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Page 18
And he called upon the people to give him for the king one bushel of
grain out of every five, to be stored up. The people brought their
grain, after taking for themselves as much as they needed, and Joseph
stored it up in great storehouses in the cities; so much at last that no
one could keep account of it.
The king of Egypt gave a wife to Joseph from the noble young women of
his kingdom. Her name was Asenath; and to Joseph and his wife God gave
two sons. The oldest son he named Manasseh, a word which means "Making
to Forget."
"For," said Joseph, "God has made me to forget all my troubles and my
toil as a slave."
The second son he named Ephraim, a word that means "Fruitful."
"Because," said Joseph, "God has not only made the land fruitful; but he
has made me fruitful in the land of my troubles."
The seven years of plenty soon passed by, and then came the years of
need. In all the lands around people were hungry, and there was no food
for them to eat; but in the land of Egypt everybody had enough. Most of
the people soon used up the grain that they had saved; many had saved
none at all, and they all cried to the king to help them.
"Go to Joseph!" said king Pharaoh, "and do whatever he tells you to do."
Then the people came to Joseph, and Joseph opened the storehouses, and
sold to the people all the grain that they wished to buy. And not only
the people of Egypt came to buy grain, but people of all the lands
around as well, for there was great need and famine everywhere. And the
need was as great in the land of Canaan, where Jacob lived, as in other
lands. Jacob was rich in flocks and cattle, and gold and silver, but his
fields gave no grain, and there was danger that his family and his
people would starve. And Jacob--who was now called Israel also--heard
that there was food in Egypt and he said to his sons: "Why do you look
at each other, asking what to do to find food? I have been told that
there is grain in Egypt. Go down to that land, and take money with you,
and bring grain, so that we may have bread, and may live."
Then the ten older brothers of Joseph went down to the land of Egypt.
They rode upon asses, for horses were not much used in those times, and
they brought money with them. But Jacob would not let Benjamin, Joseph's
younger brother, go with them, for he was all the more dear to his
father, now that Joseph was no longer with him; and Jacob feared that
harm might come to him.
Then Joseph's brothers came to Joseph to buy food. They did not know
him, grown up to be a man, dressed as a prince, and seated on a throne.
Joseph was now nearly forty years old, and it had been almost
twenty-three years since they had sold him. But Joseph knew them all, as
soon as he saw them. He wished to be sharp and stern with them, not
because he hated them; but because he wished to see what their spirit
was, and whether they were as selfish, and cruel, and wicked as they had
been in other days.
They came before him, and bowed, with their faces to the ground. Then,
no doubt, Joseph thought of the dream that had come to him while he was
a boy, of his brothers' sheaves bending down around his sheaf. He spoke
to them as a stranger, as if he did not understand their language, and
he had their words explained to him in the language of Egypt.
"Who are you? And from what place do you come?" said Joseph, in a harsh,
stern manner.
They answered him very meekly: "We have come from the land of Canaan to
buy food."
"No," said Joseph, "I know what you have come for. You have come as
spies, to see how helpless the land is, so that you can bring an army
against us, and make war on us."
"No, no," said Joseph's ten brothers. "We are no spies. We are the sons
of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan; and we have come for food,
because we have none at home."
"You say that you are the sons of one man, who is your father? Is he
living? Have you any more brothers? Tell me all about yourselves."
And they said: "Our father is an old man in Canaan. We did have a
younger brother, but he was lost; and we have one brother still, who is
the youngest of all, but his father could not spare him to come with
us."
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