When the brothers heard this, they were stricken with great fear. This man was all-powerful. If he believed them to be spies, he could order them imprisoned, tortured, beheaded, anything he wished.
“No, my lord!” cried Judah. “We are not spies. We are shepherds. We have come to buy corn. For there is hunger in Canaan.”
“It is a simple matter for spies to pass themselves off as shepherds,” said Joseph.
“Please, my lord,” said Judah. “Please hear our tale. We are brothers, the son of one man.”
“That man—your father—is he alive?”
“He lives, my lord.”
“He must be quite old.”
“Very old, master. But vigorous.”
“And he had ten sons?”
“Twelve sons, my lord.”
“I count but ten.”
“Twelve brothers are we,” said Judah. “But one is dead, and the youngest son is at home with his father. And we have come into Egypt to buy food. For our cattle starve today, and our families starve tomorrow.”
“I have heard that tale before,” said Joseph. “And spies have come before, and have not returned to their own lands. For we did not permit it, but made them suffer grievously for their spying.”
“We are your servants,” said Judah. “And you are our master. How can we prove to you that we are not spies?”
“Hear me. You shall not go out of Egypt unless you pledge to bring back your youngest brother and leave him with me as bond for your lives. One of you may go into Canaan to fetch him. The rest of you shall be kept here in prison until your words be proved. And if your youngest brother does not come, then I shall know that you are all spies, and your heads shall be lifted from your bodies.”
He raised his arm. The soldiers advanced and surrounded the brothers, Joseph spoke, and they were taken off to prison. They were kept in prison three days, and they despaired for their lives. But on the third day Joseph ordered them released.
They were ushered into his presence. They bowed low and waited for his words. “Rise,” he said. “My God has bidden me be merciful. I shall release you, all except one, who will stand bond for the rest. Nine of you shall return to Canaan, and I shall give you grain to feed your families and your flocks. But I require you to return from Canaan with your youngest brother to redeem the brother who has been left here. If you do not return, the life of him you leave in Egypt is forfeit.”
The brothers conferred, and Judah cried out, “This is God’s vengeance! It falls upon us because we sold Joseph into slavery. We heard his cries, we saw his tears, we knew the anguish of his soul when he begged us not to do what we were doing. We sold him for twenty pieces of silver and watched him being marched off under the lash. Therefore we have come to this pass.”
Reuben said: “Did I not warn you? Do not sin against the child, I said. But we did. Now we see that we have incurred blood guilt and must pay.”
They spoke in Hebrew and did not know that Joseph could understand, for he had always addressed them through an interpreter. And when Joseph heard what his brothers were saying, he turned and wept. Then he went back to them with his soldiers, who took Simeon from among the brothers and bound him with thongs.
Simeon did not utter a word, but stood there, head flung back, eyes stony with despair. For the first time in twenty years he felt the blood guilt descend upon him, thick and deadly. He knew that of all the brothers he had sinned most sorely against Joseph. He spoke to his brothers again, saying, “Do not return with Benjamin. Let me be killed for what I have done. Do not return, or he will kill all of you. He hates us, and is the instrument of the Lord’s vengeance.”
Then Simeon was taken to prison, and Joseph bade his men fill the strangers’ sacks with corn, and bade his steward return every man’s payment and put the gold secretly in the sacks with the corn. He spoke no more to the brothers.
They loaded their donkeys with the sacks of grain and departed. They stopped for a meal on the way. Asher opened his sack to get grain for his donkey and saw a pouch of gold in the sack’s mouth. “My money is restored,” he said to his brothers. “It is in the sack.” Each man looked in his sack and found his gold there. And they were again stricken with fear, for they thought they would be accused of stealing back what they had paid and would be pursued by the Egyptians and imprisoned. But no one pursued them. They continued on their way and crossed over into Canaan. They went to the tents of Jacob and told their story.
“Simeon in prison!” he cried. “What manner of brothers are you? You do not preserve one another. Once you departed and returned, and Joseph was not among you. You brought me back only his bloody coat. Now you return without Simeon, the stalwart Simeon, and leave him to rot in an Egyptian dungeon.”
“Do not reproach us,” said Reuben. “We shall return for Simeon and bring him up out of Egypt. It is part of the bargain.”
“What bargain?” said Jacob.
“The governor keeps Simeon only as bond,” said Judah. “He thought we were spies. If we return with Benjamin we can redeem Simeon.”
“You shall not return with Benjamin,” said Jacob. “You shall not give your youngest brother to the Egyptians. You have bereft me of my children. Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone. Now you would take Benjamin. Never!”
Reuben said: “I shall leave my two sons with you. If we do not return with Benjamin, you may slay them. They are my bond.”
“I do not wish to slay your sons,” said Jacob. “And I do not wish to lose my sons. Benjamin shall not go with you. Joseph is gone, and I have no other son of Rachel. If anything happens to Benjamin, then you will finally bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.”
The brothers saw that their father would not allow Benjamin to depart and said no more. And famine lay on the land and people starved. Soon all the grain that the brothers had brought back from Egypt was eaten up, and Jacob said to them: “Go back to Egypt. Buy more corn.”
Judah took Jacob aside and spoke to him alone. “All grain is in the hands of the governor. And he gave us his solemn word that we would never again go into his presence unless we took Benjamin with us.”
“Why?” cried Jacob. “Why must he have Benjamin?”
“That I do not know,” said Judah. “I have thought about it, and there is no answer. But this I know: We cannot return to Egypt without Benjamin. And if we do not return we must surely starve.”
Jacob said: “Why did you do me this terrible injury? Why did you tell the man you had a younger brother at home?”
Judah said: “The man inquired very closely into our family affairs and about our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we told him the truth. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother to me’?”
“I do not understand,” said Jacob.
Judah said: “Send the lad with me. We shall go down into Egypt. Otherwise we must all starve. We shall starve and you will starve, and our wives and children.”
“I cannot allow you to take Benjamin,” said Jacob.
“I shall be bond for him,” said Judah. “If I do not bring him back to you, then the guilt is mine.”
“How will your guilt comfort me if Benjamin is taken? … Very well. I see it must be. You must do what the Egyptian bade you. Take Benjamin and depart. But do this, also. Take the best of the fruits in our orchard, the golden oranges, the figs, the dates, and the olives as a gift to the man. Take him balm and honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds. And take much gold, double the price of the grain you would buy. Also, take back to him the money that you found in your sack, the price that you did not pay the first time. Take him all this, the fruits and the spice, and the sweetmeats and the gold—and Benjamin. Judah, my son, pray to the Almighty God to instill that man with mercy so that he may release Simeon and restore Benjamin to me. For if I am bereaved of my children, then I must surely die.”
Judah spoke to his brothers, and they did all that their father had said. They
took fruits and spices and sweetmeats and much gold. And they took Benjamin, also. He rode a white donkey. He was clad in his finest garments and was a very handsome lad. He glowed with the excitement of the journey, for he was not afraid.
They journeyed into Egypt and to the palace of Joseph. When Joseph was told that the brothers had returned, bringing another, he said to his steward: “Kill a fat calf. These men will dine with me today.”
The brothers were not admitted to Joseph’s presence but were led out of the courtyard and into the house. And they were afraid. They had not been told that they would dine with Joseph; they thought they were being led to prison. At the door of the house, Dan spoke to the steward: “O sir, we came indeed into Egypt the first time to buy food. It was sold to us, and we paid for it. But it came to pass that when we stopped for a meal and opened our sacks to feed our donkeys, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. But we do not know how it got there and we have brought it back again.”
“Fear not,” said the steward. “You are not suspected of theft. And here is your brother, also.”
The steward brought Simeon to them. He had been released from his cell, and had bathed himself and been given fresh garments. The steward took the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water to wash their feet, and stabled their donkeys. The brothers gathered their gifts in a great heap and waited for Joseph.
When Joseph came in, they bowed themselves to earth again and Judah said: “Greetings, O lord. Accept, I pray, this small gift of fruits and spices and sundry delicacies from the land of Canaan where we dwell.”
Joseph turned away to fight back the tears again and said: “Is your father well? That old man you spoke of—is he alive?”
“He is alive,” said Reuben. “He is in good health. God may yet grant him many years. It was he who prepared this gift for you, for he seeks your favor. He sends his thanks, too, for selling us food.”
All the brothers bowed again, very low. When they arose they saw that Joseph was looking steadily at Benjamin. “Is this your youngest brother?” he said.
“It is,” said Levi.
Joseph looked upon Benjamin, the handsome young Benjamin, his only full brother, his father’s youngest son, and Rachel’s. He felt the cords of his body loosening with love. His guts yearned toward the lad. He left the room hastily and went off by himself to weep where no one could see him. Then he washed his face and returned to his brothers, and bade the steward serve the meal.
They all sat at a long table, and Joseph sat with them. Now, Egyptians of the high caste did not eat with Hebrews. Breaking bread with anyone not descended from the falcon god, Horus, was an abomination to them. And the brothers thought Joseph a prince of Egypt, and they wondered that he ate with them.
Joseph not only dined at their table but honored them exceedingly. He sat them in order around the table: Reuben, the firstborn, sat next to Joseph in the place of honor, and Simeon next, and Levi, then Judah, and so on according to their age, down to Benjamin, who was last. And the brothers wondered that he knew their ages so surely. From time to time during the meal he ordered the butler to take special delicacies from his plate, as the custom was then, and sent them to one guest and then another. But he sent Benjamin five times as much as any of the others. Benjamin wondered at the favor that was being shown him, and Judah watched his host narrowly, for he did not understand what was happening. The food was lavish and the wine was strong, and the brothers ate and drank and were merry at the table.
After the meal Joseph spoke to the brothers: “I see that you are not spies and I release you from your bond. Take your youngest brother with you—also, the brother I have released from prison—and return to your father. And take with you as much corn as you can carry.”
The brothers prostrated themselves before Joseph and thanked him for his kindness. He still pretended not to understand their language, and spoke through an interpreter. Before they departed Joseph took his steward aside and said: “Do as you did before. Return each man’s gold to him but do not let him know. Put it secretly in his sack with the corn. And do this, also: Take my silver cup and put it in the sack of the youngest.”
The brothers slept overnight in Joseph’s house and departed in the first light of the morning. They saddled their donkeys and loaded them with heavy sacks of grain and rode off. Then Joseph said to his steward: “Pursue the Hebrews. Bind them and bring them back.”
The steward took a troop of men and followed the brothers on swift horses and overtook them on the road. The brothers were surrounded by armed men. Simeon and Levi seized their swords and prepared to fight. Simeon was wild to fight for he had been galled by his imprisonment. But Judah struck down their swords with his staff, crying, “Hold! Sheathe your swords! It is death to fight!” Reuben and Dan joined him and they forced Simeon and Levi to put up their blades. And the brothers submitted to being bound and taken back to Joseph’s house.
Joseph spoke to them through his interpreter: “You stand accused. You have stolen back what you paid for the corn and put it into your sacks. Worse than that, there is one among you who has stolen my silver cup, the cup from which I drink and in whose lees I divine what is to come. My silver cup is stolen, and you are all thieves!”
Judah said: “God forbid that your servants should do this thing. Behold, we brought back to you the gold that we found in our sacks the first time we left Egypt. Why should we steal it again? As for your silver cup, no one here would think of taking it. Search us. Search our sacks. If the cup be found on anyone here, then let him die and let the rest of us be taken into slavery.”
Joseph said: “I shall not be so severe. If any of you has taken my cup, then I will keep him as my servant. The others shall be held blameless and permitted to return to Canaan.”
There in Joseph’s courtyard, under the eyes of the armed men, each brother took the sack off his donkey and opened it. They opened their sacks in the order of age, Reuben first. And when Reuben saw the gold in his sack, he was afraid. But Joseph said: “It is well. I do not care about the gold. I seek only my cup.”
Then Simeon opened his sack, then Levi, and Judah, and each in order of age through Zebulun. And no cup was found. Then Benjamin opened his sack and a great groan went up from all the brothers. Reuben tore his beard. There in the mouth of the sack, gleaming like a fallen star, was the silver cup:
“What have you done?” cried Joseph. “What manner of men are you to return evil for good?”
Judah said: “What shall we say to you? How shall we speak? How shall we clear ourselves? I know that my brother did not steal your cup. But God has searched out another evil that we have done and is punishing us for it. So we are all your slaves. Our youngest brother in whose sack you found your cup and we, also, his elder brothers, we will enter servitude with him.”
“God forbid,” said Joseph. “I shall not take you all into servitude, only the youngest one, only the lad who stole the cup. As for the rest of you, go in peace, and return to your father.” Judah came closer and said: “O my lord, let me speak a word just for your own ears and do not let your anger burn against me. For I am nothing and you are as high as Pharaoh.”
“Speak,” said Joseph through his interpreter.
Judah said: “When we first came into Egypt you questioned us, saying, ‘Have you a father, a brother?’ And we answered, saying, ‘We have a father, an old man. And we have another brother, the child of his old age, who is young. He is the son of my father’s younger wife, the one most dear to him, who died. And she had an elder son who is also dead. So that our youngest brother is the only son of his mother, Rachel, and his father loves him beyond all others.’ Thus we answered, my lord, in reply to your questions. And you said to us: ‘Bring that youngest son down to me.’ And we said: ‘He cannot leave his father, for his father will die.’ And you said: ‘If you do not bring him you shall see my face no more, and shall not be able to purchase food in Egypt.’
“W
hen we returned to Canaan we told all this to our father. And he refused to send his youngest son to Egypt. We urged him and he refused and kept refusing until hunger was heavy upon us. Then he said to us: ‘Go down into Egypt and buy food. Take my son Benjamin with you, since that is the way it must be. But remember this. Rachel bore two sons. Joseph was torn to pieces by a wild beast and Benjamin alone is left of her sons. If you take him from me and mischief befalls him, then you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to the grave.’ Now, my lord, how can we return to our father without our youngest brother? His life is bound up with the lad’s life. If he sees us returning without Benjamin, he will surely die. I pray you, O governor, O mighty one, be merciful. Take me into servitude instead of Benjamin. Let me be punished for my brother’s crime. Let me take his guilt upon myself. Let Benjamin return to Canaan so that his father may live.”
Joseph could not hold himself back any longer. He cried out to his men. “Depart! Leave me alone with these Hebrews!” The soldiers departed, and the servants, and Joseph cried out in his own tongue, “Behold! I am Joseph!”
The brothers were struck dumb. They could not answer him. They were mute with guilt and fear. Joseph spoke softly, his voice running with tears: “Come to me, I pray.”
They approached very timidly, and he said. “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now listen to me carefully. Do not be grieved at yourselves. Do not be enraged at your own deed. When you sold me, you did God’s errand. God wished me to go before you to preserve you and your children upon the earth, and to deliver you from starvation. He sent me to find a place for your generations, who are precious to the Lord. So forgive yourselves, my brothers. It was not you who sent me here but God; you were only His hands. Blind brutal hands perhaps, but only hands. And God made me counselor to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler through all the land of Egypt.
Signs and Wonders Page 14