Yoseph's Unexpected Family Reunion
In Canaan, also, the sun burnt up the harvest and the pasture. In Hebron, Yacob's clan began to be seriously concerned about future food supplies. News travels quickly; it did so especially in the ancient East, and Yacob very soon learned that in the Egyptian delta the Hyksos government, with considerable reserves in hand, was selling off its surplus stocks of wheat and barley. 'Go down' said Yacob, 'and buy grain for us there, that we may survive and not die.' There was no time to be lost. With a herd of donkeys to bring back the sacks of cereals the ten brothers set out. In no time at all they had come up with the long line of starving Canaanites who were also on their way to the banks of the Nile.
Yoseph's important position obliged him to superintend the commercial transactions which were extremely advantageous to the Egyptian treasury. He had to take charge of those who were responsible for counting the bushels sold, he supervised the receipt of the precious metals received in payment; he inspected the accounts of the scribes. It should be remembered that Egypt was one of the most bureaucratic countries imaginable.
Suddenly he saw a group of Asiatics arriving whom he was able to identify at once. It was ten of his brothers, those who had sold him so deliberately to the slave merchants. According to the rules of etiquette the ten foreigners bowed down to the ground before the vizier. It was hardly possible for Yoseph not to be reminded then of the two dreams that he had been foolish enough to tell his brothers. There was the first dream about the ten sheaves carried by his brothers which bowed down before Yoseph's sheaf. Then there was the dream in which he saw the stars behaving in the same fashion. Now, having become an important official of Pharaoh's court he found himself all at once the object of his own family's respect. It was an unexpected realization of his childhood's dreams.
Dressed in his fine robes as vizier Yoseph was not recognized by his brothers, and he was careful not to say who he was. When the little group came before him he adopted a very severe attitude and, pretending not to understand their language, conversed with them through an interpreter. To their great surprise Yacob's sons found themselves accused of belonging to a spy network and of having come to Egypt on the pretext of buying wheat, but in reality to discover the weak points in the fortifications. The Yisraelites protested; they were, they explained by way of justification, twelve brothers; one of them had died long ago and the youngest, whose name was Benjamin, had been obliged to remain in Canaan with their old father, the head of the clan. Yoseph, who had already made up his mind what he would do, declared that he could not believe such a story. He ordered them to be put in prison.
After three days there the ten brothers appeared again before the vizier. There was further, severe questioning.
Yoseph then laid down his conditions: one of them was to remain in prison in Egypt; the nine others would be allowed to return to Canaan with the quantity of corn which they said that they needed. The prisoner would not be set free until the return of the caravan to Egypt bringing with it the youngest brother (that is, Benjamin). In this way, the vizier declared that he could be convinced of the truthfulness of their statements. If they did not accept these conditions they should prepare to die.
The perplexity of Yacob's sons was obvious. In Yoseph's presence, and unaware that he understood perfectly all that they were saying, they began to complain aloud. 'Truly,' they said, 'we are being called to account for our brother. We saw his misery of soul when he begged our mercy, but we did not listen to him and now this misery has come home to us.' Reuben reproached his brothers bitterly: 'Did I not tell you not to wrong the boy? But you did not listen, and now we are brought to account for his blood.' As if he did not understand what they were saying, Yoseph remained seemingly unconcerned, but after a minute or two, overcome by emotion he was obliged to withdraw from them: 'he left them and wept', says Bereshith. But this did not prevent his carrying out his plan in every detail. He gave orders for Simeon to be bound and taken off to prison. With heavy heart, the band of nine brothers set out on the way back to Canaan.
Yacob's sons must have journeyed to Egypt like this.
Yacob's Despair
The first stage of the return journey (Bereshith 42:25-22) took them past the line of fortresses protecting the frontier; and as far as the beginning of the sandy wilderness or Zin. On the evening of the first day they halted to pitch camp for the night. One of them, opening the provision sack to feed his donkey, discovered on top of the corn a purse containing the money 12 which he had given to the Egyptian collector. Shortly afterwards each one of the brothers also found in a sack of corn the money paid for the purchases of wheat. It all seemed inexplicable. They could hardly have guessed that this little scene had been arranged by the severe vizier whom they had just left. Their anxiety can be understood. Their hearts sank, and they looked at one another in panic, saying, 'What is this that YAHWEH has done to us?' Obviously it was no bad thing that they should feel the hand of YAHWEH weighing upon them.
On their arrival at Hebron they hastened to relate to their father, point by point, all their extraordinary adventures. They told him that for Simeon, kept as a hostage in Pharaoh's prison, to be set free they had to take their youngest brother Benjamin to the formidable vizier in order to prove to him that they had not lied.
Yacob protested at once. His son Yoseph had been devoured by a wild beast (or so, at least, he thought), Simeon was imprisoned in a foreign land. And now it was a question of risking Benjamin's life with a journey which would surely prove dangerous. A long discussion ensued. In the end Yacob categorically refused to do what his sons requested. Benjamin was not to go to Egypt. 'If any harm came to him on the journey you are to undertake,' declared Yacob, 'you would send me down to Sheol with my white head bowed in grief.'
That was all very well, but the fearful drought which, in the previous year had burnt up all the pasture, continued, causing acute famine (Bereshith 43). To prevent the situation growing worse it would be necessary to return to Egypt for a further purchase of corn, That was the general opinion and Yacob agreed with it. But his sons refused to 'go down' 13 again to Egypt if they were not allowed to take with them their young brother Benjamin whose presence had been required by the vizier. Once again there was a heated argument, and cries of despair from Yacob. At last, he found himself bound to accept the separation from his son: 'Take your brother,' he said, 'and go back to the man.' He could hardly have supposed that this 'man' was Yoseph his beloved son.
Before leaving Hebron they decided to take back to Egypt the money found so unexpectedly in the sacks of corn. They supposed that it was a mistake on the part of the scribes at the time of payment. In addition, in order to receive a kindly welcome, they would take the vizier gifts of those Canaanite specialities of which Egyptians were fond -a little balsam, gum tragacanth and resin; to these more usual products they decided to add a little honey, pistachio nuts and almonds. Obviously they knew how to curry favour with foreign officials.
Yacob's ten sons set out again for the Delta. At Hebron the old patriarch, alone with his womenfolk, was torn by grief. He did not suspect that YAHWEH was watching over him and was soon to give him one of the most exciting moments of his life.
12 During the second intermediary period (corresponding with the Hyksos occupation) the legal weight used for transactions was the deben (91 grammes). At that period business was conducted almost exclusively with silver. On this account in the Egyptian language the word 'silver' became a synonym for currency. It is this same word which is used in the Scriptural passage quoted.
13 From the Yahudah massif there is a gradual descent down to the lower plains of the Delta.
Yoseph Index Yoseph Sitemap Scripture History Through the Ages Yoseph Egyptian Adventure Yoseph Scriptures and Dreams The Plot Against Yoseph Yoseph's Brothers Cruel Seqel Yoseph In The House Of Potiphar Yoseph In Prison Pharaoh's Strange Dreams Yoseph Slave Becomes Viceroy Of Egypt Yoseph's Unexpected Family Reunion The Ten Brothers Before Yoseph Yacob Goes To Egypt Yoseph and the Death Of Yacob YAHWEH's Sword History Further Anxieties Of Yoseph's Brothers Yisraelites Remain In Egypt Period Of The Great Persecution