I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Genesis 42-44.

My first thought reading this passage today was, “What about this situation made Joseph’s brothers think about what they did to him those many years prior?”  Yes, Joseph had been probing them closely about Benjamin just before they made that connection, but I wonder about it being that simple.  In fact, when we read about the brothers’ exchange with their father before coming back to Egypt the second time we get the impression that Joseph asked many probing questions about their family.  Reading between the lines about the way Joseph sat the brothers and then what his servant said when confronting them about the silver cup, we see that Joseph had led his brothers to believe that he had supernatural sources of knowledge.  In fact throughout this passage we see Joseph use the knowledge he had which others thought he had no way to know to impress and intimidate others (a behavior to keep in mind later when we read about how Pharaoh’s advisers responded to the Plagues).

I also wanted to continue to highlight the differences between Reuben and Judah.  When the brothers blamed their current troubles on what they had done to Joseph, Reuben claimed to have told them not to harm Joseph, which he had not actually done.  Then, when they asked Jacob to send Benjamin with them, Reuben offered the lives of his own sons as surety for Benjamin’s safe return.  On the other hand, Judah offered himself as surety for Benjamin’s safe return.  Then, when Joseph threatened to enslave Benjamin for stealing his cup (which he knew full well that Benjamin had not done), Judah forcefully put himself forward to be enslaved in Benjamin’s place.  I do not want to condemn Reuben for what he did.  Rather, I want to hold up Judah as taking more personal responsibility.  There was nothing wrong with Reuben’s words or actions in this passage, but Judah’s were better.