From the time the brothers are first mentioned in the text, as that pertains to something they did or said, from chapter 34 in the defiling of Dinah, their sister to their coming down to Egypt. They never mention God by his name or even refer to God in a general sense until Genesis 42:28. These men, the sons of Jacob, in as much as the text reveals, show no regard for the Lord in their daily lives. The one time the Lord’s name is mentioned in connection with one of the ten sons of Jacob (not Joseph or Benjamin) is when the Lord slew Judah firstborn, Er, and his second son, Onan (Genesis 38:6-10), but Judah never perceived the hand of God in their deaths. Rather, he believed Tamar, the woman he took for Er’s wife, and whom he also gave to Onan, he believed was cursed, and he suspected his third son would die like his two brothers, if he gave him to Tamar, his daughter-in-law.
The text reveals that only Joseph served the Lord, and it was through Joseph’s treatment of his brothers, when they arrived in Egypt, that their consciences were pricked, perhaps for the first time, and they began to reflect upon what they had done to their brother, and what that may have meant in the eyes of the Lord. This was the very first time, in so far as the text reveals, that the men are seen to even know the Lord. They are never shown to have sought him, as that pertained to Joseph being Jacob’s favorite son, nor when they decided to seize him and sell him to merchants on their way to Egypt. Nor did they consult the Lord in the matter of Dinah’s defilement, or in their slaying of the men of the city of Shechem. Like many folks today who gravitate to God only in times of catastrophe, the ten sons of Jacob turn to the Lord, only because Joseph caused them to fear for their lives.
After they left the inn on their way from Egypt to the Land of Canaan (cp. Genesis 42:27), the men arrived in Mamre, where Jacob dwelt (Genesis 42:29; cp.36:27; 37:14), and they told their father of all the things that happened to them, while they were in Egypt. They told Jacob about Joseph, whom they didn’t recognize, saying he was lord over Egypt, and he treated them with severity, saying they were spies (Genesis 42:30). Moreover, although they denied they were spies, saying they were ten of twelve sons of one man, the youngest was with their father and the other was dead, the man still didn’t believe them.
Nevertheless, he said they could prove they weren’t spies, if they brought their youngest brother to Egypt to stand before him, and he took Simeon as hostage, until they did so (Genesis 42:31-34). Therefore, and under these conditions, they were permitted to leave the land with their sacks of grain for their families in Canaan.
Afterward, they emptied their sacks in a storage area, and it was then that they discovered that all of them had their money restored. How could this have occurred? They neither stole the money, nor could they have believed that the Egyptians returned their money. The only choice left was that it was by divine appointment (cp. Genesis 42:28), but Jacob took the circumstance as something they had contrived, and he blamed them, saying they had deprived him of his children, first Joseph and now Simeon. Moreover, if that weren’t enough, they wanted to take away Benjamin, as well (Genesis 42:35-36). Thus, for the first time it is implied in the text that Jacob believed his sons had a hand in Joseph’s untimely death.
Reuben’s offer of two of his four sons in place of Benjamin and Simeon, if he didn’t return with them (Genesis 42:37), seems pathetic, if taken literally. How could slaying two of Jacob’s grandsons appease his sorrow over losing two of his own sons? Perhaps, Reuben’s offer was an expression of sincere intent to make certain the right thing was done (see Genesis 19:8;[1] cp. Micah 6:6-7). Nevertheless, Jacob refused Reuben’s offer, saying he wouldn’t entrust Benjamin to them, because, if something happened to him on their journey, they would be the cause of him bearing that sorrow to the day he died (Genesis 42:38).
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[1] See my earlier study in Genesis: Dwelling in Sodom! and its counterpart in my study series “Abraham Walking With God” Take My Daughters—Please! It would appear the Reuben’s offer of his sons in sacrifice was an expression of how unlikely Jacob’s fears would be realized, because Reuben would do all possible to keep that from happening.
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