June 10, 2010 – Genesis 43

How many years had it been since Joseph had been sold.  To see his full brother again.  And the return of Simeon.  How long had they been away.  Did Joseph not talk to Simeon while he was in prison.  There is so many layers to this story, from Joseph and his motivations, the brothers and their guilt, Israel and his decision to sacrifice Benjamin possibly to save the rest of the family.  We never hear what Benjamin thinks of all this.  He thus far has been used as a pawn in the games that are being played, what is going on in his mind.  Does he realize that he was being sought after in Egypt.  Does he know he may not be coming back.  And we really don’t know how old he is at this time.  There is just a lot going on and with the different layers it is easy to read this story and find a character to related to and fit yourself in the story.