84 | Genesis 43:3
3
But Ju dah said to him,“ The man warned us solemn ly,‘ You will not see my face again un less your broth er is with you.’ 4 If you will send our broth er along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, be cause the man said to us,‘ You will not see my face again un less your broth er is with you.’”
6
Is ra el asked,“ Why did you bring this trouble on me by tell ing the man you had an oth er broth er?”
7
They re plied,“ The man ques tioned us close ly about our selves and our fam i ly.‘ Is your fa ther still liv ing?’ he asked us.‘ Do you have an oth er broth er?’ We sim ply an swered his ques tions. How were we to know he would say,‘ Bring your brother down here’?”
8
Then Ju dah said to Is ra el his fa ther,“ Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our chil dren may live and not die.
9
I my self will guar an tee his safe ty; you can hold me per son al ly re spon si ble for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here be fore you, I will bear the blame be fore you all my life.
10
As it is, if we had not de layed, we could have gone and re turned twice.”
11
Then their fa ther Is ra el said to them,“ If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift— a lit tle balm and a lit tle honey, some spic es and myrrh, some pis ta chio nuts and al monds. 12 Take dou ble the amount of sil ver with you, for you must re turn the sil ver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Per haps it was a mis take. 13 Take your broth er also and go back to the man at once. 14 And may God Al mighty a grant you mer cy be fore the man so that he will let your oth er broth er and Ben ja min come back with you. As for me, if I am be reaved, I am be reaved.”
15
So the men took the gifts and dou ble the amount of sil ver, and Ben ja min also. They hurried down to Egypt and pre sent ed them selves to Jo seph. 16 When Jo seph saw Ben ja min with them, he said to the stew ard of his house,“ Take these men to my house, slaugh ter an an i mal and pre pare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”
17
The man did as Jo seph told him and took the men to Jo seph’ s house. 18 Now the men were fright ened when they were tak en to his house. They thought,“ We were brought here be cause of the sil ver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to at tack us and over pow er us and seize us as slaves and take our don keys.”
19
So they went up to Jo seph’ s stew ard and spoke to him at the en trance to the house. 20“ We beg your par don, our lord,” they said,“ we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his sil ver— the ex act weight— in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought ad di tion al sil ver with us to buy food. We don’ t know who put our sil ver in our sacks.”
23
“ It’ s all right,” he said.“ Don’ t be afraid. Your God, the God of your fa ther, has giv en you treasure in your sacks; I re ceived your sil ver.” Then he brought Sim e on out to them.
24
The stew ard took the men into Jo seph’ s house, gave them wa ter to wash their feet and pro vid ed fod der for their don keys. 25 They pre pared their gifts for Jo seph’ s ar riv al at noon, be cause they had heard that they were to eat there.
26
When Jo seph came home, they pre sent ed to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down be fore him to the ground.
27
He asked them how they were, and then he said,“ How is your aged fa ther you told me about? Is he still liv ing?”
28
They re plied,“ Your ser vant our fa ther is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, pros trat ing them selves be fore him.
29
As he looked about and saw his broth er Ben jamin, his own moth er’ s son, he asked,“ Is this your youn gest broth er, the one you told me about?” And he said,“ God be gra cious to you, my son.” 30 Deep ly moved at the sight of his broth er, Jo seph hur ried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his pri vate room and wept there.
31
Af ter he had washed his face, he came out and, con trol ling him self, said,“ Serve the food.”
32
They served him by him self, the broth ers by them selves, and the Egyp tians who ate with him by them selves, be cause Egyp tians could not eat with He brews, for that is de test able to Egyp tians. 33 The
a
14 Hebrew El-Shaddai
43:7 ourselves and our family This explanation includes details not found in the sons’ explanation to Jacob in ch. 42. The former chapter apparently presented a summary. 43:8 boy The Hebrew term used here, na’ ar, is used to describe Benjamin in 44:22 and 44:30 – 34. The term can refer to a male from infancy( Ex 2:6) up until young adulthood( Ge 34:19). 43:10 we could have gone and returned twice This is likely hyperbole, but if not, then their brother Simeon has been imprisoned in Egypt for several months( compare 42:24). 43:21 place where we stopped for the night As in
42:27, this refers to a temporary encampment, not an inn. 43:24 to wash their feet In the ancient Near East, people were customarily given water to wash their feet upon being welcomed into someone’ s home. 43:29 Benjamin Joseph’ s only full brother. God be gracious to you, my son Joseph is probably still using an interpreter( 42:23). Up to this point in the narrative, he has not said anything like this to any of the brothers. 43:31 Serve the food Joseph hosts a meal for his brothers; this is an ironic echo of how his brothers had callously sat down to eat and debate his fate after throwing him into a pit( 37:25).