26-31. Then Joseph came home, and they presented to him the gift which was in their hand, bringing it into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. And he inquired after their well-being, and he said: Is your father well? the old man of whom ye told me; is he yet alive? And they said: Thy servant, our father, is well; he is yet alive. And they did obeisance and bowed down. And he raised his eyes and saw Benjamin, his brother, the son of his mother, and he said: is this your youngest brother of whom ye told me? And he said: God be gracious to thee, my son. And Joseph hurriedly sought a place to weep, for his feelings were stirred at the sight of his brother; and he went into an inner room and wept there. Then he washed his face and came back and kept himself under control, and said: Serve the meal.
Joseph, the busy food administrator, cannot be home before noon. When he arrives, they present their gift first. Nothing is said as to how Joseph received it. Apparently, Joseph knew that he had to take care to keep himself well in hand. To take too much note even of so small a thing as this gift might have caused him to lose his cool reserve. The expression in reference to the gift which was “in their hand” we have translated previously where it occurred in the chapter (v. 12 and v. 15) merely as “along” or “along with them,” for the idea certainly was not that the money was to be carried all the way “in their hand” (beyedhkhem). But here (v. 26) the expression could be translated literally. The pregnant construction “to the house” (habbayethah) means “bringing it into the house.” Again the dream of chapter 37 is manifestly fulfilled as “they bowed down before him to the ground;” the customary gesture of oriental respect. Joseph, no doubt, made his inquiries as casual as 2.1074possible. First he inquires after their own “wellbeing” —Hebrew: “peace,” shalôm. So as not to make the inquiry concerning the father appear too pointed he adds, “the old man of whom ye told me.” Deep attachment dictated the solicitude of the question, “is he well; is he yet alive?” The sons reply with the courteous idiom of their day, designating their father, as they do themselves, as Joseph’s “servant”; and they acknowledge the courtesy of the inquiry by “doing obeisance” (yiqqedhû from qadhad) and by “bowing down” (yishtachawû) —a pair of words often appearing together.
29. The next step comes naturally. Next to his father, Benjamin is the object of Joseph’s concern. The greater length at which the meeting with Benjamin is dwelt upon shows the importance of this meeting to Joseph; for Benjamin is in a stronger sense “his brother,” for he is “the son of his mother.” All this must have run strongly through Joseph’s feelings at the sight of his brother, who was perhaps a year old when Joseph last saw him and now was a young man of twenty-two years. Joseph dare not admit that he really knows him, and so he inquires as a stranger might. Throughout the interview thus far Joseph has very correctly played the part of the high-standing Egyptian lord: he has not troubled to acknowledge their gift; now he does not wait for an answer to his question. But his deeper feelings at this point break into utterance in the brief but touching: “God be gracious to thee, my son.” “Son” is quite permissible because of the prominent difference in age. Besides, it is a part of Joseph’s disguise. Yechonkha, imperfect optative from chanan, the “o” having receded into the first syllable before the suffix. Till now Joseph’s self-control has been admirable. We do not at all wonder that he now “hurriedly (yema (h) her —translated as an adverb, being auxiliary to ‘sought’) sought a 2.1075place to weep.” Nikhmerû literally means “to grow warm,” here “were stirred.” The final shammah apparently gets its “ah locative” by attraction to the ah of hachchadhrah (K. S. 330 h). The interruption dare not be long if Joseph is to play his role successfully. He washes his face, indicating that he must have wept rather freely, returns, keeps himself under control, and bids the meal be served—Hebrew: “set on bread.” The dagesh in ’aleph of yabhî’ûv. 26 marks the ’aleph as not having lost its natural Hebrew character of a smooth breathing and as not having become like double “y” between two vowels as is the case in the Aramaic.
32-34. And they served him alone and them alone, and the Egyptians eating with him alone; for the Egyptians cannot eat a meal together with Hebrews; for that would be an abomination to the Egyptians. And they were seated before him according to age, the eldest first, the youngest last; and the men looked at one another in astonishment. And he provided portions for them from his own table, and Benjamin’s portion was five times as great as the portion of all the rest of them. So they feasted and drank freely with him.
The exclusiveness of the Egyptians over against foreigners is well known, especially the exclusiveness of the priests. It would hardly have done for Joseph to incur Egyptian displeasure by flagrant disregard of custom. So everything proceeds in approved fashion. He, who belongs to the priestly cast, is served alone. So are his brothers. So are his Egyptian guests. All caste distinctions are thus faithfully upheld. Egyptians regarded eating together with foreigners as tô’ebhah, “an abomination” —(Meek good: “abhorrent”). Here Joseph again introduces a touch of mystery which, as Keil says, “necessarily impressed them with the idea that this great man had 2.1076been supernaturally enlightened as to their family affairs.” How could they think otherwise? They had never revealed a thing about the matter to anyone in Egypt, and here they sit, accurately arranged according to age. They cannot, but “look at one another in astonishment” —Hebrew: “they were astonished, a man toward his fellow” —pregnant construction of ’el. The phrase lephanay can hardly mean “according to his judgment,” as K. C. strangely translates. They actually sat before Joseph—”before him” —so that he could in a measure feast his eyes upon them, but perhaps primarily for the purpose of keeping their unusual Egyptian patron distinctly before their eyes.
34. Now Joseph does something that provides a further test of the brethren. He purposely shows preference for Benjamin. Had the same feeling prevailed over against Benjamin that had once animated them over against Joseph, such preference would have stirred resentment that could hardly have been kept under cover. But they meet the test successfully. Even when the more generous use of wine has removed the restraint from their tongues, the men still ring true. The distinction conferred on Benjamin was “portions” of honor from Joseph’s table, five “portions” to the one received by every other brother. Mas’ah is a noun derived from the root nasa’, “to lift up,” by prefixing an “m.” Such gifts, not required to be eaten but to be regarded as honorary distinctions, have their parallels in antiquity, as Dillmann shows, quoting Knobel. Spartan kings always received a double portion; Cretan archons a quadruple portion. However, among the Egyptians five was a number enjoying a special distinction. Shakhar, the last verb, sometimes means to become drunk, but apparently the milder meaning prevails here: they “drank freely.”
2.1077The chapter is assigned by critics to J with the possible exception of about v. 12-15, or 16 and 23b. But the arbitrary distinctions made offer no new problem here and have been answered by us above.
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