Joseph's Brothers Return To Egypt, Joseph's Silver Cup

[Walter and Deborah]

Saturday 11-7-20 Cheshvan 20, 5781 7th. day of the weekly cycle,

47th. Fall Day

 

Joseph's Brothers Return To Egypt: Genesis Forty Three:1-34

 

◄ Genesis Forty Three ►

King James Bible Par ▾

 

The Return to Egypt with Benjamin

 

1And the famine was sore in the land. 2And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. 3And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. 4If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:

 

5But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. 6And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? 7And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

 

8And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones. 9I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever: 10For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.

 

11And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds: 12And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight: 13Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man: 14And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. 15And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

 

Joseph's Hospitality to his Brothers

 

16And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon. 17And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. 18And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house; and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.

 

19And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they communed with him at the door of the house, 20And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food: 21And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand.

 

 22And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks. 23And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them. 24And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender. 25And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

 

26And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. 27And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? 28And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.

 

29And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. 30And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. 31And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread.

 

32And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. 33And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another. 34And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him.

 

Genesis Forty Four:1-34    Joseph's Silver Cup

 

Love always, Walter and Debbie

Edited November 8, 2020 by Walter and Deborah
More info.

[Starise]

Great story. One of my favorites.

It is often taught that Joseph was an archetype of Jesus and teachers often point out similarities of the Joseph story and the Jesus story. In what way is this portion of the story an archetype?

Notice also how God has no issue using foreign governments as a part of His plans i.e. Babylon and in this case Egypt.

There's a fairly recent documentary out on Tubi HERE that shows evidence for the Jewish occupation.

Many academics deny the Joseph account happened at all. As Christians we know science sometimes has to catch up to the truth.

The documentary scrutinizes the history of the Pharaohs and comes to the conclusion through recent discoveries of a Jewish settlement right next to Egyptian quarters seem to show Egypt was inhabited at one time by large amounts of Jews. Jews and Egyptians lived in different settlements but in close proximity. Apparently the error of historians who deny a connection to the Jews was in looking at more recent Pharaohs when in actuality these events seem to have happened with a less familiar more ancient Pharaoh.

[Tzephanyahu]

Shalom @Walter and Deborah

It must have been very difficult for Joseph to see his brothers begging for food whereas he was once begging them for his life.  I can imagine he was hurt, conflicted and even tempted to take vengeance.  He seems to have played with the idea of the latter, but never followed it through to fruition.  In this matter he also proved faithful – even though they were delivered into his hand.  This reminds me of how Yahweh delivered Saul into David’s hand at the cave.

Now, the Scripture says how Joseph’s “bowels” yearned for his brother Benjamin.  A Hebraism to say “the very core of your being” which would be our equivalent of heart but much deeper.  Not just a longing but an inner turmoil which brings that heaviness or pit in your stomach feeling.  This give me the chance to share one of the amazing and precious insights into Yahweh’s emotions when He uses the same phraseology…

“Is Ephraim my dear son?  Is he a pleasant child? For since I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still; therefore my bowels are troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith Yahweh” – Jeremiah 31:20

Love & Shalom