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Towering Figures of the Old Testament |
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Joseph
Reunion with His Brothers |
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Introduction |
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Because the LORD is with Joseph, he finds
favor with Pharaoh by interpreting his
dreams. Joseph becomes the ruler of Egypt,
second only to Pharaoh.
During the years of plenty, Joseph stores
food in granaries to be used when the famine
starts.
When the famine starts in all the lands,
Joseph's father, Israel, sends his sons,
except for the youngest boy Benjamin, to
Egypt to buy food. Without their knowing it,
Joseph immediately recognizes his brothers.
Joseph
devises a test for his brothers.
Find out how
this wicked test turns out!
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Joseph
Meets His Brothers |
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When Joseph's brothers arrive at Egypt they
kneel down before Joseph with their faces to
the ground. Joseph recognizes them
immediately, but he conceals his own
identity from them. Pretending he does not understand
their language, Joseph, speaking through an
interpreter, accuses them of being spies.
They argue that they only came to buy some
food and they assure him that they are
honest men, sons of the same father. They
also tell him that their youngest brother
stayed with their father and the other is
gone.
Joseph insists that
they are spies and he tells them that unless
they bring their youngest brother to him, he
swears by the life of Pharaoh that they
shall not leave here. He orders them to
send for their brother while they stay under
arrest. |
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With that, he locks them up in the guardhouse
for three days. On the third day Joseph says to
them that if they are honest men indeed only one
of their brothers need be confined in this
prison, while the rest of them may go and take
home provisions for their starving families. But
they must come back to Joseph with their
youngest brother. If they can be trusted they
will not die. To this they agree. |
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To one another, however, they say that they
are being punished for what they had done to
their brother. Reuben reminds them that he
implored them not to do wrong to the boy but
they wouldn't listen. He says that now comes
the reckoning for his blood. They do not
know, of course, that Joseph understands
what they are saying. Joseph orders Simeon
taken from them and bound him before their
eyes.
Then Joseph orders the Egyptians to
have their containers filled with grain, but
secretly he returns their money in each
one's sack. |
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The Sons of
Israel Return to their Father
without Simeon |
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Then they load their donkeys and depart. At the
night encampment, one of them opens his bag to
give his donkey some fodder, but finds his money
in the mouth of his bag. He cries out to his
brothers and their hearts sink.
When they arrive at their father Jacob’s house
in the land of Canaan, they tell him all that
had happened to them. They tell him that the
lord of the country thought they were spying on
the land. they also tell Jacob that the Egyptian
ruler kept one of their brothers as prisoner
while the rest of them came home with rations for
your starving families. To release their
brother, they will have to take their youngest
brother back to him in Egypt.
When they empty their own sacks, they find in
each sack his moneybag! At the sight of their
moneybags, they and their father are dismayed.
Jacob tells them that they are making him
childless. First Joseph is gone, and then Simeon
and now they want to take away Benjamin.
Reuben promises his father to take care of
Benjamin. Reuben tells his father
that he may kill his own two sons if he does not
return Benjamin to him. But Jacob does not
relent. |
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The Sons of
Israel Go back to Egypt
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As the famine in the land grows more severe
the food they brought from Egypt are gone.
Jacob tells his sons once again to go back
to Egypt to buy more food. But Judah replies
that they cannot because the lord of the
land warned them not to go back to Egypt
unless their brother is with them.
Then Judah urges his father Israel to let
the boy go with him, so they can buy food so
their children will not starve to death.
Judah offers himself as surety for him and
to hold him responsible forever if he fails
to bring Benjamin back.
Jacob finally consents. He tells them to
load up with the land's best products in
their baggage and take them down to the man
as gifts and also take extra money along. He
also tells them to take their brother,
Benjamin, too. |
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When Joseph sees Benjamin with them, he tells
his head steward to take the men into the house
for they are to dine with him at noon.
Doing as Joseph ordered, the steward brings the
men to Joseph's house, who become
apprehensive along the way. They suspect
that they will be attacked and taken as slaves.
So they go up to Joseph's head steward and they
tell the steward that they do not know who
placed the money back in their sacks the first
time they came to buy food. But now they brought
it back with more money to buy more food. The
steward assures them that they have nothing to
fear, and that their God must have put the money
back in their sacks, for he had received their
money then.
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The Brothers
are Reunited |
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Then the
steward leads Simeon out to them and brings
the men inside Joseph's house. He gives them
water to bathe their feet, and gets fodder
for their donkeys. When Joseph
arrives, they present him with the gifts
they had brought, while they bow down before
him to the ground.
Joseph asks them how their father is and
they assure him that their father is in good
health. They then presents to him their
youngest brother Benjamin. Joseph is
overcome with affection for his brother.
After he takes control of himself, Joseph
gives the order to serve the meal.
Joseph seats
his brothers according to their age, from
the oldest to the youngest, and as portions
are brought to them from Joseph's table,
Benjamin's portion is five times as large as
anyone else's. |
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Then Joseph tells his head steward to fill the
men's bags with as much food as they can carry,
and again secretly, put each man's money in the
mouth of his bag. He also tells him that in the
mouth of the youngest one's bag to put his
silver goblet, together with the money for his
rations.
At
daybreak the men and their donkeys leave. They
had not gone far out of the city when Joseph
tells his head steward to go at once after the
men, and to accuse them of stealing his own
silver goblet.
When the steward overtakes them he repeats
Joseph’s orders. They complained that they would
never do such thing. So sure are they that they
tell him that if he finds the silver goblet with
one of them he may be put to death while the
rest of them shall be the lord’s slaves. But
steward replies that only the one who is found
to have it shall become his master’s slave, and
the rest of them can go home. |
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Then each of them eagerly lower his bag to
the ground and open it. They search starting
with the oldest and ending with the
youngest, the goblet turns up in Benjamin's
bag. At this, they tear their clothes. Then,
when each man had reloaded his donkey, they
return to the city. As Judah and his
brothers enter Joseph's house and they throw themselves on the
ground before him.
They offer themselves as his slaves not just
the youngest one with whom the goblet was
found. But Joseph insists that only the one
who had possession of the |
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goblet will be his
slave. The rest of them may go back safe to
their father. |
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Judah steps up to Joseph and begs him to
release Benjamin because his father dotes on
him, and he is the only son left of the two born
of their father’s wife. His father agreed to
have Benjamin go with them back to Egypt with
him as surety. Judah offers himself up to
remain in place of the boy as the slave of
Joseph, and pleads to let the boy go back with
his brothers.
Judah also tells Joseph that he cannot go back
to his father without the boy and he cannot bear
to see the anguish that would overcome his
father. |
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Joseph Reveals Himself |
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When Joseph can no longer control himself he
sends all his attendants away. Then he makes
himself known that he is
their brother Joseph whom they once sold
into Egypt. But he also tells them not to be
guilty since it was God’s plan to
send him here ahead of them to save lives
during the famine that will rage for another
five years.
But his sobs are so loud that the Egyptians
hear him. So when the news that Joseph's
brothers had come reach Pharaoh's palace,
Pharaoh and his courtiers are pleased.
Pharaoh instructs Joseph to have his
brothers load up and go to the land of
Canaan without delay. He also tells them to
come back with their father and their
families, into the land of Egypt where he
will assign them the best land in Egypt.
He further instructs Joseph for his brothers
to |
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take with them wagons for their father, their
wives and children for transport back into
Egypt. He tells him to not be concerned about
their belongings, for the best in the whole land
of Egypt shall be theirs.
Joseph then gives his brothers
the wagons, and as Pharaoh had ordered, he
supplies them with provisions for the journey.
He also gives to each of them fresh clothing,
but to Benjamin he gives three hundred shekels
of silver and five sets of garments. Moreover,
he sends to his father ten jackasses loaded with
the finest products of Egypt and ten jennies
loaded with grain and bread and other provisions
for his journey. As he sends his brothers on
their way, he tells them not to have
recriminations on the way. So they leave Egypt
and make their way to their father Jacob in the
land of Canaan.
When they arrive the land of
Canaan, they tell Israel that Joseph is still
alive, and that in fact, it is he who is ruler
of all the land of Egypt. They recount to him
all that Joseph had told them. And when he sees
the wagons that Joseph had sent for his
transport, the spirit of their father Jacob is
revived.
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For the
Complete Story of Joseph, please use this
links. |
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Joseph is sold to
Ishmaelites
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Joseph Becomes a Caretaker of all Egypt
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Joseph Meets His
Father in
Egypt
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Samson and Delilah and Other Old Testament
Stories (Discovering the Bible)
(Hardcover) by Victoria Parker (Author), Retold
by Victoria Parker (Author)
This book provides known Bible stories from
Israel in the Promised land to the Story of
Ruth. It has the stories we grew up with but it
adds historical and religious facts to each
story. It tells the stories gearing them toward
elementary school children. |
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Moses Great Lives Series: Volume 4 ,
by Charles R. Swindoll. This book presents the
Bible's real Moses-the Moses who tried to
decline his assignment from God; the Moses who
dazzled Pharoh; the Moses who received the Ten
Commandments; the Moses who was disobedient and
weak; the Moses who was the greatest leader of
God's people in all of history. Through his
faith and selfless dedication, Moses continually
chose to follow God's will through difficult and
seemingly impossible situations.
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Jacob and Esau
by Harriette Augusta Curtiss and F. Homer
Curtiss (Paperback - Dec 30, 2005) |
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The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction &
Commentary
by J. A. Motyer
Recipient of a Christianity Today 1994 Critics
Choice Award! Among Old Testament prophetic
books no other equals Isaiah's brilliance of
style and metaphor, its arresting vision of the
Holy One of Israel and its kaleidoscopic vision
of God's future restoration of Israel and the
world. Now, after over three decades of studying
and teaching Isaiah, Alec Motyer presents a
wealth of commentary and perspective on this
book. |
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Saint of the Day: Lives, Lessons, and Feasts
(Paperback)
by Leonard Foley (Editor), Pat McCloskey
(Editor) |
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Lives of the
Saints You Should Know by Margaret R. Bunson,
Matthew E. Bunson |
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New Illustrated Book of Saints
Author: Catholic Book Publishing Company |
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One Hundred Saints: Their Lives and Likenesses
Drawn from Butler's
This is a coffee-table collection of 100 popular
saints illustrated with art works taken from
international galleries. The saints are listed
alphabetically in a valuable table of contents,
with a larger list of patron saints following
the text. Inclusion is based on popularity
within the Christian world and the
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availability of
atypical art works. Entries are generally based
on the 1926-38 edition of Butler's Lives of the
Saints, with the length of each entry varying
from one-half page to several pages. Short
entries giving written insight into the lives of
pious individuals are combined with depictions
rendered by artists such as Raphael and El
Greco. An inexpensive tribute to art and faith
more appropriate for gift-giving than for
libraries. |
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Apologetics |
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Mary
and the Saints |
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Mass
and the Eucharist |
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Prayers |
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Novenas |
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The Rosary |
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Traditional Prayers:
Discover the origin of your favorite prayer. We might
even have the original Latin version, too. |
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Novenas:
Learn how
to say a novena in honor of your favorite
Saint.
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Archived Articles |
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Prayer Requests |
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Tours and Pilgrimages |
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