Last week, we left Joseph’s brothers bowing down to him.  Joseph asks, (still through an interpreter)

“How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?” Genesis 43:28

They respond that he is alive and well. Joseph looks about until he spies Benjamin, his own mother’s other son. Deeply moved, Joseph slips out to a private room to weep. Finally, he washes his face and attempts to control himself as he returns to his brothers.

“Serve the food!” he declares. You would think their good treatment and Joseph’s interest in their father and younger brother would alert them to Joseph’s identity. Not to mention that they have been seated around the table in the order of their age.

In their minds, Joseph is dead or maybe a slave off in the boonies somewhere.

Isn’t that just like us? Something is fairly plain in front of us, but we are blinded by fear or a self-centered attitude, maybe past sins or bitterness. Jesus said, “He who has eyes to see, let him see. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.’

We see that Joseph is partial to Benjamin for when his plate is served, it’s piled up five times higher than the others! And now, Joseph’s plot begins. He intends to send the others back home and find a way to keep Benjamin, so he instructs his steward:

“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 silver cup in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack.” Genesis 44:2

Of course, the idea is that they will be brought back; Benjamin will be kept, and the others will graciously be let go. However, when they are stopped on the trail and brought back to Joseph, the brothers are not about to leave Benjamin for fear of breaking their father’s heart.

Judah steps forward to give a 16-verse plea. He reiterates the whole story again: the need for grain, the trip to Egypt, the demand to bring the younger brother back, the agony of their father, and the remembrance of losing his son, Joseph.

Judah quotes his father—“If I lose this son, it will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.” So, there is no way Judah can go back without Benjamin, because he personally guaranteed the boy’s safety.

Quite a change for Judah. He was the one who suggested that they sell Joseph to the caravan of traders years before. Judah’s final plea:

“Please let me remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let my brothers return with the boy. How can I go back if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.” Genesis 44:33-34

Will this passionate plea suffice? Will Joseph continue to make them squirm to get back at them for all the heartache they caused? Or will he see their repentant hearts?

Next week—at long last, the great unveiling!

~ Joyce ~