“And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. (Notice how they continue to humble themselves before Joseph; revering, honouring and serving him in perfect accordance with the prophecy of his childhood dream, and yet, in his woundedness, all Joseph is able to see is the possibility of another great betrayal. It is a universal issue that one simultaneously blames the wickedness of the perpetrator, but also oneself for the gullibility, naiveté or lack of shrewdness [Matthew 10:16] that allowed oneself to be victimised in the first place. Before one’s forgiveness is complete and inner healing fully achieved, it consequently follows that one is forever anticipating that one will be taken advantage of again and again.) We are all one man’s sons; (with the implication that they are not an amalgamation of a foreign government’s most skilled military men trained in the art of espionage 😜; it is important to recognise here that the brothers are responding to Joseph in honesty as innocent men at the mercy of a foreign ruler who has every right to distrust them in view of the fact that he “does not know them from Adam”, and not in their capacity as men who have gravely sinned against another man and is now attempting to persuade that man that they will never betray or hurt him again) we are honest men; your servants are not spies.” (This is quite an interesting turn of phrase as we are not sure if they view themselves as honest men in light of the accusation of espionage brought against them, if they consider themselves to be honest following a process of repentance and atonement before Almighty God rendering their past sin against Joseph and the wilful deceit of their father Jacob forgiven and blotted out, whether they are simply in denial over the grave dishonesty of their past – it being too painful to recollect, whether they view themselves as honest men overarchingly due to their heritage as the people of God destined for righteousness, or, if they are simply positing what they think Joseph wants to hear in order to secure a measure of grain with which to feed themselves; we do not know.) But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” (Once again, Joseph repeats this phrase alerting the reader to the fact that he is deeply insecure in his own vulnerability or “nakedness” before these, the very men who took such cruel advantage of his trusting nature and once so intent upon destroying him; this reveals to us that truly, truly young Joseph did not see it coming and blames himself for this “failure” on his part to this very day 😢, a phenomenon perhaps yet subconscious in his own mind, but observed through his projecting his own former vulnerability – “nakedness” – upon the land he has been called to steward, his territory.) And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” (Unbeknownst to them they could not have chosen to reveal three worse pieces of information. It must have been excruciatingly triggering for poor dear Joseph to have to hear that a.) the chosen Promised Land, the inheritance and heritage of the true chosen People of God is here presumed upon by these seemingly unworthy men, whilst Joseph himself who had proved himself to be the more true Child of God in character, conduct and devotion is essentially living in exile in a foreign land where his true heritage is possibly rarely acknowledged b.) Joseph learns that not only does he have a little brother, possibly even a full brother by his very own mother Rachel, but in his woundedness he would even be forgiven for concluding that he has been ‘replaced’ and forgotten in the bosom of his beloved father, and then finally: c.) the bitterly painful phrase “one is no more”; I can only imagine the nature of the thoughts reeling through Joseph’s mind – the cowardice hidden behind the euphemism indicating that the unnamed brother has passed away, and yet the remaining hint of a veiled admission of guilt that remains in this vague assertion must have been infuriating! It is almost as if the lie once laid before his father Jacob is here laid bare before Joseph in all its ugliness; its far-reaching consequences near instantly invoked. The sense of being forgotten, obsolete and erased from amongst the living members of his family is even more cruelly highlighted, even confirmed with a finality, which was at least lacking in some measure before this fateful phrase was uttered – “Oh the horror! The horror!” [To quote another famous Joseph].) 

“¹⁰And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”

¹²But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

¹³And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

– Genesis 42:10-13 (NKJV)