Joseph Part 11: Jacob's Lost Sons

Jacob’s Lost Sons

We're just gonna pick up in verse 21 and a whole new network. Think what happens after the test in the Eden story? Think through the sequence in early Genesis stories, and then the sequence of what's happening here. 

Genesis 42:21–28 CSB

21 Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.” 22 But Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn’t listen. Now we must account for his blood!” 23 They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them. 24 He turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes. 25 Joseph then gave orders to fill their containers with grain, return each man’s silver to his sack, and give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out. 26 They loaded the grain on their donkeys and left there. 27 At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver there at the top of his bag. 28 He said to his brothers, “My silver has been returned! It’s here in my bag.” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What has God done to us?”

"At that point, when Joseph puts out the test, each man said to his brother, 'Oh no, we are guilty concerning our brother.

When we saw the distress of his very being, when he pleaded for favor from us, and we did not listen, for this reason, this distress has come upon us.' And Reuven answered them and said, 'Yeah, yeah. Didn't I tell you guys, don't sin against the boy, but y'all didn't listen. And now look, his blood, his blood is being required of us.'"

Remember the Cain and Abel story. The blood, the outcry of blood from the ground, and then to Lamech, and then to the violence filling the land, so that the end of all flesh has come. 

There's a direct link between the blood defiling the land, ruining it, and the outcry comes up to God. So that's right before the flood. 

Right after the flood, when God makes the rainbow promise of no more cosmic de-creations like that, right before that, what God says to Noah is, "Hey, you and your wife are the new Adam and Eve, so be fruitful and multiply and fill the land." It's just copy and paste what he said.

Genesis 9:1–7 CSB

1 God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. 2 The fear and terror of you will be in every living creature on the earth, every bird of the sky, every creature that crawls on the ground, and all the fish of the sea. They are placed under your authority. 3 Every creature that lives and moves will be food for you; as I gave the green plants, I have given you everything. 4 However, you must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it. 5 And I will require a penalty for your lifeblood; I will require it from any animal and from any human; if someone murders a fellow human, I will require that person’s life. 6 Whoever sheds human blood, by humans his blood will be shed, for God made humans in his image. 7 But you, be fruitful and multiply; spread out over the earth and multiply on it.”

The "rule over the animals" from Genesis 1 becomes "the fear and terror of you" on the animals.

So what was peace between human and animal becomes conflict and terror between human and animal.

And every creature that lives is now gonna be your food.

You were vegans at the beginning. Now you're gonna be carnivores, omnivores.

You have to ask what, what changed from one course to the, is this God's ideal?

This feels like a concession.

So, and the concession is, well, what I know about humans is that they're violent and they love to kill everything that breathes, including each other. So given that you are that way, you now have a wider menu to choose from. But listen, if you're gonna eat from a wider menu, let me put a stake in the ground.

When you take the life of a creature, the life does not belong to you. The life is mine. And the way that you'll signal that the life belongs to Elohim is you pour out its blood. "And I will require the blood," and that's exactly the line that what Reuven says, "I will require the blood from every beast or from every human, from every man's brother." You hear that echo back? 

So it was the blood of the brother that led to the cascade of blood that led to the flood.

To keep the blood from bringing about more de-creations, here's what you should do with the blood. Honor it. Don't take it for yourself. Don't eat it. So just like there was forbidden food before, the new forbidden food is not fruit, but blood. And then you get the capital punishment line.

So this is an important, in the symmetry of design, this all this language matches the forbidden food and the Cain and Abel story here. So all the way back to here, sorry. We have Cain and Abel echoes happening here. Each one said to his brother, "Oh, this thing that we did to our brother, the blood." But "the blood is required," is borrowing not from the Cain and Abel story but from the symmetrical match to the Cain and Abel story in Genesis 9. 

It's like this is what the symmetries are doing. They pair things, and then once you go forward, you can appeal to one of them, But in so doing, you're appealing to anything else that it matches as you go forward. So look, his blood is required. 

Also, look at this little back information, this flashback to the scene.

He was crying out from the pit, crying out.

And right here is the language of the psalms, crying out from the pit. Think of Psalm, remember Psalm 69.

Right. "I'm in the pit, my brothers hate me. They threw me in here. My cry raises up to you." That kind of thing.

Verse 23 - So here they are standing there in front of Yoseph having this whole conversation. "Now, they didn't know that Yoseph was, like, listening to them there, because there was a mediator between them." It's a fascinating little detail. 

Remember this portrait of, you have Pharaoh who's imaged by Yoseph, and then you have Yoseph who represents Pharaoh as an image, and then you've got the brothers, and then you have this intercessor or this mediator in between the two. 

And this role here of the mediator/interpreter/go-between, between the God figure and Israel is exactly the word used to describe the prophets as you move forward. 

That is something to ponder. Some one who stands between.

But in the primary context. The interpreter is there as part of the disguises so they don’t know he knows what they are saying

This is a theme that'll get picked up big time in the Mount Sinai narrative about how God invites all the people up, but then all of a sudden they can't come up, and why? And there's a flashback, and then Moses becomes the mediator.

Verse 24 "He turned away from them and wept," like you would too.

"Then he returned and he spoke to them, and he took Shimon and bound him before their eyes." He's the second-born to Leah. Reuven is the firstborn of Leah, Simeon or Shimon is the second-born. So the one is bound up on behalf of the many.

"And Yoseph commanded that they should fill their bags with grain. And he commanded that their silver be returned each one in the sack."

Silver. Yeah. "To give them rations for the road. And it was done for them. So they took up their grain on their donkeys, and they went from there.

And one opened up his sack to get food for his donkey at a night stop. And he saw the silver right there in the mouth of the bag. And he said to his brothers, 'My silver has been returned. It's right here in my bag.' And their hearts went out from them."

"They shuddered and said each one to his brother, 'What is Elohim doing to us?'" The blood is required. Do you see how that matches what they're saying up above? He says, "For this," what they said earlier, "for this, because we didn't listen to him, this distress is coming upon us. The blood is required. What is Elohim doing to us?" And of course, who's the one doing it to them? 

Yoseph is the one doing it.

Ill-Gotten Silver

The narrative focuses on the silver found in the mouth of the camel bags. This seems to be an intentional parallel to the “20 shekels of silver” that the brothers received by selling Yoseph as a slave headed for Egypt (recall Gen. 37:27-28). Now the brothers are in Egypt, and though a brother was imprisoned, they now also have their money back!

Yoseph here recreates the circumstances of his slavery sale down to the last detail. The brothers now have extra money and plenty of food for a time, the only cost is their brother. Will the brothers go back and lie to Yaaqov again, as they did about Yoseph, or will they choose differently?

The Brothers Return to Yaaqov

Genesis 42:29–38 CSB

29 When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them: 30 “The man who is the lord of the country spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country. 31 But we told him, ‘We are honest and not spies. 32 We were twelve brothers, sons of the same father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33 The man who is the lord of the country said to us, ‘This is how I will know if you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go. 34 Bring back your youngest brother to me, and I will know that you are not spies but honest men. I will then give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the country.’ ” 35 As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! When they and their father saw their bags of silver, they were afraid. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “It’s me that you make childless. Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything happens to me!” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You can kill my two sons if I don’t bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you.” 38 But Jacob answered, “My son will not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If anything happens to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.”

"And they told him everything that happened, saying, 'Well, the man, the master of the land, oh man, he was really mean. He spoke harsh things to us. He took us to be spies. I mean, can you believe it? He would like accuse us of being dishonest. And we said to him, "No, no, we're upright, we're not spies. We're two in 10 brothers."'"

They overshared with Yoseph and now they're oversharing about their oversharing. 

So here's what we said, "We're two in 10 brothers, sons of our father. One is no more. The little one is with our father in the land of Canaan. And do you know what that man, the master of the land said to us? 

He said, 'By this, I will know that you are upright, your one brother, make him rest here with me, and the famine rations for your houses, take and go. And bring to me your little brother so that I can know that y'all are not spies and that you're upright.

I will give your brother to you. You can trade in the land.'"

So here's what's interesting. They overshare about their oversharing, but do they hide anything from their father?

No.

They're upright actually speaks not backwards, but at least to the present. Because they're doing this in an upright way.

Before they deceived their father, now they are upright

Last time, they got the money and the bread and the one left behind, and they deceived their father. Here, they have the money and the bread and the one left behind, and they open everything up to their father.

"It came about when they were emptying their sacks, look, each one had a little pouch of silver in his sack." It doesn't say there were 20 shekels in each pouch, but I like to imagine that it was  

"And they saw the pouches of silver, they and their father, and they were freaked out.

And their father Yaaqov said to them, 'You all have bereaved me.'" It is difficult to find a good English equivalent here. It's the word for deprive someone of their children. Cause someone to lose a child. "Y'all have caused me to lose a child."

So he's thinking of Shimon down in the prison, but of course he's saying more than that, Being reminded

"Y'all have made me lose a son, Yoseph is no more. And I know you didn't have anything to do with that, but Shimon is no more. And you want Benjamin now. These things always happen to me!"

Reuven’s Inadequate Offer

Notice how Yaaqov sees a disastrous pattern at work in his life. He compares the past loss of Yoseph to the present loss of Shimon. And now both are compared to the potential loss of Binyamin in the future.

Also recall how Yaaqov’s lost sons were earlier compared to Yehudah’s two lost sons, Er and Onan, who both died at the beginning of Genesis 38. The loss of those two sons was restored by the birth of the twins from Tamar, the disguised deceiver whose deception led to life.

Here Yaaqov’s two lost sons (Yoseph and Shimon) are going to be restored through the disguised deception of Yoseph! But not before another layer of complications and testing.

"You can kill my two sons if I don't return Benjamin to you. Give him into my hand. I will return him to you." And Yaaqov, he doesn't even acknowledge this really bad idea. 

He just says, "My son is not going down with y'all. Listen, his brother's dead. He alone is the remnant."

 "And should a disaster happen to him along the road as you go down, you would make my gray hair go down to Sheol with grief."

Binyamin, the New Yoseph

So notice the one son who's bound is put into parallelism with Yoseph is no more, Shimon, the one bound on behalf of the many, is no more. And Benyamin. Judah had three sons. He lost two, wouldn't let go of the third.

Now here's Yaaqov, he's lost two sons. He won't let go of the third. We're playing out that parallel. 

The story of Abraham and Isaac, obviously so much in the background here. And in that story, Abraham has to give up the son of Sarah only to receive him back, but then that's his test is to give him back to God, only to get him back with the substitute. But in the chapter right before this is the story of how he has to let go of his other firstborn son from Hagar by sending him and his mother out and banishing them out into the wilderness.

And as far as he knows, he's sending them to their deaths. And it's precisely when she puts him under the bush and then goes away, and then she sees a well and so on. So Abraham also lost two sons, but got one back.

In this sequence here, he loses multiple sons, but he receives one back, and God saves the life of both by something that happens in a bush.

So here's Yaaqov with multiple sons and doesn't want to give up the last one. Whereas Abraham didn't want to give up his first ones.

Bibliography

Anderson, Don. Joseph: Fruitful in Affliction. n.p.: Don Anderson, 2013.

Arnold, Bill T. Genesis. Edited by Ben Witherington III and Bill T. Arnold. New Cambridge Bible Commentary. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009.

Baldwin, Joyce G. The Message of Genesis 12–50: From Abraham to Joseph. Edited by J. A. Motyer and Derek Tidball. The Bible Speaks Today. England: Inter-Varsity Press, 1986.

Bible Hub. “What is Joseph’s Robe’s Significance?” Bible Hub. Accessed March 17, 2026. https://biblehub.com/q/What_is_Joseph_s_robe_s_significance.htm.

BibleProject. “Joseph.” BibleProject Classroom. Accessed March 17, 2026. https://bibleproject.com/classroom/joseph.

Brown, Derek R., et al. Joseph: Understanding God’s Purpose. Edited by Michael R. Grigoni. Studies in Faithful Living. Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013.

Downer, Benjamin Reno. “Cupbearer.” Pages 766 in vol. 2 of The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia. Edited by James Orr et al. 5 vols. Chicago: The Howard-Severance Company, 1915.

Gilbrant, Thoralf. “שָׁלוֹם.” In The Old Testament Hebrew-English Dictionary. WORDsearch, 1998.

Got Questions Ministries. Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife, 2014–2021.

Hamilton, Jeffries M. “Adullam (Place).” Page 81 in vol. 1 of The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary. Edited by David Noel Freedman. 6 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1992.

Levenson, Jon D. Sinai and Zion: An Entry into the Jewish Bible. San Francisco: HarperOne, 1985.

Lipiński, Edward. “Sacred Prostitution in the Story of Judah and Tamar.” Bible History Daily. Biblical Archaeology Society. May 10, 2026. https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/ancient-cultures/ancient-israel/sacred-prostitution-in-the-story-of-judah-and-tamar/.

Mandel, David. Who’s Who in the Jewish Bible. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 2007.

Mangum, Douglas, Miles Custis, and Wendy Widder. Genesis 12–50. Logos Research Commentaries. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software, 2026.

M’Clintock, John, and James Strong. “Shaving (1).” Page 623 in vol. 9 of Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature. 12 vols. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1880.

Shabda History. “Egyptian Seven Cows.” Shabda History. April 15, 2026. https://history.shabda.co/articles/egyptian-seven-cows/.

Silva, Moisés, and Merrill C. Tenney, eds. The Zondervan Encyclopedia of the Bible. Rev. ed. 5 vols. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

Steiner, Richard C. “Four Inner-Biblical Interpretations of Genesis 49:10: On the Lexical and Syntactic Ambiguities of עַד as Reflected in the Prophecies of Nathan, Ahijah, Ezekiel, and Zechariah.” Journal of Biblical Literature 132, no. 1 (2013): 33–60.

Widder, Wendy. “Context & Clarity: Big Dreams, Bigger God.” Bible Study Magazine 12, no. 5 (2020): 28.

Wilson, Marvin R. “Barbers & Beards.” Page 139 in vol. 1 of Dictionary of Daily Life in Biblical & Post-Biblical Antiquity. Edited by Edwin M. Yamauchi and Marvin R. Wilson. 4 vols. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2014.