Their brother was still alive! Not only was Joseph still alive but he had become ruler over all of Egypt and was second only to Pharaoh himself, and he had revealed his identity to them all when they had gone this last time to Egypt to buy more food. Their first visit had sent them home with enough grain to last them a good while, but they had had to tell their father that they could not return unless they brought their youngest brother, Benjamin, with them.
"The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us," Ruben had said, "and treated us as though we were spying on the land. But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies. We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.'
"Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, 'This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.'"
As they had emptied their sacks, there in each man's sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father had seen the money pouches, it had terrified them all, and their father Jacob had said to them in complete despair, "You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!"
"You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust Benjamin to my care, and I will bring him back to you." Reuben had said to his father.
"My son will not go down there with you;" Jacob had said. "His brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow."
Nevertheless, when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father had said to them, "Go back and buy us a little more food."
But Judah had said to him, "The man warned us solemnly, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, 'You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.' "
"Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?"
"The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. "Is your father still living?' he asked us. 'Do you have another brother?' We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, 'Bring your brother down here'?"
Then Judah had said to Israel his father, "Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice."
"If it must be, then do this," Jacob had sighed. "Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved."
So Jacob had entrusted Benjamin into their care, and not without great trepidation at the thought of possibly losing the only remaining son of the wife he had loved so deeply. Yet it was at the end of this second trip down to Egypt that this ruler, their brother, Joseph, had revealed
"I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come." Joseph had told them. "Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute."
They had returned with a great caravan of donkeys and carts loaded with many things in addition to the grain and bread they had come to buy. Ten donkeys had been loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys had been loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey. Also, to each of them he had given new clothing, but to Benjamin he had given three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.
Ruben and Judah rode ahead to greet their father and tell him the news. Jacob was sitting outside his tent and rising to his feet as they drew near, he strained to see if his beloved Benjamin was with them.
Jacob stared at both of them stunned and did not believe them. But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him back pulling up behind them, his spirit revived. "I'm convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."
Judah went to Perez' tent and was greeted by laughter from Hezron as Hamul ran on short little legs inside the tent behind his grandfather to join them. He took them in his arms and embraced them and told them, amidst excited interruptions and questions, the story about finding his brother, their great uncle, alive and ruling in Egypt. They heard the excited chatter that filled every tent around them as they all began to pack and prepare for the journey back to Egypt. The servants hurriedly continued packing the family's belongings while Judah went to his tent to prepare for the journey.
Once everything was packed, and the tents were rolled, the journey back to Egypt began. That evening, as they came to Beersheba and the sun sank lower in the sky, Jacob gave the signal that this was where they would stop for the night. Jacob found some large stones and built an alter to the Lord while the
That night, God spoke to Jacob in a vision at and said, "Jacob! Jacob!"
"Here I am," he replied.
"I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph's own hand will close your eyes."
The road was dusty and long, but they soon caught a glimpse of the region Ruben had described to them, so Jacob sent Judah ahead of them to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel, and as soon as Joseph saw his father, he threw his arms around his father and wept long and with great joy.
Joseph turned to his brothers and to his father's household and said, "I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, 'My brothers and my father's household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.' When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, 'What is your occupation?' you should answer, 'Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.' Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians." 1Genesis 42-47
He chose five of them along with their father to present before Pharaoh, and they returned with Pharaoh's permission to settle the land of Goshen. Pharaoh had given them the best of the land, the land of Goshen, which was in the Delta region where the Nile split into many tributaries that flowed into the Mediterranean Sea. In spite of the famine and drought, this land was still lush with rich grazing pastures for their flocks and herds. So Joseph took his family into the land of Goshen to the district of Rameses where they were to live during the next few years of the famine.
A cool sea breeze swept through as Jacob, Ruben, Judah, and his other sons began to unroll the tents and build shelters for their flocks and herds while the women and children made preparations for the evening meal. Most of the
Jacob's hut consisted of five rooms built around a courtyard; there were two rooms on each side with a long room along the back where food was stored and meals were prepared. He also built an enclosure around the house and extended it on one side so that he could keep some of his animals there. His sons also built houses for themselves and their families, but they were smaller, two-room, rectangular houses and were situated in a semicircle around their father's house. The shelters and enclosures for their flocks and herds were then constructed at a distance from their dwellings. 3 "..mid 19th century BC. At that time a rural settlement was founded. It was unfortified, although there were many enclosure walls, most likely for keeping animals. The living quarters consisted of rectangular huts built of sand bricks.(Bietak 1986, 1991b) … The villa was 10 x 12 meters in size, situated on one side of an enclosure
M. Bietak, Avaris and Piramesse: Archaeological Exploration in the Eastern Nile Delta, (London: The British Academy, 1986); Egypt and Canaan During the Middle Bronze Age, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research, 281 (1991b), pp. 27-72; Avaris: The Capital of the Hyksos, (London: British Museum Press, 1996).
In spite of the famine and the barrenness of the land, this delta region provided good grazing for the flocks and herds while Joseph keep them supplied with grain. Jacob took Judah and a few others to survey the land of Goshen to the edge of it boundaries, then he divided it into twelve regions and appointed each of his sons to govern his assigned region. Judah and his brothers became known as the Twelve Princes of Israel as the kingly status of their father Jacob, grandfather Isaac, and great-grandfather Abraham became known. 4Genesis 42-47
Jacob and his sons had also been given the island of Crete because it was a part of the territory of the land of Goshen. 5Genesis 42-47 Once the delta region of Goshen had been
Judah found a ship that was going to dock at a harbor on the island of Crete, so he, his father, his son Zerah, and a few servants went aboard and set sail for Crete. Before it seemed like sufficient time had passed, the ship pulled into a harbor on the south side of the island, and Jacob, Judah and Zerah explored the more level places of this new terrain while their legs became accustomed to being on land again. Forests of trees stretched out before them; junipers, brutia pine, another type of oak and maple replaced the tall deciduous oaks and maples around them, and low-lying shrubs at the higher
After a few days of discovering a several village type cities along the southern coast of the island, Judah suggested that they climb to the top of the mountain the captain had told them about to see what the rest of the island was like. Once they found a path that appeared to be climbing upwards, Judah went some paces ahead of them and led the way up the mountain. They heard an eagle call to its mate as it flew overhead, and warblers chirped and flew from tree to tree, watching them as they climbed. Climbing higher still, they noticed that the once dense covering of trees had now become quite sparse and was replaced by poppies and tall grasses and huge white limestone boulders, which the wild goats enjoyed playing on. They laughed at the wild goats that jumped from ledge to ledge and boulder to boulder with no apparent fear of stumbling. Some distance away, a cluster of vultures was noisily hovering over their noonday meal as Jacob and Judah and the rest of their company continued on.
Laying there in the dim light of the fire, Judah could still make out the contours of the cave and its rough walls, and he saw that it was actually large enough to live in comfortably if they decided to make regular trips to the island. Those who lived in the cities along the beach had been friendly enough, but Judah wanted to find a place they could call their own, and this cave suited
Some time during the night, the rain stopped, and the company awoke to the chirping of a few warblers and the water dripping off the shrubs that grew above the mouth of the cave. Today they wanted to reach the summit and possibly make their way down the other side to explore the northern coast of the island. Jacob and Judah went outside the tent to enjoy the coolness of the morning while the servants started the fire and prepared the morning meal. When it was ready, they all ate quickly, rolled up the remaining blankets, and finished packing, each with his skin of water tied on a string around his waist and his few belongings on his back.
The climb to the summit only took a few hours, and the view of the island was breathtaking. There were other mountain ridges on either side of them, one
The palace was like a city in and of itself, so Judah and Jacob climbed the foothills near the palace to get a better view. They noticed that neither the city nor the palace had a wall to protect the inhabitance, so the company supposed that they were either a peaceful people or so powerful that they feared no one. Its south-eastern corner and some of its eastern side had been built into the hillside, and the extravagance and structure of this section told them
Judah guessed by the size that it would take them several hours to walk through the palace if they took the road leading to the north entrance. There was another road along the west entrance that led north to a place that they could not identify from where they were, so they decided to go down to see what it was. As they walked along the road outside of this unwalled palace, they noticed that everything about this palace unparalleled anything they had ever seen before, even in Pharaoh's palace. The walls of the courtyard, the corridors, and other rooms as far as they could see were made of unbaked
As the sun was beginning to dip low in the sky, the company reached their destination and discovered that it was a theater. It faced west and had a pink glow about it as the flagstone steps and floor and the mud-brick walls reflected the pinks and oranges of the sinking sun. There were eight flagstone steps in front of them that led down to an open area of flagstones, which narrowed into a road that went west, and to their right were eighteen steps leading up to an open area of the theatre. They saw that in the angle between these two banks of steps was a bastion-like structure that looked as though it was used as a royal box for the king and his family during theatrical performances.
Judah had suggested that they walk along the coast until they came to the harbor on the south side where they had begun this journey. So in the morning, after a good meal and a time of giving thanks and worshipping the Lord their God, started off towards the coast with the sun behind them. This journey took longer than they had anticipated as they discovered that the island was longer from east to west than it was from north to south.
As they came around the north-eastern tip of the island, they were all surprised to find that many of the settlements knew them by name, especially Judah, whom they
When they finally planted their feet in the Goshen soil, they had many stories to tell about the peoples they met, the mountain with the cave that had saved them from being thoroughly drenched, and the palace at Knossos. Hezron and Hamul sat close to their grandfather as he told the stories, and when he had finished, Hamul looked at him excitedly.
"Can I go with you the next time you go, grandfather? Please?" "When you're older." Judah promised. "Would you like to go with me when your brother comes, Hezron?"
"Sure." Hezron shrugged. "I'll go." "Well, like I said, when you're older. I have to finish unpacking and check the enclosures. It's almost time for the flocks to be brought in."
"I checked it every day while you were gone!" Hezron said with pride. "Thank you. Do you want to come with me?"
"Yes!" Hezron got up and walked as fast as his short little legs could carry him to keep up with his father.