Joseph's family were affected by the drought like everyone else. Jacob tells his sons to go off to Egypt to get grain, but keeps Benjamin at home. After Joseph, Benjamin was his favourite son, as he too had Rachel as a mother.
The brothers had to meet Joseph, and though he recognised them, they did not realise who he was. This is not surprising as several years had passed, and as far as they were concerned he would be a slave in some far off place, or even dead. They bowed down to him in fulfilment of his first dream.
Joseph plays them along, this was a ploy to get Benjamin to come as well. The brothers felt guilty about what they had done to Joseph. Guilt is something we cannot get rid of by denying the truth, repentance is the only solution to guilt.
Joseph had one brother put in prison, but also secretly returned the silver to the remaining brothers. However, the brothers so this as a curse, bringing even more guilt upon them. Guilt stops us seeing things properly.
Jacob initially would not agree to Benjamin going down to Egypt.
No comments:
Post a Comment