Replies

From: Genesis 44:18-21, 23b-29:45:1-5

Judah’s Reaction

[18] Then Judah went up to him (Joseph) and said, “O my lord, let your servant, I
pray you, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your
servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself. [19] My lord asked his servants, saying,
‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ [20] And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father,
an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age; and his brother is dead,
and he alone is left of his mother’s children; and his father loves him.’ [21] Then
you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes upon
him. [23b] Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my
face no more.’ [24] When we went back to your servant my father we told him the
words of my lord. [25] And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’
[26] we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we
will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is
with us.’ [27] Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore
me two sons; [28] one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and
I have never seen him since. [29] If you take this one also from me, and harm be-
falls him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.’”

Joseph Makes Himself Known

[1] Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him; and
he cried, “Make every one go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Jo-
seph made himself known to his brothers. [2] And he wept aloud, so that the
Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. [3] And Joseph said
to his brothers, “I am Joseph; is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not
answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

[4] So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, I pray you.” And they
came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
[5] And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold
me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

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Commentary:

44:1-34, The drama of the last test Joseph makes his brothers undergo is accen-
tuated by the cordial, even familial, relationship they had just before. The scene
reaches its climax with their confession that they are sinners before God (cf. v.
16) and with Judah’s very moving and winning speech (vv. 18-34). The sin they
acknowledge is not that of stealing the cup (which they did not do) but their ear-
lier treatment of Joseph in Canaan which, although they say nothing about it,
they feel God is judging them for. Judah’s final speech in which he tells about his
father’s feelings and shows that he is ready to atone for the sin they all commit-
ted, reveals how his brotherly love has come back in full force. Judah thereby
manages to save them all, in the same way as the tribe which bears his name
will save, through King David, the whole people of Israel.

45:1-28. The denouement maintains the dramatic tone typical of the story so far.
And now we are given the real reasons behind everything that Joseph, the wise
man, has done. Once he makes himself known to his brothers, they interpret his
behavior from their own, human, point of view-their fear of his vengeance (cf. v. 3
and later 50:15). Joseph explains that everything was part of God’s plan (cf. vv.
5-13). The generosity of the pharaoh was also a mark of divine mercy, but the
greatest mercy of all is that Jacob has found the son he thought he lost (cf. v.
28).

As well as revealing God’s mercy, this history shows forth the greatness of Jo-
seph, who, far from harboring rancor or even thinking of vengeance, directs all his
actions to getting back his brothers, leading them gradually to repent the sin they
committed, forgiving them from the very start and treating them as the brothers
they are. Joseph’s behavior is a model of how we should treat one another; for-
giveness should be ever-present in our relationship with others. Bl. John Paul II
has written that “Society can become ‘ever more human’ only when we introduce
into all the mutual relationships which form its moral aspect the moment of for-
giveness, which is so much of the essence of the Gospel. Forgiveness demon-
strates the presence in the world of the love which is more powerful than sin. For-
giveness is also the fundamental condition for reconciliation, not only in the rela-
tionship of God with man, but also in relationships between people. A world from
which forgiveness was eliminated would be nothing but a world of cold and unfee-
ling justice, in the name of which each person would claim his or her own rights
vis-à-vis others; the various kinds of selfishness latent in man would transform
life and human society into a system of oppression of the weak by the strong, or
into an arena of permanent strife between one group and another” (”Dives In Mi-
sericordia”, 14).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.