Chapter Forty-Three
Back to Egypt
43:1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’ ”
Since the famine continued without any end in sight and the Egyptian grain was now consumed, Jacob once again instructed his sons to go to Egypt and purchase some food. Judah immediately spoke up reminding his father that they would need to take Benjamin with them, as they were warned not to appear before Joseph without him. The consequences could be catastrophic with the potential of imprisonment or execution.
43:6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 7 They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”
This was probably not the first time Jacob asked the question of why they told “the man” that they had another brother. They undoubtedly responded to him each time and now once again say that they had no way of knowing that he was going to ask them to bring their brother to him.
Judah then offered to go to Egypt with Benjamin, pointing out that if they do not go, they will all end up dead from starvation. Judah pledges that Benjamin will be safe with him and will bear full responsibility if something does happen. He further points out that he could have been to Egypt and back two times now if they hadn’t delayed and waited so long to decide. Perhaps this was said sarcastically, but it worked.
Here again the narrative uses the name Israel instead of Jacob, which was last used in Genesis 37:13. At this time instead of being consumed in self-pity, he once again places his trust in God and for the first time since his sons came back from Egypt, he is considering sending Benjamin with Judah, along with his other brothers, back to Egypt.[1]
43:11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
Hearing the logic in Judah’s reply and seeing that they don’t have many options available to them, Israel agrees with Judah. He tells them to prepare a gift of a few meager items that they managed to save through the famine (including some known trade items, see also Genesis 37:25) to demonstrate their good intentions and to take twice the amount of money to pay for the grain. He also tells them to include the money that was found in their bags in case that was an oversight. Then he informs them to take Benjamin and asks God that they receive mercy from “the man.” He concludes, “if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved,” the Hebrew word that is translated here as ‘bereaved’, is ‘šik·kǎl·těm’,[2] means to be deprived of children.
43:15 So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house. 18 And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food. 21 And when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, 22 and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
They did as Israel requested and journeyed back to Egypt with the gifts, money, and Benjamin. When they arrived, their arrival was announced to Joseph, who immediately brought them into his presence. He was probably overjoyed to see his younger brother, but he remained composed at this time. He gave instructions to his steward to bring the men to his house and to prepare a meal that he would share with them at noon. The brothers were once again apprehensive as they were brought to Joseph’s house, as he had been so harsh with them in the past. Since they brought Benjamin along as instructed, the only thing that could possibly be an issue was that they might be facing some form of punishment for taking the money that was found in their bags during the last trip. So, as they entered Joseph’s house, they explained what happened to his steward. They were probably both astonished and perplexed when the steward replied that they had received the money and that it must have been their God that placed the money in their bags. Then adding to the mystique, Simeon is released from prison and rejoins his brothers.
43:24 And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, 25 they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. 26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.”
The steward treated them like honored guests, he gave them water to wash their feet and fed their donkeys. When Joseph arrived, they gave him their gifts and bowed before him. He inquired about their welfare (Hebrew word ‘šā·lôm’, meaning peace or tranquility, it is commonly used to inquire about one’s peace, the equivalent of asking “how are you?”) and then asked about their father. Then they once again bowed and prostrated themselves before Joseph. The text states that they ‘yiq·qeḏû’[3] (bowed) and ‘yiš·tǎ·ḥû’[4] (translated here as “prostrating themselves,” although the same word was translated as “bowed down” in verse 26), both terms refer to the act of bowing down, however, ‘yiq·qeḏû’ (the root being ‘qāḏaḏ’) appears to emphasize a more pronounced and respectful action.
When he looked at Benjamin, he asked if he was their youngest brother, before receiving an answer, he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” At this point, Joseph could no longer hide his feelings, so he quickly exited to his chamber where they could not see him weep. After regaining composure, he washed his face and rejoined them, giving instructions to serve the meal.
43:32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.
The Egyptians considered Hebrews an ‘abomination’ and therefore would require different table arrangements. One table for Joseph (as the man of the house), one table for his Egyptian staff and possibly family and one table for his guests, his brothers.
Joseph had arranged the seating for their table in order of their age. His brothers were amazed that they were seated from the eldest to the youngest. Then the food was served, as was the custom, food was first delivered to the master table and then distributed. Joseph had them give Benjamin five times more food than the other brothers, perhaps to see if they would resent him. Apparently, the extra food has not an issue, as they ate, drank and “were merry with him.” The word translated here as ‘merry’, is the Hebrew word ‘yiš·kerû’,[5] referring to being intoxicated (see variation in Genesis 9:21). This is one of only a few verses in the Bible that refer to being drunk in a favorable context, which is why translators prefer using a positive word like ‘merry’ instead of “they drank and became drunk.”
Considerations
This is the first time the Hebrew word ‘ṯô·’ē·ḇā(h)’[6] appears in the Bible, referring to something that causes one to be disgusted or hated, in the Old Testament it is most often applied in conjunction with offenses regarding God’s law. Here it is applied to the Hebrew people. We are later given a clue as to why in Genesis 46:34, here in this verse the Hebrews are generalized as being ‘shepherds’, and while Egyptians revere cattle (for example their chief deity was a bull named Isis) they disdained sheep. The historian Herodotus wrote in The Histories, Book Two:
[42] [1] All that have a temple of Zeus of Thebes or are of the Theban district sacrifice goats, but will not touch sheep. [2] For no gods are worshipped by all Egyptians in common except Isis and Osiris, who they say is Dionysus; these are worshipped by all alike. Those who have a temple of Mendes or are of the Mendesian district sacrifice sheep, but will not touch goats. [3] The Thebans, and those who by the Theban example will not touch sheep, give the following reason for their ordinance: they say that Heracles wanted very much to see Zeus and that Zeus did not want to be seen by him, but that finally, when Heracles prayed, Zeus contrived [4] to show himself displaying the head and wearing the fleece of a ram which he had flayed and beheaded. It is from this that the Egyptian images of Zeus have a ram’s head; and in this, the Egyptians are imitated by the Ammonians, who are colonists from Egypt and Ethiopia and speak a language compounded of the tongues of both countries. [5] It was from this, I think, that the Ammonians got their name, too; for the Egyptians call Zeus “Amon”. The Thebans, then, consider rams sacred for this reason, and do not sacrifice them. [6] But one day a year, at the festival of Zeus, they cut in pieces and flay a single ram and put the fleece on the image of Zeus, as in the story; then they bring an image of Heracles near it. Having done this, all that are at the temple mourn for the ram, and then bury it in a sacred coffin.[7]
Even though Joseph was a Hebrew, something the Pharaoh knew when he was introduced to Joseph (see Genesis 41:12), he now had an Egyptian name and an Egyptian wife, but more importantly, he was an Egyptian governor (and not a shepherd).
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[1] See further regarding the name change under Considerations after Genesis 32:32.
[2] Strong’s Hebrew 7921.
[3] Strong’s Hebrew 6915.
[4] Strong’s Hebrew 7812.
[5] Strong’s Hebrew 7937.
[6] Strong’s Hebrew 8441.
[7] Herodotus. (1920). Herodotus, with an English translation by A. D. Godley. (A. D. Godley, Ed.). Medford, MA: Harvard University Press.