Genesis 42:27-28: “At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.” Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”
“You never talk to me about your family,” Asenath said, “Why?” Joseph and Asenath were sitting outside on their patio. It was close to midnight and the desert sky looked like black velvet with glittering diamonds spread out all over it. Joseph shrugged his shoulders, saying: “And why don’t you talk about your folks?” Asenath lost her patience: “Let’s not play this cat-and-mouse game, Joseph. You know my parents as well as I do.” Joseph interjected: “I mean your real parents – your birth mother. Who is she? What father would leave you to the mercies of strangers?” Asenath was hurt. “What is wrong with you, Joseph? We talked about this at length. My birth parents are probably dead. Anyway, who cares? Potiphera is my real father. After all, he’s the one who raised me.”
There was a moment of silence. Joseph sighed and said: “I wished I could say the same,– that my birth family is dead. Death is final. It hurts just once – and with every passing year the pain of loss fades away until these past family ties are reduced to a faint memory.” Realizing the internal struggle her husband had hidden from her, Asenath’s expression softened. “You know,” she ventured, “I’m lucky to have loving parents and a wonderful home,” she kissed Joseph lightly on the cheek and added, “and a complicated husband who adores me, but refuses to talk about his past.”
Agitated Joseph got up from his seat and began to pace. “Let me tell you something, Asenath. Unless your relatives are really, really dead they end up coming back to haunt you!”
“Stop speaking in riddles, Joseph!” Asenath said, “Once again: What’s going on?”
Joseph stopped pacing and satback down. His wife could be a little persistent, but he loved her all the more for that. This conversation was long overdue. “Asenath, what if I told you that I met ten of my eleven brothers just a few days ago?”
“Wow! Eleven brothers?” Asenath could not believe her ears. “Yes,” Joseph replied, “We are twelve sons from one father. I also have a sister. Her name is Dinah. My father’s name is Jacob, but God named him ‘Israel’, which means ‘Strong Man of God’”.
Joseph and Asenath talked well into the early morning hours. It was like a dam broke and all the words he had held back for so long were streaming out of him. Joseph’s voice broke. “Three days ago I threw all of my brothers into prison,” he said, “Yesterday I released them, except one whom I presently hold hostage. I am forcing them to return and bring my youngest brother, Benjamin.”
Asenath was flabbergasted. “You did …what?” she exclaimed. Joseph’s eyes brimmed with tears. “Remember what they did to me, Asenath? My brothers! They sold me to a slave trader who happened to pass by! Now they get a taste of their own medicine.” Asenath became concerned. “Are you seeking revenge?” she asked, but Joseph shook his head, “No. No revenge. But I have to test them to find out if they have changed at all.”
Meanwhile Jacob’s sons were on their way home to Canaan. If it weren’t for the glaring absence of their brother Simeon, everything that had transpired in Egypt now seemed unreal. “I’m still waiting to wake up from this nightmare’” Reuben sighed. “What are we going to tell Father?”
“The truth,” Judah muttered, “Nothing but the truth.”
When they stopped for the night Levi unloaded his mule to retrieve some food. He opened his sack, and there was a strange pouch! It was filled with silver – the exact amount he had to spend in Egypt to purchase grain. “Oh my God! My silver has been returned”, he exclaimed while holding up his pouch, “I swear, I had nothing to do with this. Somebody else must have placed the silver in my sack.” The brothers looked at each other in horror, saying: “What is happening here?”
After a three week’s journey Jacob’s sons finally arrived home. Their father came out to greet them: “Welcome my sons! I see your trip must have been successful. Your donkeys are loaded with grain.”
“About that,” Reuben said, “We had to leave Simeon behind to bring home all this grain….”
“No!” Jacob interrupted his son, “Why?” Now Judah spoke up. “The governor thinks we are spies,” he said, “and now he wants us to bring Benjamin on our next trip to Egypt to prove our innocence.” Jacob blanched. “You bereave me of all of my children!” he exclaimed, “First Simeon and now Benjamin? Under no circumstances will you take Benjamin along on your next trip.”
Judah was not intimidated by his father’s outbreak. He himself had lost two sons, so he could put himself in his father’s shoes. “Dad,” he said, “There will be no next trip to Egypt, unless Benjamin comes along. The governor clearly said that we are not to show our faces again unless Benjamin is with us.”
Jacob was furious. “Why on earth did you mention Benjamin to this person?” he said, “Our family relations are none of his business.”
“Well, he interrogated us,” Judah defended himself, “He specifically asked about our whereabouts and now he wants proof that we are not lying, otherwise he believes we are potential spies.”
“This is ridiculous!” Jacob said indignantly. “This man just wants to bully us.”
Judah became the voice of reason as he stood up to his father. “Yes, Dad,” he admitted, “this vizier bullies us – because he can! He is Pharaoh’s second-in-command, the most powerful administrator I have ever seen. And if this means we have to bring Benjamin on our next trip to Egypt, then we will have to.”
Jacob glared disapprovingly at Judah and replied: “We’ll see about that. For now let me see the grain you have bought.”
And as his sons opened their sacks they realized each one of them had a pouch with silver sitting in the mouth of their bags. “All our payments have been returned!” Levi exclaimed. – “Or so you say!” Jacob replied, “Don’t you see? This is a set up! They are about to frame you and claim that you took your silver back. Oh this is not good!”