Foreword:
This article mainly talks about Joseph, one of the twelve sons born to two wives and two concubines of Israelite Jacob (also known as Israel). When Joseph’s mother gave birth to Benjamin, Joseph’s mother died of dystonia. His father liked Joseph more and gave him a colorful coat, which made his brothers jealous. Joseph told his brothers and father about his dreams, but they rejected him. His brothers even sold him to a merchant and taken to Egypt. And his brothers deceived his father that wild animals eaten Joseph. Joseph in Egypt went from being a servant to being the prime minister of Egypt.
Jacob’s two wives and two concubines bore him twelve sons
Jacob was the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham. Jacob’s two wives and two concubines bore him twelve sons: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun by Leah; Joseph by Rachel, Benjamin; of Leah’s handmaid Gad and Asher; of Rachel’s handmaid Bilhah, Dan and Naphtali.
Joseph’s mother dies in childbirth
Rachel, a beautiful woman, encountered dystonia when she gave birth to Benjamin, and she passed away after giving birth. She left two sons for Jacob, the youngest was Benjamin, and the eldest was Joseph.
The father gave Joseph the colorful coat, but his brothers were jealous
Joseph was very much loved by his father when he was a child, and his father gave him a colorful coat. This aroused the jealousy of the brothers, who believed that their lack of favor with their father was due to Joseph’s snitching.
Joseph told his parents and brothers about his dream
The brothers were very angry when they heard Joseph’s dream
Joseph had a dream in which he and his brothers were binding grain in the field. His own grain stood in the middle, while others’ grain fell around and worshiped the center.
He told his brothers vividly about the strange dream. When the brothers heard this, they were very angry. They said, “Do you want to be our king? Do you really want to rule over us?”
These dissatisfied words did not attract Joseph’s attention. He was only seventeen years old at the time, and he was too naive.
A few days later, he told everyone about another strange dream, “Look, I had another dream!”
Joseph’s dream aroused his father’s dissatisfaction
“What did you dream about?” asked the father, “Tell everyone about it.”
“Okay, let me tell.” Joseph said to his parents and brothers, “I dreamed that the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down to me.”
This remark not only deepened the hatred of his brothers, but also angered his father. His father rebuked him and said, “What kind of dream are you having? Could it be that your mother, me, and your brothers are all going to prostrate ourselves on the ground and worship you?”
Since then, my father has kept this matter in his heart.
One day, his father called Joseph to him and told him, “Your brothers have been out tending the sheep and have not come back for a long time. I worried. I want to send you to see if they are safe? Is the flock okay? You will come back after watching.”
Joseph followed his father’s orders and went to his brothers. He lost his way at the beginning, and finally found out that his brothers were shepherding sheep in Dothan.
His brothers sold Joseph to a merchant
When they saw him coming from afar, they discussed with one another how to subdue him: “Behold, the dreamer is coming! When he comes, we will kill him and throw him into the pit, so that his sweet dreams will be naught.
Reuben the eldest suggest we throw him in a pit in the wild
“What if my father asks me?”
“That means wild animals eaten him.”
Among them was Reuben the eldest, who still had brotherhood and could not bear to hurt his younger brother. He said, “We cannot kill him, he is our younger brother, we must not shed his blood. I think it’s okay to throw him in a pit in the wild…” He thought in his heart that when they were all gone, he would rescue Joseph and hand him over to his father.
But Reuben had no prestige among the brothers, and everyone ignored his words and didn’t listen to them at all. As soon as Joseph arrived, the brothers rushed up and grabbed him viciously.
The Joseph were alone and underage, unable to resist the sudden attack. He had no choice, but to wait for his brothers tied his hands, he was begging bitterly: “Please forgive me, My father sent me to visit you!”
“Do you still want to go back and report? Say we behaved badly?”
“You really know how to dream and tell us to bow down to you?”
“Look at how beautiful you dressed the colorful coat!”
Everyone hurriedly stripped off his colorful coat, threw them aside, and pushed him into a nearby pit—boom! Joseph fell into the pit, and bruised from the fall. Fortunately, the pit was not very deep, it was a dry well with no water in it.
Even though the younger brother was crying and struggling in the pit, the older brothers sat quietly beside them, started eating, talked with each other, and gloated.
At this time, a group of Ishmaelites came from a distance leading a team of camels laden with spices, frankincense, and myrrh.
Judah said to his brethren, “What shall we gain by killing our brother and hiding his blood? We might as well sell him alive to these camel traders! Let us not lay hands on him, for he is our brother.”
The merchants took Joseph to Egypt
The brothers felt that this was reasonable, and when they saw the group of businessmen approaching, they greeted, “Hey, where are you going?”
“Go down to Egypt!” replied the merchants.
“Well, there’s a live treasure for you to sell, here, it’s the one humming in the pit!”
The merchants saw that Joseph was young and strong, so they decided to buy him. After some bargaining, it was finally he brothers and the merchants think twenty shekels of silver of Joseph’s price. The brothers brought Joseph up from the pit, and handed it to the merchants with their own hands, and received twenty shekels of silver from the merchants.
The merchants continued on their way and took Joseph and the goods to Egypt.
Brothers cheated their father with Joseph’s bloody garment
The elder brothers looked at the back of the pedestrian going away, and hurriedly divided the money equally, because Reuben was not present, so he did not have his share.
After a while, Reuben came back, went to the pit. And he found that the pit have not his younger brother, so he tore his own clothes. He turned around and said to his brothers, “How can we explain to our father that the son of him the most loved son had not?”
Brothers say there is a way. They slaughtered the goat, stained Joseph’s coat with blood, and sent it to his father, saying, “We picked it up in the field. Please see if it is your son’s coat?”
When his father saw that the blood-stained colorful coat, he had given to Joseph. He couldn’t help but feel sad: “This is my son’s coat. The beast ate him, and the beast tore Joseph to pieces, tore Joseph to pieces!”
Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth around his loins, and mourned for his son many days. His sons and daughters all came to persuade him to bear the pain and mourn, but he still wept unceasingly. The old man shouted like crazy: “I want to go to the underworld to find Joseph, my son Joseph is dead!”
The merchants took Joseph to Egypt
In fact, Joseph did not die. The Ishmaelites took he to Egypt and sold to Potiphar, the chief of the Pharaoh’s inner guard. From then on, Joseph lived in the house of his Egyptian master Potiphar.
Because of his conscientiousness, honesty and ability, he gradually gained the trust of his master. Potiphar appointed him to be in charge of housekeeping and to take care of everything in the house. When the master returns home, he only needs to eat, and ignores other things.
His master’s wife seduce Joseph
The master’s wife saw that Joseph was handsome and handsome, and often looked at him. But Joseph ignored it, he was as pure and innocent as an ignorant child, and any hints were useless. Now that the matter had come to this, she had no choice but to say straight to the point: “Joseph, do you listen to my words?”
“Yes.” Joseph replied respectfully, “If the master has anything to do, just ask the servant, and the servant will definitely do it.”
“Okay then, come here, I want you to sleep with me!”
“No.” said Joseph, “it won’t work.” For the first time he had never disobeyed his master’s wife’s orders, he explained to her, “You see, my master has put all the possessions into my hands. He didn’t leave anything to me, only you, because you are his wife. How could I do such a thing, I’m so sorry to the master. “
“Hmph.” She walked away angrily, turned around, and said in a low voice, “If you say it, I’ll take your skin off!”
The lady who is full of food all day long and has nothing to do, although she failed, she refused to give up. She clung to him every day, spitting sweet words and seducing him in every possible way now. Joseph had no choice but to avoid him blindly.
The head of the family wronged Joseph and imprisoned
It happened that Joseph went into the house to get something that day, but there was no one in the house, so the woman came over quietly, grabbed Joseph’s clothes, and said nastily, “Let’s sleep together!”
Joseph so frightened that he ran out in a panic, but unexpectedly, the master’s wife snatched his clothes off.
Seeing that the soft and hard can’t succeed, the woman became angry from embarrassment. She was chasing after her, and Sapo screamed, “Come on!”
The women of the wicked first sue
When the head of the family heard the sound and rushed over, she shook the clothes in her hands and said, “Look, whose clothes are these? This is Joseph’s! He just entered my house and insisted on grabbing me. Be sure to sleeping with me… I scared him away by yelling loudly. It’s over when he runs away? It’s not that cheap! Can this clothe run away?”
When Potiphar returned home, the woman took out the garment again and used it as evidence of Joseph’s attempted rape. The woman said to her husband, “The Hebrew man you brought back came into the house to tease me and said he wanted to sleep with me. I shouted loudly, and he threw his clothes here and ran out.”
Potiphar heard the woman crying. And she makes a lot of sense. And she had her clothes as evidence, so she believed it. He couldn’t argue, so he ordered Joseph to put in prison. This prison was in the palace of Potiphar, the captain of the guard, and it was the place where Pharaoh imprisoned prisoners.
The woman falsely accused Joseph and he imprisoned. The jailer took pity on him and asked him to be the leader of the prisoners. From then on, when Joseph was in prison, no one made things difficult for him, and everything went smoothly.
The captain of the guard arranged Joseph to serve the cup bearer and chief cook of the king of Egypt
Soon, there come two new high-ranking prisoners imprisoned in the prison. They were the cup bearer and chief cook of the king of Egypt. Because they offended Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. The captain of the guard handed over the two new prisoners to Joseph, asking him to take good care of them.
The cup bearer and chief cook in prison. In the same night, each had a dream. Waking up in the morning, Joseph found that the faces of these two men were very different from those in the past. He felt strange, so he asked them, “What’s the matter today, you are so sad?”
They replied in unison: “We had a dream alone at night, and no one could solve it. We don’t know whether it is a blessing or a curse, so we worried here.”
Joseph helps the cup bearer and chief cook of the king of Egypt to interpret dreams
“Don’t worry.” Joseph said, “Please tell the dream, and I will interpret it for you.”
Joseph helps the cup bearer of the king of Egypt to interpret dreams
So the cup bearer spoke first, “I dreamed that there was a vine in front of me, and there were three branches on the tree, which seemed to have sprouted and blossomed, and the grapes on it were ripe. Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, so I squeezed grapes into Pharaoh’s cup and passed the cup into his hand. “
After hearing this, Joseph explained to the cup bearer, “That’s what you dreamed about—the three branches are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will definitely lift you out of prison and reinstate you as a judge. You will still pass the cup into Pharaoh’s hand, just like you were his cup bearer before. When you benefit, please remember me, speak well of me in front of Pharaoh, and save me from prison. I come from the land of the Hebrews, and my brothers sold me to a merchant to here, and I did no wrong here, and they put me in prison.”
Joseph helps the chief cook of the king of Egypt to interpret dreams
Seeing that, Joseph interpreted the dream well. The chief cook said to Joseph, “In my dream, I saw three baskets of white cakes on my head. And in the top basket were all kinds of food, baked for Pharaoh. Birds come and eat the food in my basket. “
Hearing this, Joseph sighed, and said to the chief cook, “I want to interpret your dream in this way—three baskets are three days. Within three days, Pharaoh will surely cut off your head and hang you on a tree, and birds will come and eat your flesh. “
On the third day, it was Pharaoh’s birthday. He held a grand feast for his ministers, and he had to bring the chief butler and chief cook out of prison. Pharaoh reinstated the cup bearer, who still held the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. At the same time, the king of Egypt ordered that execute the chief cook, and ordered that hanged his body on a tree, just like what Joseph said.
After the cup bearer got out of prison, he forgot about Joseph. He didn’t mention Joseph in front of Pharaoh, so Joseph stayed in prison all the time.
Pharaoh asked Joseph to interpret his dream
Two years after the head of the family wronged Joseph and imprisoned, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the river, and seven cows came up from the river to graze on the bank. They were beautiful and fat. Then seven more cows came up from the river, ugly and thin, and stood by the river with the seven cows before. The seven ugly and thin cows that came after devoured the seven beautiful and fat cows that came.
Pharaoh woke up, rubbed his eyes, and fell into a dream again.
He dreamed that a stalk of wheat grew seven tassels, which were strong and full. Then seven more tassels grew, which withered and shriveled, and were all scorched by the east wind. The seven withered and shriveled tassels swallowed the seven strong and full tassels. When Pharaoh woke up, he knew it was another dream.
Nobody in the palace could help Pharaoh interpret this dream
Waking up in the morning, Pharaoh felt very uneasy, but he couldn’t figure out why he had such two clear dreams. He sent people out and summoned all the magicians and doctors in Egypt, asking them to realize their dreams.
“I have told you the two dreams I had, who can interpret them?” After Pharaoh finished speaking, he glanced at the ministers and the magicians and doctors.
There was no sound below, all of them shut their mouths tightly, shaking their heads and pretending to be thinking. Everyone knows that this is a good opportunity to get promoted and make a fortune, but their minds are like a mess, and they can’t figure it out.
“Which one of you can understand?” Pharaoh’s eyes fell on the inner courtiers, and they all followed their eyes and remained silent.
The cup bearer recommended Joseph to help Pharaoh interpret this dream
Seeing these wine bags and rice bags, they couldn’t solve his problems at all, and Pharaoh’s lungs were about to explode. He was about to lose his temper when he saw a man emerge from the crowd. It turned out to be the cup bearer who had been reinstated two years ago. He walked up to the pharaoh and said in front of everyone.” Please calm down the pharaoh. I will recommend someone who can make this dream come true.”
“What is this man’s name and where is he now?” Pharaoh asked.
“His name is Joseph, and he is in prison now.” the cup bearer continued, “The servant is guilty. I once sat in prison with the chief cook. In prison, on that same night, the chief cook and I each had a dream. After waking up, none of us could figure it out. While we were thinking hard, Joseph came among us. He was a Hebrew boy who was originally the servant of the captain of the guard. He was imprisoned for some reason. In the prison in the Chief Guard’s Mansion. We told him the dreams each person had, and he quickly interpreted them, and later all of them came true, exactly as he said——I was reinstated as an official, and the chief cook was hung on a tree. “
Pharaoh sent for Joseph
Pharaoh immediately sent for Joseph. Joseph was in a panic in prison, but unexpectedly, he was overjoyed! He was brought out of the prison, hurriedly put on new clothes, shaved his head, shaved his face, washed his feet, and dressed up neatly for a while, before coming to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had two dreams, and no one can interpret them. I heard that you can interpret them, can you?”
Joseph replied to Pharaoh, “It is none of my business. God will answer Pharaoh with a word of peace.”
Joseph calmly interprets pharaoh’s dreams in front of everyone
So Pharaoh recounted the two dreams from beginning to end, and after he finished speaking, he stared at Joseph to see how he could interpret them. In front of the Egyptian king, under the watchful eyes of everyone, Joseph said calmly: “Pharaoh had two dreams, but it turned out to be one. This is what God foretells the future to Pharaoh. The seven good cows in the dream are seven years, and the seven good tassels are also seven years, so this dream is originally one, and they are all seven harvest years. The seven lean cows that came up after them were seven years, and the seven withered tassels that were scorched by the east wind were also seven years, seven years of famine. Through these two dreams, God predicted to Pharaoh that there would be seven years of great abundance in the whole of Egypt, followed by six years of great famine. The famine was so great that it made people forget that there had been a previous good year. This event is coming soon, and I hope that Pharaoh will prepare early. “
The explanation of Dream Realization was so thorough that Pharaoh listened attentively and nodded from time to time.
“Pharaoh, once I say this, you understand, right?”
“Yes, once you say that, I understand.”
Joseph teaches Pharaoh how to deal with famine
Responding to such a sentence, Pharaoh asked a question, good years are better, but what about famine years? What about famine years?
“Didn’t I tell you that Pharaoh should to make preparations?” Joseph said, “As for how to prepare, Pharaoh should be the one to choose a wise man to rule over the whole land of Egypt. Officials are appointed below to manage various places. During the seven years of good harvest, one-fifth of the land of Egypt was requisitioned, and the grain collected in these good years was collected and stored in each city. These grains belonged to Pharaoh for the next seven years of famine, lest Egypt be destroyed by famine.
This method of making up for the famine with a good year was unanimously approved by Pharaoh and all his servants. As for choosing an intelligent and wise Egyptian prime minister, of course Joseph, who has the spirituality of God, must be the first choice. Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Since God instructed you to realize my dream, it can be seen that no one is as clever and wise as you. I appointed you as the prime minister of Egypt, and you will rule the whole land of Egypt under one person and over ten thousand people. All my subjects must obey your words, but I am greater than you on the throne. “
So saying, Pharaoh took off the imprinted ring from his hand, put it on Joseph’s hand, and put the gold chain around his neck, and dressed him in linen clothes himself, and told Joseph to ride in Pharaoh’s sidecar when he went out. Someone in front would clear the way, and he told the passers-by on both sides to kneel down. In all of Egypt, no one was allowed to act without Joseph’s order.
Joseph changed from slave to prime minister of Egypt
Joseph jumped from a slave in prison to become the prime minister of Egypt. He was thirty years old at the time and was a very popular minister.
Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, betrothed Asenah, the daughter of the priest of On, to Joseph as his wife. After marriage, Asenath bore Joseph two sons during those years of abundance. The name of the firstborn was Manasseh, and the name of the second was Ephraim.
After becoming prime minister, Joseph went out from Pharaoh’s presence and toured all over Egypt. The weather is good everywhere, the grain is plentiful, and the food is endless, piled up like sand dunes, which cannot be counted, and there have been seven great harvest years in a row. Joseph stored all the grain collected in the cities, and the storehouses were full.
After the seven years of abundance, seven years of famine followed. The seedlings are scorched, the five grains are not harvested, the land is thousands of miles away, and mourning is everywhere. All the grain of the Gentiles had been eaten up, and only Egypt had food in store. When the people were famine, they begged Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh said to them, “Go to Joseph and buy food from him, and obey him in everything.”
Joseph opened granaries everywhere and sold grain to the Egyptians.
At that time, famine spread all over the world, and hungry people from all over the world fled to Egypt, because only Egypt had food reserves.
Joseph’s elder brother came to Egypt to sell grain
The news that there was food in Egypt flew to the land of Canaan like wings in the famine year. Jacob, who lived in the land of Canaan, seemed to see a glimmer of hope. He said to his sons, “Why do you wait and see each other? I heard that there is grain in Egypt. You can go there with some silver and bring back some grain. Otherwise, if there is no food, we will all starve to death. “
So Jacob kept only Benjamin, the youngest, with him, and sent the rest of his sons to Egypt to buy grain.
Joseph was in charge of food in Egypt at that time. Joseph’s brothers arrived in a hurry, and they all fell on the ground and bowed down to him. It turned out that they did not recognize that this was Joseph who had been betrayed by them. Joseph knew his brothers, but he deliberately pretended not to know them and asked sharply, “Hey, where are you from?”
“From the land of Canaan.” the brethren replied, “we have come to buy food.”
Joseph asks his brothers how the family is doing
“No.” Joseph shouted, “You are spies, and you are here to spy on the truth!”
They said to him, “No, my lord. The servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man, your honest servants, and the servants are not spies.”
“You must have come here to spy on the truth!” Joseph threatened those brothers who were prostrate and bowed to him.
They talked about their life experience, trembling: “The servants were originally the sons of a man in Canaan. There were twelve brothers. One of them is gone, and there is a younger brother who stays with his father.”
“There is another little brother? Then why didn’t you bring it? It seems that there is something wrong with it! If you can’t verify your words, then you must be spies!” After Joseph said, he put them all in prison. .
Years of natural disasters made the elder brothers extremely frightened, and they couldn’t help but think of the crime of murdering their younger brother more than ten years ago.
“We have sinned in Joseph,” they said to one another, “when we saw his misery at our hands, but refused to forgive him, and now the misery has come upon us. “
The eldest Reuben began to complain: “I told you at that time, don’t hurt that child, but you just didn’t listen!”
Joseph asked to keep Simeon and give food to his brothers to take home
Memories are painful and everyone is sad. The brethren spoke in Hebrew, all without their Egyptian masters behind their backs. The reason is that they feel that he cannot understand without an interpreter. Unexpectedly, these words pierced Joseph’s heart like a needle, and he turned and walked out, crying bitterly. But he would not reveal the truth prematurely, so holding back his tears, he returned to them and said, “You must bring your little brother to prove the truth of those words, or you are spies!” As he spoke, he grabbed Simeon and tied him up on the spot, “Leave this man, the others go back, and bring the little brother to testify. Only then will I believe that you are honest men.”
Frosty on the surface, but a fire of sympathy burns inside. Joseph ordered his men to fill the sacks of the Israelites with grain and put silver into them as well, which Joseph intended to return to them. Joseph also brought them food for the journey.
The brothers were driving a donkey with a bag on its back, the bag was full of grain, and the returned silver was buried in the grain, so they set off anxiously.
Halfway to the accommodation, someone opened his pocket and fed the donkey with food, only to find: silver, the silver for buying grain, lying quietly in the pocket! The brothers opened their pockets one after another, and as a result, all the returned silver appeared in their pockets. The unexpectedly returned silver baffled the brothers. When people are suffering, they often think of the bad. They were afraid that the silver would bring new disasters.
Joseph’s brothers return to their home
The brothers returned to the land of Canaan in fear, and when they saw their father Jacob, they talked to him about the adventure of buying grain.
“The owner of that place is so vicious. He insisted that we were spies and put us all in prison.”
“Then how did you escape?” Father asked eagerly.
“Those who didn’t escape were released.” Someone explained to his father, “We were locked up in prison for three days, and the master released us, leaving only Simeon as a hostage. The master said, our words cannot be trusted. We said that we still have an old father and a younger brother in our family. He asked us to come back and bring our little brother to testify, “Then they talked about the incoming food and the refund of the silver from beginning to end.
Instead, the white money brought new fears to the old man. He seemed to see the ever-extending disaster: Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Will he take away his youngest son Benjamin next time?
“No, you can’t take Benjamin away!”
Reuben pleaded with his father, “Leave it to me. I promise to bring him back. If you don’t bring him back, you can kill my two sons.”
“My youngest son must not go with you!” said the old man angrily, “His brother is dead, and now he is the only one left. If he is killed on the road, how can I be worthy of his dead mother? So how can I survive? Are you going to send me gray-haired and miserable to hell?” He sighed in despair, categorically refusing to take the risk of letting his youngest son go.
Joseph’s brothers went to Egypt to buy grain again
The food brought from Egypt temporarily filled the rumbling stomachs of the Israelites, but sitting on empty mountains was not a long-term solution. The food in the pockets gradually shrank, and the famine had not yet come to an end. How can people live without food?
Jacob said to his sons, “Go and buy some more food, we are running out of food again.”
Father allows Joseph’s brothers to take Benjamin, the youngest child
“Then you have to take the boy with you.” Judas said to his father, “The man warned us earnestly, saying that unless the little brother comes with you, you will never see my face. If you send your little brother with us, then we’ll go and buy you food; otherwise, we can’t go. “
“Why did you deceive me like this and tell that man that you have brothers?” Jacob blamed them instead.
They replied: “No, no, the man asked very detailed questions. Is your father still alive? Do you have any brothers? We had to tell him directly. I never dreamed that he wanted us to take our little brother away!”
“Send the lad with us, and we will go.” Judah said repeatedly to his father, “buy food and the whole family will live, or else you and we, and the women and children, will starve to death. You handed the boy over to us long ago, and now you have returned for the second time. We assure you, if you don’t bring him back, I’d rather bear the charge forever.”
The father was helpless and suggested to Judah what to do
“In that case, let’s do it this way!” In desperation, his father reluctantly agreed with Judah’s proposal, “You take the native products here——Frankincense, honey, spices, myrrh, Torrens, almonds, choose the best of each, and take as a gift to the master. You have to take double the amount of money, and return the money that was returned last time to others. Maybe they gave it to you by mistake. This time, Benjamin will go with you. May that man has mercy on you, and let Simeon and Benjamin go back. Alas, if I lose my son, so be it! “
The brethren prepared the donkey, put Benjamin on it, packed gifts and silver in their pockets, and hurriedly embarked on the journey to Egypt.
When they stood before Joseph with the boy, Joseph immediately ordered him to be the housekeeper.
“Take these people into the house, the animals will be slaughtered, and the feast will be prepared, and I will have lunch with these people.”
Simeon arrived at the Egyptian palace with the money from the last time and this time, and eleven brothers
At this time, Simeon was also brought out, and the eleven brothers were led into Joseph’s house. As soon as they entered the house, they murmured in their hearts: “This must be a matter of money! Are we going to be forced to be slaves, or are we going to confiscate our donkeys?”
Seeing the steward standing at the door of the house, they went up to him and talked to him: “My lord, the reason we came last time was to buy grain. It was found that all the money spent was returned to everyone’s pockets intact. Now we have brought back all the money, as well as the money for buying grain this time, and we are going to hand it over to you together. “
“We have already received the money you bought for grain last time.” The housekeeper said, “The money you found in your pockets is the treasure God gave you.”
Then the housekeeper washed their feet with water, and was busy bringing grass and feed to the donkey. Back and forth, comforting them non-stop.
At noon, Joseph came back. The brethren offered their gifts, and they all fell down and bowed down in awe. Joseph greeted them, and asked, “Is your father still alive? Is he well?”
The brethren replied reverently, “Your servant our father, he is alive and well.”
Joseph finally met Benjamin, who was born in the same father and mother
Joseph raised his eyes and saw his younger brother, Benjamin, who was born to the same father and mother, and said joyfully, “Is that the youngest brother you told me about last time?” He touched the top of his head and said, “My little boy, may God bless you!”
When the brothers met here, Joseph had mixed feelings, especially the appearance of his younger brother Benjamin, which made it even more difficult for him to restrain his natural brotherhood, and he almost couldn’t hold back his tears. Joseph hurried into his bedroom and wept heartily by himself. Then he came out after washing his face, forced himself to be calm, and ordered his subordinates to hold a banquet.
Three tables were set: one for Joseph alone, one for the Hebrew brothers, and one for the Egyptian who sat with him. Because the Egyptians looked down on the Hebrews, they could not sit with them.
Joseph surprised the brothers by making them sit before him in order of oldest and youngest. Joseph divided the food in front of him and gave it to them. Among them, five times more were given to Benjamin than the others.
At the banquet, everyone drank wine and had fun with Joseph. After the banquet was over, the brothers each handed in the silver for the grain purchase, and planned to go back early tomorrow.
Joseph designed to keep Benjamin
Joseph called the steward aside and told him, “Put my silver divination cup in the boy’s pocket.”
“In the pocket, do you still need to put food for them?” the housekeeper asked.
“Of course.” The master ordered, “their donkeys can carry as much as they can, and they will be full.”
“What about the silver, should we return it?” the housekeeper asked.
“Of course.” The master ordered, “Just like last time, put them all back in their pockets.”
The housekeeper only knows how to obey the master, and he will do whatever the master tells him to do.
When they got up the next morning, the brothers saw that everything was ready for them. They hurried on the road, wishing they could fly home in no time. Too much smoothness makes them worry that things will change.
It was estimated that they had left the city, so Joseph said to the steward, “Lead men out of the city and chase them, and when you catch them, tell them why you stole the master’s silver cup…” After giving such instructions, the obedient housekeeper immediately took action.
The brothers who stopped Joseph
The brothers were hurrying on their way, when they suddenly heard someone shouting from behind: “Stop, you can’t run if you want to!”
Looking back, it turned out that the housekeeper led a group of angry people to catch up. He repeated the words taught by Joseph to these people: “…the silver cup is gone, who stole it? Hand it over quickly!”
“We don’t steal anything.” The brothers argued, “We found silver last time and brought it back from Canaan and returned it to you. How could we steal your master’s silver cup this time?”
“That’s the silver cup my master uses for divination.” The steward said aggressively, “You Hebrews must have stolen it!”
“Then search it.” The brothers said unconvinced, “Whoever finds the silver cup from the hand of us will have his life, and the rest will be your slaves.”
“It’s a deal.” said the steward, “I will do as you say! But I want to lower the punishment, which is beneficial to you. Whoever finds it from him will be our slave, and the rest will be released without charge.
The steward found the silver cup for divination in Benjamin’s pocket
So the search began. The brothers unloaded everyone’s pockets from the donkey’s back, put them on the ground, opened the mouth of the pockets, and let people search and see casually. The housekeeper searched in order, starting with the older ones and going all the way to the younger ones. It happened to be found in Benjamin’s pocket.
“What is this?” The steward raised the silver cup high, “You boy, come with me, it turns out that you stole the silver cup used by my master for divination!”
The brothers were dumbfounded. They never expected that this thing would be found in the hands of the little brother.
“One person does the work and the other person is responsible, and everyone else goes back!” The housekeeper let everyone go, and only held Benjamin in his hands.
Brothers won’t let Joseph keep Benjamin
“No!” The brothers tore their clothes one by one, “We all go with you!”
The brothers tied up their pockets, put them on the donkey’s back, and followed the housekeeper back to the city.
They went into the house, and when they saw Joseph, they threw themselves on the ground, and made atonement against him.
Joseph said to them, “When you do such a thing, don’t you think that a man like me can know divination?”
“Your servant is guilty.” Judas spoke first, “Since God has found out the guilt of your servant, let us all be your servants!” He knew that there were all the evidence, and it was useless to argue, and there was no way to argue, had no choice but to bow his head and confess, “From now on, we are all your slaves.”
“I will never agree to do this.” Joseph said, “Before you speak, whoever finds the silver cup from will be my servant. The others are innocent. I cannot keep you. You can go home in safety.”
Judas prostrated himself and begged: “My lord, please let me be your servant, and replace this boy. Because the mother of this boy has only two children left, and his brother is gone. He is the only one left. Well, my father originally didn’t let him out. He is my father’s lifeblood, and if something bad happens, my father will feel sorry for him. Our father is also your servant, who can bear to see his old man, gray-haired, miserably going to the underworld… I beg my lord, please be merciful and let this boy go back. “
Hearing Judas’ heartfelt words, Joseph’s heart felt like a knife, and he said loudly, “Left and right family members, all go out!”
Joseph and his brothers recognize each other
As soon as the family left, he said “wow” and burst into tears. The brothers around were confused and in a daze when they suddenly heard the master say, “I am Joseph!”
“Ah—” The brothers suddenly realized that he was Joseph who was sold to Egypt by them!
No wonder it was so strange, it turned out to be my brother! Because of hunger and fear, they did not dare to look up to their Egyptian masters; because Joseph’s stature and clothing had changed too much, and because he had covered up his childhood face for more than ten years; and various other unimaginable reasons, so that the brethren always regarded him as an Egyptian. Now they recognized that it was indeed Joseph. However, their fear did not disappear because of this, especially the brothers who felt ashamed, seemed to see some kind of danger in Joseph.
“Don’t grieve yourselves and grudge yourselves.” Joseph said, “Don’t be grieved because you sold me into Egypt. I went to Egypt because God sent me to save many lives. Is our father really still around? I miss him day and night…”
Joseph’s tolerance swept away the jealousy and hatred of the past, and the brothers were united in their hearts, filled with remorse and joy, and couldn’t help crying. The sound came out of the house and into the ears of the Egyptians.
The news spread to Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers were coming, and Pharaoh and his servants were very happy.
Joseph sent his brothers on the road as Pharaoh ordered
Pharaoh sent someone to summon Joseph to the palace, personally intervened in this matter, and issued a comforting order on the spot: “Go and tell those brothers, what do you want to do? Take your father and all his household to me, and they will share in all the good things of Egypt. “
Joseph sent his brothers on the road, as Pharaoh ordered. This time was very different from the last time. Each of them got a set of clothes, and the younger brother Benjamin got five sets of clothes plus three hundred Denali; they drove a cart full of food for the journey; Twenty new donkeys were added to the donkeys they were driving, which Joseph specially gave to his father. Among them, ten male donkeys carried all kinds of clothes on their backs, and ten female donkeys carried various kinds of food on their backs, which were specially for the needs of the old man on the road. Like a group of mighty traveling merchants, the brothers left Egypt and headed for the land of Canaan, which has been desolate for years.
The father knew that Joseph was not dead
When his father Jacob saw them returning with Benjamin, his heart was finally relieved. But when he heard that Joseph had become the prime minister in Egypt, his mind was at a loss, as if he had been immersed in icy water—poor Joseph, he had already been torn to pieces by wild beasts!
“Joseph is not dead.” The brothers confirmed to the old man, “He is still alive, and now he is the prime minister of Egypt. If you don’t believe me, all these things are all given by him. Here, these are specially given to you old man…”
Puzzled, the old man walked out of the tent and watched his sons carrying things inside one by one, food, clothes, utensils, vegetables, bread… He saw it with his own eyes and touched it with his own hands. He couldn’t help but believe that it was an item from Egypt.
Joseph sent a message to his father through his brothers, “Please take this chariot and go down to Egypt!”
Father looked at the car sent by Joseph, touched and touched, his numb heart gradually woke up and became brighter, he was ecstatic, and he announced to the whole family: “Really, indeed, my Joseph is alive, and I am going to Egypt to find him!”
Father Jacob (also known as Israel) led the family to move to Egypt. When he arrived in Egypt, he sent Judas to meet Joseph first, and Joseph sent someone to lead the way, leading the whole family to the land of Goshen. Joseph himself came to Goshen in Pharaoh’s sidecar to meet his father Jacob (aka Israel).
Joseph meets his father Jacob (aka Israel)
Father Jacob (also known as Israel) and his son met in Goshen. They were filled with sorrow and joy, and burst into tears. Joseph fell on his father’s neck and cried for a long time. Father Jacob (also known as Israel) said to Joseph: “Now that I can see you and know that you are alive, I am willing to die!”
With Pharaoh’s consent, his father Jacob (also known as Israel) and his family have lived in the land of Goshen in Egypt ever since. They still work as sheep herders. There were seventy Israelites when they first arrived in Egypt, including Joseph’s two sons. They set up property there, had children and lived a carefree nomadic life.
Father Jacob (also known as Israel) lived in Egypt for seventeen years. When he was dying, he called Joseph to his bed and told him: “When I sleep with my grandfather and my father, you will bring me out of Egypt and bury me where they were buried.”
“Father, don’t worry.” Joseph said, “I will do it.” Then he swore an oath before his father.
Father Jacob (aka Israel) dies and is buried with his ancestors in the Cave of Machpelah
After blessing his sons, father Jacob (aka Israel) died at the age of one hundred and forty-seven. Pharaoh sent his servants and elders to accompany Joseph and his brothers to mourn for Israel. After a long journey, they transported his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of Machpelah.
Three generations of ancestors of Jacob (also known as Israel) were buried in the Cave of Machpelah: the first generation ancestors were Abraham and his wife Sarah, the second generation ancestors were Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and the third generation ancestors were father Jacob (aka Israel) and wife Leah.
Jacob was also called Israel, and his twelve sons were the twelve patriarchs of the Israelites. Under each patriarch formed a tribe, a total of twelve tribes.
What does Joseph’s story teach us?
God’s leading in our lives can be completely incomprehensible to us. Joseph’s life story tells us that despite this, he was still in power and true to his promises. Joseph’s life story shows that even in the midst of injustice and difficult circumstances, people can experience God’s presence.
