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142
The Beginning of the End
Then, weeping aloud, he said, “I am Joseph; does my father still
live?”
Reconciliation!
His brothers stood motionless, silent with fear and amazement.
The ruler of Egypt was their brother Joseph, whom they had envied
and would have murdered, and finally sold as a slave! All their
bad treatment of him passed before them. They remembered how
long they had hated his dreams and had worked to prevent their
fulfillment. Yet they had acted their part in fulfilling these dreams.
Now that they were completely in his power, he would, no doubt,
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avenge the wrong that he had suffered.
Seeing their confusion, he said kindly, “Please come near to me,”
and as they came near, he continued, “I am Joseph your brother,
whom you sold into Egypt. But now, do not therefore be grieved or
angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me
before you to preserve life.” Feeling that they had suffered enough
for their cruelty toward him, he nobly tried to banish their fears and
lessen the bitterness of their self-condemnation.
“God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the
earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was
not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father
to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the
land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus
says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come
down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen
... lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to
poverty; for there are still five years of famine.”’ Then he fell on his
brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after
that his brothers talked with him.” They humbly confessed their sin
and begged his forgiveness.
The news of what had taken place was quickly carried to the
king. He confirmed the governor’s invitation to his family, saying,
“The best of all the land of Egypt is yours.” The brothers were sent
away abundantly supplied with food and everything necessary to
bring all their families and servants to Egypt.