DAWN
Daily Arts Web Nucleus
Discover the Arts! Each day a different image from the Literary, Performing, or Visual Arts representing a portion of Scripture plus an explanation with links and a discussion forum 2013 November 22
Joseph's Brothers Beg For Help (1515)
Pontormo / Jacopo Carucci (1494-1557)
Mannerist Style
National Gallery, London, England, United Kingdom
Image Source: Bible Library
Explanation: Genesis 42 traces the beginning of the reunion between Joseph and his family. The reunion began when Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy food; but he kept his youngest son, Benjamin at home to keep him safe (1-5). Jacob's brothers came to Joseph and bowed before him; Joseph knew them but they did not recognize him; and Joseph accused them of being spies, but they denied it (6-11). Joseph reasserted his accusation and demanded to see Benjamin, the younger brother they told him about; he kept them in ward for three days demanding that they choose one among them to bring Benjamin to him (12-17). Three days later Joseph told them that he feared God, so he would keep one of them as a hostage and let the other ten go home to fetch Benjamin; he kept Simeon (as in the illustration above), had his servants fill their sacks with food, and returned their money (18-25). After they left, they stopped at an inn, and one of them discovered his money in his sack, which caused great fear within all of them (26-28). When they arrived home they recounted the incident to Jacob together with the demand to bring Benjamin on their next journey to Egypt (29-34). When they emptied their sacks they found that everyone had the money with which they left, and they were again afraid, as was Jacob, who complained of his distress that they had bereaved him of Joseph and Simeon; in response Reuben offered his two sons as guarantee of the safety of Benjamin on their return journey; but Jacob refused (35-38).
Some interpret this incident and those that follow as the unfolding of a profound plan on the part of Joseph to deal with his brothers. I see it, rather, as a profound plan on the part of God to effect deep inward change in Joseph, his brothers, and their father. Here, in this chapter, Joseph seems to be torn by conflicting emotions and to be caught up in an attempt to find out if he really had a younger brother, as his brothers said, and to be reunited with him while dismissing the rest of the family from his life, as he had already done emotionally ("And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house" -- Genesis 41:51).
Genesis 42
1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?
2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.
3 And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.
4 But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.
5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph's brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.
12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.
26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence.
27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack's mouth.
28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?
29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,
30 The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.
31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies:
32 We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
33 And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone:
34 And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land.
35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.
37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.
38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.
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