21...REUNIONS…(BUT NOT WITH A VENGEANCE!)

Based on GN Chs. 42-50...Read more there.

The famine God has inspired Joseph to foretell bites hard back in Canaan in Palestine as well as in Egypt. Israel (Jacob) decides to send his remaining sons except Benjamin, his & Rachel's youngest, down to Egypt to buy grain they've heard the Egyptians have been storing away. When they reach Egypt the person they have to deal with is of course - Joseph! They don't recognize him, though he knows them! Joseph doesn't reveal himself to them, & instead, stringing them along, pretends they are spies! Still, he sells them corn on the condition they return home & then come back to Egypt bringing Benjamin, his much loved full brother back with them. His asking them to prove they are who they say they are, & not spies, is simply a ploy by Joseph to see Benjamin again. Joseph is playing a long game! In the meantime, he keeps Simeon as hostage for their return! On the way home the brothers are taken aback at finding their money has been put back in their bags of grain! The plot thickens! Israel will not hear of them returning to Egypt with Benjamin. However the famine grows worse, until against his better judgment Israel is forced to let his other sons take Benjamin with them & return to Egypt to buy more food. They are careful to take the money mysteriously returned to their sacks on their first visit, & immediately report this to Joseph's C.E.O. Joseph is very moved to see Benjamin again. When his family is about to return to Palestine, Joseph, still game-playing, not only has their money returned to their sacks again but also has his own silver cup hidden in Benjamin's sack! When his brothers set out on their return trip to Canaan Joseph has them chased & searched, & of course as well as their returned money, Joseph’s missing cup is found - in Benjamin’s sack! What a plot for an opera! When the brothers are all taken back & hauled before Joseph he reveals his true identity to them: “I am Joseph!” They are dismayed, fearing vengeance for what they did to him long before, but Joseph tells them what has happened was all part of YHWH's plan to provide for His people, both Egyptian & others, including their own during the long-lasting famine. Eventually Joseph sends them back to Canaan to bring their father & their families to resettle in a fertile part of Egypt at the Pharaoh's own invitation. This migration is how the Israelites come to be in Egypt. Genesis ends with Israel dying, being embalmed according to the Egyptian custom, & then carried back to Palestine to be buried at Mamre with his parents (Isaac & Rebekah), his grandparents (AB & Sarah), & his first wife, Leah. (His beloved Rachel had died long before & lay buried at Bethlehem.) Once back in Egypt, these tribes descended from Israel prosper till Joseph dies. His body, too, is embalmed, but his wish to be taken back to Palestine for burial will have to wait a long, long time to be fulfilled. A Pharaoh who doesn’t know Joseph or the debt the country owes him comes to the throne. Fearing the growing numbers of the Hebrews as a threat to national security (though they didn’t come by boat!) he enslaves the Hebrews for long years of hard labour till later they are freed in another migration, the Exodus that largely defines Israelite history from that point onwards. But that’s another story…22: In a Basket on the Nile.  

(1)  There are other references to Joseph & his story, the eventual Exodus, & an overall view of the history of all these goings on ‘from God’s point of view’ notably in PS 105

Question: Is a reunion with anyone in our family on our agenda?