Genesis 43. Joseph’s Brothers Return to Egypt

Joseph’s Brothers Return to Egypt

• Based on Judah’s response in verse 10, the time between Genesis 42 and 43 is anywhere from a few weeks to a few months.

Now the famine was severe in the land. ² And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 

• How sad that Jacob only sent brothers back not to get Simeon but to get more food for themselves. I wonder how Simeon felt probably knowing they would never come back because Benjamin was the favorite.

³ But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’” 

• Judah mentions what Joseph said twice. He knew the severity of the situation.
• We see the subtle shift of Judah as the leader instead of the firstborn Reuben

⁶ Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 

• Notice in the previous chapter the author used ‘Jacob’, while here ‘Israel’ is used for the remainder of the chapter

⁷ They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” ⁸ And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹ I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

• Judah goes from pledging his sons’ lives to his own.
• Again, poor Simeon is just sitting in Egypt prison

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. ¹² Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³ Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. ¹⁴ May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

• God Almighty אֵל שַׁדַּי (El Shaddai)
• Similar to Esther’s statement “If I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:16)

¹⁵ So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷ The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door of the house, ²⁰ and said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food. ²¹ And when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, ²² and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³ He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 

• It was about 20 years since Joseph had been with all of his brothers.
• Was the steward told to say this (by Joseph) to the brothers?

²⁴ And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, ²⁵ they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

• Interesting that Joseph’s steward says “Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Do you think the steward learned of God from Joseph and now believes or was just trying to calm the brothers? Or maybe he was told to say that.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. ²⁷ And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸ They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. ²⁹ And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 

• I can only imagine the confusion of the brothers. Here was the second-in-command of Egypt asking about their father and warmly receiving their brother. Especially after they were accused of being spies.

³⁰ Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. 

• I like how many powerful or influential men in the Bible openly weep (Joseph, David, Jeremiah, Jesus, etc.) . I don’t know why it’s seen as a sign of weakness today in some cultures.
• Joseph cries 7 times from chapters 42-50. This is #2.

³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.” ³² They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

• Even though Joseph was of high status, he still could not eat with Egyptians (I believe this isn’t just Hebrews but anything foreign including Greece, etc.)
• Could Joseph eat with his family?

³³ And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. ³⁴ Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.

• Statistically, placing the brothers in the correct birth order at random would be 1 in 40 million (from https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-43/)
• the phrase “they were merry with him” is written in Hebrew as וַיִּשְׁתּוּ וַיִּשְׁכְּרוּ עִמּוֹ, which literally means “became drunk with him.”
• Random Q: Did Satan know which of the 12 sons would be the line of the Messiah?
• What did the brothers think of Benjamin’s portions?