Children of the Old Testament | Page 4

Benjamin with them.

Having crossed many a weary mile of yellow sand and barren rock,
they were stopped by a high wall set with forts and gates guarded by
soldiers; and they had to say what they wanted before they were
allowed to pass into Egypt.
For days they walked by the side of the great river Nile, along the road
to Memphis, where the king's stores were, and at length they saw the
city upon an island in the river. Stepping into broad ferry-boats with
their animals, they were taken over, and went up the long road, lined on
each side with the figures of winged lions in stone, towards the wide
market-place of the great city. There they made known what they
wanted, saying that they had come from Hebron to buy corn; and their
names and business were written down on a tablet, which was taken to
the keeper of the granaries.
Word soon came that they must go before the keeper; and they were
warned to be careful what they said, for he was one of the king's chief
officers. Taking off their sandals and cloaks at the steps, the ten
Hebrew shepherds went between the pillars at the door and stood
waiting.
Within sat a young Egyptian, dressed in a robe of white linen, and
wearing a great black wig of horsehair with many small plaits. His
scribes sat at tables below him, writing down any orders he might wish
to give.
An Egyptian soldier told the sons of Jacob to go forward. Then the ten
men went in and knelt down humbly before the young Egyptian; nor
did they rise until he gave them leave. He looked at them and frowned,
and they were afraid.
"Where do you come from?" the officer asked sharply.
"From the land of Canaan, to buy corn," was the humble answer.
"You are spies!" he cried in a passion. "You have come to spy out the
weakness of the land. What is your calling? Who are your friends?"

The ten Hebrews could scarcely speak for terror. They had heard
terrible stories of how these fierce Egyptians never allowed spies to get
out of their country alive.
"No, my lord; thy servants have come to buy food," said one. "We are
all one man's sons," cried another. "We are honest men; thy servants
are no spies," pleaded a third.
But the great Egyptian only listened with a frown to their whining
voices. "No," he replied firmly; "you have come to spy out the
weakness of Egypt. Is your father alive? Have you another brother?"
Why was this man so angry with them? they wondered.
"We belong to one family of twelve brothers," Judah replied. "We have
a father, an old man, and another brother, the child of his old age, and
he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him much.
We are the sons of one man in Canaan, and truly the youngest is now
with our father, and one other is dead."
Was he still angry? They lifted their dark eyes to the stern face of the
young Egyptian.
"I see you are spies," was the harsh reply, but his voice was softer. "In
this way I will prove you. By the king's life, you shall not go back
unless your younger brother is brought here to me. Send one among
you to bring him, and the rest of you shall be kept in prison until he
returns. So shall I prove whether what you say is true. If you will not
do this, then by the king's life you are spies indeed!" He waved them
away with his hand, and the Egyptian soldiers pushed them out at the
door, telling them that they must come away at once to prison.
As they sat on the earthen floor of the prison looking at each other in
silence, they felt amazed and full of sorrow, thinking that they would
never see their tents and their little ones again. For they did not know
that the king's officer was their own brother Joseph, and that instead of
being angry, he was really filled with joy at seeing them after twenty
years of separation. As for his angry words, he was only trying them,

and meant nothing but kindness, as we shall see.
II.
Joseph's brothers were to be kept in prison until they settled who should
ride back in haste to Hebron to bring Benjamin down into Egypt; but
Joseph's heart was tender, and after a while he began to think that
perhaps he had been too harsh with them.
One man, he told himself, could not carry enough corn to feed all the
starving families in Hebron, and it might be dangerous for him to ride
back alone.