Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi
Hip surgery went well and I'm anticipating putting on my own socks again in the near future! Meantime, here's something else from the 'Imagination file'...
Never had such a drought hit. Not in all the years Jacob could recall. It was unrelenting. The crops shriveled, the
sheep starved. Passing travelers brought word that there was grain to be
bought in Egypt. Jacob looked at the starving flocks and his paltry
reserves and sent Judah, along with the rest of his brothers, save Benjamin, to
make the journey to Egypt to buy some grain to hopefully tide them over until
the rains came again.
They made the journey safely and found themselves lined up with Egyptians
and other Canaanites who had come to the capital to purchase grain.
However, their alien appearance made them conspicuous, and they, along with
others who were clearly not Egyptian, were pulled out of line and taken to
one of the Egyptian officials. Each group of foreigners was presented to
the official, who interviewed them before allowing them to purchase
grain. When it was their turn, they bowed to the ground in front of the
official, who frowned at them and spoke through an interpreter. 'Where do
you come from?'
They all spoke up at once, 'From Canaan, to buy food.'
The official’s khol-lined eyes narrowed as he regarded them, clearly unhappy
with their answer. He shook his head and spoke to the interpreter, his
eyes never leaving them. The interpreter replied, 'You are spies!
You have come to see that the famine is here, too!'
The brothers bowed again, protesting that their intention was simply to buy
food, that they were not spies, that they were honest men, and Reuben added,
'We are all brothers, sons of one man.'
The interpreter spoke to the official, translating and pointing as best he
could to indicate who had said what. The official's face never changed;
clearly, he did not believe them. He spoke to the interpreter, who asked them,
‘And is this one man still living?’
“Yes!” They answered almost in
unison, and the official closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Did he not believe them?
Another question was relayed, ‘And you are all the sons this one man has?’
This threw the brothers into a bit of a stumble. They looked awkwardly at each other, and
Rueben finally answered, ‘We have a younger brother who stayed behind with our
father.’
This answer seemed to displease the official, who scowled when it was
repeated to him. At last he spoke again to the interpreter, who relayed,
'No! My master states that you are here to see how bad the famine is, to
report that Egypt is weak!'
Again, the brothers protested, and this time Judah shushed them and replied
for them, 'No! We are your servants, and we are ten of twelve
brothers. Our father is in Canaan with our youngest brother, and one
brother is no more. This is the truth.'
The interpreter relayed this message, but the official was unconvinced.
He looked them all over again, then spoke to the interpreter, who relayed the
message, 'My master is certain you are spies. He says that you shall
be tested and declares by the life of Pharaoh that you will not leave this
place unless your youngest brother comes to verify your claims. You are
to decide which of you will leave and return to Canaan to fetch that brother
and bring him back while the rest stay here confined until your story is
proven. If you cannot do this, you are surely spies.'
And, before any of them could react to this incredible statement, the
Egyptian official spoke to the soldiers standing about and they were all taken
to a house and locked in together, with a guard. For three days they were
left there, although they were fed well and otherwise taken care of, clearly
under suspicion. They argued amongst themselves as to who would be the
one to return to Jacob with the news that they were captive, and to try to
persuade him to allow Benjamin to return and ransom his brothers. None of
them wanted that task, and they went around and around trying to come up with
ways to convince the Egyptians that they were really who they said without
having to grieve their father again. And that brought up the old wound;
how had they been so callous before? Finally, they began to pray to El
Shaddai to intervene and release them by His power.
On the third day, they were escorted back to the official, who had
apparently had a change of heart. But only a slight change of heart, as
the interpreter related how much the man had relented...and how much he had
not. 'Do this, ' he relayed, 'and you will live, for I fear God. I will
allow you to take grain back to your household, due to the famine, but one of
you must stay here. If you are honest men, return with your youngest
brother, and your story will be proven.'
At first, relief washed over them that they would be allowed to take grain
back home, but then the full impact hit them. They turned to each other
and began to discuss how to respond to this latest development...and suddenly
they all concluded that this was because of the secret they had kept for so
many years:
'This is because of what we did…our guilt has come back on us! "
"We knew our brother was distressed and we did nothing!"
"He begged us to let him return to our father and we didn't
listen"
Reuben, in exasperation, finally got their attention. ‘I told you not to sin against the boy!
But you didn't listen!' His eyes rested on Judah, who said nothing.
‘So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.’
None of them noticed that the Egyptian official suddenly turned and
left them as they continued to lament their circumstances. How could they
leave one of their brothers behind? How could they possibly take Benjamin
away from Jacob? What were they going to tell the Egyptian? The
argument and despair continued until the interpreter interrupted them; the
Egyptian had stepped down from the platform and was standing next to
them. Odd how red his eyes were...that eyeliner must irritate them
somehow. He made the decision for them; he had Simeon taken and
bound. Simeon would stay behind, he told them through the interpreter, as
guarantee that they would return with their younger brother. But they
were free to collect their grain and return home. The sacks of grain were
already set aside for them, as was a generous bag of provender for the trip.
Thus, they returned to Jacob with grain but without Simeon. And, as it
turned out, they had also returned with all the money that they had given to
the Egyptians for the grain. Nobody had any idea how the money got into their
grain sacks.
Free grain. But...what had happened? Were they now to be
considered thieves as well as spies?
Jacob was distraught...Joseph was dead, Simeon was gone, and now it seemed
he would lose Benjamin...his only living son from his beloved Rachel...as
well. He refused to let them return with Benjamin, despite Reuben's offer
of his two sons as hostage.
But the sky remained brassy and rainless. Even with strict rationing,
they consumed the grain they’d hauled home; there was still no relief in the
drought and they were once again in dire straits. Jacob called them in
and told them to go get more.
Judah sighed. 'We can't. That Egyptian fellow sternly warned us that
we would not get any more unless we brought Benjamin back with us. Now,
if you'd let Benjamin go, we can take him and prove ourselves to be innocent
and get more food. But if you still won't let him go, then it's
pointless...he won't even talk to us and we won't get anything.'
Israel wrung his hands. 'How could you have been so careless as to
tell him about Benjamin! Why didn't you just keep your mouths shut?'
At this, the brothers all protested, speaking at once.
'We didn't have any choice!
'He actually asked us if our father was still living'
'Yeah, and he wanted to know if we had any more brothers!'
'How were we supposed to know that he was going to ask us to bring Benjamin
back?'
'We had to answer his questions!'
Judah, exasperated, finally said, 'Look. Send Benjamin with me.
I'll take care of him myself. It's the only way to keep us all from
starving...you, us, all our children... I'll pledge his safety; if anything
happens to him...anything at all...I'll bear the blame and guilt.' He
looked around at them all. 'This arguing is ridiculous. We could've gone
and come back twice now already.'
Israel closed his eyes for a long time, then spoke in a tired voice. 'You're
right. It's the only way. But...do this...take some of our best
produce with you...balm, honey, gum, myrrh, and some pistachios and almonds, as
a gift. And take twice the money with you, so that you can repay what was
in the bags. Maybe someone made a mistake.' He paused, then
continued with a tremor in his voice. 'Take your brother and go. May God
Almighty grant you mercy from the Egyptian, so that he sends all of you back to
me. But if he doesn't...then...he doesn't. If that's what God
wants, I cannot change it.'
They loaded up the donkeys and, within a matter of days, were once again
standing in front of the Egyptian official, who looked them over, spoke to his
servant, and left.
The servant indicated that the brothers were to follow him, and they were
led to a fine house and taken inside. They assumed it was a palace and a place
of judgment, and were worried that they were about to be condemned as thieves
and all their goods confiscated. They found the servant who had brought
them there, standing in the door. They tried to talk to him, but he
couldn’t understand them and finally sent for the interpreter. As soon as
he arrived, they began to explain urgently that they had no idea how their
money had gotten back in their grain sacks but that they were returning
it. Once the servant grasped what they were so concerned about he
waved his hands dismissively, and the interpreter passed his words along, 'Oh,
don't worry about that! If you had money in your bags, it had to have
been a gift from your God; I have on record that you paid for that grain and
you don't owe anything.' The servant then beckoned to someone outside the
door and stepped back to allow Simeon, who looked to be in fine health, to join
his brothers. The servant then spoke through the interpreter, 'My lord
Zaphenath-paneah will come to dine here with you shortly; I will send water so
that you may wash and I will also see that your donkeys have been fed and watered.'
Then he left.
When the Egyptian official arrived, they presented the gift their father had
sent, and answered the questions he asked through the interpreter. Yes,
their father was still living. Yes, he was well, for an old man.
Yes, that was Benjamin, the youngest brother.
Suddenly, the Egyptian turned and hurried from the room. He was
obviously a very busy and important man. Eventually, he returned, looking
strained and preoccupied. He sat at his seat at the head table, separate
from the table of the Israelites, and spoke to the servants, who began to
serve the food. The men were instructed
to take their places at their table, with Reuben and Benjamin at the head. All
the brothers, including Judah, could not help but notice the special treatment
Benjamin received. One platter was put at each brother's
place...and five platters at Benjamin's. One servant was designated to
make sure Benjamin's water and wine glasses were full and his plates fresh;
three servants all shared the responsibilities for the rest of the brothers.
Benjamin looked uncomfortable, but was gracious to his hosting servant.
The wine was good. The wine was very good. The cups never went dry,
and the brothers did not even notice when the Egyptian official left the dining
hall. All seemed well. The suspicions had apparently been put to rest,
and the brothers were given a place to sleep before leaving in the
morning. They groggily headed off to the designated place, and somewhat
less cheerfully rose up in the morning, loaded the donkeys with a fresh supply
of grain and headed down the road, squinting against headaches.
They were not far down the road when they were overtaken by the official's
chief servant and a contingency of soldiers. The displeasure of the
servant was plain to be seen. Words were spoken, accusations made
and...the Egyptian official's special cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
No! How could that happen! Not Benjamin! The brothers tore
their robes in grief and distress, loaded the goods back onto the donkeys and
followed the servant and the soldiers, who had taken custody of Benjamin, back
to the official's house, where they threw themselves at the feet of the
official.
The Egyptian scowled at them, and said, through the interpreter, 'What
have you done? Didn't you know I have the ability to find things like
this out?'
Judah, having been the guarantee for Benjamin's return, rocked back on his
knees and looked up at him. 'What shall we say to you, my lord? We ...we
can't clear ourselves of this; God has revealed the guilt of all of us, and we
are all your servants.'
The official listened to the interpreter, then raised his eyebrows and
shook his head. The interpreter relayed his response, 'Oh, no, far be it
from me that I should consider you all guilty! Only the one who took the
cup is responsible. He will stay and be my slave, but the rest of you may go
home with your grain to your father.'
Judah's heart sank. He knew there was absolutely no way he could
return home without Benjamin. He slowly stood, and, with his hands palms
up in supplication, stepped towards the Egyptian. 'My lord, may I please
speak a word in your ear?' The interpreter quickly relayed the request
and the Egyptian nodded. Judah, the Egyptian and the interpreter all
walked to the corner of the room. Judah spoke lowly and slowly, for the
interpreter. He related the difficulty they had in persuading their
father to allow Benjamin to come, mentioning that Benjamin's only
full-blood brother had surely been torn to pieces. So intent was he in
carefully framing his story he did not notice that the official’s eyes narrowed
ever so slightly at that point. He finished quoting his father,
"...if you take this one, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my
gray hairs in evil to the grave." Judah paused, then looked at the
official. 'Do you see? If I return to my father without Benjamin, he will
surely die...he's that attached to the lad. We'll be responsible for his
death. Look, I myself guaranteed Benjamin’s safety. Please, let me
stay here and serve you. I'll be your slave all my life, just let the lad
return with the others. How could I face my father without him? I
do not want to see him die of grief.'
The Egyptian cut the interpreter off mid-sentence as soon as Judah finished
speaking. He was breathing hard, and he looked around at his people and
barked a command. To the surprise of all the brothers, every Egyptian in
the room left, including the interpreter, closing the door on them.
Suddenly, the Egyptian gripped Judah’s shoulder and began to weep, a deep,
gut-wrenching wail. The other brothers stood slowly, puzzled. He
struggled, gasping, to collect himself enough to talk. Finally, he found his voice
and spoke...in Hebrew. 'I...am...Joseph!' He gasped, to their
shocked amazement. 'Tell me...is my father really still
alive?'
They stood there, speechless, as he released Judah and pulled the braided
wig from his head, standing before them with the khol that had framed his eyes
now streaking his face. He wiped his face, smearing it even more, took a
deep breath and continued in a more controlled voice. 'I am your brother,
Joseph, whom you sold into slavery.' He slowly went to each of his
brothers, as their perception of him changed and they saw the familiar lines of
his face emerge from the façade of the Egyptian official. He clapped the
shoulders of each one as he spoke, still hiccupy from the sobbing. 'Don't be distressed any more about me, and
don't be angry at yourselves for what you did. God sent me here ahead of
you to save lives. This famine, that has been so horrible for two years,
isn't even half over yet. We have five more years of this to endure, with
no plowing and no harvest. It really was God who sent me so that you could all
be saved. God has made me Pharaoh's chief adviser and He has put me in
this house and given me authority over all of Egypt.
'Now, you've got to hurry back home and report all of this to my
father. Tell him to come here; I will see to it that you will have all
you need, and that you will not be impoverished by the famine.' He had
come to Benjamin, and his voice wavered as he looked round at them all, 'You
all have seen...and my brother, Benjamin, has seen...that it really is
me. Tell my father all of this, and bring him here.' His emotions
overcame him once more, and he embraced Benjamin and they wept long on each
other's neck, then he went round the group again, embracing and weeping with
each of them....and each of them began to laugh, imagining the joy of their father to learn that Joseph was alive.
The servants outside pretended to hear nothing.
