genesis 43 and 44

Read Genesis 43 and 44 at Bible Gateway.

The Hebrew paragraph divisions for today’s chapters are:

Gen 41:1-44:17 {s} Joseph the overseer
Gen 44:18-46:7 {s} …

I am sure this is why the English translators of the Bible discarded the Hebrew paragraph divisions. Often they do not make sense to human logic, as in today’s reading. The paragraph divides right in the middle of the of the climax to our history, before Judah begins his speech! However, the division highlights that the first weak paragraph spanning several chapters forms its own chiastic structure:

1a) Gen 41:1-56, Joseph, able to discern the dream, is made ruler of the land + God has found out Joseph’s righteousness;

1b) Gen 41:57-42:28, The sons of Jacob went to Egypt to buy corn:

1) Gen 41:57, All countries came to Joseph to buy corn because of the severity of the famine in all lands;
2) Gen 42:1-5, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy corn, but not Benjamin;
3) Gen 42:6, Joseph’s brothers came to Joseph in Egypt and bowed before him;
4) Gen 42:7-24, Joseph’s interchange with his brothers: they did not recognize him, but he wept with yearning for them;
5) Gen 42:25-26, Joseph commanded their money returned + donkeys laden + the brothers departed;
6) Gen 42:27-28, The brothers discovered their money + their hearts failed them for fear;

central axis) Gen 42:29-38, Jacob, the father, and his love for Benjamin;

2b) Gen 43:1-44:13, The sons of Jacob went to Egypt to buy corn:

1) Gen 43:1 The famine was severe in the land;
2) Gen 43:2-15a, Jacob sent his sons to Egypt to buy corn, including Benjamin;
3) Gen 43:15b, Joseph’s brothers came to Joseph in Egypt and stood before him;
4) Gen 43:16-34, Joseph’s interchange with his brothers: they did not recognize him, but he wept with yearning for them;
5) Gen 44:1-3, Joseph commanded their money restored + donkeys laden + the brothers departed;
6) Gen 44:4-13, The steward discovered the silver cup with Benjamin + they rent their clothes for grief;

2a) Gen 44:14-17 {s} Joseph, the ruler of the land, is able to discern wisdom + God has found out the brothers’ iniquity.

For years I could not understand why Joseph did these things to his brothers, and especially to Benjamin. Why keep one in prison when he knew perfectly well they were not spies? Why not send the message that he was alive to his father on the brothers’ first return to Canaan? Why make the demand for Benjamin to come, when he perhaps had an idea what this would mean for his father? The answer is revealed, if we see that throughout the narrative of Joseph, the Scripture is using its teaching tools to bring attention to Judah! So far, we have seen:

Judah leading his brothers to sell Joseph in slavery in Egypt (Gen 37:26-27);

Judah departing from his brothers to live among the Canaanites (Gen 38), which we speculated was Judah’s way of removing himself from the covenant and promise of Abraham;

Judah rejoining his father and brothers, 42:1-3 (with his son Shelah, and Tamar and her sons, for they are with him when Jacob’s household departs for Egypt, Gen 46:8, 12);

Now Reuben, as firstborn, was still the leader of the brothers in Gen 42, during their first trip to Egypt (Gen 42:22, 37). He made himself surety for Benjamin, but Jacob would not consent to Reuben’s surety.

By the second trip to Egypt, Judah had become firmly established as the leader of the brothers. He is the one who speaks to Jacob on their behalf, and who makes himself surety for Benjamin, so that Jacob consents to Judah’s surety (Gen 43:1-4, 8-10). Scripture is revealing that the firstborn status has passed to Judah.

Then in Gen 44:18-34, the Scripture reveals the extent of Judah’s transformation, and the reason Joseph put his brothers through testing. Benjamin was the clear favorite of Jacob, just as Joseph had been. But the brothers do not hate Benjamin because he is favored. They have accepted it and return honor to their brother and their father. Envy and hatred no longer rule them.

Joseph creates for them the same conditions of imprisonment and slavery that they created for him, and yet their response to his tests reveal their greater concern for the welfare of their father, rather than their own position in the household.

Judah’s speech is set off by the paragraph division, because in it he says something amazing: he offers himself to be slave in his brother Benjamin’s place. Slavery, we saw earlier, is a type of death, as it ends the way of life previously known. Judah had no way of knowing that the whole incident had been staged. He truly believed he was going to spend the rest of his life as a slave in Egypt. He could have let Benjamin bear his punishment, but out of love for his father, he gave himself in his brother’s place. His substitutionary “death” prophesies of Messiah Yeshua!

Now let us look again at the central axis – it highlights the greatness of the father’s love for his son, and as all of this narrative is prophetic of Messiah and the gospel of grace, the central axis prophesies of the greatness of the Father’s love for His son – Benjamin! Please do not miss that we are in Benjamin’s place in the prophetic type! Oh, the greatness of the love and the mercy of God! We have not comprehended it! ♥