JOSEPH'S BRETHREN COME INTO EGYPT TO BUY CORN. HE PRETENDS NOT TO KNOW THEM, AND KEEPS SIMEON WHILE HE SENDS THE OTHERS BACK TO CANAAN FOR BENJAMIN. THEY BRING BENJAMIN. HE MAKES HIMSELF KNOWN TO THEM AND SENDS FOR HIS FATHER.
NOW Joseph's brethren were still living in the land of Canaan. It had been many years since they sold him to the Ishmaelites, and they did not know what had become of him, but they thought he was dead. And the famine was in Canaan, and they wanted bread for their father and their little children to eat. And they looked at one another as if they did not know where they should get it or what they should do. Then Jacob said to them, Why do ye look one upon another? I have heard there is corn in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us, that we may live and not die. So Joseph's ten brethren left their home to go. But Benjamin, his youngest brother, stayed with his father in Canaan, for his father was afraid that some evil might happen him if he should go with them. And Joseph's brethren came down into Egypt, with many other persons to buy corn, for the famine was in all the countries around Egypt.
Now Joseph was governor over Egypt; it was he who sold corn to the people. And his brethren came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. Joseph saw them and knew them, but pretended he did not. He asked them, saying, From whence do ye come? They answered, From the land of Canaan, to buy food. But though Joseph knew his brethren they did not know him, nor think at all that it was their brother whom they had sold to the Ishmaelites so many years before. And Joseph spoke roughly to them, and said, Ye are spies, (that is, enemies) who are come into the land to find out something which you ought not to know. But his brethren answered, No, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons. We are true men (that is, men who speak the truth); thy servants are no spies.
Yet Joseph seemed not to believe them, and said again they were spies. But it was not because he was angry that he spoke roughly to them. He did so that they might not know him. He was soon going to be very kind to them, for Joseph was a good man and willing to forgive his brethren their unkindness to him. Then they told Joseph that they were all brothers, and that their father had twelve sons. One of them, they said, was with their father, in the land of Canaan—that was Benjamin;—and one, they said, "was not." They meant he was dead. The one who, they told Joseph, was dead, was Joseph himself.
Yet Joseph still pretended not to believe them, and said he would find out whether they spoke the truth or not, and this was the way he would do it. One of them should go home to Canaan to bring their youngest brother down to Egypt, but all the rest must stay till that one should come back; and he put them in prison three days. On the third day he spoke to them again; but this time he said that only one need stay. The rest might go home to take corn for their families to eat. Yet they must leave one, so that Joseph might be sure the others would come back and bring their youngest brother with them. When his brethren heard him say this, and saw that he was in earnest and meant to do as he said, they were in great trouble. They did not know it was Joseph who spoke with them and had put them in prison, yet they thought that God was punishing them for their sin in selling their brother to the Ishmaelites so long ago. And they talked with each other about it and said how wicked they had been.
And Reuben (the one who had intended to take Joseph out of the pit and bring him back to his father), said to his brethren, Did I not speak to you, saying, Do not sin against the child; but you would not listen to me? That was the reason, Reuben told them, why such trouble had come on them now. And Joseph heard them talking together, for they thought he could not understand when they spoke, because he had talked with them only in the Egyptian language, and when he did so, he had an interpreter to explain what he said. Yet Joseph understood every word they spoke, and he had to go away from them that they might not see him, for what they said made him weep. Afterward he came back and talked to them again. Still he pretended to think they were spies. Then he took Simeon, one of his brothers, and bound him, and all the rest saw him do it, for Simeon was to stay in Egypt while the others went home after Benjamin.
And Joseph commanded his servants to fill his brothers' sacks with corn, and to put the money that each one had paid, back again into his sack; but he did not tell his brethren of this, and they did not know that their money was put back. So when their asses were loaded, all of them except Simeon started on their journey to their home in Canaan. And they came to the inn on the road, where travellers stopped to rest. Here, as one of them opened his sack to give his ass some food out of it, he saw his money, for it was in his sack's mouth. And he said to his brethren, My money is given back to me; it is in my sack. Then they were afraid, for they did not know who had put it there.
And they went on their journey, and came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, and told him of the things that had happened to them while they were gone. They said, The man who is the lord of the country spoke roughly to us and took us for spies. And we said, We are no spies, but are true men. We are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, This is the way I shall know whether you are true men: leave one of your brethren with me, and take food for your families and go, and bring your youngest brother unto me. Then I shall know that you are no spies, but true men; and I will give your brother up to you again, and you may buy corn in the land.
And when they came to empty the corn out of their sacks, they found every man's bundle of money that he had paid for the corn, put back into the sack. They and their father saw the bundles of money and were afraid. And Jacob was troubled, and said to his sons that they had taken away his children from him; for Joseph was gone and Simeon was gone, and now they wanted to take Benjamin away. Then Reuben, who had two sons of his own, spoke to his father, saying, Slay my two sons if I do not bring Benjamin back to thee; give him to me and I will bring him to thee again. But Jacob said that Benjamin should not go down into Egypt; for Joseph was dead, and if any harm happened to Benjamin, it would be a greater trouble than he could bear.
Now the famine was very dreadful in the land of Canaan. And when they had eaten up the corn which they brought out of Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, Go again, buy us a little food. And Judah told his father they would go down and buy food, if he would let Benjamin go with them, but if he would not let Benjamin go, they would not go down; for the man, the lord of the country, had said to them, Ye shall not see my face except your brother be with you. Then Israel, that was Jacob, for now he had two names, asked his sons why they were so unkind to him as to tell the man they had another brother. But they answered, The man asked us, saying, Is your father yet alive? have you another brother? Could we know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
And Judah told Israel his father, to send Benjamin with him, and under his care; then, he said, they would arise and go, that they might not starve, but have food for their father and themselves and their little children. Judah said he would watch over him, and that no harm should happen to him. His father should trust Benjamin to him, and if he did not bring him back safely, then he would bear the blame forever. For if they had not stayed so long they would have been to Egypt and come back by that time.
Then their father, Israel, told them that if it must be so, if they must take Benjamin, they had better take also a present to the man. Do this, he said, take some of the best fruits of the land, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds: and take more money with you, and the money that was brought back in the mouths of your sacks, perhaps it was a mistake. Take also your brother, and arise and go again unto the man. And Israel prayed for his sons, that God would make the man kind to them; for, he said, if his children were taken away from him, he would be left lonely and sorrowful indeed.
So they took the present, and the money, and Benjamin, and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph again. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, who took care of his house, Bring these men home and make ready, for they shall eat dinner with me at noon. And the servant did as Joseph commanded; but the men were afraid when they came to Joseph's house. They said to one another, that it was because they had carried the money home in their sacks the first time, they were brought there, and that now Joseph was going to blame them for it, so that he might make them his slaves and take away their asses from them.
And they came near to Joseph's steward, and talked with him at the door of the house, and said, O, sir, indeed we came down the first time only to buy food. And they told him that as they were going home to Canaan, when they stopped at the inn, they opened their sacks and found the money they had paid for their corn, put back into their sacks. Every man's money was in the mouth of his sack. And now, they said, they had brought that money back with them, and other money beside, to buy food. But they could not tell who had put their money into their sacks when they went home before.
Then Joseph's steward told them not to fear. And he brought Simeon out to them, the one who had been left bound in Egypt while they went home to Canaan. And the steward gave them water to wash their feet, and he gave food to their asses. And they made ready the present which they had brought for Joseph, to give it to him when he should come home at noon, for they had heard they were to stay and eat dinner there. When Joseph came, they brought his present into the house, and bowed themselves down before him to the earth. And he spoke kindly to them, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? They answered, Thy servant, our father, is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down to him again.
And Joseph looked and saw his brother Benjamin, and said, Is this your younger brother of whom ye spoke unto me? And he said, May God be good to thee, my son. Then Joseph made haste to find a place where he might go and weep, and he went into his chamber and wept there, because he was so full of joy at seeing his brother. But afterward he washed his face, and came out, and kept back the tears, so that his brethren could not tell he had been weeping.
And he told his servants to set bread on the table, and they set on bread for Joseph in one place, to eat by himself, and for his brethren in another place, to eat by themselves: for the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, (that is, with the sons of Jacob), and Joseph wanted, now, to pretend that he was an Egyptian. And when his brethren came to take their seats, they found that the oldest one had the first seat, and the next oldest the next seat, and so they were all placed according to their ages. Then they wondered who could have placed their seats in this way.
And Joseph sent food to his brethren from his own table, but to Benjamin he sent five times as much as to any of the others. He loved Benjamin more than the others, because Joseph and Benjamin had the same mother. All of them had the same father, but they had different mothers; and Joseph and Benjamin were the only ones who had Rachel for their mother. Rachel, as we have read, died long before, and Jacob buried her on the way, as he went toward Bethlehem. And Joseph's brethren ate and drank with him in his house, but they did not know it was Joseph.
And Joseph commanded the steward of his house to fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they could carry, and to put every man's money back in the mouth of his sack, as had been done when they came down into Egypt before. And put my cup, the silver cup, he said, in the sack of the youngest. And the steward did as Joseph commanded. In the morning, as soon as it was light, the men started on their journey back to Canaan. When they had gone out of the city, but were not far off, Joseph told his steward to follow after them, and ask why they had taken his silver cup. So the steward followed after them, and when he came up to them, asked as Joseph had told him.
Then the men were very much surprised, and wondered why the steward spoke such words to them. God forbid, they said, that they should do such a thing as steal Joseph's cup. They had brought back the money which they found in their sacks, when they went home to Canaan the first time; they could have kept it, had they chosen to do so, but they brought it back of their own accord. And if they had done this, they asked, would they now take from Joseph's house silver or gold which did not belong to them?
Then they told the steward that if any of them had taken the cup, he might put that one to death, and all the rest would be his servants. The steward answered, that the one who had taken the cup should be his servant, but the rest should not be blamed. Then each of them quickly took down his sack from the back of the ass, and rested it on the ground; and every man opened his sack so that the steward could look into it. And he looked, beginning with the sack of the oldest, and leaving off with the sack of the youngest, and he found the cup in Benjamin's sack. Then they rent their clothes, and loaded their asses, and returned with him to the city.
And they came to Joseph's house, for he was still there, and they fell down before him on the ground. And Joseph pretended to think they had really stolen his cup, and he asked if they did not know he would find it out. Then Judah spoke to him, and said, What shall we we say to my lord? or what shall we do that we may not be punished? God has found out our wickedness; we are all my lord's servants. But Joseph answered that only the one who had the cup should be his servant; as for the rest they might go home to their father.
Then Judah came near to Joseph, and begged him not to be angry, but to let him speak. Judah said that when they came down to Egypt the first time, Joseph asked them, saying, Have you a father and a brother at home in the country where you live? And they told him they had a father, an old man, and also a brother who was a little child yet; and that their father loved the boy, for his mother was dead and his brother was dead. And Joseph told them to bring that younger brother down to Egypt that he might see him. Then they had answered that the boy could not leave his father, for, if he should do so, his father would die. But Joseph told them that if they did not bring their brother down, they should never see his face again. So, when they went home to their father, they told him what Joseph had said. And after a while, their father wanted them to go down to Egypt again, to buy a little more food. But they said to him, We cannot go unless our youngest brother be with us, for we may not see the man's face unless Benjamin be with us. Then their father told them that if they took Benjamin, and any harm should happen to him while they were gone, he would die with sorrow.
So now, Judah said, that if he went home without Benjamin, when their father saw that Benjamin was not with them, he would die. For Judah had promised to bring him back safely to his father, and had told his father that if he did not bring him back, he would bear the blame forever. Then Judah begged Joseph to let him stay and be his servant in Benjamin's place, and to let Benjamin go home to his father again.
Then Joseph could hide himself from them no longer, and he commanded all his servants to go out of the room, so that no one was left there but Joseph and his brethren. And he wept out loud, and his brethren heard him and saw him weeping. And he said to them, I am Joseph; does my father yet live? But they were afraid and could not answer him. And Joseph said to them, Come near to me, I pray you; and they came near; and he said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Then he told them not to be troubled, nor angry with themselves, because they had sold him, for God had sent him into Egypt to save people alive, and to keep them from starving in the famine. Joseph did not mean to say that his brethren did right when they sold him, but that God had made good to come out of the evil which they had done; Joseph told them this, so that they might not be unhappy and afraid. For he loved them, and had forgiven their unkindness to him, and did not want them to be unhappy now when he was so glad to see them again.
And Joseph told them that the famine had been in Egypt two years, and would be there five years longer. In these years there would be no harvest, or planting of seed in the ground, for God had said the famine should last that long. And Joseph told his brethren that God had sent him into Egypt before them, to save them from starving. And he said to them, Make haste and go back to my father in Canaan, and say to him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God has made me ruler over all Egypt. Come down to me, and thou shalt live in the best part of the land, and shalt be near to me; thou and thy children, thy flocks and thy herds, and all that thou hast. And I will take care of thee, lest thou and thy family should come to be poor.
And Joseph said to his brethren, Your eyes see, and my brother Benjamin's eyes see, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. You shall tell my father of all my greatness in Egypt, and of all that you have seen, and you shall make haste and bring down my father here. And Joseph leaned on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, for he was more glad to see him than he could tell; and Benjamin wept on his neck, And Joseph kissed all his brethren and wept on them, and afterward they talked with him.
When Pharaoh heard that Joseph's brethren had come, it pleased him well. And he told Joseph to tell them they should load their beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, and get their father, their wives, and their little children, and bring them to him. They should take wagons for their wives and their little ones to ride in, and they should bring their families and come; but they need bring nothing else, Pharaoh said, for it was the same as if all the good things in the land of Egypt belonged to them.
And Joseph's brethren did so; and he gave them wagons, as Pharaoh had commanded, and food to eat while they were gone. And to all of them he gave raiment; but to Benjamin he gave more than to any of the others, and also three hundred pieces of silver. To his father he sent twenty asses loaded with bread and meat, and good things, from the land of Egypt. Then he sent his brethren to their own home, and told them to be careful lest they should quarrel with one another by the way.
So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father in Canaan, and said to him, Joseph is yet alive, and is governor over all the land of Egypt. But it seemed too wonderful to be true, and Jacob did not believe them; yet when he heard all the kind words that Joseph had spoken, and saw the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him, Jacob believed what his sons told him; and he said, It is enough. Joseph, my son, is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.