“I forgive you, Judah,” Joseph said softly. “For everything you did to me.”
Judah looked up, tears filling his eyes again. “It is more than I deserve.”
“You are right. But who among us ever deserves to be forgiven? It is God who pardons our sins, yours and mine.” He touched Judah’s arm.
Judah nodded and smiled as if in relief, and Joseph saw gratitude in his eyes.
Joseph’s heart swelled. Forgiving one who had hurt him so much hadn’t seemed possible even this morning. But now that he had, he felt a deep sense of peace roll over him. God had done more than send him ahead to preserve the lives of his family. He had changed the heart of the one who had betrayed him. And He had given Joseph the ability to forgive him. And to love him. To forgive and love them all.
45
HEBRON
Jacob walked the length of the camp, his walking stick barely keeping him from stumbling. They’d been gone too long. Surely something bad had happened to Benjamin. He couldn’t bear the thought. The very idea caused such fear to rise in him that he felt his chest tighten, and he wondered if he would fall to the earth and die before they returned.
“Father!” Dinah called, and he turned to see her running toward him. “The men are coming!” She stopped near him, drawing in a breath. Every day for the past week she had watched the road, but there had been no sign of them. “They’re truly here!” she cried, coming close to grasp his arm.
Thankful for her steady hold, Jacob gave her an anxious look. “Is Benjamin with them?”
Dinah nodded. “Benjamin is with them, and they look as though they have brought half of Egypt with them! You must come!”
Jacob let her help him walk to the road that led to his camp. He stopped at the sight of a huge caravan of carts, donkeys, men, and so much food and clothing that he could barely make sense of it all.
“Are these my sons or some merchant caravan coming through?” he asked as Judah came toward him.
“We are all here, Father,” Benjamin said, rushing toward Jacob and embracing him. “And the best part is—” He stopped abruptly and looked at Judah.
Jacob laughed. Relief filled him that Judah had kept Benjamin safe. “What has you so excited, my son?”
“Joseph is alive,” Judah said softly.
Jacob leaned closer, certain he had not heard correctly. “What nonsense is this? Tell me plainly. What did you say?”
Judah knelt in front of him, awe and humility etched in the lines of his face, and he looked much as he had when he returned home after twenty years away. Jacob saw a changed man before him, and he couldn’t have imagined a greater change than Judah had already had. “What is it, Son?” he said, placing a hand on Judah’s shoulder.
Judah visibly shook at Jacob’s touch, as though it surprised him. “Joseph is still alive, Father. He is ruler of all Egypt.”
“Joseph is alive?” Dinah gripped Jacob’s arm tighter, joy lighting her face.
The words sounded strange to Jacob’s ears. He must sit. He looked around for a rock or stump, but Judah led him to rest against his donkey’s side.
“Listen, Father,” Judah said as his brothers surrounded him. “Joseph was not killed by a lion or wild beast all those years ago. He was captured and sold as a slave to Egypt, but he said it was God who sent him there to keep us alive. He bids you and all of us to come to live in Egypt. The famine is going to last another five years, and Joseph can give us the best of Egypt’s land.”
Jacob looked about, seeing again all of the extra things his sons had in their possession now—much more than they had taken with them—and allowed himself to ponder their words. Could it be? But the evidence was staring at him. Joseph alive?
“It’s true, Father,” Benjamin said, leaning his head on Jacob’s shoulder. “Believe it and come to Egypt to see Joseph for yourself.”
Jacob looked from one son to another, and for the first time in more than half of Joseph’s lifetime, he felt his grief lift.
He straightened and allowed himself to smile. “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
EGYPT
Judah rode his donkey along the now semi-familiar streets of Memphis in Egypt to Joseph’s residence. Memories of long-ago days filled him. Joseph’s dreams. How they had angered him and his brothers. Even their father had rebuked the boy then.
He glanced heavenward as he reached the place where Joseph’s servants would care for his donkey. That he was alone troubled him. He should have brought another brother or two with him. But his father had entrusted him to come to Joseph to get directions to Goshen, the land Joseph had promised to them. He was man enough to do the job.
He approached the great doors, and a servant bid him enter. Another servant washed his feet, and yet another offered him refreshment while he waited for Joseph.
The room was simple yet exquisitely designed. He’d paid little attention on their earlier visits, but now he felt small in comparison to all Joseph commanded.
Footfalls caused him to turn, and there was Joseph. Judah fell to his face and bowed before him. He still could not get used to Joseph’s Egyptian makeup and clothes.
“Do not bow to me, Judah,” Joseph said, taking his hand and helping him up. Joseph embraced him, excitement in his eyes. “Did my father come?”
Judah smiled. The great lord of Egypt still had the heart of a child who missed a beloved parent. How he wished he had not deprived his brother of their father’s presence for so long.
“Yes,” he said. “He sent me ahead to get directions to Goshen. We are all headed there as soon as we know where to go.”
“Come, I will send Hamid to take you there. I will follow shortly.” Joseph called his steward, who led Judah outside to his donkey and mounted one as well.
“Welcome to Egypt,” Hamid said.
Joseph waited several hours, hurrying to answer too many questions brought to him, then finally excused himself, climbed behind the driver of his chariot, and headed toward Goshen. He’d asked Asenath to come with the boys, anxious now for her to meet his father and brothers, but she had wanted this day to be just for him to reunite with his father. How blessed he was to have her! Tomorrow he would make a way for his new family to meet his family of birth.
Excitement rushed through him, his heart pounding with every memory of his father, his mother, his childhood. His dreams.
He glanced at the bright blue, cloudless sky, his heart turning to prayer. I never imagined the dreams meant this, Adonai. It is beyond my understanding that You would allow me to care for my family in this way. Gratitude swelled at the way God had turned twenty-three years of longing and buried sorrow into immense joy. Despite every hardship, he could never deny that God was good.
At last the chariot came to a stop. Joseph removed his Egyptian headdress, leaving it behind in the chariot, jumped out, and ran toward the camp, where he could clearly see his family. They had grown to many more people than he had left behind. So many he longed to meet and hold close.
But first he searched for one man. His father.
There, at last, he saw him sitting comfortably on a seat Pharaoh had sent for his use. Father! What a joyous word. Joseph’s throat tightened, and tears streamed down his face as he walked toward his father. He stopped long enough to see how frail Jacob had become, then gently put his arms around his aged frame. Their weeping filled the entire camp.