84 | Genesis 43:3
3
But Ju dah said to him , “ The man warned us solemn ly , ‘ You will not see my face again un less your broth er is with you .’ 4 If you will send our broth er along with us , we will go down and buy food for you . 5 But if you will not send him , we will not go down , be cause the man said to us , ‘ You will not see my face again un less your broth er is with you .’ ”
6
Is ra el asked , “ Why did you bring this trouble on me by tell ing the man you had an oth er broth er ?”
7
They re plied , “ The man ques tioned us close ly about our selves and our fam i ly . ‘ Is your fa ther still liv ing ?’ he asked us . ‘ Do you have an oth er broth er ?’ We sim ply an swered his ques tions . How were we to know he would say , ‘ Bring your brother down here ’?”
8
Then Ju dah said to Is ra el his fa ther , “ Send the boy along with me and we will go at once , so that we and you and our chil dren may live and not die .
9
I my self will guar an tee his safe ty ; you can hold me per son al ly re spon si ble for him . If I do not bring him back to you and set him here be fore you , I will bear the blame be fore you all my life .
10
As it is , if we had not de layed , we could have gone and re turned twice .”
11
Then their fa ther Is ra el said to them , “ If it must be , then do this : Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift — a lit tle balm and a lit tle honey , some spic es and myrrh , some pis ta chio nuts and al monds . 12 Take dou ble the amount of sil ver with you , for you must re turn the sil ver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks . Per haps it was a mis take . 13 Take your broth er also and go back to the man at once . 14 And may God Al mighty a grant you mer cy be fore the man so that he will let your oth er broth er and Ben ja min come back with you . As for me , if I am be reaved , I am be reaved .”
15
So the men took the gifts and dou ble the amount of sil ver , and Ben ja min also . They hurried down to Egypt and pre sent ed them selves to Jo seph . 16 When Jo seph saw Ben ja min with them , he said to the stew ard of his house , “ Take these men to my house , slaugh ter an an i mal and pre pare a meal ; they are to eat with me at noon .”
17
The man did as Jo seph told him and took the men to Jo seph ’ s house . 18 Now the men were fright ened when they were tak en to his house . They thought , “ We were brought here be cause of the sil ver that was put back into our sacks the first time . He wants to at tack us and over pow er us and seize us as slaves and take our don keys .”
19
So they went up to Jo seph ’ s stew ard and spoke to him at the en trance to the house . 20 “ We beg your par don , our lord ,” they said , “ we came down here the first time to buy food . 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his sil ver — the ex act weight — in the mouth of his sack . So we have brought it back with us . 22 We have also brought ad di tion al sil ver with us to buy food . We don ’ t know who put our sil ver in our sacks .”
23
“ It ’ s all right ,” he said . “ Don ’ t be afraid . Your God , the God of your fa ther , has giv en you treasure in your sacks ; I re ceived your sil ver .” Then he brought Sim e on out to them .
24
The stew ard took the men into Jo seph ’ s house , gave them wa ter to wash their feet and pro vid ed fod der for their don keys . 25 They pre pared their gifts for Jo seph ’ s ar riv al at noon , be cause they had heard that they were to eat there .
26
When Jo seph came home , they pre sent ed to him the gifts they had brought into the house , and they bowed down be fore him to the ground .
27
He asked them how they were , and then he said , “ How is your aged fa ther you told me about ? Is he still liv ing ?”
28
They re plied , “ Your ser vant our fa ther is still alive and well .” And they bowed down , pros trat ing them selves be fore him .
29
As he looked about and saw his broth er Ben jamin , his own moth er ’ s son , he asked , “ Is this your youn gest broth er , the one you told me about ?” And he said , “ God be gra cious to you , my son .” 30 Deep ly moved at the sight of his broth er , Jo seph hur ried out and looked for a place to weep . He went into his pri vate room and wept there .
31
Af ter he had washed his face , he came out and , con trol ling him self , said , “ Serve the food .”
32
They served him by him self , the broth ers by them selves , and the Egyp tians who ate with him by them selves , be cause Egyp tians could not eat with He brews , for that is de test able to Egyp tians . 33 The
a
14 Hebrew El-Shaddai
43:7 ourselves and our family This explanation includes details not found in the sons ’ explanation to Jacob in ch . 42 . The former chapter apparently presented a summary . 43:8 boy The Hebrew term used here , na ’ ar , is used to describe Benjamin in 44:22 and 44:30 – 34 . The term can refer to a male from infancy ( Ex 2:6 ) up until young adulthood ( Ge 34:19 ). 43:10 we could have gone and returned twice This is likely hyperbole , but if not , then their brother Simeon has been imprisoned in Egypt for several months ( compare 42:24 ). 43:21 place where we stopped for the night As in
42:27 , this refers to a temporary encampment , not an inn . 43:24 to wash their feet In the ancient Near East , people were customarily given water to wash their feet upon being welcomed into someone ’ s home . 43:29 Benjamin Joseph ’ s only full brother . God be gracious to you , my son Joseph is probably still using an interpreter ( 42:23 ). Up to this point in the narrative , he has not said anything like this to any of the brothers . 43:31 Serve the food Joseph hosts a meal for his brothers ; this is an ironic echo of how his brothers had callously sat down to eat and debate his fate after throwing him into a pit ( 37:25 ).