The famine grew worse; nothing was growing in the land of Canaan, and when they had eaten nearly all the food they had brought from Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Go again, buy us a little food.” But Judah, told his father that the man solemnly told them it was no use coming for food unless Benjamin was with them. If Jacob would send him with them they would go, but if not they would not go down to Egypt. Jacob asked them why they did such a thing as to tell the man they had another brother. and they told how lie had asked them about themselves and their families, so that they had to tell him about Benjamin, and that they didn’t have any thought then that the man would say, “Bring your youngest brother unto me.”
Joseph was wanting to get at their consciences as to what they had done to him, and this is how God does with us. The people in this world have crucified His Son, and He wants to get at our consciences as to which side we take, for we are either accepting Christ, or refusing Him.
At last, after Judah had promised to take great care of Benjamin, the old father consented to his going to Egypt, but he told them to take a present to the man who was over the food supply; the best fruit, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, myrrh, nuts and almonds, and twice as much money as they should need to pay for what they wanted, so they could give back the money they had found in their sacks. All this, of course, was to pacify the great man and keep him from making them more trouble. They didn’t know what love there was in that man’s heart for them, and that love, like God’s to us, was the more because of their very real need.
God is not asking for anything from us, any more than Joseph was looking for a present from his brothers, while they had not owned nor judged their rejection of him. Nor does God want us to pay for anything He gives to us, for it is all of grace, free grace, but if we have judged ourselves for the time we have gone on without Christ, and owned it to Him, and have now accepted Christ, then we should give Him our whole hearts, in response for such great love, but not as payment, for we cannot pay for that.
Again they stood before Joseph, and when he saw Benjamin, he said to his servant who had charge of his house. “Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon.” But the brothers, instead of being pleased, were afraid when they were brought into Joseph’s house. They thought it was on account of the money they had found in their sacks when they went home the last time, and that they would now be taken for slaves. So they went to the steward of Joseph’s house and talked with him at the door, telling him how they had come the first time to buy food, and on the way back when they opened their sacks, every man’s money was found in the mouth of his sack, and how they had brought it back with other money to pay for more food. They did not know who put the money in their sacks, they said, so anxious were they to be known as honest men.
The steward quieted their fears a little by saying, “Peace be to you, fear not; your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money.” They must have wondered a good deal at what the steward said, but perhaps they thought of it no more when he brought out Simeon, who had been locked up while they were gone, and gave them water to wash their feet, according to the custom of those Eastern countries, and fed their donkeys. The brothers then prepared the present ready to give to Joseph, for they had heard that he would come home at noon, and that they were to eat there at his house. When he came, they brought out the present, and bowed down to the ground as they gave it to him. Joseph asked his brothers, still not telling them who he was, who they were, and if their father was well—the old man of whom they had spoken, and as they answered, they bowed down to the ground again. Then he saw Benjamin, and asked, “Is this your younger brother?” But his loving heart was full, and Joseph had to go into another room to cry tears of joy; he was so pleased to see his own brother Benjamin. Coming out again he told his servants to set out the meal, and they had one table for Joseph. one for his eleven brothers, and one for the Egyptians in his house. The brothers didn’t know what to think when they were seated in order according to their ages from the oldest to the youngest. Joseph sent food from his table to his brothers, but to Benjamin, he sent five times as much as to the others.
Probably the brothers, the ten guilty ones, thought that their troubles were over now, when Joseph, though they didn’t dream it was he, was so friendly; but he was not done with them yet. He was surely showing kindness to them when they only deserved to be punished. In this his ways were like God’s who has been so kind to all of us when we didn’t deserve anything but to be sent to hell.