CHAPTER 43

43:1-34 But the famine prevailed in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had finished eating the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, that their father said to them, Go again; buy us a little food. 3 And Judas spoke to him, saying, The man, the lord of the country, positively testified to us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, unless your younger brother be with you. 4 If, then, thou send our brother with us, we will go down, and buy thee food; 5 but if thou send not our brother with us, we will not go: for the man spoke to us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, unless your younger brother be with you. 6 And Israel said, Why did ye harm me, inasmuch as ye told the man that ye had a brother? 7 And they said, The man closely questioned us about our family also, saying, Does your father yet live, and have ye a brother? and we answered him according to this question: did we know that he would say to us, Bring your brother? 8 And Judas said to his father Israel, Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and our store. 9 And I engage for him; at my hand do thou require him; if I bring him not to thee, and place him before thee, I shall be guilty toward thee for ever. 10 For if we had not tarried, we should now have returned twice. 11 And Israel, their father, said to them, If it be so, do this; take of the fruits of the earth in your vessels, and carry down to the man presents of gum and honey, and frankincense, and stacte, and turpentine, and walnuts. 12 And take double money in your hands, and the money that was returned in your sacks, carry back with you, lest peradventure it is a mistake. 13 And take your brother; and arise, go down to the man. 14 And my God give you favour in the sight of the man, and send away your other brother, and Benjamin, for I accordingly as I have been bereaved, am bereaved.15 And the men having taken these presents, and the double money, took in their hands also Benjamin; and they rose up and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. 16 And Joseph saw them and his brother Benjamin, born of the same mother; and he said to the steward of his household, Bring the men into the house, and slay beasts and make ready, for the men are to eat bread with me at noon. 17 And the man did as Joseph said; and he brought the men into the house of Joseph. 18 And the men, when they perceived that they were brought into the house of Joseph, said, We are brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first; even in order to inform against us, and lay it to our charge; to take us for servants, and our asses. 19 And having approached the man who was over the house of Joseph, they spoke to him in the porch of the house, 20 saying, We pray thee, Sir; we came down at first to buy food. 21 And it came to pass, when we came to unlade, and opened our sacks, there was also this money of each in his sack; we have now brought back our money by weight in our hands. 22 And we have brought other money with us to buy food; we know not who put the money into our sacks. 23 And he said to them, God deal mercifully with you; be not afraid; your God, and the God of your fathers, has given you treasures in your sacks, and I have enough of your good money. And he brought Symeon out to them. 24 And he brought water to wash their feet; and gave provender to their asses. 25 And they prepared their gifts, until Joseph came at noon, for they heard that he was going to dine there. 26 And Joseph entered into the house, and they brought him the gifts which they had in their hands, into the house; and they did him reverence with their face to the ground. 27 And he asked them, How are ye? and he said to them, Is your father, the old man of whom ye spoke, well? Does he yet live? 28 And they said, Thy servant our father is well; he is yet alive. And he said, Blessed be that man by God; —and they bowed, and did him reverence. 29 And Joseph lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, born of the same mother; and he said, Is this your younger brother, whom ye spoke of bringing to me? and he said, God have mercy on thee, my son. 30 And Joseph was troubled, for his bowels yearned over his brother, and he sought to weep; and he went into his chamber, and wept there. 31 And he washed his face and came out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. 32 And they set on bread for him alone, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians feasting with him by themselves, for the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the first-born according to his seniority, and the younger according to his youth; and the men looked with amazement every one at his brother. 34 And they took their portions from him to themselves; but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as the portions of the others. And they drank and were filled with drink with him.

AUGUSTINE OF HIPPO. (Gen. 43:23). ON THE MONEY OF JOSEPH'S BROTHERS. —What the house steward says to you: Your God and the God of your fathers put the treasures in your sacks; your silver of good law already I have it, seems a lie, but we must think that means something. In fact, the silver that is given to them and which does not diminish precisely because it is said to be silver of good law, surely means what about it is affirmed in another text: The words of the Lord are sincere words, silver tested by fire, cleansed already in the earth, purified seven times (Ps. 12:6), that is to say, perfectly purified. [Question 143]

 (Gen 43:34). WHAT DOES IT MEAN "GET DRUNK?" — They drank and got drunk with it. The drunks often offer this text, not looking at those children of Israel, but in Joseph, who is considered as a very prudent man. But the Scriptures often offer these words to indicate satiety as well, as you may find in many passages who read carefully. An example: You have visited the earth and drunk it; you have filled it with riches (Ps. 65:10). As these words are said to exalt the blessing and the gift of God is remembered in them, it is clear that with this drunkenness satiety is indicated. For the earth does not get drunk as drunkards get drunk, since this would not be useful to it, because a greater humidity than the earth needs does not to satisfy it, but spoils it. Such is the life of drunkards, who are not filled by satiety, but are plunged into the flood. [Question 144]

JOHN CHRYSOSTOM OF CONSTANTINOPLE. And their father said to them, Return, and bring us some provisions. But Judah said to him, "The man has declared his will to us with an oath, saying, You shall not see my face, unless your younger brother accompanies you. So if you fired our brother, we will leave, and we will buy food. Otherwise, we will not leave. Because the man told us that we would not see his face, if our younger brother was not with us. (Gen. 43:1-5) Do not believe that we could go back there without our brother. If you want our trip to be useless, and we run the greatest dangers, then let's go. But know that the governor sworn to us that we would not see his face, if our brother did not come with us. Jacob saw himself in a hurry. he laments, he says to them: Why did you do my misfortune when I told the man that you had a brother? Why did you do my misfortune? (Ib. 6) Why did you cause these evils? If you had said nothing, I would not have been deprived of Simeon, and you would not have summoned him. They answered him The man asked us if our father lived, if we had a brother, and we answered him. Did we know that he would say to us: Bring your brother? (Ib. 7) Do not think that we have declared to ourselves the governor the state of our family. As he kept us in prison, seeing in us spies, and inquiring in detail about our affairs, we spoke thus in order to inform him especially with veracity. And Judah said unto his father, Send the young child with me, and we will set out, that we may live. (Ib. 8) Give it to me, so that we leave immediately. For we will no longer have any hope of salvation if we let our provisions run out, and we do not seek relief elsewhere. I receive it from your hands; if I do not give it to you, if I do not bring it back to you, let me remain guilty to you the rest of my days. If we had not delayed we would have already returned twice. (Ib. 9-10) Your attachment to this child will cause our death to all. Hunger will soon kill us if you do not want to allow it to follow us. Observe here, my dear listener, how the distress caused by the famine triumphed over the tenderness of this father. Seeing that no other means of relief could be found, and that the scarcity increased, he finally said: If it is so, if it is absolutely necessary, and you can not leave without him, you must wear at the same time, presents to the governor. Take the money you found in your bags, besides the one you need for the purchase.

Take your brother with you, get up and go. (Ib. 13) May my God grant you favor with this man, and set your brother and Benjamin free! For me, I remain childless. (Ib. 14) Do you see how his inexpressible affection for Joseph explodes? Do not believe that he thinks of Benjamin or Simeon, when he says: For my sake I remain childless, for he says above: May God grant you grace, and set your brother and Benjamin free! "He means: even if those two were saved, I would not be left without children. Observe as he is whole to Joseph's love. Surrounded by so many sons, he thought he was childless, because he was deprived of Joseph. The sons of Jacob having taken the presents, the double sum of money and Benjamin, went to Egypt and appeared before Joseph. (Ib. 15) Joseph saw them and Benjamin his brother. (Ib. 16) His wishes are fulfilled: he sees his beloved, the success has crowned his efforts. And he said to the steward of his house Lead these men into the house and slaughter the victims: for these men will eat with me. But seeing themselves brought into Joseph's house, they said: It is because of the money that came in our bags the first time, that we are taken away: it is to denounce us, to accuse us to take us with our donkeys, and reduce us to servitude. (Ib. 18) Joseph took all the best measures to show them his benevolence: nevertheless they are in distress, they fear to be punished for this money, as if they were guilty of it. So they approach the steward of the house and tell him the reason for their concern: they tell him how they found the money in their bags, and they add: Because of that we bring today the double money, to pay our previous debt, and to buy food. (Ib. 22)

Note how misfortune has corrected and softened their character: The steward answered them, "Have your mind resting, do not be afraid; your God, the God of your father has given you treasures in your sackcloth: as for your money, it is good, and in my hands. (Ib. 23) No fear, be without anxiety. Nobody of you will be accused for this reason: the money has been counted to us: believe that it comes from God, that it is God who has put treasure in your bags. Having said these words, he brought out Simeon, brought water to wash their feet, and fed their donkeys. (Ib. 24) Thus the prayer of their father made them succeed in all things everything happened according to the prayer he had addressed to heaven saying: May the God of my father make you find grace! Even before Joseph was present, the man who was entrusted with the care of his house gave the newcomers the marks of benevolence. They prepared the presents for Joseph. (Ib. 25.) And when he came in, they offered them to him and worshiped him to the ground. (Ib.26) Then he asked them again: Is your father, the old man you told me about, doing well? Is he still alive? {Ib. 27) They answered, Your servant our father is in good health. And he said, Blessed be of God! And bowing they worshiped. (Ib. 28) But Joseph saw, brother, born of his mother, and said, Behold, this young brother, whom ye told me that ye should bring? And he said, God have mercy on you, my child! (Ib 29)

Admire his constancy: he continues to be ignorant, so that the continuation of events will allow him to unravel what their provisions were with regard to Benjamin. And as nature itself spoke too high, his bowels were moved, and he would have wanted to cry. So he went into another room, and there, began to cry. Then he washed his face, he went out. (30) Then he shows his kindness: Serve the loaves (31), he said. We served him apart, as the king, the Master of Whole Egypt; and his brothers apart; and other than the Egyptians who dined with him. For the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews; It is an abomination in the eyes of the Egyptians. (32) in front of him sat down the oldest and the youngest. (33) This threw them in amazement, and they could not guess where it came from the knowledge he had of the difference of their ages. Then in the distribution of shares, he gives Benjamin a five-fold greater portion. They do not understand more, they believe that it is a simple effect of chance, because of the youth of the privileged. Finally, the meal ended, Joseph calls his steward and gives him these orders: Fill the sacks of these men with as much food as they can take away, and put the money of each one in his purse; and throw that silver cup into the bag of the youngest. (44:1-2) See what artifice he still imagines to put a foolproof test on his brothers ' feelings towards Benjamin. [Homilies on Genesis]