Joseph, the type of Jesus, is in charge of handing out bread to sustain life. It is repeated over and over again in Chapter 42, "Go get bread so we can live and not die." The very lives of Joseph's brothers and father are in his hands. It is up to him to choose to save them, just as it was up to Jesus to incarnate, live, teach, and die for our sins so we could live. A popular Christian song (which, I'm sorry, is probably copyrighted but I'm not sure how to cite it) contains some powerful lyrics about the situation both are in:
I'm forgiven because You were forsaken.
I'm accepted...You were condemned.
I'm alive and well, Your spirit is within me,
Because You died and rose again.
Joseph's undeserved tragedies formed him into the kind of man who could forgive, and his brothers received forgiveness, acceptance, and food to sustain their physical lives because of what Joseph went through. After being sold off, Joseph might as well have died in the eyes of his brothers, and finding him again, having conquered his misfortune, now in charge of so much, it must have seemed almost as though he had risen from the grave. At this point, however, they still have no idea that it is he. Note the fairly inconspicuous fact that Judah, fresh from his descent into disaster and the Tamar Incident, Reuben the Usurper/Concubine Stealer, Simeon, and Levi the Massacre Brothers, are all there, all together again, seeking closure and forgiveness.
The stumbling point with receiving life and grace from Jesus is that you have to repent and truly look your sin in the eye to do so. When Joseph recognizes his brothers, thinks back to that life-defining dream God sent him, and decides to forgive, he could easily have done so right then. Boom, Genesis becomes 5 chapters shorter. We're all happy with the touching story and move on to Exodus. But he didn't. Joseph, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, realizes that God isn't finished with them yet. The family is, first of all, missing a member, and Benjamin must be gathered into the fold. At the same time, some of the brothers look critically at their own actions toward Joseph and begin to repent, but Reuben isn't yet convinced. He throws out a blame-deflecting "I told you not to!" Reuben's statement, however, did some good in that it revealed his own intent to rescue Joseph and indicated that he realized the evil nature of what they did.
Of note, this interchange takes place on the third day (symbolism much?) after three days of being locked in the very prison Joseph himself was in. People in the Bible are always being thrown into three days of some kind of horrible test and coming out better on the other side. Also notable is the fact that the bread money was returned sneakily by Joseph. The life-giving bread that God gives us is always without cost. His grace and His life are always freely given, not as a result of anything we can offer Him. Jacob reacts to this as though his sons stole it, like the indignant reaction we sometimes have to people who live lives of sin and then turn it around. Like the older brother in the prodigal son story, we cannot believe that we, who work so hard to do the right thing, can receive grace right alongside those who seem to do everything wrong.
The end of Chapter 42 and the beginning of Chapter 43 seem to be about leadership and taking initiative. Within this family, Jacob is clearly not the leader, as he isn't about to undertake an expedition to take Simeon, a wayward son, back at the risk of Benjamin, a blameless one. He's the opposite of the Good Shepherd, unwilling to put good sheep at risk for a lost one. Jacob even goes so far as to say that Benjamin is the only son he has left. The favoritism that his parents showed that nearly ruined his life and his relationship with Esau has led him to show equally destructive favoritism toward Joseph and Benjamin.
Reuben's attempt to take up the mantle of leader and go get Simeon is met with an absolutely deafening silence. Even with his own sons as "collateral", Jacob and the others won't trust him with Benjamin. He has been so thoroughly untrustworthy that there's no chance. He's ruined it. God's natural preference for younger brothers who (at least to his heart-piercing gaze) appear to be more virtuous than their elders shines through. Leaders are chosen by God in this family, not by birth.
Finally, we hear from the reformed sinner, now fine upstanding mensch Judah. He doesn't have to offer his own children as collateral on this loan. With his example, Jacob gets him ready to go, spurred to do the right thing when his son takes the initiative. Judah takes the money they found, plus interest, and his brother Benjamin, and Jacob's confidence in him shows. "If I have to be bereaved, I will be." Not the same Jacob who feared the loss of his son so incredibly much a few verses ago, now is he.
Joseph seems to fully understand his brother Judah's life turnaround, and he knew all along that it was Judah who got him out of the well while Reuben just talked a big game. When Judah comes clean and gives an honest confession, he pretends that he got paid for the food and lets the brothers keep the money...God's grace is a freely given gift, remember? As a result, they get invited in for a party, and Joseph's generosity just overflows. Things are beginning to come together, and he is so incredibly happy at all God is doing and has done, so moved at seeing his last brother, that he begins to weep for sheer joy.
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