Surprisingly, the Lord’s treatment of Jacob’s ten sons is mild, compared to what one might expect of his judgment of their behavior. One might even be tempted to use the words I heard a preacher use years ago: “If the Lord doesn’t judge (insert abhorrent behavior), he owes Sodom and Gomorrah an apology!” The problem with such presumptuous judgment is, the speaker actually believes he knows how to judge others’ behavior, when, in fact, he is clueless. During the age of the Patriarchs, the Mosaic Law didn’t exist. The Law would be commanded later, not as a means to make one righteous, but to expose the fact that man is NOT righteous, and to show what sin actually is (cp. Romans 7:7).
During the age of the Patriarchs, men were under the command of Eden: “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the garden, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…” According to Jesus, the garden or field was a man’s heart (Matthew 13:15, 19). In other words, whatever a man conceives in his heart is permissible to do, provided he allows the Lord to guide him to understand righteousness and unrighteousness. The ten sons acted according to their own will, but now they are being corrected, according to the will of the Lord, by means of Joseph’s treatment of them, and remember, ultimately, they are freely forgiven (Genesis 50:15-21; cp. Genesis 45).
Jacob’s sons did, as he told them to do; they took the gift of produce from the Land of Canaan, the best they had that year, and they took Benjamin, their brother, and went down to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph (Genesis 43:15). When Joseph saw his brother, Benjamin with his other brothers, he told his steward to bring the men to his home and prepare a meal, for he would dine with them that afternoon (Genesis 43:16).
So, Joseph’s servants brought the men to Josephs house, but when the men realized where they were, they were greatly afraid and imagined Joseph was planning to seize them as slaves and confiscate their animals etc., because of the money they’d found in their sacks after their first visit to Egypt (Genesis 43:17-18).
Therefore, the men approached Joseph’s steward, who stood at the door of the house, and explained about the money, they found in their sacks, after they purchased grain one year prior. Therefore, they wanted to return it to Joseph, but how the money got into their sacks, they were completely ignorant. Nevertheless, they wished to return it, and use other money to buy grain at this, the second time, they had come to Egypt (Genesis 43:19-22).
Joseph’s steward, however, explained that he already had their money, so what they found in their sacks was a gift from their God. Afterward, he brought Simeon out to them (Genesis 43:23). Then, he brought all of them into Joseph’s home and gave them water and also had other servants wash their feet and feed their animals (Genesis 43:24).
Therefore, with their immediate fears put to rest, the men prepared the present they brought from Jacob, their father, and awaited the arrival of Joseph at noon, for they were told he was to come and dine there at that time (Genesis 43:25).
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