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The Beginning of the End
the boy,’ and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is
now required of us.”
Joseph, listening, could not control his emotions, and he went
out and wept. When he returned, he commanded that Simeon be
bound before their eyes and again committed to prison. Simeon had
been the instigator and chief actor in the cruel treatment of their
brother Joseph.
Before permitting his brothers to leave, Joseph gave directions
that they should be supplied with grain and that each man’s money
should be secretly placed in the mouth of his sack. On the way, one
of the group, opening his sack, was surprised to find his bag of silver.
The others were alarmed and said, “What is this that God has done
to us?”
Jacob was anxiously awaiting the return of his sons, and when
they arrived the whole encampment gathered eagerly around as they
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told their father all that had happened. Dread filled every heart. The
conduct of the Egyptian governor seemed to imply some evil intent,
and their fears were confirmed when, as they opened their sacks, the
owner’s money was found in each. In his distress the aged father
exclaimed, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no
more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against
me.” “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead,
and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the
way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with
sorrow to the grave.”
But the drought continued, and the supply of grain from Egypt
was nearly exhausted. The shadow of approaching famine grew
deeper and deeper. In the anxious faces of all in the camp, the old
man read their need. At last he said, “Go back, buy us a little food.”
Judah answered, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You
shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ If you send
our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you
will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You
shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’” Seeing that
his father’s resolve began to waver, he said, “Send the lad with me,
and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and
you and also our little ones.” He offered to be responsible for his