Vayigash Genesis 44:18-47:27
We are told that Judah approaches Joseph to plead for the release of Binyamin, his younger brother. The use of the word approach is instructive. Again we see an active stepping into destiny and decision making that changes history. He offers himself as a slave instead of Binyamin.
As a result of Judah living up to the declaration of Joseph” It is my brothers that i seek” Joseph reveals his identity to them. “I am Joseph,” he declares.
“Is my father still alive?”
Joseph comforts the frightened brothers who now must confront their deed head on with the words, “It was not you who sent me here,” he says to them, “but G-d. It has all been ordained from Above to save us, and the entire region, from famine.”
The brothers return to ell their father and yaacov comes to Egypt with his whole family, seventy souls in all .Yaacov is reassured by G-d as he goes down to Egypt with the words:
“Fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.”
Joseph gathers the wealth of Egypt by selling food and seed during the famine. Pharaoh gives Jacob’s family the fertile county of Goshen “seemingly” to settle in and rebuild their lives during their stay in Egypt.
So the stage is now set for the next part of the prophetic tapestry to be woven.
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