A Prophecy of Esau and Jacob

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Genesis 43

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, their father said unto them, “Go again, buy us a little food.”

³ And Judah spoke unto him, saying, “The man did solemnly declare unto us, saying, ‘Ye shall not see my face, unless 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, unless your brother be with you.’”

⁶ And Israel said, “Why dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?”

⁷ And they said, “The man asked us strictly about our state, and about 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’?”

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; from 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;

¹⁰ for had we not lingered, surely now we would have returned this second time.”

¹¹ And their father Israel said unto them, “If it must be so now, do this: Take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds.

¹² And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand. Perhaps it was an oversight.

¹³ Take also your brother, 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 am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved!”

¹⁵ And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and they 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 a beast 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.

¹⁸ And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “Because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time are we brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us, and take us for bondmen, and also our asses.”

¹⁹ And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they communed with him at the door of the house

²⁰ and said, “O sir, we came indeed down 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.

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 said, “Peace be to you, fear not; 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 for Joseph’s coming 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, and bowed themselves before him to the earth.

²⁷ And he asked them of their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spoke? Is he yet alive?”

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, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom ye spoke unto me?” And he said, “God be gracious unto thee, my son.”

³⁰ And Joseph made haste, for his heart yearned for his brother, and he sought somewhere to weep; and he entered into his chamber and wept there. — Joseph making himself known to Benjamin wasn’t in any of the Masoretic Text, but revealed in the Book of Jasper;

³¹ And he washed his face and went out, and restrained himself, and said, “Set on the bread.”

³² And they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate 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 and the youngest according to his youth; and the men marveled one at another. — Reuben, the firstborn, first, and so on to Benjamin the youngest;

— the Targum of Jonathan says “the sons of Leah on one side, and the sons of Zilpha on the other side, and the sons of Bilhah on another side, and Benjamin the son of Rachel he ordered by the side of himself.”

³⁴ And he took and sent portions unto them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him. — “Benjamin’s portion was five times” wan’t explained in this text but is in both the Targum and Jasper, as more details revealed below;

The Book of Jasper Chapter 53

¹ And the sons of Jacob rose up and took Benjamin and the whole of the presents, and they went and came to Egypt and they stood before Joseph.

² And Joseph beheld his brother Benjamin with them and he saluted them, and these men came to Joseph’s house.

³ And Joseph commanded the superintendent of his house to give to his brethren to eat, and he did so unto them.

⁴ And at noon time Joseph sent for the men to come before him with Benjamin, and the men told the superintendent of Joseph’s house concerning the silver that was returned in their sacks, and he said unto them, It will be well with you, fear not, and he brought their brother Simeon unto them.

⁵ And Simeon said unto his brethren, The lord of the Egyptians has acted very kindly unto me, he did not keep me bound, as you saw with your eyes, for when you went out from the city he let me free and dealt kindly with me in his house.

⁶ And Judah took Benjamin by the hand, and they came before Joseph, and they bowed down to him to the ground.

⁷ And the men gave the present unto Joseph and they all sat before him, and Joseph said unto them, Is it well with you, is it well with your children, is it well with your aged father? and they said, It is well, and Judah took the record which Jacob had sent and gave it into the hand of Joseph.

⁸ And Joseph read the letter and knew his father’s writing, and he wished to weep and he went into an inner room and he wept a great weeping; and he went out.

⁹ And he lifted up his eyes and beheld his brother Benjamin, and he said, Is this your brother of whom you spoke unto me? And Benjamin approached Joseph, and Joseph placed his hand upon his head and he said unto him, May God be gracious unto thee my son.

¹⁰ And when Joseph saw his brother, the son of his mother, he again wished to weep, and he entered the chamber, and he wept there, and he washed his face, and went out and refrained from weeping, and he said, Prepare food.

¹¹ And Joseph had a cup from which he drank, and it was of silver beautifully inlaid with onyx stones and bdellium, and Joseph struck the cup in the sight of his brethren whilst they were sitting to eat with him.

¹² And Joseph said unto the men, I know by this cup that Reuben the first born, Simeon and Levi and Judah, Issachar and Zebulun are children from one mother, seat yourselves to eat according to your births.

¹³ And he also placed the others according to their births, and he said, I know that this your youngest brother has no brother, and I, like him, have no brother, he shall therefore sit down to eat with me.

¹⁴ And Benjamin went up before Joseph and sat upon the throne, and the men beheld the acts of Joseph, and they were astonished at them; and the men ate and drank at that time with Joseph, and he then gave presents unto them, and Joseph gave one gift unto Benjamin, and Manasseh and Ephraim saw the acts of their father, and they also gave presents unto him, and Osnath [wife of Joseph and the mother of his sons] gave him one present, and they were five presents in the hand of Benjamin.

¹⁵ And Joseph brought them out wine to drink, and they would not drink, and they said, From the day on which Joseph was lost we have not drunk wine, nor eaten any delicacies.

¹⁶ And Joseph swore unto them, and he pressed them hard, and they drank plentifully with him on that day, and Joseph afterward turned to his brother Benjamin to speak with him, and Benjamin was still sitting upon the throne before Joseph.

¹⁷ And Joseph said unto him, Hast thou begotten any children? and he said, Thy servant has ten sons, and these are their names, Bela, Becher, Ashbal, Gera, Naaman, Achi, Rosh, Mupim, Chupim, and Ord, and I called their names after my brother whom I have not seen.

¹⁸ And he ordered them to bring before him his map of the stars, whereby Joseph knew all the times, and Joseph said unto Benjamin, I have heard that the Hebrews are acquainted with all wisdom, dost thou know anything of this?

¹⁹ And Benjamin said, Thy servant is knowing also in all the wisdom which my father taught me, and Joseph said unto Benjamin, Look now at this instrument and understand where thy brother Joseph is in Egypt, who you said went down to Egypt.

²⁰ And Benjamin beheld that instrument with the map of the stars of heaven, and he was wise and looked therein to know where his brother was, and Benjamin divided the whole land of Egypt into four divisions, and he found that he who was sitting upon the throne before him was his brother Joseph, and Benjamin wondered greatly, and when Joseph saw that his brother Benjamin was so much astonished, he said unto Benjamin, What hast thou seen, and why art thou astonished?

²¹ And Benjamin said unto Joseph, I can see by this that Joseph my brother sitteth here with me upon the throne, and Joseph said unto him, I am Joseph thy brother, reveal not this thing unto thy brethren; behold I will send thee with them when they go away, and I will command them to be brought back again into the city, and I will take thee away from them.

²² And if they dare their lives and fight for thee, then shall I know that they have repented of what they did unto me, and I will make myself known to them, and if they forsake thee when I take thee, then shalt thou remain with me, and I will wrangle with them, and they shall go away, and I will not become known to them.

²³ At that time Joseph commanded his officer to fill their sacks with food, and to put each man’s money into his sack, and to put the cup in the sack of Benjamin, and to give them provision for the road, and they did so unto them.

²⁴ And on the next day the men rose up early in the morning, and they loaded their asses with their corn, and they went forth with Benjamin, and they went to the land of Canaan with their brother Benjamin.

²⁵ They had not gone far from Egypt when Joseph commanded him that was set over his house, saying, Rise, pursue these men before they get too far from Egypt, and say unto them, Why have you stolen my master’s cup?

²⁶ And Joseph’s officer rose up and he reached them, and he spoke unto them all the words of Joseph; and when they heard this thing they became exceedingly wroth, and they said, He with whom thy master’s cup shall be found shall die, and we will also become slaves.

²⁷ And they hastened and each man brought down his sack from his ass, and they looked in their bags and the cup was found in Benjamin’s bag, and they all tore their garments and they returned to the city, and they smote Benjamin in the road, continually smiting him until he came into the city, and they stood before Joseph.

²⁸ And Judah’s anger was kindled, and he said, This man has only brought me back to destroy Egypt this day.

²⁹ And the men came to Joseph’s house, and they found Joseph sitting upon his throne, and all the mighty men standing at his right and left.

³⁰ And Joseph said unto them, What is this act that you have done, that you took away my silver cup and went away? but I know that you took my cup in order to know thereby in what part of the land your brother was.

³¹ And Judah said, What shall we say to our lord, what shall we speak and how shall we justify ourselves, God has this day found the iniquity of all thy servants, therefore has he done this thing to us this day.

³² And Joseph rose up and caught hold of Benjamin and took him from his brethren with violence, and he came to the house and locked the door at them, and Joseph commanded him that was set over his house that he should say unto them, Thus saith the king, Go in peace to your father, behold I have taken the man in whose hand my cup was found.

Genesis 44

¹ And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in the mouth of his sack.

² And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money.” And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

³ As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.

⁴ And when they had gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, “Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, ‘Why have ye rewarded evil for good?

⁵ Is not this that from which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing.’”

⁶ And he overtook them, and he spoke unto them these same words.

⁷ And they said unto him, “Why saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing!

⁸ Behold, the money which we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then would we steal out of thy lord’s house silver or gold?

⁹ With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen.”

¹⁰ And he said, “Now also let it be according unto your words: he with whom it is found shall be my servant, and ye shall be blameless.”

¹¹ Then every man speedily took down his sack to the ground, and opened every man his sack.

¹² And he searched, and began with the eldest and ended with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

¹³ Then they rent their clothes; and every man loaded his ass, and returned to the city.

¹⁴ And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house (for he was yet there), and they fell before him on the ground.

¹⁵ And Joseph said unto them, “What deed is this that ye have done? Know ye not that such a man as I can certainly divine?”

¹⁶ And Judah said, “What shall we say unto my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.”

¹⁷ And he said, “God forbid that I should do so; but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, go up in peace unto your father.”

¹⁸ Then Judah came near unto him and said, “Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant; for thou art even as Pharaoh.

¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have ye a father or a brother?’

²⁰ And we said unto my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him.’

²¹ And thou saidst unto thy servants, ‘Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him.’

²² And we said unto my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’

²³ And thou saidst unto thy servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.’

²⁴ And it came to pass, when we came up unto thy servant, my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵ And our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us a little food.’

²⁶ And we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down, for we may not see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

²⁷ And thy servant, my father, said unto us, ‘Ye know that my wife bore me two sons;

²⁸ and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces”; and I saw him not since.

²⁹ And if ye take this also from me, and harm befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.’

³⁰ Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father and the lad be not with us, seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life,

³¹ it shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die; and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave.

³² For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, ‘If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever.’

³³ Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant remain instead of the lad as a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren.

³⁴ For how shall I go up to my father and the lad be not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that shall come upon my father?”

~ by Joel on September 17, 2024.

Posted in Books of Moses