Don't Get Mad. Get Even (Genesis 42)

The whole world is in massive famine, except for Egypt. Jacob (Joseph’s dad. Remember him?) yells at all of his remaining sons  for not already having gone to Egypt to buy grain to feed their family.  So the brothers all head out to buy grain except for Benjamin, the now youngest son. It would seem that Jacob doesn’t trust the herd to not pick off the youngest and leave it behind. Once they’re in Egypt, Joseph’s brothers came and bowed before Joseph, the governor of all Egypt. He recognized them in a heartbeat, but his brothers were totally clueless. Joseph did what all scorned, left for dead, now raised to power little brothers would do: he messed with them. He insists that they are spies from the land of Canaan, and aren’t just there to buy food. They insist that their intentions are honorable, and as a display of their honor start babbling about their family. Joseph makes a show of not believing them until he sees the youngest brother with his own eyes. He says he’ll let one brother go to fetch the last one, but first he puts them all in jail for three days.

After the three days, Joseph goes to collect the one brother that will get sent home with enough grain for everyone and then return with Benjamin. Oh yeah, if he doesn’t return with Benjamin, everybody dies. Now, Joseph has been using an interpreter this whole time to disguise himself even further, so when his brothers launch into a “foreign” language discussion, he can still understand them. Presumably, they’d be talking about which brother to send. They were, however, having a karmic conversation about how they’re being treated like this now because of what they did to Joseph. It takes famine, prison, and death threats to make them feel remorse… but they got there eventually. Reuben (who tried saving Joseph way back when) gets his “I told you so” moment in there too.  Having heard and understood all of this, Joseph has a good cry when they can’t see him, and goes back saying he’s changed his mind about sending only one brother. Now, he sends all but one (Simeon), and when he gives them the grain, he hides the money they paid him for it in their grain too.

So the brothers all get home, one of them having discovered his money on the way. They tell Jacob what went down in the land of Egypt, and Jacob has a fit. I don’t think Jacob will ever trust his sons to do anything without losing one from the pack each time from now on. Heck, the only reason he eventually let Reuben go back with Benjamin and “rescue” Simeon is because Reuben told Jacob to slaughter his two eldest sons if he comes back without Benjamin. Jacob lets him go… but tells Reuben that he’s the cause of Jacob’s gray hair. I had no idea that saying had been around for that long.

<3 Agnostic in the Pews