I Am Joseph, Come Close

Twice now the brothers from Canaan had come to Egypt for grain, and twice they had bowed with their faces to the floor in front of the governor. They had no idea he was Joseph. (Joseph knew exactly who they were. He spoke through an interpreter, so they never guessed he understood every word.)

This time the governor's silver cup had turned up in Benjamin's grain sack. Benjamin was the youngest brother. Joseph had told his servant to hide it there, to see what his brothers would do.

"The one who had my cup stays here as my slave," Joseph said. "The rest of you, go home."

Judah stepped forward.

"Please, my lord. Our father has already lost one son he loved. If we go home without this boy, it will kill him. Let me stay as your slave instead. Let the boy go home."

Joseph could not hold it in any longer. "Everyone out!" he shouted to his servants. When only his brothers were left, he burst into tears. He cried so loudly that the Egyptians outside heard him, and so did everyone in Pharaoh's house. (Palace walls are thick. Joseph was louder.)

"I am Joseph!" he said. "Is my father really still alive?"

His brothers could not say a word. The last time they had seen Joseph, spice traders were leading him off toward Egypt with their camels. They had sold him for twenty pieces of silver, dipped his coat in goat's blood, and let their father believe a wild animal had eaten him.

"Come close to me," Joseph said. "Please."

They shuffled forward.

"I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. Don't be upset, and don't be angry with yourselves. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. There have been two years of hunger already, and five more are coming. It was not you who sent me here. It was God."

He threw his arms around Benjamin, and they cried on each other's necks. He kissed every brother and cried over each one. After that, the Bible says, his brothers talked with him.

Pharaoh was delighted, and sent Egyptian wagons to bring old Jacob and all the children to the best land in Egypt.

As they set off, he called after them, "Don't quarrel on the way!"

(He remembered his brothers very well.)

Back in Canaan, Jacob heard the news and did not believe a word of it. Then the wagons came rolling up to his tents.

"Enough!" he said. "My son Joseph is alive. I will go and see him before I die."

Joseph could feed his brothers, kiss them, and send them home with wagons. But the wrong underneath, the kind that stands between people and God, was too heavy for any brother in Egypt to lift.

The whole family moved down to Egypt, and their children filled the best land in it. They were still waiting for someone who could do what Joseph could not.

God had one more brother to send, and he would save more lives than Joseph ever did. His own people turned against him too. A close friend handed him over, and the rest ran away and hid. He was killed and buried, and on the third day God raised him to life. That morning he met the women hurrying from his tomb and told them, "Don't be afraid. Go and tell my brothers."

The men who ran from Jesus were the very ones he called his brothers.