Reflections on Genesis 42–50
I am a middle child, so I know a little about being overlooked. Even the Bible overlooks middle children! Well, mostly. Judah is a famous exception, as is Miriam. But that’s beside the point. The Bible, especially the book of Genesis, is much more concerned about the older-younger dynamic, and mostly about the younger subverting the place of the older. There is also a lot of favoritism. A middle child notices these things too, because it’s always happening to someone else. I’m over it. I’m just saying that I notice it.
I have been thinking about the question of favoritism in the book of Genesis. Favoritism is tricky, mostly because it seems that God is complicit (Romans 9:13, quoting Malachi 1:2–3). Well, complicit is perhaps too loaded a term. Let’s just say that there is a theology of chosenness present in the book of Genesis that sets the stage for the rest of the Bible, including the New Testament. Being chosen by God is wonderful, naturally, but it’s sort of a package deal, and the package always has some surprises. Realizing this has been the key to me finding peace with being a middle child! But this isn’t about me. It’s about Joseph, Benjamin, and Jacob (and his other sons), and the persistence of favoritism, and the role of recognition, and reconciliation in Genesis 42–50.
Let’s start with Benjamin, who has an outsized role in the story for someone who says nothing. Firstly, Jacob refuses to send him down to Egypt with his ten other sons, “Since he feared that he might meet with disaster” (Gen. 42:4 –all quotations from the revised JPS version). Then he refuses to send him on the second journey, referring to Benjamin as “my son” and Joseph as “his brother” (Gen. 42:38), as though Benjamin was his lone surviving son. Only when Jacob’s entire household faces extinction does he let Benjamin go to Egypt, saying, with an air of resignation, “As for me, if I am to be bereaved, I shall be bereaved” (Gen. 43:13–14). Joseph continues the pattern by giving Benjamin a larger portion than his brothers (Gen. 43:34). So, favoritism is still in play even after all the trouble it caused in the first half of the story! What changes is the brothers’ reaction to Joseph and Benjamin and their attitude towards their father, and recognizing this change is ultimately what triggers Joseph to reveal his true identity.
Several kinds of recognition happen in this part of the Joseph story, all essential to its tension and pathos. Joseph recognizes his brothers, but they don’t recognize him (Gen. 42:8). Joseph recognizes that the dreams have not yet been fulfilled (Gen. 42:9) and so orchestrates a way to get all the brothers in his presence at once to fulfill his first dream (see Gen. 37:5–8). Joseph also recognizes that the brothers are contrite or at least feel culpable (Gen. 42:21–24). But notice how it takes the brothers’ contrition to move him to tears, while just seeing Benjamin is enough (Gen. 43:29–30). Finally, though, it is when Joseph recognizes Judah’s compassion towards Benjamin and Jacob (Gen. 44:18–34), that he makes himself known to his brothers (Gen. 45:1). He seems to be waiting for this transformation and not just the fulfillment of the first dream, which already happened earlier (Gen. 43:26, Gen. 44:14).
Finally, Joseph recognized God’s hand in his life journey, and so could comfort and reconcile with his brothers, even after all they had done (Gen 45:3–8). Implicit in this last recognition is a deep understanding that chosenness is not about favoritism. There is certainly blatant favoritism in the book of Genesis (Gen. 25:27–28). But chosenness is not just about having a special relationship or being preferred, but more about performing a special, life-giving work. Joseph recognized this: “God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance” (Gen. 45:7). It took another seventeen years, though, before his brothers recognized that Joseph had genuinely been transformed by understanding this principle of chosenness (Gen. 50:15–21).
