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Joseph and His Brothers
42:1 to 45:28

In Chapter 37 the children of Isra’el are seen delivering Joseph into the hands of the Gentiles, and nothing more is heard of them until we come to Chapter 42. Canaan, along with the world, was struck with a famine. Jacob and his sons were in danger of dying. This drove them out of their land, and drove them down to Egypt – a symbol of the world. This was prophecy in action, a prophecy that would be fulfilled two thousand years later when Yeshua Messiah would also be delivered into the hands of the Gentiles.

As Yosef tested his brothers, he was looking for two things before he revealed himself to them. First, he wanted to see if they had changed. The last time he saw them, they had thrown him into a pit and then sold him into slavery. Then, as the final proof of their changed hearts, Joseph needed to see how they treated his younger brother Benjamin. Would they be just as jealous of Benjamin as they had been of him? Could he trust them?