PART 5 – EXPLORING THE EMOTIONS
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Chapter 24 - YOU’RE SPIES! (Joseph episode 9)
Let’s catch up with the story so far. In the last study Joseph finally gained fulfilment and happiness in the land where he was a stranger. He is promoted to chief minister, has a wife and two growing boys, and is faithfully carrying out his role, gathering in the grain and preparing for the coming famine.
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So now we turn to the second major theme in the story – the relationship between Joseph and his brothers. How will Joseph’s brothers be brought back into the story? And what will happen when their lives cross again after many years apart? We are about to find the answers.
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Joseph’s brothers journey to Egypt (from Genesis 41:55 – 42:24)
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During the seven years of plenty, Joseph did his job diligently, and stored up the grain in huge amounts. But after the seven years of plenty, the famine began as God had promised, and Joseph opened up the storehouses so that the Egyptians could come and buy grain.
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But the famine also covered all the lands around Egypt, including the land of Canaan. When Jacob heard that grain was available in Egypt, he said to his sons,
"Listen. I’ve heard there is grain in Egypt. So why don’t you go and buy enough to keep us alive. Otherwise we'll die."
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So Joseph's ten older brothers set off for Egypt. But Jacob wouldn't let Benjamin, the youngest, go with them, in case something happened to him.
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Well, when Joseph’s brothers arrived in Egypt, they happened to come face-to-face with Joseph himself. And when Joseph saw them kneeling before him, he remembered the dreams that he'd had many years before.
Of course Joseph’s brothers had no idea who he was. And Joseph decided to keep his identity secret from them. He said to them,
"You’re spies! You’re not here for the grain – you’ve just come to spy out the land."
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So they said,
"Sir, we’re from an honest family. We’re all brothers, and our father is living in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother stayed there with his father. We have one other brother, but he is no longer with us, and we don’t know where he is."
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Joseph insisted,
"Well, I’m still convinced you’re spies!”
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Joseph put them all in prison and left them there for three days. On the third day he went to them and told them,
"Look, I’m a God-fearing man. I won’t harm you if you do as I say. If you really are honest men as you say you are, choose one of your brothers to stay here in prison. The rest of you may go home with grain for your starving families. But if you come back, you must bring your youngest brother with you. This will prove that you are telling the truth, and you will not die."
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So they agreed. But they were very upset and scared, and they said to each other:
"Surely we are being punished because of what we did to Joseph. We saw how terrified he was when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn't listen to him. That's why we're in this trouble."
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Reuben said to the others,
"Didn't I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn't listen. And now we are being paid back for our treachery!"
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Of course, they didn't know that Joseph could understand them, because he’d been speaking to them through an interpreter. When Joseph heard his brothers discussing these things, he had to turn away from them, and he wept in secret. When he regained his composure, he spoke to them again. Then he chose Simeon to stay behind as a hostage and had him tied up right in front of their eyes.
The journey home (from Genesis 42:25-38)
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After this, Joseph ordered his servants to fill the men's sacks with grain, but he also gave them instructions to put each brother's payment in the top of his sack. He also gave the brothers supplies for their journey home. So the brothers loaded their donkeys with the sacks of grain and headed back to Canaan, leaving Simeon behind as a hostage.
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While the brothers were on the way home, they stopped for the night. One of them opened his sack to get some grain to feed his donkey, and he found his money in the top of his sack. They were astonished and very upset. They were trembling with fear and said to each other,
"What on earth is happening? What is God doing to us?"
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When the brothers arrived back home they all emptied out their sacks, and each of them found the bag of money he had paid for the grain! Everyone was terrified when they saw the bags of money.
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Then Joseph’s brothers told their father everything that had happened to them. They told him how the governor of the land had accused them of being spies – how he had kept Simeon as a hostage – and how he had demanded that they bring their younger brother with them if they ever went back.
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Jacob exclaimed,
"You are robbing me of my children, one by one! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!"
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Then Reuben said to his father,
"I will be responsible for Benjamin, and I promise to bring him back safely. You may kill my two sons if I don't bring him back to you.”
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But Jacob refused,
"I won’t let Benjamin go with you. His brother Joseph is dead, and Benjamin is all I have left. If anything happened to him, I would die with grief. "
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Joseph’s emotional turmoil
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The unexpected meeting that occurs at the beginning of this episode is clearly very emotionally charged – both for Joseph and for his brothers. We can’t tell for sure how long it is since Joseph last saw his brothers, but a reasonable estimate would be between 15 and 20 years.
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Joseph named his first son Manasseh, because "God has made me forget all my past troubles and the grief I suffered from my family." So we can assume that Joseph has put behind him all the traumatic memories of his brothers, of the rivalry between them, and the horrific day they disposed of him by selling him as a slave.
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So imagine how Joseph must feel when his brothers suddenly turn up among the other foreigners desperate to find food and save themselves from starvation. We are told that, “When Joseph saw them kneeling before him, he remembered the dreams that he'd had many years before”. The first reaction must have been one of shock. Then all those memories that had been hidden at the back of his mind must have suddenly come flooding back.
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But the mention of the dreams is especially significant. His dreams, of course, predicted that his brothers would one day kneel in submission before him. And now here they were!!
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So Joseph must have been in some mental/emotional turmoil.
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On the one hand, he must be coping with plenty of negative emotions. His past experiences with his brothers were harrowing and traumatic.
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But the reminder of his dreams was at least a hint that God was somehow in this situation… that God had been preparing him for this event.
But what should he do? How was he supposed to react? He needed time to think!
So it seems to me that accusing his brothers of being spies, and throwing them into jail for 3 days, is a temporary measure to give Joseph thinking time, and decide how to proceed from here.
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For Joseph, this is another important crisis point in his life. How he responds to this situation will make a huge difference to the future course of his relationship with his brothers, and therefore to the future course of his, and his brothers’, destiny. It’s vital to get things right.
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The crisis will raise a number of questions for Joseph, as well as for us, as interested onlookers.
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These are some of the questions that would occur to me, and probably to Joseph. Joseph’s subsequent actions appear to suggest that he is looking for answers to questions such as:
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Are my brothers the same people as they were last time we were together? Or have they changed?
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If I let them know who I am, what will they do? Will they still hate me and envy me for having lived the dream?
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What about Benjamin? Do they treat Benjamin like they did me? Or have they somehow managed to resolve the family feud between Rachel’s and Leah’s offspring?
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And what about my father? Does he have any idea what happened to me? Does he even know I am still alive?
Before he decides whether or not to reveal himself to them, he needs to arrange some kind of trial. The obvious way was to see how they would respond if Benjamin’s welfare was threatened. Would they be glad to see the back of Benjamin too?
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Now Joseph couldn’t tell how Benjamin was treated back home in Canaan – so the best way to check out how he was treated was to get him somehow to Egypt with the rest of his brothers. Then Joseph could watch them, test them out, see if they would treat Benjamin fairly and honestly, or if, put to the test, they would betray him and abandon him in the same way they had abandoned Joseph many years before.
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So everything Joseph says and does from this point on is designed to make sure his brothers only come back again if they bring Benjamin with them. When Joseph has Benjamin in his sights as well as the other brothers, then he can put them to the test, and see what happens when Benjamin’s welfare is at stake.
Joseph’s brothers – facing disaster!
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Joseph’s brothers also face emotional melt-down.
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Just imagine the potential consequences of being charged as spies! The consequences today can be pretty serious – consider for example the plight of US sailors who mistakenly strayed into Iranian waters, or the English plane-spotters arrested in Turkey for taking photos at a local airport.
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They are in a foreign country, subject to a foreign and unfamiliar legal system, at the whim of a powerful autocrat. They have no idea whatsoever what is likely to happen to them!
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At this point in the story, Joseph overhears them discussing the situation among themselves:
"Surely we are being punished because of what we did to Joseph. We saw how terrified he was when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn't listen to him. That's why we're in this trouble."
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And Reuben said to the others,
"Didn't I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn't listen. And now we are being paid back for our treachery!"
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What does this conversation tell us about the brothers’ emotional state?
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What does it show particularly about Reuben’s feelings and his relationship with his brothers?
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What does it tell us about their attitude towards God?
The story tells us that “When Joseph heard his brothers discussing these things, he had to turn away from them, and he wept in secret”.
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Why do you think the brother’s conversation had such an effect on Joseph?
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What did Joseph learn about his brothers from their discussion?
The journey home
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After keeping his brothers stewing in jail for three days, Joseph sets them all free, except for Simeon whom he keeps as hostage. Then he arranges to fill their sacks with grain and sends them off home, but with the added twist of returning their money in the top of their grain sacks.
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Why do you think Joseph keeps Simeon as a hostage, rather than any of the other brothers?
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What is the motive for returning their money? Is he just being generous?... or is this part of the trial?
When the brothers arrive home, they find that all of them have their money returned in their sacks, and confess to their father Jacob all that has happened, Jacob is very upset. He responds:
"You are robbing me of my children, one by one! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone! And now you want to take Benjamin, too. Everything is going against me!"
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Put yourself in Jacob’s position. What does it mean to him that Simeon is now separated from the family, as well as Joseph?
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Why is he so protective of Benjamin? Why would losing Benjamin be worse than anything else?
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Questions for consideration and discussion
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There are quite a wide range of feelings and emotions that occur in this episode. Make a list of the different emotions that you recognise in the story.
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Think about the intensity of the emotions which the different characters feel, and try to rank them according to whether they are mild (1) to intense (5). If we think about Joseph’s response to seeing his brothers we might come up with a list something like this:
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Shock 5
Surprise 5
Confusion (what should I do?) 4
Hope (maybe God has a plan) 2
Do the same for the brothers’ different reactions at different points in the story… and for Jacob when he learns what has happened.
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Keep a note of the emotions which are evoked by this story. You will find, over the final two episodes, that God deals with all the negative emotions and replaces them with positives. God can do this with our negative feelings and emotions too, if we allow him to work out his purposes and plans for us, as he does in due course for Joseph and his brothers.
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