Joseph's Brethren Return with Benjamin

43¹ The famine got worse. ² When they had eaten all the food they had brought back from Egypt, their father said, "Go back and get some more food." ³ But Judah said, "The man warned us most emphatically, 'You won't so much as see my face if you don't have your brother with you.' ⁴ If you're ready to release our brother to go with us, we'll go down and get you food. ⁵ But if you're not ready, we aren't going. What would be the use? The man told us, 'You won't so much as see my face if you don't have your brother with you.'" ⁶ Israel said, "Why are you making my life so difficult! Why did you ever tell the man you had another brother?" ⁷ They said, "The man pressed us hard, asking pointed questions about our family: 'Is your father alive? Do you have another brother?' So we answered his questions. How did we know that he'd say, 'Bring your brother here'?" ⁸ Judah pushed his father Israel. "Let the boy go; I'll take charge of him. Let us go and be on our way - if we don't get going, we're all going to starve to death - we and you and our children too! ⁹ I'll take full responsibility for his safety; it's my life on the line for his. If I don't bring him back safe and sound, I'm the guilty one; I'll take all the blame. ¹⁰ If we had gone ahead in the first place instead of procrastinating like this, we could have been there and back twice over."

¹¹ Their father Israel gave in. "If it has to be, it has to be. But do this: stuff your packs with the finest products from the land you can find and take them to the man as gifts - some balm and honey, some spices and perfumes, some pistachios and almonds. ¹² And take plenty of money - pay back double what was returned to your sacks; that might have been a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother and get going. Go back to the man. ¹⁴ And may The Strong God give you grace in that man's eyes so that he'll send back your other brother along with Benjamin. For me, nothing's left; I've lost everything."

¹⁵ The men took the gifts, double the money, and Benjamin. They lost no time in getting to Egypt and meeting Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw that they had Benjamin with them, he told his house steward, "Take these men into the house and make them at home. Butcher an animal and prepare a meal; these men are going to eat with me at noon." ¹⁷ The steward did what Joseph had said and took them inside. ¹⁸ But they became anxious when they were brought into Joseph's home, thinking, "It's the money; he thinks we ran off with the money on our first trip down here. And now he's got us where he wants us - he's going to turn us into slaves and confiscate our donkeys." ¹⁹ So they went up to Joseph's house steward and talked to him in the doorway. ²⁰ They said, "Listen, master. We came down here one other time to buy food. ²¹ On our way home, the first night out we opened our bags and found our money at the mouth of the bag - the exact amount we'd paid. We've brought it all back ²² and have plenty more to buy more food with. We have no idea who put the money in our bags." ²³ The steward said, "Everything's in order. Don't worry. Your God and the God of your father must have given you a bonus. I was paid in full." And with that, he presented Simeon to them. ²⁴ He then took them inside Joseph's house and made them comfortable - gave them water to wash their feet and saw to the feeding of their donkeys. ²⁵ The brothers spread out their gifts as they waited for Joseph to show up at noon - they had been told that they were to have dinner with him.

²⁶ When Joseph got home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought and bowed respectfully before him. ²⁷ Joseph welcomed them and said, "And your old father whom you mentioned to me, how is he? Is he still alive?" ²⁸ They said, "Yes - your servant our father is quite well, very much alive." And they again bowed respectfully before him. ²⁹ Then Joseph picked out his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son. He asked, "And is this your youngest brother that you told me about?" Then he said, "God be gracious to you, my son." ³⁰ Deeply moved on seeing his brother and about to burst into tears, Joseph hurried out into another room and had a good cry. ³¹ Then he washed his face, got a grip on himself, and said, "Let's eat." ³² Joseph was served at his private table, the brothers off by themselves and the Egyptians off by themselves (Egyptians won't eat at the same table with Hebrews; it's repulsive to them). ³³ The brothers were seated facing Joseph, arranged in order of their age, from the oldest to the youngest. They looked at one another wide-eyed, wondering what would happen next. ³⁴ When the brothers' plates were served from Joseph's table, Benjamin's plate came piled high, far more so than his brothers. And so the brothers feasted with Joseph, drinking freely.

The Missing Cup

44¹ Joseph ordered his house steward: "Fill the men's bags with food - all they can carry - and replace each one's money at the top of the bag. ² Then put my chalice, my silver chalice, in the top of the bag of the youngest, along with the money for his food." He did as Joseph ordered. ³ At break of day the men were sent off with their donkeys. ⁴ They were barely out of the city when Joseph said to his house steward, "Run after them. When you catch up with them, say, 'Why did you pay me back evil for good? ⁵ This is the chalice my master drinks from; he also uses it for divination. This is outrageous!'" ⁶ He caught up with them and repeated all this word for word. ⁷ They said, "What is my master talking about? We would never do anything like that! ⁸ Why, the money we found in our bags earlier, we brought back all the way from Canaan - do you think we'd turn right around and steal it back from your master? ⁹ If that chalice is found on any of us, he'll die; and the rest of us will be your master's slaves." ¹⁰ The steward said, "Very well then, but we won't go that far. Whoever is found with the chalice will be my slave; the rest of you can go free." ¹¹ They outdid each other in putting their bags on the ground and opening them up for inspection. ¹² The steward searched their bags, going from oldest to youngest. The chalice showed up in Benjamin's bag. ¹³ They ripped their clothes in despair, loaded up their donkeys, and went back to the city. ¹⁴ Joseph was still at home when Judah and his brothers got back. They threw themselves down on the ground in front of him. ¹⁵ Joseph accused them: "How can you have done this? You have to know that a man in my position would have discovered this." ¹⁶ Judah as spokesman for the brothers said, "What can we say, master? What is there to say? How can we prove our innocence? God is behind this, exposing how bad we are. We stand guilty before you and ready to be your slaves - we're all in this together, the rest of us as guilty as the one with the chalice." ¹⁷ "I'd never do that to you," said Joseph. "Only the one involved with the chalice will be my slave. The rest of you are free to go back to your father."

Judah Pleads for Benjamin

¹⁸ Judah came forward. He said, "Please, master; can I say just one thing to you? Don't get angry. Don't think I'm presumptuous - you're the same as Pharaoh as far as I'm concerned. ¹⁹ You, master, asked us, 'Do you have a father and a brother?' ²⁰ And we answered honestly, 'We have a father who is old and a younger brother who was born to him in his old age. His brother is dead and he is the only son left from that mother. And his father loves him more than anything.' ²¹ "Then you told us, 'Bring him down here so I can see him.' ²² We told you, master, that it was impossible: 'The boy can't leave his father; if he leaves, his father will die.' ²³ "And then you said, 'If your youngest brother doesn't come with you, you won't be allowed to see me.' ²⁴ "When we returned to our father, we told him everything you said to us. ²⁵ So when our father said, 'Go back and buy some more food,' ²⁶ we told him flatly, 'We can't. The only way we can go back is if our youngest brother is with us. We aren't allowed to even see the man if our youngest brother doesn't come with us.' ²⁷ "Your servant, my father, told us, 'You know very well that my wife gave me two sons. ²⁸ One turned up missing. I concluded that he'd been ripped to pieces. I've never seen him since. ²⁹ If you now go and take this one and something bad happens to him, you'll put my old gray, grieving head in the grave for sure.' ³⁰ "And now, can't you see that if I show up before your servant, my father, without the boy, this son with whom his life is so bound up, ³¹ the moment he realizes the boy is gone, he'll die on the spot. He'll die of grief and we, your servants who are standing here before you, will have killed him. ³² And that's not all. I got my father to release the boy to show him to you by promising, 'If I don't bring him back, I'll stand condemned before you, Father, all my life.' ³³ "So let me stay here as your slave, not this boy. Let the boy go back with his brothers. ³⁴ How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? Oh, don't make me go back and watch my father die in grief!"

Joseph Makes Himself Known to His Brethren

45¹ Joseph couldn't hold himself in any longer, keeping up a front before all his attendants. He cried out, "Leave! Clear out - everyone leave!" So there was no one with Joseph when he identified himself to his brothers. ² But his sobbing was so violent that the Egyptians couldn't help but hear him. The news was soon reported to Pharaoh's palace. ³ Joseph spoke to his brothers: "I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?" But his brothers couldn't say a word. They were speechless - they couldn't believe what they were hearing and seeing. ⁴ "Come closer to me," Joseph said to his brothers. They came closer. "I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ But don't feel badly, don't blame yourselves for selling me. God was behind it. God sent me here ahead of you to save lives. ⁶ There has been a famine in the land now for two years; the famine will continue for five more years - neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ God sent me on ahead to pave the way and make sure there was a remnant in the land, to save your lives in an amazing act of deliverance. ⁸ So you see, it wasn't you who sent me here but God. He set me in place as a father to Pharaoh, put me in charge of his personal affairs, and made me ruler of all Egypt. ⁹ "Hurry back to my father. Tell him, 'Your son Joseph says: I'm master of all of Egypt. Come as fast as you can and join me here. ¹⁰ I'll give you a place to live in Goshen where you'll be close to me - you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and anything else you can think of. ¹¹ I'll take care of you there completely. There are still five more years of famine ahead; I'll make sure all your needs are taken care of, you and everyone connected with you - you won't want for a thing.' ¹² "Look at me. You can see for yourselves, and my brother Benjamin can see for himself, that it's me, my own mouth, telling you all this. ¹³ Tell my father all about the high position I hold in Egypt, tell him everything you've seen here, but don't take all day - hurry up and get my father down here." ¹⁴ Then Joseph threw himself on his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ He then kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Only then were his brothers able to talk with him.

¹⁶ The story was reported in Pharaoh's palace: "Joseph's brothers have come." It was good news to Pharaoh and all who worked with him. ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'This is the plan: Load up your pack animals; go to Canaan, ¹⁸ get your father and your families and bring them back here. I'll settle you on the best land in Egypt - you'll live off the fat of the land.' ¹⁹ "Also tell them this: 'Here's what I want you to do: Take wagons from Egypt to carry your little ones and your wives and load up your father and come back. ²⁰ Don't worry about having to leave things behind; the best in all of Egypt will be yours.'" ²¹ And they did just that, the sons of Israel. Joseph gave them the wagons that Pharaoh had promised and food for the trip. ²² He outfitted all the brothers in brand-new clothes, but he gave Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and several suits of clothes. ²³ He sent his father these gifts: ten donkeys loaded with Egypt's best products and another ten donkeys loaded with grain and bread, provisions for his father's journey back. ²⁴ Then he sent his brothers off. As they left he told them, "Take it easy on the journey; try to get along with each other."

²⁵ They left Egypt and went back to their father Jacob in Canaan. ²⁶ When they told him, "Joseph is still alive - and he's the ruler over the whole land of Egypt!" he went numb; he couldn't believe his ears. ²⁷ But the more they talked, telling him everything that Joseph had told them and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the blood started to flow again - their father Jacob's spirit revived. ²⁸ Israel said, "I've heard enough - my son Joseph is still alive. I've got to go and see him before I die."

²⁴ But the Pharisees, when they heard the report, were cynical. "Black magic," they said. "Some devil trick he's pulled from his sleeve." ²⁵ Jesus confronted their slander. "A judge who gives opposite verdicts on the same person cancels himself out; a family that's in a constant squabble disintegrates; ²⁶ if Satan banishes Satan, is there any Satan left? ²⁷ If you're slinging devil mud at me, calling me a devil kicking out devils, doesn't the same mud stick to your own exorcists? ²⁸ "But if it's by God's power that I am sending the evil spirits packing, then God's kingdom is here for sure. ²⁹ How in the world do you think it's possible in broad daylight to enter the house of an awake, able-bodied man and walk off with his possessions unless you tie him up first? Tie him up, though, and you can clean him out. ³⁰ "This is war, and there is no neutral ground. If you're not on my side, you're the enemy; if you're not helping, you're making things worse. ³¹ "There's nothing done or said that can't be forgiven. But if you deliberately persist in your slanders against God's Spirit, you are repudiating the very One who forgives. ³² If you reject the Son of Man out of some misunderstanding, the Holy Spirit can forgive you, but when you reject the Holy Spirit, you're sawing off the branch on which you're sitting, severing by your own perversity all connection with the One who forgives. ³³ "If you grow a healthy tree, you'll pick healthy fruit. If you grow a diseased tree, you'll pick worm-eaten fruit. The fruit tells you about the tree. ³⁴ "You have minds like a snake pit! How do you suppose what you say is worth anything when you are so foul-minded? It's your heart, not the dictionary, that gives meaning to your words. ³⁵ A good person produces good deeds and words season after season. An evil person is a blight on the orchard. ³⁶ Let me tell you something: Every one of these careless words is going to come back to haunt you. There will be a time of Reckoning. Words are powerful; take them seriously. ³⁷ Words can be your salvation. Words can also be your damnation."

An Evil Generation Seeks a Sign

³⁸ Later a few religion scholars and Pharisees got on him. "Teacher, we want to see your credentials. Give us some hard evidence that God is in this. How about a miracle?" ³⁹ Jesus said, "You're looking for proof, but you're looking for the wrong kind. All you want is something to titillate your curiosity, satisfy your lust for miracles. The only proof you're going to get is what looks like the absence of proof: Jonah-evidence. ⁴⁰ Like Jonah, three days and nights in the fish's belly, the Son of Man will be gone three days and nights in a deep grave. ⁴¹ "On Judgment Day, the Ninevites will stand up and give evidence that will condemn this generation, because when Jonah preached to them they changed their lives. A far greater preacher than Jonah is here, and you squabble about 'proofs.' ⁴² On Judgment Day, the Queen of Sheba will come forward and bring evidence that will condemn this generation, because she traveled from a far corner of the earth to listen to wise Solomon. Wisdom far greater than Solomon's is right in front of you, and you quibble over 'evidence.'

The Return of the Unclean Spirit

⁴³ "When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn't find anyone, ⁴⁴ it says, 'I'll go back to my old haunt.' On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. ⁴⁵ It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he'd never gotten cleaned up in the first place. "That's what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren't hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in."

Jesus' Mother and Brethren

⁴⁶ While he was still talking to the crowd, his mother and brothers showed up. They were outside trying to get a message to him. ⁴⁷ Someone told Jesus, "Your mother and brothers are out here, wanting to speak with you." ⁴⁸ Jesus didn't respond directly, but said, "Who do you think my mother and brothers are?" ⁴⁹ He then stretched out his hand toward his disciples. "Look closely. These are my mother and brothers. ⁵⁰ Obedience is thicker than blood. The person who obeys my heavenly Father's will is my brother and sister and mother."