Gen 42–43 · Read 10 min · think and write 15 min
In the last lesson, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt” (Gen 41:41). Then the famine came, and “all countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain” (Gen 41:57).
In this lesson, among those who come to buy grain are ten of his brothers.
The famine reached Canaan too. Jacob sent ten of his sons down to Egypt to buy grain, but kept Benjamin at home, afraid that harm might come to him. (vv. 1–4)
5The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.
7Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, “Where did you come from?” They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”
8Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn’t recognize him.
9Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
The brothers said they were honest men — twelve brothers in all; the youngest was with their father, and one was no more. Joseph told them to bring their youngest brother to prove their words. (vv. 10–16)
17He put them all together into custody for three days.
18Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this, and live, for I fear God.
19If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses.
20Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won’t die.” They did so.
21They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen. Therefore this distress has come upon us.”
22Reuben answered them, saying, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required.”
23They didn’t know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them.
24He turned himself away from them, and wept. Then he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes.
Joseph had each man’s money put back in his sack. On the way the brothers found it and trembled; back in Canaan they told their father everything, and when they emptied their sacks, every man’s money was there. They and their father were afraid. (vv. 25–35)
36Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”
37Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons, if I don’t bring him to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him to you again.”
38He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
The famine grew worse. Judah told his father he would stand surety for Benjamin, and at last Jacob let Benjamin go. When Joseph saw his own mother’s son, he went out to find a place to weep; then he washed his face, came out, and had a meal served for his brothers. (Gen 43)
To read it all: Genesis 42–43.
Bowing down. “Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth” (v. 6). It is just like Joseph’s old dream: “your sheaves came around, and bowed down to my sheaf” (Gen 37:7). Back then they said, “Will you indeed reign over us?” (Gen 37:8). Now they are bowing — and they do not know before whom.
Recognizing, and not recognizing. “Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn’t recognize him” (v. 8). The passage records what he did: he “acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them” (v. 7). It tells us what he did. It does not tell us why.
Remembering the dreams. “Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them” (v. 9), and right away he calls them spies. How the dreams and those words connect, the passage does not explain. What we see is a man facing a dream from long ago — and facing his brothers in front of him.
Three days later. Joseph put them “all together into custody for three days” (v. 17). On the third day he says, “Do this, and live, for I fear God” (v. 18). The terms change too. Before, one would go home and the rest stay bound (v. 16). Now one stays, and the rest go home with grain “for the famine of your houses” (v. 19).
Guilt comes to the surface. Right in front of Joseph, they say to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother” (v. 21). They have never forgotten the pleading at the pit: “we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn’t listen” (v. 21). Reuben says too, “Didn’t I tell you, saying, ‘Don’t sin against the child,’ and you wouldn’t listen?” (v. 22). They think the man in front of them cannot follow, but “they didn’t know that Joseph understood them” (v. 23).
Tears. “He turned himself away from them, and wept” (v. 24). Then he came back, took Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. The weeping and the binding are recorded in the same verse. In chapter 43, when he sees Benjamin, his own mother’s son, “Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there” (Gen 43:30). None of the brothers saw his tears.
Someone gives his word. Jacob says, “All these things are against me” (v. 36). Reuben offers his own two sons as a pledge (v. 37), and Jacob refuses. In chapter 43 it is Judah who tells his father, “I’ll be collateral for him … If I don’t bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever” (Gen 43:9). The one who once proposed selling Joseph to the Ishmaelites was also Judah (Gen 37:26–27).
The bowing in Joseph’s first dream happens in this chapter. But the family is not reconciled because of it. The money turns up in the sacks and they are afraid (v. 35). Simeon is still in prison. Their father says, “All these things are against me” (v. 36).
The brothers begin to connect what is happening with what they did years ago: “What is this that God has done to us?” (v. 28). God still does not speak in this chapter, yet they have begun to ask about God.
Maybe there is something from years ago that you thought was over, and then one day it comes back up — the way the brothers in Egypt said, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother” (v. 21). Or maybe you were the one who was hurt, and years later you find yourself facing that person again.
This lesson does not tell you what your next step is. The passage only records that Joseph wept — and more than once.
This week: Find a quiet moment and write down something you have not spoken of for years. Give it to God. You don’t need to show it to anyone.
Scripture: World English Bible.