When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.”
Genesis 43 brings Joseph's brothers back to Egypt a second time, and this time Benjamin is with them. Joseph sees his youngest brother and at once orders a feast — so why did that kindness terrify them?
Benjamin Was the Key
Everything in the verse turns on what Joseph sees. The brothers brought gifts to win over the ruler of Egypt. But one writer says it was the brother at their side who moved him.
J. G. BellettJacob at last consents to let Benjamin go. After all this heart-searching they return to Joseph with Benjamin in their hand — and he is more persuasive than all the honey and balm and spices they carried. When Joseph sees Benjamin, new affection and fresh kindness stir in him. He orders his household that all these men should dine with him at noon.
Another writer reads Jacob's surrender of Benjamin as a picture of something larger.
J. N. DarbyJacob clings to Benjamin — who pictures the Lord Jesus in His Jewish character and in power, and so pictures the hope of the remnant — but there must be complete submission. If their hatred has rejected Joseph, then even Jacob must give up Benjamin and all the rest. Benjamin must take his place with Joseph before the storehouse of the world.
Their Plan and His Purpose
The brothers arrived with a plan: gifts, money, and Benjamin as a ransom. Joseph touches none of it.
Hamilton SmithJoseph pays no attention at all to their gifts. He does not touch their money. He will not accept Benjamin as a ransom. He ignores their plan completely and begins to act according to his own heart… Joseph's purposes go far beyond the plans of his brothers. Their plan was to get a blessing from Joseph. His purpose was to give a blessing — but a blessing they would enjoy in his company and in his home. Their plan was to buy grain and make a feast among themselves. His plan was to spread a feast for them to enjoy with him.
The same writer hears in Joseph's order an invitation God still sends, and says we aim far lower than God does.
Hamilton SmithDoes this not look forward to that far greater message God sends to a world of sinners: "Come, for everything is now ready"?… Like Joseph's brothers, we are just as slow to take in God's thoughts of blessing. We would be content to get the forgiveness of sins and salvation from hell. But how far short of God's thoughts! His thought is to have us with Himself to feast with Him in His home.
Brought Home
Notice where Joseph sends them: to his own house. One writer reads it in an older translation that says "home", and turns that word on the reader.
W. T. P. WolstonWhat does God want? He wants you brought home: "Bring these men home."
Kindness That Frightened Them
The men did not relax at the news. Joseph's favour looked like a trap to them, and one writer links their fear to people today.
L. M. GrantThey did not just see Joseph's face; he made them his favoured guests. But this only awakened their fear and suspicion. Grace does this in people who want to deal on legal terms. They were afraid that Joseph was showing such kindness to find an excuse to steal all they had. How little they knew Joseph's heart! Many people also stay unsaved only because they are suspicious of God's grace in Christ Jesus.
Kindness With a Purpose
The dinner was not merely hospitality. Behind the invitation was a work going on inside the men, though they could not see it.
William KellyThe inspired account, in its beautiful simplicity, shows us God at work in the conscience of the sons of Israel. How little they yet understood! His goodness was leading them to repentance. The brother they had so deeply wronged and bitterly hated was only bringing about their truest good through the trials they were going through.
Another writer says both the roughness and the kindness worked on their guilty consciences, and that Joseph planned it that way.
J. G. BellettKindness or roughness works the same way on a guilty conscience. To those who are defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. A shaken leaf might well frighten the brothers now, for conscience had made cowards of them all… Joseph was wisely drawing in every feeling of the mind and weaving them together — wonder with fear, gratitude with joy — so that there might be a thorough renewal leading to repentance.
Summary
- Surrender. Benjamin, the brother Jacob had clung to, is what opens Joseph's house. Nothing else the brothers carried weighed with him.
- Set aside. Joseph ignores their gifts, their money, and their ransom. He acts out of his own heart.
- Summons. Joseph calls them to his own house, not to a deal — the table, not the transaction, is where this is heading.
- Suspicion. Kindness meets a guilty conscience and produces fear first. People still miss grace because they think it hides a trap.
- So that. God's goodness was leading them to repentance. Joseph's roughness and his feast both served that one end.