The Second Journey to Egypt - The Path of Reconciliation

Genesis 43 16-34 [Part 2 of 2]

So, the next of these three conversations recorded in this chapter begins in verse 16, where we’re told.

When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.”  The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. 

(Genesis 43: 16-17)

Now what’s going on here? There is something which is not immediately obvious as you read these verses, but it’s important. Look closely at verse 16, “Joseph saw Benjamin”. So Joseph has now seen Benjamin in the flesh which is what he wanted. Most commentaries suggest that Joseph wanted to see Benjamín in the real flesh to make sure that [a] Benjamin was still alive and that they had not harmed him. That was particularly important to him because of who Benjamin was, and that’s what I’ll explain in just a few minutes. Before I do that, can I just say that he saw Benjamin and then he says to his Stewart, take them to my house so we could eat together. Now let’s look at verse 18.

Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.”

(Genesis 43: 18)

Remember that money that was still in their saddlebags, so they are thinking, boy are we in trouble. They were still afraid because of that money and they thought, Oh No, he’s taking us to his house when he gets there, he’s going to reveal the money and present a case gainst us and we’re all going to become slaves. So, again, it tells us they were frightened…. Verse 19

So, they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. But at the place where we stopped for the night, we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So, we have brought it back with us.We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”

(Genesis 43: 19-22)

See what they’re doing? They are bringing complete clarity to the situation, and they are assuming responsibility and trying to deal with the situation, up front. They’re confessing, but at the same time saying, look, we didn’t take the money deliberately, but somehow, we ended up with it again, so we brought it back to you. By doing this up front they are trying to deal with it up front and try and prevent their trial and the imprisonment.

“It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon because they had heard that they were to eat there.

(Genesis 43: 23-25)

So, the Stewart says to him, don’t be afraid. I know all about it. You’re OK. We got our money, maybe God replaced yours. Then he brings Simeon out to him. So, the man brought the brothers into Joseph house and gave them water and they washed their feet, and he gave their donkeys food. Then he made ready for Joseph’s arrival, who he knew was arriving at noon as the plan was for them to eat together. What’s going on here is, they are being treated like honored guests. That is indicated by the fact that they washed their feet. They are being treated with honor and dignity. Furthermore, it says they’re going to eat with Joseph at noon. This was not like lunch we might have today for the Egyptians the noon day meal was the main meal of the day. So, they’re not just gathering together to eat a sandwich, and a snack, they’re going to have the main banquet of the day together. Now that takes us through the second part of the story where they have this encounter and conversation with the steward, and the significant part of it is like they just said up front, here’s the money. We did not take it and we’re bringing it back. Again, I want to suggest that they are acting responsibly in dealing with their father and their acting responsibly in dealing with the Steward, and by nature Joseph, even if it means they got to confess the fact that they ended up with this money. 

This is super important because they are seen to be handling the situation and themselves responsibly. Now here’s the third episode in this story, the third phase of it, so to speak. Now they’re going to be face to face with Joseph himself. Let’s pick it up at verse 26.

 When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?” They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him.

(Genesis 43: 26-28)

That is an act of respect they are honoring him. The idea of bowing down, then as it still is today, is that it’s an act of great honor and respect. But importantly from the prophetic point of view this is the fulfillment of his childhood dreams. Remember the dreams? The dream that Joseph had and told his brothers would bow down before him, the same brothers who then sold him into slavery. This dream has now been fulfilled. Joseph then askes, how is your father now, is he still alive? He refers to him as “your father” not, our father, so he still has not indicated yet that he’s their brother and that Jacob is his father. He just asked about his general well-being first…. So, verse 29 says.

As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.

(Genesis 43: 29)

Remember Benjamin is his own mother’s son and that is significant. Why is that significant? Because Jacob had four wives. He had children by each one of them. He had children by one wife and called them Joseph and Benjamin. So, these were brothers from the same mother and all the others were his half-brothers. That’s why he’s interested in Benjamin. This is his blood, brother, they all have the same father, but Joseph and Benjamin have the same father and mother.

So, the text finally reveals that’s what’s going on. He saw brother Benjamin and says to his other brothers, is this the younger brother whom you spoke with me about. And they said yes, and he says, “God be gracious to you, my son”.

Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.”

(Genesis 43: 30-31)

I pointed out in the last chapter that Joseph had grown into a man with a tender heart and by seeing his brother that he hasn’t seen for better now than 20 years causes him to break down and cry. In fact, he has to go off into a side room and cry to hide his true emotions from his brothers. He weeps, and then he gathers himself together and washes his face, restrains himself and come out and says, let’s eat.

They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. 

(Genesis 43: 32)

Now that verse is a little complicated, all this is saying they separated from each other. The Egyptians ate over here by themselves, and they put the Hebrews over here by themselves, and then it says that for the Egyptians and Hebrews to eat together would have been detestable. We don’t exactly know why that was true, except that one commentary I read said that because they served the foreigners some kind of animal meat, and the fact that the Egyptians didn’t eat, means they could not have been part of this. 

Another part of this was that they went through certain rituals before eating and Canaanite brothers wouldn’t have. So, that may have been a factor, but any rate they ate separately, and that’s what’s going on…. The plot thickens. 

The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment.

(Genesis 43: 33)

What Joseph did here is he arranged them in the order of their birth, and they immediately thought, how did he know that? The mathematical possibilities of arranging 11 brothers or 11 people in the order of their birth is astronomical. As a matter of fact, some ingenious commentator figured it out that the odds are 40 million to one that they could have arranged those 11 and got it right in their order. Something out of the ordinary is going on here. This is their first clue that this is beyond anything that’s normal. They might have explained everything else, but now instead of fear, they are astonished. 

When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So, they feasted and drank freely with him.

(Genesis 43: 34)

Now what’s going on? To give somebody twice as much food was to honor that person by, he gave him five times as much. So, he is really honoring Benjamin, so why was he doing that? Why was he doing that? Some have suggested and I think correctly that he’s testing the other brothers. What was their original problem, remember sibling rivalry, their original problem with Joseph was, Jealousy, right? So maybe he is going to test and see if thereby become jealous again, this time with Benjamin. Let’s really exalt Benjamin and let’s see how you handle this.  The last verse says they feasted, and they drank happily. It seems to me they proved they were trustworthy. They were reliable, they had told the truth and apparently, they have gotten over their jealousy problem.

All right so, what’s going on in this chapter? We have got to the end and we haven’t seen the reconciliation yet. That will come in due course, but it’s going to be a long journey to reconciliation, and in this part of the journey. However, I think there’s several things we too can learn if you want to also walk the path of reconciled. 

Firstly, you’re going to need to be honest, look at facts, don’t duck from them, assume personal responsibility. You need to assume responsibility for your actions in the past and demonstrate that you’ve learned from any mistakes that were in your part of the relationship. That’s what Joseph’s brothers did, they demonstrated that they had learnt from their mistakes and that they were reliable. 

They also showed that they weren’t going to fall into the trap of being jealous of a brother again. Putting it like this, what’s the other alternative?  The other alternative is you don’t look at the situation realistically. I’m amazed at how many people live in denial, in a false world, I mean, it happens all the time. You’ve got to look at reality and be sensitive to people. They could have started blame shifting all over the place instead of dealing with reality. They could have said, you know, it’s not our fault. Iif you are going to be reconciled you got to look at their situation realistically and you got to assume personal responsibility, which is exactly what they did in this chapter.

The other thing you is you shouldn’t get angry, bitter, and hold on to things, otherwise you could grow jealous again. Or you could say, as happened here I’ve learned from my mistake let’s be civil with each other, and that’s what they did, in fact they sat down to have a meal. One commentator looking at this passage said, Joseph’s brothers were realistic in assessing the situation in Egypt responsible in the response to Jacob and wise in dealing with the money that was found in their sacks, but most importantly they had the right feelings toward their brother and Joseph remained tender hearted towards them.

Those who would participate in God’s plan for us to be peacemakers must be willing to take responsibility for their actions, make restitution when they are culpable, and accept their lot graciously without jealousy. So, I pray that you can be thankful forgiving us these insights into what we should be, especially in situations where there needs to be reconciliation. Help us take on board how we must be responsive and at the same time remain tender hearted.