11. The Language of Reconciliation!

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11. The Language of Reconciliation!

“I am your brother Joseph,

the one you sold into Egypt.

But now,

do not be distressed

and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,

because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.”

(Genesis 45:4-5)

When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to his steward,

“Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal

and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”

The steward did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought,

“We were brought here because of the silver

that was put back into our sacks the first time.

He wants to attack us and overpower us

and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.”

So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food.

But at the place where we stopped for the night

we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack.

So we have brought it back with us.

We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food.

We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”

“It’s all right,”

he said.

“Don’t be afraid. Your God,

the God of your father,

has given you treasure in your sacks;

I received your silver.”

Then he brought Simeon out to them.

The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there.

When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. He asked them how they were, and then he said,

“How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?”

They replied,

“Your servant our father is still alive and well.”

And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.

As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked,

“Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?”

And he said,

“God be gracious to you, my son.”

Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.

After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said,

“Serve the food.”

They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house:

“Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry,

and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack.

Then put my cup, the silver one,

in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack,

along with the silver for his grain.”

And he did as Joseph said.

As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward,

“Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them,

say to them,

‘Why have you repaid good with evil?

Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from

and also uses for divination?

This is a wicked thing you have done.’”

When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. But they said to him,

“Why does my lord say such things?

Far be it from your servants to do anything like that!

We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks.

So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?

If any of your servants is found to have it,

he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

“Very well, then,” he said,

“let it be as you say.

Whoever is found to have it will become my slave;

the rest of you will be free from blame.”

Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.

Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. Joseph said to them,

“What is this you have done?

Don’t you know that a man like me

can find things out by divination?”

“What can we say to my lord?”

Judah replied.

“What can we say?

How can we prove our innocence?

God has uncovered your servants’ guilt.

We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves

and the one who was found to have the cup.”

But Joseph said,

“Far be it from me to do such a thing!

Only the man who was found to have the cup

will become my slave.

The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.”

Then Judah went up to him and said:

“Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord.

Do not be angry with your servant,

though you are equal to Pharaoh himself.

My lord asked his servants,

‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ And we answered, ‘We have an aged father and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

“Then you said to your servants,

‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’

And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father;

if he leaves him, his father will die.’ But you told your servants,

‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you,

you will not see my face again.’

When we went back to your servant my father,

we told him what my lord had said.

“Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’

But we said,

‘We cannot go down.

Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go.

We cannot see the man’s face unless

our youngest brother is with us.’

“Your servant my father said to us,

‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.

One of them went away from me, and I said,

“He has surely been torn to pieces.”

And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’

“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father,

and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,

sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die.

Your servants will bring the gray head of

our father down to the grave in sorrow.

Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father.

I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you,

I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’

“Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy,

and let the boy return with his brothers.

How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?

No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out,

“Have everyone leave my presence!”

So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.

Joseph said to his brothers,

“I am Joseph! Is my father still living?”

But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence.

Then Joseph said to his brothers,

“Come close to me.”

When they had done so, he said,

“I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!

And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,

because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.

For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping.

But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.

He made me father to Pharaoh,

lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.”

And his brothers went up quickly to their father and told him

“Joseph, your son, is alive.

and God has made him prime minister over all Egypt.

Come quickly, and bring your father's sons,

and your father's grandsons.

and your sheep and cattle and all your possessions

and stay in the land of Goshen, close to where you are.

For the famine is still five years away.

I will serve you there.

Otherwise, my father and my father's acceleration and

and all my father's household will starve.

As I have seen with the eyes of my brothers and with the eyes of my brother Benjamin.

To you, my brothers, I speak from the bottom of my heart.

You have seen me in Egypt, and you have seen me in the movies.

and everything else you have seen, you will tell my father.

and bring him down to me quickly.”

And when he had said this, he embraced his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin also embraced Joseph's neck and wept; and Joseph kissed his brothers and embraced them, and they began to speak to him.

When word reached the king in the palace that Joseph's brothers had come, the king rejoiced with all his servants, and said to Joseph

“Command your brothers

“This is what you shall do, take your provisions and go,

and come to the land of Canaan.

and take your father and your menservants with you,

and come unto me.

and I will give you the beautiful things of the land of Egypt.

and ye shall eat the fat of the country.”

And the king said to Joseph's brother,

“Do this. Take a cart out of the land of Egypt,

and put your children and your wives in it.

and bring your fathers with you,

and spare not your utensils.

for all the good things of the land of Egypt are yours.”

And Joseph did as the king commanded him, and gave them chariots, and gave them food for the journey, and gave them all a garment each, except Benjamin, who gave him three hundred pieces of silver and five garments; and he also gave his father ten asses, loaded with the beautiful things of Egypt, and ten mules, loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father to eat on the way; and he sent his brothers away, saying to them

“My brothers, on your way,

do not quarrel about what happened before.”

At Joseph's request, the brothers hesitated and looked at each other's faces.

When the brothers returned from Egypt to the land of Canaan, they said to their father Jacob

“Joseph is alive today.

He is prime minister of the land of Egypt.”

Now Jacob their father did not believe them, and was not moved at all; and they told him all that Joseph had asked of them; and it was not until he saw the chariot which Joseph had sent to carry him that he believed them, and rejoiced exceedingly, and cried out, saying

“Can there be such a joyful thing in my life?

For my son Joseph has lived until now.

I will go and see him before he dies.”

And he took all his chariots, his servants, his livestock, and his household goods, and moved to Egypt, where Joseph was, and all the people of Canaan looked at him with envy, and the sight of the migration was spectacular. And Jacob went out of Canaan with all that he possessed, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of Isaac his father: and God appeared to Israel in a vision in the night, saying

“Jacob, Jacob!”

“Here I am.”

“I am God, the God of your father.

Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt.

for I will make of you a great nation there.

I will go down with you into Egypt.

and I will surely bring thee up again.

And Joseph shall close thine eyes with his hand.”

When Jacob departed from Beersheba, Jacob's sons put their fathers and their wives in the wagons that Joseph had given them, and they took their livestock and their possessions from the land of Canaan and went to Egypt to meet Joseph. Jacob and Joseph embraced, wept, and were greeted by their new daughters-in-law and grandchildren. Jacob's entire family was now reunited.

Meanwhile, the old man's son, who had been working hard as a butler in Jacob's house, was also reunited with his father, and the old man thanked Joseph for fulfilling his wish to finally meet his son. Joseph reminisced about his encounter with the old man and took good care of his remaining wife and two sons.

Joseph chose five of his brothers to go to the palace and report to Pharaoh, saying

“My father and my brothers

their sheep and cattle and all their possessions

have come from the land of Canaan

and are in the land of Goshen.”

When the brothers were allowed to greet him, the king asked them.

“What is your occupation?”

“We are shepherds, as we and our fathers have been.

There was a famine in the land of Canaan,

and there was no place for the servants' flocks.

so we have come to dwell here.

If you wish, grant them permission to live in the land of Goshen.”

The king said to Joseph

“Your father and your brothers are here.

let them dwell in the land of Goshen,

in the land of Egypt, where there is plenty of grass.

and if there are able men among them

let them manage my livestock!”

So Joseph did as the king commanded, and he gave his father and his brothers a place to live, and he gave them the good land of Ra'amsheth in Egypt to possess, and he provided for his father, his brothers, and all his father's household, with food for their families.

And Jacob and all his household sojourned in the land of Goshen, and dwelt there, and lived, and multiplied, and were seventeen years old: and he was an hundred and forty and seven years old. And it came to pass, when the day of Jacob's death drew near, that he called his sons together with Joseph his son, and blessed them, and said unto them

“When I die, do not bury me in Egypt.

Promise me that you will bury me

in my ancestral burial place in Canaan.”

And Joseph made his promise in the presence of his father, and Jacob returned to his ancestors in good spirits. And Joseph wept and kissed his father's face, and commanded the handkerchief physician to put incense into his father's body; and the physician did as he was told, and it took forty days to put the incense into his father's body; and the Egyptians mourned for him for seventy days; and when the time for mourning had expired, Joseph went to the king and said to him