Now in our daily reading (Genesis43-45) we are going to look at Joseph being reunited w/his brothers.
Genesis 43:1-7 So the famine was severe in the land & they ran out of food. So Israel tells them to go back down to Egypt, but Judah reminds him that they are not allowed to go down unless they bring Benjamin.
Israel tries to blame them for this situation, but they reminded him that the Prime Minister in Egypt asked them direct questions, & how would they know that he then would make it a requirement to bring Benjamin down.
Genesis 43:8-10 Judah then takes responsibility for Benjamin, & they could’ve been down to Egypt 02 times!
Remember that it was Judah who was the one who came up w/the plan to sell Joseph down to Egypt.
Genesis 37:26, 27 “26 Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it for us to kill our brother & cover up his blood? 27 “Come & let us sell him to the Ishmaelites & not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him.”
Genesis 43:11-15 So Israel reluctantly agrees, tells them to bring some presents as well as the money that was found in their sacks. So they go down to Egypt w/Benjamin.
Genesis 43:16-31 When they arrived, standing before Joseph, they were then taken to Joseph’s house. Which of course freaked out the brothers! They thought that they too were going to be captured & thrown into prison.
They then told Joseph’s steward about the money, & the steward told them to stop freaking out because he got their money.
Simeon was then returned to them, & they then gave their gifts to Joseph & bowed down to him!
Once Joseph saw his brother Benjamin, he could not hold back the tears. Benjamin was his full brother, while the others all were his half-brothers.
So he came back after weeping & had the meal served.
Genesis 43:32-34 “32 So they served him by himself, & them by themselves, & the Egyptians who ate w/him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread w/the Hebrews, for that is loathsome to the Egyptians. 33 Now they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright & the youngest according to his youth, & the men looked at one another in astonishment. 34 He took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they feasted & drank freely w/him.”
Egyptians did not like eating w/the Hebrews, so they were all at separate tables.
But there were a couple of strange things that the brothers noticed & tripped them out.
1st: They were seated in birth order. By multiplying together all the numbers 01-11, we see that there are 39,916,800 different orders that these 11 brothers could be seated in.
So the odds of the 11 brothers seated in birth order is basically 40 million to 01!
2nd: They saw that Benjamin was given 05 times as much as they were in food!
Notice though the brothers did not get jealous of Benjamin because he was given more food. We see some progress here!
Genesis 44:1-12 So Joseph was another test for the brothers, He wants to see how much they care about Benjamin. Obviously they didn’t care that much for Joseph, so he wanted to see how well they will respond when its discovered that Joseph’s cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.
Genesis 44:13-17 So they tear their clothes because the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.When they go back to see Joseph, Judah (remember he was the one who had the idea to sell Joseph) stood up for Benjamin.
Genesis 44:18-34 Judah intercedes on behalf of Benjamin & pleads w/Joseph to let Benjamin go free & instead imprison Judah. This proved to Joseph that Judah & the brothers have truly repented of their sins toward Joseph, & they demonstrated true concern for their father & for Benjamin.
Genesis 45:1-8 With a burst of emotion Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, who were obviously stunned by this revelation. Joseph told them that God used them to bring Joseph down to Egypt to deliver them in the future from this famine that they are in.
Genesis 45:9-13 Joseph told his brothers to hurry home, tell their dad that Joseph is alive & that he is alive. He also asked them to bring back his father to Egypt.
Genesis 45:14-15 Finally, after about 22 years Joseph & Benjamin are reunited!
Genesis 45:16-24 So word spread quickly throughout the palace that Joseph’s family has arrived. Pharaoh tells Joseph to send carts to transport all the family back to Egypt, & that the best of the land was available for them.
Joseph supplied the brothers’ w/more than enough for the journey back home, but to Benjamin he gave more.
His last instructions to them were that they do not fight on the way home! He knew his brothers!
Genesis 45:25-28 Jacob was stunned to hear that his son who he thought was dead is actually alive! When he saw all the wagons, he knew it had to be true.
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