This is presented as a story about being rescued from famine and hunger, and therefore the salvation, the securing, of the people of God, because of God’s intricate planning with Joseph being in God’s place at God’s time. When we read this with our Christian spectacles on, are there pointers here for the greater work of rescue that Jesus will achieve? For instance, what do you make of the requirement that Benjamin is summonsed in order to set Simeon free, or how Reuben offers the lives of his sons as payment should Benjamin lose his life?

The Revd. David Hildred