Read Genesis 42:1-38 at Bible Gateway.
Hebrew paragraph division
Gen 41:1-44:17 {s} Joseph the overseer
Gen 42:1-38 chiastic structure
1a.1) Gen 42:1-3 Jacob sent ten sons to Egypt to buy grain;
1a.2) Gen 42:4 But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brothers; for he said: “Lest some mischief befall him;”
1b) Gen 42:5 And the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan;
1c) Gen 42:6-9a Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him;
1a) Gen 42:6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and it was he that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down before him with their faces to the earth;
1b) Gen 42:7a And Joseph saw his brothers, and he knew them, but made himself strange to them, and spoke roughly to them;
central axis) Gen 42:7b And he said to them: “From whence do you come?” And they said: “From the land of Canaan to buy food;”
2b) Gen 42:8 And Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him;
2a) Gen 42:9a And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them;
1d) Gen 42:9b-14 Accusation/ We are twelve brothers: one is with our father + one is not;
1a) Gen 42:9b And said to them: “You are spies; to see the nakedness of the land you have come;”
1b) Gen 42:10-11 And they said to him:”No, my lord, but to buy food are your servants come. We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, your servants are not spies;”
central axis) Gen 42:12 And he said to them: “No, but to see the nakedness of the land you have come;”
2b) Gen 42:13 And they said: “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not;”
2a) Gen 42:14 And Joseph said to them: “That is what I spoke to you, saying: ‘You are spies;’
1e) Gen 42:14-16 Joseph: You shall be proved when one fetches your youngest brother + brings him here;
1a) Gen 42:14 And Joseph said to them: “That is what I spoke to you, saying: ‘You are spies;’
1b) Gen 42:15a In this way shall you be proved;
1c) Gen 42:15b By the life of Pharaoh you shall not go forth from here;
central axis) Gen 42:15c-16a Except your youngest brother come here/ Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother;
2c) Gen 42:16b and you shall be kept in prison;
2b) Gen 42:16c That your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you;
2a) Gen 42:16d Or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies;”
central axis) Gen 42:17-18 And he put them all together into ward three days. And Joseph said to them the third day: “This do, and live; for I fear God;”
2e) Gen 42:18b-20 Joseph: Go; you shall be proved when you return with your youngest brother;
1a) Gen 42:18b This do;
1b) Gen 42:18c And live; for I fear God;
1c) Gen 42:19a If you are true men;
1d) Gen 42:19b Let one of your brothers be bound in the house of your prison;
central axis) Gen 42:19c And go, carry grain for the famine of your houses;
2d) Gen 42:20a But bring your youngest brother to me;
2c) Gen 42:20b So shall your words be verified,
2b) Gen 42:20c And you shall not die;”
2a) Gen 42:20d And they did so;
2d) Gen 42:21-22 We are guilty concerning our brother + his blood is required;
1a) Gen 42:21a And they said one to another: “We are truly guilty concerning our brother;
1b) Gen 42:21b In that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear;
central axis) Gen 42:21c Therefore is this distress come upon us;”
2b) Gen 42:22a And Reuben answered them, saying: “Did I not speak to you, saying: ‘Do not sin against the child;’ and you would not hear?
2a) Gen 42:22b Therefore, behold, also his blood is required;”
2c) Gen 42:23-24 And they did not know that Joseph understood them; for he spoke to them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and spoke with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes;
2b) Gen 42:25-27 The sons of Israel depart Egypt with grain;
1a) Gen 42:25a Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with grain, and to restore every man’s money into his sack;
1b) Gen 42:25b And to give them provision for the way: and thus did he to them;
central axis) Gen 42:26 And they loaded their donkeys with the grain, and departed from there;
2b) Gen 42:27a And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey provender in the inn;
2a) Gen 42:27b He saw his money; for, behold, it was in the mouth of his sack;
2a.1) Gen 42:28-35 Nine sons return to Jacob with grain;
1a) Gen 42:28 And he said to his brothers: “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 has done to us?”
1b) Gen 42:29-33a They came to Jacob their father in Canaan, and told him what befell them: The lord of the land took us for spies/ We are true men, twelve brothers/ Leave one brother here with me;
central axis) Gen 42:33b-34a And take food for the famine of your households, and be gone; and bring your youngest brother to me;
2b) Gen 42:34b Then shall I know that you are not spies, but that you are true men; so will I deliver to you your brother, and you shall trade in the land;
2a) Gen 42:35 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;
2a.2) Gen 42:36-38 Jacob refused to send Benjamin lest mischief should befall him;
1a) Gen 42:36 And Jacob their father said to them: “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you would take Benjamin away: all these things are against me;”
1b) Gen 42:37a And Reuben spoke to his father, saying: “Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to you;
central axis) Gen 42:37b Deliver him into my hand;
2b) Gen 42:37c And I will bring him to you again;”
2a) Gen 42:38 And he said: “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left; if mischief should befall him in the way in which you go, then you shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”
These structures which do not span an entire Hebrew paragraph, strong theme, or Torah portion, but which are smaller structures as this one is, often contain overlapping elements, and we see that in this one.
The central axis contains two signs of Messiah: first, the number three, which is the most common sign of Messiah teaching tool, and second, the sign of resurrection and life. For slavery and prison are two prophetic types for death in Torah, as they end the life previously known. But on the third day, the brothers were raised up from prison to life, Joseph even saying, “This do, and live” to them on the third day.
We have seen a great many instances in Torah where someone was raised up to life on the third day, or miraculously escaped an assured death on the third day. Why? Just the sheer number of them found over and over again in Torah, the foundation of all Scripture, testifies that life from death on the third day is a Torah doctrine, established from the earliest chapters; thus when the Man who is miraculously raised from death on the third day shows Himself to be Messiah, it is not a violation of Torah to believe Him.
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