The Test Of A Stranger Series

We’ve called Joseph’s life a roller-coaster… … where his dips included two years of languishing in prison and eleven years of slavery. And we meet him in today’s story, he’s been promoted over the world empire, Egypt, and second only to Pharaoh inside the world’s most important nation of the time. Twenty long years of slavery, prison, interpreting dreams, and a vast, widespread famine have transpired, since Joseph last saw his family. Now in today’s story – his brothers appear before him unannounced and from out of nowhere. And the irony is rich in today’s story where the story is set early Genesis 42:

When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” 3 So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. 5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy 6 Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” 8 And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 10 They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.”

among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. (Genesis 42:1-11)

Quick Summary

Jacob, Joseph’s father, initiates two trips in order to secure food, the nine brothers encounter Joseph, the brother they despised so long ago. Joseph accuses the ten brothers of spying, though it is simply a ruse. Joseph places them in jail for three nights before allowing eight of the boys to go home while Simeon, the second oldest, is bound in front of them. The only way Joseph will allow Simeon to go free is for the brothers to return with the younger brother, Benjamin. Once back in Egypt, the boys tell their father, Jacob, how Simeon was made to stay. But, Jacob refuses to send his new favorite son, Benjamin, saying, “If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.” (Genesis 42:38b)

A long time passes before the severity of the famine causes the father, Jacob, to send the brothers back for more food. But, Jacob stubbornly refuses to send his new favorite son, Benjamin, into harm’s way. So, Judah (and this is a big turning point in the story as we’ll see in the moments to come) steps forward and personally guarantees Benjamin’s safety. Arriving back in Egypt a second time, the brothers are invited to join the still-unrecognized Joseph for a lavish banquet. They even see their brother Simeon released for the meal. All is good and everyone is full until they head off to Egypt again, when Joseph pulls the trigger on his second ploy. He planted a valuable, personal silver cup in Benjamin’s bag (and remember he’s now the new favorite son), Joseph sends his men off to catch the “thieves” in the act. Caught and dragged back before Joseph in fear of their very lives… …the brothers break down as they imagine the heart-rending sadness of their father’s grief if Benjamin doesn’t fails to back. Place a bookmark there as we’ll return in a few minutes.

Unrecognized

It’s important for you to note that no one recognizes Joseph. The ten brothers assume Joseph is dead or tolling away in slavery somewhere. A lot of time has past and people change and the man in front of them is in his 30s where Joseph was a teenager when he enslaved. And Joseph looks like an Egyptian now - His hair has changed and his clothes have changed. Plus, people around Joseph are calling him by his Egyptian name given to him by Pharaoh. Throughout day’s story, the family of Jacob, including the eleven brothers, simply refer to the unrecognized Joseph as “the man.” But Joseph immediately recognizes the brothers. And no sooner are they in before him than Joseph counts the brothers: “1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10.”