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Patriarchs and Prophets
iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we,
and he also with whom the cup is found.”
“God forbid that I should do so,” was the reply; “but the man in
whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you,
get you up in peace unto your father.”
In his deep distress Judah now drew near to the ruler and exclaimed,
“O my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears,
and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as
Pharaoh.” In words of touching eloquence he described his father’s
grief at the loss of Joseph and his reluctance to let Benjamin come
with them to Egypt, as he was the only son left of his mother, Rachel,
whom Jacob so dearly loved. “Now therefore,” he said, “when I come
to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his
life is bound up in the lad’s life; it shall come to pass, when he seeth
that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring
down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.
For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If
I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father
forever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of
the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren.
For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest
peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.”
Joseph was satisfied. He had seen in his brothers the fruits of true
repentance. Upon hearing Judah’s noble offer he gave orders that all
but these men should withdraw; then, weeping aloud, he cried, “I am
Joseph; doth my father yet live?”
His brothers stood motionless, dumb with fear and amazement.
The ruler of Egypt their brother Joseph, whom they had envied and
would have murdered, and finally sold as a slave! All their ill treatment
of him passed before them. They remembered how they had despised
his dreams and had labored to prevent their fulfillment. Yet they had
acted their part in fulfilling these dreams; and now that they were
completely in his power he would, no doubt, avenge the wrong that he
had suffered.
Seeing their confusion, he said kindly, “Come near to me, I pray
you;” and as they came near, he continued, “I am Joseph your brother,
whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry
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with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before