Genesis 43:26–45:16

"And they brought him the presents." We bring the presents; he renews the banquet. He says, "Serve the bread," which the Hebrews take by themselves, but the Egyptians cannot eat it. But how generous was his kindness before the banquet! What a moral lesson in his practice of consideration and courtesy! The brothers were still suspicious concerning the false accusation that they thought was being prepared against them by Joseph. He invited them to dinner. Their inclination wavered; his kindness persevered. He is the first to speak, the first to ask, "How are you?" And again he says, "Is the old man your father well?" It is the part of a superior to invite the inferior to conversation, to inspire confidence in his discourse, to ask not only after them but also after their parents. They answer him, "Your servant, our father, is well." Joseph said "the old man" so as to do him honor; they called him "servant" so as to offer the service of their humility. "Old age" suggests honor and dignity, whereas "servitude" appears submissive and more closely related to modesty than to pride.

When Joseph entered the house, his brothers brought him an offering and bowed down to him trembling. He inquired about their welfare, and they took heart. He asked if their father was alive, and they were put at ease. He asked whether that one was their brother, and he blessed him and said, "God be gracious to you my son," and all fear was taken from their mind. It was in the Egyptian language that Joseph blessed Benjamin, and it was through an interpreter that they heard these initial [exchanges].

Moreover, "Joseph saw them and Benjamin his brother by the same mother." The Hebrews are seen now, and they are seen by Christ, who is the true Joseph, when they come with the figure who symbolizes Paul. And Joseph speaks to them gently and mildly, inviting them to take food together. Earlier, however, when they came without Benjamin, he did not even recognize them but turned away from them, as it is written, "and he spoke harshly to them." For they did not recognize him by whom they were recognized. They advance, then, by the merit of Paul, whom the Lord Jesus loved more than the other brothers, as being a younger brother begotten from the same mother. Let the Jews turn to him whom they have denied to be their Lord. Even though he was crucified from their synagogue, yet he loves them more as born of the same parent, if only they come to know, even late, the Author of their salvation. But being aware of their own offenses, they do not believe that Christ is so very merciful as to forgive their sin and pardon their wrongdoing. And thus their future line of conduct was prefigured in the patriarchs. They were invited to grace, were summoned to the banquet of the table of salvation and suspected that a false accusation was being readied against them and an ambush was being laid.

Now "raising his eyes he saw Benjamin, his brother by the same mother." The moral sense is that we see those we love before others, and the gaze of our eyes lights first on those whom we consider first in our mind's eye. And for the most part, when we are busy all around with another mental employment, we do not see those whom we find before our eyes. Thus our sight is directed by the guidance of our mind. And so, holy Joseph saw Benjamin his brother; he remembered him, he looked for him, he almost had not seen his brothers in Benjamin's absence because the sight of them was of no help whatsoever. Neither was he satisfied only to have seen him; as if not knowing him, Joseph asked, "Is this your youngest brother?" It is the way and the favor of love that we should possess those we love not only with our eyes but also by our conversation. Joseph had recognized his beloved brother, but he asked for this reason, that he might speak the name of him that he had in his heart. Indeed, Joseph did not wait for a reply but at once blessed him and was troubled at the attainment of his wish. Now "his heart was tormented," because his freedom to embrace the brother he longed for was postponed. Thereupon, "entering into his chamber he wept and washed his face and restrained himself." The stings of a great love swiftly prick the heart, unless the reins of desire are relaxed. Joseph was being overcome by feeling but put off by deliberation; reason was in contest with love. He wept, so that he could moderate the surges of his holy love.

The foregoing is in the moral sense. In the mystical sense, however, the Lord Jesus saw Paul—for "the eyes of the Lord are upon the just"—and said, "Is this your youngest brother?" He is still called the youngest, for he did not yet exhibit a venerable faith of mature age, and he had not yet grown into mature manhood, "into that measure of the age of the fullness of Christ," as Paul himself says. Indeed, he is called a young man only in that passage where he kept the garments of those who were stoning Stephen. And on that account he desired that Philemon imitate not his youth but his old age, as he wrote, "I rather beseech, since you are such a one as Paul, an old man." On that account he preaches that younger widows are to be refused, not by reason of their age but on account of a kind of wantonness in offenses that are reaching full growth and an immaturity in virtue. But chastity merits greater praise in a young man than in one who is old. Moreover, I think it is not far from the truth if we adopt the following interpretation. Although Paul was struck and taken up and was terrified because blindness had befallen him, still he began to come near when he said, "Lord, what will you have me do?" For that reason he is called the youngest by Christ, so that he who was called to grace could be excused from the guilt of his hazardous years. Yes, Christ saw him when the light shone round him; because young men are recalled from sin more by fear than by reason, Christ applied the goad and mercifully admonished him not to kick against it.

(Verse 32) And they drank, and were intoxicated with it. The idiom of the Hebrew language is to equate drunkenness with satiety, as it says there: 'He shall be satisfied with the abundance of rain, with the produce of his land he shall be intoxicated.' (Psalm 65:11) Undoubtedly, this refers to a land irrigated by rain.

Joseph began to make his brothers sit down as if around his [divining] cup; the elder according to his status as elder and the youngest according to his youth. It is amazing that his brothers did not recognize him: not by the money in their provisions when they went home the first time, not when Joseph had Simeon bound, not when he asked about his old father when they brought Benjamin back, not when they were accused of cheating, not from the fact that he made them stay in his house and blessed Benjamin, not even from the fact that he knew the names of all of them. This was all the more [amazing] since even his appearance was so similar. Even if his majesty had deluded them, his dreams should have jarred their memory. Although they did not recognize Joseph because of his majesty, his rank and his angry tongue, it was nevertheless because of the Lord that he remained hidden from them until his dreams should be fulfilled in them who had sold him in order to render them false.

And the silver cup is put in his sack alone. Benjamin did not know this. So Paul was in error, but he was called. They sent after him in the morning; indeed, the night of his blindness had advanced, and the day of faith was near at hand.

(Chapter XLIV - Verse 2) And put the silver of each one in the mouth of the bag, and put my silver cup in the mouth of the youngest one's bag. For bag, it has a peronem or follem in Hebrew. For cup, which we also read in Isaiah (LI, 17), Aquila translated as scyphum, Symmachus as phialam.

The sacks of the brothers are first examined according to the order of age of each brother. God's Scripture is teaching you a moral lesson. Previously they sat at the banquet in Joseph's presence in order of age from the firstborn. You see that the place of honor is to be given to the eldest. On the other hand, the sacks of each are searched in order of age so that you may know that Paul has been chosen by the judgment of heaven. The rest were examined, but this man was given the preference. The silver cup was not found in the sack of anyone else, only in his sack. What is the meaning of its being put in his humble sack? Joseph … sent the cup so that he might by a holy trick recall the brother whom he loved; yet the light of God's mysterious plans is clearly reflected.

Christ finds this money in us which he has himself given us. We possess the money of nature; we also possess the money of grace. Nature is the work of the Creator, grace the gift of the Redeemer. Even though we are unable to see Christ's gifts, nevertheless he is giving them. He is working in a hidden way and is giving them to all people, but there are few who are able to keep them and not lose them. Yet he does not give all things to all people. Wheat is given to many, but the cup to one, who is presented with the prophetic and priestly function. For it is not everyone but only the prophet who says, "The cup of salvation I will take up, and I will call upon the name of the Lord." Therefore the word of heavenly teaching already shone in Paul's body, since he was instructed in the law. But because he was still not subject to the justice of God, the cup was within the sack, the teaching within the law, the lamp within the bushel. Nevertheless Ananias was sent to give a blessing and to lay on his hand and open the sack. When the sack was opened, the money shone forth, and when the scales fell, in a way like fastenings on the sack, Paul saw straightway. His fetter was unbelief; the loosening of it became faith. And for that reason, when the veil that is set over the heart of the Jews was set aside—like the opening of the sack—he turned to the Lord. Free of the bond, he obtained the grace of liberty and said, "But we all, beholding the glory of God with faces unveiled, are transformed into the same image."

The brothers did not know what to say; they found it impossible not to put the blame on Benjamin because the cup had come out from his sack, but the money that had twice come out from their own sacks did not permit them to put the blame on him. Then the brothers, confounded by the things that had befallen them, rent their garments and went back weeping to that house from which they had just departed rejoicing.

Then Judah said, "Before God the sins of your servants have been discovered"—not this one [of the cup] but the one for which we have been requited with these things. "Therefore not only he in whose sack the cup was found but we also will become slaves to our master." And Joseph said, "Far be it from" the just Egyptian "to do this!" These men, because of their great virtue, do not even eat bread with Hebrews lest they become unclean by them. How then can we do what is foreign to our conduct? The justice that hinders us from sinning against one who has not sinned against us compels us to be avenged on that one who has caused us offence. "The one in whose hand the cup was found shall remain and be a slave." This will be better for him than freedom, for this later servitude, which will free him from theft, will be better for him than that first freedom that enslaved him to theft.

And Joseph ordered all to withdraw so that he could be recognized by his brothers. For, even as Jesus said, he had not come except to the lost sheep that were the lost of the house of Israel. And lifting up his voice with weeping he said, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" This means, Jesus stretched out his hands to an unbelieving and contradicting people, for he did not seek an envoy or messenger but, as their very Lord, desired to save his own people. "I myself who spoke, I am here," and "I was made manifest to those who sought me not; I appear to those who asked me not." What else did he cry out at that time but "I am Jesus"? When the leaders of the Jews tempted him and asked, "Are you the Son of God?" he answered, "You say that I am," and to Pilate he said, "You say that I am a king; in this I was born." And when the chief priest said, "I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are Christ, the Son of God," Jesus responded, "You have said it. Nevertheless I say to you, hereafter you shall see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of the power and coming upon the clouds of heaven." This is what Joseph means when he says, "I am Joseph."

I cannot but be amazed here at this blessed man's remarkable fortitude in putting up with the strain of concealing his identity to this point and not letting on. And [I] am particularly surprised at the way they could stand there and gape without their soul parting company with their body, without their going out of their mind or hiding themselves in the ground. "His brothers were unable to say anything to him in reply. They were dumbfounded." No wonder! Aware of the way they had treated Joseph, of his position in comparison with theirs and realizing the high office he had attained, they feared for their very lives, so to say.

"Come to me," because I have come near to you, yes, even so far that I made myself a sharer in your nature by taking on flesh. At least do not flee a partaker of your fellowship, if you do not know the Author of your salvation. "And they came to him, and he said, 'I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me here; for God sent me before you for life.' " What fraternal devotion!… Christ would even excuse his brothers' crime and say that it was God's providence and not humanity's wickedness, since he was not offered up to death by humans but was sent by the Lord to life. What else is the meaning of that intervention made by our Lord Jesus Christ, who excelled all his brothers in holiness? When he was on the cross, Jesus said in behalf of the people, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." … And when they were startled and panic-stricken and thought they saw a spirit, again Jesus said to them, "Why are you disturbed, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? See my hands and feet, that it is I myself. Feel and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have."

"Don't be hard on yourselves; don't think," Joseph says, "that you did these things to me out of your intent. It was not so much from your malice in my regard as from God's wisdom and ineffable love that I should come here and now be in a favorable position to provide nourishment to you and the whole country."

Indeed they are expressed in the same words, so that we may know that Jesus is the same who spoke before in Joseph and afterward in his own body, seeing that he did not change even the words. For at that time Jesus said, "Be not grieved," and later, "Go up to my father and say to him, 'Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me master of the whole land of Egypt.' " And in the Gospel Christ says, "Do not be afraid. Go, tell my brothers to go into Galilee, and there they shall see me." And later he says, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me," which is to say, "This was the doing of God's design in order that I might receive power, and not the work of human cruelty." He who is counting out the reward does not reproach the crime. Now as to what appears in Genesis, "for God sent me before you to life," Christ repeats this in the Gospel when he says, "Teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." For this is the recompense and the life of the saints, that they have also brought about the redemption of others. And notice that the following too was not written without purpose in Genesis, "And you will be near me, you and your sons and your sons' sons." For this is what Christ said in the Gospel, "Behold, I am with you all days, even unto the consummation of the world." How clear also is that mystery! For when every commandment had been fulfilled, so to speak, Joseph embraced his brother Benjamin and fell upon his neck. Likewise, when the gospel is brought to completion, Christ embraces Paul in the arms of his mercy, as it were, so as to lift him up into heaven.

That servitude, Joseph is saying, procured for me this position. That sale brought me to this prominence. That distress proved the occasion of this honor for me. That envy produced this glory for me. Let us not simply hear this but also emulate it. In the same way let us comfort those badly disposed to us, relieving them of responsibility for what has been done to us and putting up with everything with great equanimity, like this remarkable man.

You have admired the chastity of Joseph; now behold his generosity. He repays hatred with charity. When he saw his brothers, or rather enemies in his brothers, he gave evidence of the affection of his love by his pious grief when he wanted to be recognized by them. He tenderly kissed each one of them and wept over them individually. As Joseph moistened the necks of his frightened brothers with his refreshing tears, he washed away their hatred with the tears of his charity. He loved them always as with the love of their living father and dead brother. He did not recall that pit into which he had been thrown to be murdered; he did not think of himself, a brother, sold for a price. Instead, by returning good for evil, even then he fulfilled the precepts of the apostles that were not yet given. Therefore, by considering the sweetness of true charity, blessed Joseph, with God's help, was eager to repel from his heart the poison of envy with which he knew his brothers had been struck.

And Pharaoh rejoiced because Joseph had known his brothers. From there the news spread in Pharaoh's house, and he urged the holy Joseph to invite his brothers to come with their father. He also gives orders that their packs be filled with grain and loaded onto wagons. What can account for such consideration shown to a stranger? Only that a great mystery was being revealed, a mystery the church today does not deny. The Jews will be redeemed; the Christian people will rejoice at this union, give aid to the limit of their resources and send people to preach the good news of the kingdom of God, so that their call may come sooner.

When the things that needed to be said between them were finished, the doors of that judgment room were opened. The princes entered rejoicing and the army commanders full of gladness. This news was pleasing in the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, for they had believed that he who had become like a father to Pharaoh and ruler over the freemen and princes of Egypt was no slave but was a son of a freeman from the blessed race of the house of Abraham.