Young Writers Society

XXXII

Asenath watched Joseph mount his chariot from behind the red and white curtains of her litter.

Back where all this mess started.

From Joseph’s tone earlier that morning, either all this mess would be fixed or something serious would happen. Someone’s life was at stake. But who? Joseph’s, one of the brothers, hers? She didn’t know. And this fact scared her like nothing else.

Joseph intensely watched the gates. She watched them too. Nothing. Then…something. The doors swung wide. There were the brothers just like Joseph said. They were surrounded by guards, and the dark giant from Punt held Benjamin’s wrists tightly behind him. Benjamin’s face was pale; he looked like a cornered rabbit. Joseph stepped out of his chariot, his face grave. Msrah, who had been leading the procession, came forward and presented a silver cup to Joseph.

His royal cup! How did Msrah get it?

Joseph took it and turned it in his hand, feeling the intricate designs. In the meantime, the brothers totally prostrated themselves on the ground.

His dreams come true again.

Joseph scowled then said sternly, “What have you done? Did you not know that men like me can see the future?”

Judah replied in a hoarse voice, “What can we say? Elohim has found the guilt of your servants; now we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also whose sack the cup was found in.”

Benjamin! Benjamin stole Joseph’s cup!

“No, that is unjust,” Joseph answered. “Only this boy shall be my slave. The rest of you may go in peace and my blessings to your father.”

In that moment, everything clicked for Asenath. Everything Joseph had done with his brothers made sense.

He’s setting them up!

Benjamin was favored above them all; he had been given the best food, the best accommodations-just like Joseph so many years back. Now the brothers had a choice of whether or not to get rid of another nuisance once and for all. They would not be guilty; Benjamin had “stolen” the cup.

She held her breath as Judah slowly rose and took a step forward. His eyes were downcast, and his brow glistened with sweat. Msrah interpreted as he began to speak. “Oh my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ear, and do not be angry with me though you are as great as Pharaoh and I will still speak openly to you.”

Very bold.

He reminded the vizier that they had been commanded to bring Benjamin down to Egypt though it might kill their father.

Joseph’s father! His life is on the line!

“We went home and told your servant my father all that my lord had said. And when our father wanted us to return to buy grain, we told him we could not unless our youngest brother came as well. My father told us that his beloved wife had borne him only two sons, one had left and never been seen again. If the other goes and he is harmed, he told us that it would be our fault that he died. If this boy does not return with us, your servant my father will die of sorrow. And I promised before I left that if the boy did not return, I would bear the guilt forever.”

Joseph listened with his arms crossed. His eyes asked, “What are you going to do about it?”

“So…”Judah paused. “Please let me be your slave instead, and let this boy return to his father. For how could I go back to my father without him?” Judah finished, still looking at the ground.

Now Joseph had a choice. He could keep Judah as a slave to repay all the evil that had been done or send them all home in mercy.

Elohim! Shine through all this confusion.

Joseph turned to his attendants, the guards, and Asenath’s litter bearers. “All of you-go.” His face was tense, trying to hold back strong emotions. She sighed as her servants carried her out of the courtyard. Msrah cast Joseph a strange look.

But he must need to be alone with them for whatever reason.

All the Egyptians went into the house together as commanded. Once inside, they flocked to the windows. Asenath pushed through to a perfect spot to see what would happen.

Joseph covered his face with his hands as tears poured down. He then began to shake and sob. All Asenath could do was smile as Joseph took his wig off, letting his curly, sweaty hair out. She heard him faintly tell his brothers, “Yowceph hayah.” She wasn’t exactly sure what had been said; it was obviously Hebrew. But she knew that Joseph had told his brothers who he was!

Finally!

The slaves who were watching began to point at his hair and whisper among themselves. She whipped around. “Do you think he had you leave so you could continue gawking? No! Now, shoo! Off with you! Back to your duties,” she said with a firm tone. Then she gave the some of the female slaves a playful wink just to make sure they knew she wasn’t angry. She also walked away from the window, feeling a bit disappointed to be left out. Of course, she wouldn’t have known what they were saying anyway.

I wonder if my boys watched all that.

She followed the hall in the left wing to Amnon’s room, which also served as his study and the boy’s schoolroom. The room was dark and muggy. The walls were lined with crisscrossed shelves for scrolls, parchments, extra papyrus, jars of ink, reed brushes, clay tablets, and small chisels. A simple bed and a few chests were pushed into the corner. The main piece of furniture was a high backed wooden chair where Amnon read and taught from. But it was empty. And there were the two worn spots on the reed rug where her boys sat to copy their hieroglyphics.

Where are they?

She the remembered that on hot days, which was almost every day the past year or so, they started lessons on the roof.

To the roof I suppose.

She climbed the stairs at the end of the hall. Manasseh sat up there with his back toward her and a papyrus in front of him. Amnon leaned over him, trying to help his nephew copy the hieroglyphic for “mysterious.” Manasseh bit his lip to focus intently on his clumsy hand. Ephraim’s papyrus and brush lay close by, but he was peeking through empty blocks on the roof wall, built to let cool breezes in.

Amnon looked up from his teaching. “Asenath! What brings you to our lesson?”

Ephraim turned around, a wide grin on his face. “Mother! Did you see what happened? The shepherds came back and poppa was going to make the youngest one a slave and then the one with the dark beard talked for a long time and now father is crying and speaking to them all in Hebrew and they are hugging and crying like they know each other! Are they…could they be poppa’s…”

Manasseh broke in on his brother’s rant. “That is ridiculous. Let father do what he wants. You are just trying to get out of lessons.”

“He finished his lessons for the morning. That is why I allowed him to watch,” Amnon said with a stern eye.

Ephraim grabbed Asenath’s hand. “Look!”

She peeked over the ledge. The brothers were still talking among themselves, obviously still bewildered by their sudden change in situation. Criminals on trial to beloved brothers of Egypt’s second in command! But joseph was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, he burst onto the roof, smiling from ear to ear, but with tear stains on his cheeks. “Boys! Did you watch that?”

Ephraim ran up. “I did!”

Manasseh eagerly dropped his papyrus. “I watched the beginning…”

“And Asenath! Did you see?”

“I watched until you set me out, my lord,” she answered meekly.

“Elohim has worked wonders! Just amazing! They really have changed.” He swung Manasseh onto his shoulders and scooped Ephraim into his arms. “Sons, remember the story I told you about my wicked brothers, your uncles, who sent me here?”

They nodded.

“Those men down there are your uncles!”

Ephraim frowned. “Kick them out! They did bad things to you and I don’t want them here.”

“Me neither,” Manasseh agreed.

“No, no, things are different now. They have repented and changed and Elohim has forgiven them. So we will too. Won’t we, dearest?” he said, extending his free hand to her.

“We will.”

“And now they are moving here with their families!”

“Here? We won’t have room!”

Joseph let out a clear laugh, something he had not done for months. “No, not here. Pharaoh has invited them to live in Egypt and I will ask him for the land of Goshen. It still has some grass for their sheep and good land to live on after this famine.”

Ephraim clapped his hands. “More uncles and some aunts! And grandfather? Will he come too?”

“Yes, my boy. You will finally meet your grandfather. But now, let’s go meet your uncles!”

Manasseh tapped his father’s head. “May I walk with momma?”

Joseph agreed, lifting him off his shoulders. Once he reached the ground, Manasseh clutched her hand. She sensed that he was apprehensive about meeting the new shepherd uncles. On the other hand, Ephraim clambered to the top of Joseph’s shoulders and cried, “Let’s go!”

Like her sons, part of Asenath wanted to laugh and rejoice.

So many new brothers who also worship Elohim! And Joseph’s wise father! I can’t wait to meet him!

But the other part held back.

What if his father doesn’t like me? Or what if they look down on me as a heathen? And what will Simeon think?

She did not have much time to worry as Joseph giddily pulled her down the stairs towards her family.

Family? Simeon, Judah, and the rest…family?

The men stood instinctively when they saw Joseph coming, their faces bright with relief at his wide smile. Each one then turned his gaze on her and the boys, probably surprised by her change in dress, Manasseh’s long ponytail on the side of his head, and Ephraim’s uncanny resemblance to his father and no doubt their late stepmother Rachel. She smiled warmly and bowed with her arms spread wide to welcome them. As she stood back up, she glanced at Simeon.

He caught her eye, and recognition dawned on his face. “Eliora?” he whispered.

Joseph affectionately introduced them in Hebrew. “Acenath, Menashsheh, Ephrayim.”

Simeon stared at her the whole time, trying to figure it all out, while she avoided his gaze.

Joseph also introduced the brothers to her and the boys, though she already knew their names. “Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin.” When he finished, he turned to her. “How about a dinner for everyone tonight, Msrah’s family, your mother and Amnon, my brothers, and us? It doesn’t have to be too big, considering the famine.”

“How will we speak? I know very little Hebrew.”

“We are a family now. We can make it work. Are you willing to try?”

She cast another look over the men in front of her, then at her sons. Simeon’s eyes met hers again, reminding her of her deception.

Elohim, you have forgiven me. Now I can move on.

“I’ll try.”