COME AS A CHILD LESSON 98 TRAVELING BACK TO EGYPT

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

For a long time Israel/Jacob was very stubborn about letting the brothers of Joseph take Benjamin back to the land of Egypt.  He did not want them to take him away! 

But the grain they brought was beginning to dwindle down, and they soon would be hungry again.   One day Jacob told them to go back to Egypt and buy more food.  Judah reminded their father that they had been warned that they would not be allowed to buy any more food unless they brought Benjamin with them.  They could not go without him.

Jacob in all of his sorrow asked the logical question:  “Why did you tell the man you had a younger brother in the first place?”

They replied:  “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family.  “Is your father still living?  Do you have another brother?”  We simply answered his questions.  How were we to know he would say, “Bring your brother down here?”

Then Judah said to his father, Israel (Jacob) “Send the boy along with us and we will go at once so that we all can live and not die.  I will guarantee the safety of Benjamin.  You can hold me personally responsible for him.  If I do not bring him back to you I will bear the blame before you all of the rest of my life.  By now we could have already made the journey and returned twice.  It is not good to wait any longer."  

Finally Israel agreed.  He really had no choice. 

He told the brothers to put some of the finest products of the land into their sacks to give to the man.  They took balm and honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.  They took double the amount of silver, one amount to pay for new food and one amount to repay what had been returned to them, and they took Benjamin. 

Israel stayed behind and mourned.  He prayed for God to have mercy on all of them. 

The brothers hurried to Egypt and presented themselves before Joseph.  When Joseph saw them and that they had Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his household:  “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal, they are to eat with me at noon.”

The servant did exactly as he was told.  The brothers were very frightened when they were taken to Joseph’s house.  They thought, ‘we were brought here because of the silver that was put into our sacks the first time.  He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.’  

They went up to Joseph’s steward and said “We beg your pardon, our lord; we came down here the first time to buy food.  But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver – the exact weight – in the mouth of his sack.  So we have brought it back with us.  We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food.  We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.”

“It is alright” the servant said.  “Do not be afraid.  Your God, the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks.  I received your silver.

Then the servant of Joseph brought Simeon out to them.  After they gladly and warmly greeted Simeon the servant took them into Joseph’s house and gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys.  They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard they were to eat with him. 

When Joseph arrived and greeted them, they presented their gifts and they bowed down to the ground before him.  He asked them how they were doing and he inquired about the health of their aged father.  He asked if the father was still living.

Once again, they bowed and answered Joseph that the father was alive and well. 

Joseph walked over to Benjamin and asked if he was the youngest brother.  They nodded and Joseph said “God be gracious to you, my son.” 

Joseph was so deeply moved at seeing his brother Benjamin, the only other son of his own mother, that he had to hurry out of the room and look for a place to weep.  He went into his own private room and wept.  He finally composed himself again, came back out and said “Serve the food.”

Egyptians do not eat with Hebrews.  That is detestable to Egyptians.  So they served Joseph by himself in one area of the room, the other Egyptians that were there in another section of the room, and the brothers of Joseph were separated into the section of the room with Joseph.   Joseph’s brothers were then seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest.  This astonished them, and they looked silently at each other in wonder  

When the food came, from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portions were five times as much as anyone else’s.  They did not know what to make of all this, they simply feasted and drank freely with him.