SERIES B --- A CHOSEN PEOPLE --- LESSON 17

A DIFFICULT CHOICE

THE GOVERNOR’S SECRET

From Genesis 42:18-43:15

To test his ten older brothers, Joseph had them all thrown into an Egyptian prison. But after three days, he released them so that he could have a talk with them. [Since I fear YHVH, I will make it possible for you to save your lives,] Joseph told them. [I will keep only one of you in prison, while the others go home with grain for your families. If you are honourable men, you will bring back your youngest brother as I require. When you do, I will know that you are telling the truth and will spare your lives.] [This is what we get for making our brother Joseph miserable,] they whispered to one another. [We watched his agony as he pleaded with us, but we wouldn’t listen.] [I told you not to do it!] Reuben said to the others. [You wouldn’t listen to me! Now we’re going to pay dearly for what we did to him.] The brothers did not realize that Joseph could understand their language, for he had spoken to them through an interpreter. But Joseph had heard and went away from them for a while and wept. When Joseph returned to his brothers, he ordered Simeon bound while his other brothers watched. He then told his men to fill the brothers’ grain sacks and secretly to put each man’s money in his sack, as well as some provisions for the trip. When the brothers had loaded their grain sacks on their donkeys, they headed back toward Canaan. That night, when they set up camp, one brother discovered his money when he opened his sack to feed the donkeys. [My money is here in the sack!] he shouted to his brothers. When they realized what had happened, the brothers trembled with fear. [What has YHVH done to us?] they cried out. Returning to Canaan, the brothers told their father Jacob what had happened to them. [The governor was harsh with us and accused us of being spies,] they reported. [We told him that we are honest men and that there were twelve of us. We told him that one brother is dead and one is home with his father. Now he insists that we bring Benjamin back with us to prove that we are telling the truth.] Then they emptied the grain sacks and their money tumbled from each one. At this, everyone was frightened, even Jacob. [You have bereaved me of my children,] Jacob cried out to them. [Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! Now you want to take Benjamin, too!] [If I do not bring Benjamin back safely to you, then you may kill my own two sons,] Reuben said to his father. [I promise that I will bring him back.] [No, I will not let you take Benjamin,] said Jacob. [His only true brother is dead. I would die if anything should happen to Benjamin.] As time passed, the famine continued over the land. At last, the grain the brothers had bought in Egypt was almost gone. [Go back to Egypt and buy some more grain,] Jacob told his sons. [The governor warned us that we will never see him again unless we have Benjamin with us,] said Judah. [If you expect us to get grain in Egypt, we must take Benjamin. Without him, we will get nothing.] [Why did you do this to me?] Jacob moaned. [Why did you tell the governor that you had a brother back home?] [He asked us about our family,] they said. [He asked if our father was living and if we had any other brothers, so we told him the truth. How could we know that he would want us to bring Benjamin down?] Then Judah spoke to his father. [Send the boy with me so that we can start our trip! If we don’t go soon, we’ll all starve, including you and our children. I will guarantee his safe return and will forever take the blame if he does not come home safely. If we had not delayed so long, we would have been back by now.] At last Jacob gave in. [If there is no other way, then go. But take special gifts to the governor, choice products of our land, such as balsam, honey, spices, myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Also, take twice as much money as you did before so you can pay for the grain as well as pay back what was in your sacks. Someone probably put the money there by mistake. Take your brother and go and may YHVH Almighty give you favour with the man so that he may let both Simeon and Benjamin come home. But if I must bear to see them die, then I must bear it.] So, with the money and gifts, the brothers took Benjamin and, with great fear, returned to the governor of Egypt.

COMMENTARY

JOSEPH’S TWO LANGUAGES: HEBREW AND EGYPTIAN

When ten of Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food, Joseph did not tell them who he was. And they did not recognize this splendid Egyptian as the seventeen-year-old brother they had sold twenty years before. Joseph gave them food. He warned them that if they came again, they must bring their other brother Benjamin with them. But would Israel part with his youngest and now favourite son, even to avoid starvation. Joseph’s native language was Hebrew. But when he was sold as a slave in Egypt, it became necessary for him to learn a new language; Egyptian. Egyptian writing in Joseph’s time did not look anything like a modern language. The Egyptians formed most of their words with simple pictures or symbols that looked like the idea they wished to express. This kind of writing is called hieroglyphic (hi-er-o-GLIF-ic). It means [writing in pictures.] Sometimes hieroglyphics used a picture that expressed the sound of the word. A modern way to do this would be to use a picture of an eye to express -- I. Or the picture might merely be an image of the object to be expressed, such as a picture of a house to say -- house. The Hebrews did not write with pictures, but with their own unique characters. Each character stood for a syllable, not a letter. Thus, ancient Hebrew did not use vowels. Just as most readers today know that -- 2 bdrm apt -- means -- two-bedroom apartment, so the Hebrews understood their abbreviated language. Each character also meant something when it stood alone. Just as [beth] was a character, the second symbol in the alphabet, by itself it meant [house.] It is likely that as governor of Egypt, he may also have learned some other languages of his time.