away; all these things are against me."

I don't really think that Jacob suspected any foul play in the disappearance of Joseph, although he probably knew what his sons thought of their dreamer brother and may have felt they contributed to his disappearance, though he probably never dreamed they contributed as directly as they actually did.  I think the sense of his statement here was something like, "When you guys all get together, you get into trouble, and I lose a son!"  Joseph was gone, Simeon was gone, and now they wanted to take Benjamin.  The way things had been going, the odds didn't look in Jacob's favor that he wouldn't lose Benjamin, too.

(37) And Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "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."

This seems a strange way to alleviate Jacob's fears--if Reuben failed to bring back Benjamin, then Jacob could kill his own grandsons, too??  But obviously, Reuben was trying to say that he would be careful and protect the life of Benjamin as he would his own two sons.

(38) And he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone; if mischief should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave."

Jacob would not agree to let Benjamin go with Reuben and the others.  Benjamin's only full brother, Joseph, was dead, at least as far as Jacob knew.  If anything happened to his only remaining son of his beloved Rachel, he felt he would never again lift up his gray head, or have any more happiness in this world, until his gray head was laid in the grave.