1 AND the famine was sore in the land.

2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, [ They are running out of food again. ] their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.

3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, [ Judah reminds his father Jacob (Israel) that Joseph of Egypt said that if you don't bring your brother Benjamin back when you come you will not even be given an audience with me. ] saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:

5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.

6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? [ Israel says why in the world did you even tell him that you had a younger brother? ]

7 And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down? [ How were we to know what was going to happen we only responded to the questions that the ruler Joseph asked us. This was not a pleasent experience for us either. We were trying to defend ourselves with the details that we had a family that was back home, that was without food. ]

8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.

9  I will be surety for him; [ Here is Judah the on who is focused most on money, he says to his father I will be collateral if it comes to that, so that nothing ill becomes Benjamin. ] of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever: [ Rueben and Simeon have both made basically the same pleas, that they will take his place. Now we have Judah making the same plea. ]

10  For except we had lingered, [ Com'on Dad we are just wasting time here. We could have already been there and back. There is no other way, if we do not go and go now we will all die. ] surely now we had returned this second time.

11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; [ OK if you are going to go let's do everything that we can to sweeten the deal. So do the following: ] take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, [ The "honey" referred to here is honey made from dates, not the kind gathered from bees. While the Hebrews knew how to make this delicacy, it was not available in Egypt, and would thus be considered a great gift. ] spices, and myrrh, nuts, [ The "nuts" were pistachios, still considered a great delicacy in the East. ] and almonds:

12 And take double money in your hand; [ Take twice as much money as you did the first time so that there will be no problems. ] and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, [ Return the money that you found in your sacks when you returned. Show that you are not thieves. ] carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight: [ In case he thinks that you have done something wrong. ]

13  Take also your brother, [ Benjamin. ] and arise, go again unto the man:

14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. [ If I loose my children then, well I have really lost everything. ]

15 ¶ And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home, and slay, and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon.

17 And the man did as Joseph bade; and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. [ There is a little different version of this story found in the Book Of Jasher. It is one that suggests that Joseph is trying to really see if the brother's are sorry for what they did to him, it goes like this. Book OF Jasher 51:49-54 "49 And the man was greatly afraid, and he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack, and the men were greatly afraid, and they said, What is this that God hath done unto us? 50 And they all said, And where is the Lord's kindness with our fathers, with Abraham, Isaac, end Jacob, that the Lord has this day delivered us into the hands of the king of Egypt to contrive against us? 51 And Judah said unto them, Surely we are guilty sinners before the Lord our God in having sold our brother, our own flesh, and wherefore do you say, Where is the Lord's kindness with our fathers? 52 And Reuben said unto them, Said I not unto you, do not sin against the lad, and you would not listen to me? now God requireth him from us, and how dare you say, Where is the Lord's kindness with our fathers, whilst you have sinned unto the Lord? 53 And they tarried over night in that place, and they rose up early in the morning and laded their asses with their corn, and they led them and went on and came to their father's house in the land of Canaan. 54 And Jacob and his household went out to meet his sons, and Jacob saw and behold their brother Simeon was not with them, and Jacob said unto his sons, Where is your brother Simeon, whom I do not see? and his sons told him all that had befallen them in Egypt." ]

18 And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house; [ So they are taken right into Joseph's house and that really makes them nervous. They wonder is it because of the money that was in our sacks? Does he know that? What is he going to do to us now? They are losing hope by the minute. ] and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and our asses.

19  And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, [ So they turn and talk with Joseph's steward. ] and they communed with him at the door of the house,

20 And said, O sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food:

21 And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight: and we have brought it again in our hand. [ We don't know how the money ended up in our sacks, please believe us. We do not know how it happened. ]

22 And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food: we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.

23 And he [ Joseph's steward. ] said, Peace be to you, fear not: [ The steward says hold on it will be ok, just settle down. ] your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.

24 And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender.

25 And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon: for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 ¶ And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, [ The monies, the honey, nuts - the goodie basket that they had made to sweeten the deal. ] and bowed themselves to him to the earth. [ Fulfilling the dream again. ]

27 And he asked them of their welfare, and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive? [ Joseph makes no note of the gifts, he only asked about their welfare and the welfare of their father. ]

28 And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance.

29 And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, [ Not a hald brother like the others, but a 100% brother. Maybe he see's some of his mother's charastics in him. Benjamin never knew what his mother looked like by Joseph sure well did. ] and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. [ Can you imagine the emotion of Joseph when he see's his full blooded younger brother. If he wept before he would have welled up now. ]

30 And Joseph made haste; for his bowels [ His guts are in commotion. ] did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there. [ He does not want them to know yet, he still has to determine their present state, so he goes off again to his room to cry alone. How hard must that have been to be without emotion at the time. He has his feelings but he is not sure how it all originally played out. To see some of what he may be thinking see what the Jews have to say notes in next verse. ]

31 And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, [ Joseph does not know the rest of the story right now which is what he is trying to figure out. Jewish legend suggests the following about Joseph: ALL IN THE NAME OF GOD. If Joseph had been a bit more righteous in the eyes of his brothers, they may have conceded to this destiny. However, their perception of Joseph's character troubled them. In their eyes, Joseph was a 'slanderer': The brothers, aware of the challenges facing God's special Nation, recognized the need for exemplary leadership. Could Joseph possibly assume this role? To the brothers, the mere thought that 'Joseph the slanderer' would become the leader was repugnant. From their perspective, it was simply UNTHINKABLE that Joseph could assume the leadership of a nation destined by God, they conclude: Joseph must be weeded out! The brothers now faced a predicament similar to that of Rebecca in the previous generation. Just as Rebecca had realized that Issac was mistaken in favoring Esau, so too the brothers realize Jacob's mistake in favoring Joseph. Just as Rebecca decided to use trickery to ensure that the proper son be blessed, so too the brothers decide to use 'trickery' to ensure that Joseph will not be appointed leader. Considering that the entire fate of "Israel" is at stake, the brothers consider it now permissible to 'bend the rules' a bit, in order to secure their future. Thus, the brothers' plot to dispose of Joseph, although inexcusable, was understandable. It was not out of petty jealousy that they wanted to kill Joseph, rather out of a 'sincere' concern for the future of Israel. WHY DOESN'T JOSEPH WRITE HOME? Considering that Joseph enjoyed a very close relationship with his father, one would expect that he would make every effort possible to contact his father. Yet, even after his appointment as Head Servant of the House of Potiphar, Joseph makes no effort to inform his father that he is alive and well. Furthermore, after his appointment as the Commissioner of Egypt, second only to Pharaoh, Joseph should have no problem whatsoever in contacting his father. Nevertheless, it appears that he has wiped his past from his memory. Why do you suppose this is so? 1) Joseph's actions were motivated by his aspiration to make his dreams come true. For some reason, Joseph felt that in order for the Divine plan to unfold, he must not contact his family. Or - 2) Joseph has no idea that his father believes that he is dead. Rather, he expects his father and/or his brothers to come to his rescue. When months pass, and no one shows, Joseph could have concluded that he was 'rejected' by his family, and accepts his new fate. Joseph is sure that someone will soon come to redeem him. After all, his father will surely investigate what happened, someone will 'snitch', and no stone will be left unturned until 'daddy's favorite son' is found and brought home. Joseph is totally unaware that the brothers tricked their father with the blood stained coat. He has no idea that his father presumed that he was killed. The months pass, and nothing happens. Joseph begins to wonder why no one has come to look for him. Does his father no longer care about him? Why did the brothers throw him in the pit as soon as he arrived? Why did his father send him out alone in the first place on such a long journey to see his brothers who hated him? Was his father really trying to get rid of him? I am sure there were a lot of thoughts that went through his mind. ] and said, Set on bread.

32 And they set on for him by himself, [ Joseph eats alone due to the segregation of the Hebrews from the Egyptian's. The feeling was one of racial and religious superiority that engendered contempt for foreigners, who were regarded as unclean. Even Potipher's wife suggested that he was a Hebrew and has come in to mock us, and yet she wanted to sleep with him. Second in the kingdom of Egypt, he is a Hebrew, and still he was not permitted to eat with the Egyptians. Reports are given that because the cow was taboo to Egyptians but eaten by Greeks, no native of Egypt would kiss a Greek, use his kitchen utensils, or even eat the flesh of an ox that had been cut with the knife of a Greek. It is therefore likely that Egyptian particularism asserted itself here because the Hebrews were shepherds -an abhorrent profession -and because they ate sheep -an abomination to the Egyptians. Interesting is the fact that they will not eat with the Hebrew, but it is because if the Hebrew that they have any food to eat in the first place. ] and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, [ The brothers are astonished because Joseph has seated them in age order. Also, the other Egyptians were probably astonished as well that Joseph would even deign to eat with Hebrews present. ] and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another. [ Whoa, how did he know our order. That must have baffled them even more, is he a prophet? ]

34 And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin’s mess was five times so much as any of theirs. [ What do you suppose was the reason for that action, Giving Benjamin 5 times as much food? see if the older brothers still hold animosity for the youngest brother if he is favored over them, just as they formerly did with him. ] And they drank, and were merry with him.