14. The Brothers Return (Genesis 43:1-44:34).

by Dan Smith

These two chapters are full of information, but the four items that stood out to me are:

1. Judah becomes a leader. When the food is starting to run out from their first trip to Egypt, Israel (Jacob) tells his boys to go back and buy some more grain. But Judah says to Israel that the man (Joseph) says not to come back with Benjamin. Israel is upset because he doesn’t want to lose his last son from his wife Rachel. Judah steps up and says, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety: you can hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all of my life.” From this point on, Judah becomes the spokesman for the brothers. His tribe would become preeminent among the 12 tribes and he would be an ancestor of Jesus.

2. Brotherly love. When the brothers came back to see Joseph, he finally saw his own mother's son. Joseph was deeply moved and went to find a place to weep. Even after all that his brothers had done to Joseph, he still loved them deeply.

3. Prophecy comes true. When the brothers see Joseph, they present him with gifts and bowed down on the ground before him fulfilling the prophecy from Genesis chapter 37.

4. Joseph having some fun. You would have to think that Joseph was having some fun at his brother’s expense by having put the silver in the sacks of grain. Also, when his brothers were eating with him he had them seated in their birth order. And finally, by putting the silver cup in Benjamin’s sack without anyone’s knowledge, Joseph had to be having some fun.

A lot has transpired in Joseph’s life, going from the favorite son to slave to Pharaoh’s number two. He was part of a large family then all by himself in Egypt. But through it all, there was one constant in his life, and that was his belief in God. That belief got Joseph through all of his trials and that same belief can get us through our own as well.