1 When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?"
2 And he said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live, and not die."
3 So ten of Joseph's brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt.
We must not forget that it is down in Egypt (the body) that we find the "grain" or substance that is required to sustain the whole man. The several visits of Joseph's brothers to Egypt for grain and their final reconciliation with him are a symbolical representation of the manner in which we make connection with the obscured vitality center within the organism, eventually bringing all our faculties into conjunction with it, that it may in due course be lifted up to a Spiritual manifestation.
4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might befall him.
5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
Canaan, from which Jacob and his sons migrated, means "lowland," while Egypt means "tribulation." To the metaphysician these names represent the two phases of substance. Canaan represents the invisible substance that surrounds and interpenetrates all bodies, while Egypt represents substance that has been formed as material and is perceived by the senses. The faculties of mind, represented by Jacob's sons, first inhabit the realm of invisible substance and are sustained by it; then they pass into the realm of the visible or formed substance--from Canaan to Egypt. This is the way in which the mind forms the soul and its vehicle, the physical body. Thoughts are first expressed as ideas in the invisible substance, then they enter into visibility as things.
When man is ignorant of the creative power of his mind, he gravitates to a material basis in all his thinking and acting. Among the sons of Jacob, only Joseph (imagination) had knowledge of the reality of the invisible. The others scoffed at him as a visionary. They refused to plant their seed thoughts in the soil of the invisible substance, and the result was a famine--there was no grain in Canaan.
When we refuse to observe the law of creative mind, we oppose the working out of life's problems in the divine way, according to principle, and are compelled to work them out in a harder way. This is why the "way of the transgressor is hard." Thousands go down into Egypt and suffer the trials and limitations of physicality when, if they were more observant of the law and obedient to their spiritual inclinations, they might remain in the joy and freedom of Spirit. Yet, even in the physical world (Egypt), the chosen of YHVH (Israelites) prosper and multiply. The children of Jacob increased from a few score to over two million during their sojourn in Egypt. No matter how great your trials or how dark your way may seem, if you hold to your belief in the omnipresence, omnipotence, and goodness of God, you will succeed, and no material oppression can hold you down.
6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; he it was who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.
7 Joseph saw his brothers, and knew them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. "Where do you come from?" he said. They said, "From the land of Canaan, to buy food."
8 Thus, Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him.
9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed of them; and he said to them, "You are spies, you have come to see the weakness of the land."
A spy is one who seeks to discover certain facts by stealthy observation. Joseph was testing out his brothers in his endeavor to ascertain where they stood in consciousness; also whether his beloved father Jacob (I AM) was still alive (functioning in the conscious mind) and how it was with him. He also desired to see again his own brother Benjamin (Faith). All in all, Joseph was yearning to see his kindred and to be reunited with them.
10 They said to him, "No, my Lord, but to buy food have your servants come.
11 We are all sons of one man, we are honest men, your servants are not spies."
12 He said to them, "No, it is the weakness of the land that you have come to see."
13 And they said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more."
14 But Joseph said to them, "It is as I said to you, you are spies.
15 By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here.
16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain in prison, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies."
The brothers were greatly troubled when Joseph insisted that they bring Benjamin, their youngest brother, down into Egypt. Benjamin, among the twelve faculties, represents Faith. Imagination (Joseph) needs Faith (Benjamin) to complete its work and to hold fast the gains it has made. Like Joseph's brothers, we think that faith is too pure, too lofty and holy to risk contaminating it with the things of material sense. We like to hold it on the high plane of spiritual consciousness rather than send it down into the physical consciousness. Yet this we must do if we are to save the other faculties and the whole man. The brothers were in grave danger of being held prisoners, or so it seemed to them, unless Benjamin were brought down into Egypt. They remembered their father's great grief over the loss of Joseph and they felt that the sacrifice of parting with Benjamin, the other son of his beloved Rachel, would be too much for him.
17 And he put them all together in prison for three days.
18 On the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear the Gods:
19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined in your prison, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households,
20 and bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die." And they did so.
21 Then they said to one another, "In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us and we would not listen; therefore is this distress come upon us."
22 And Reuben answered them, "Did I not tell you not to sin against the lad? But you would not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood."
During these trying moments, their minds recalled Joseph and his cries for mercy, to which they had turned a deaf ear when they sold him into slavery. Joseph's immediate presence may have had something to do with suggesting this memory even though they did not recognize him. Conscience stricken, they said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us." They evidently understood something of the law of sowing and reaping in those days, for at least they did not lay their troubles to charge of Providence, as is done so much now. They thought they were about to reap what they had sown years before.
23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them.
24 Then he turned away from them and wept; and he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.
Simeon ("one who listens and obeys") was held in bondage by Joseph, which reveals that soul Receptivity and Obedience are necessary adjuncts to the imagination.
25 And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.
26 Then they loaded their asses with their grain, and departed.
Joseph (the imaging power of the mind; the imagination) has access to unlimited supply (all the substance in Egypt). Joseph knew that his brothers possessed the same capacities that he himself did, but they were not consciously aware of this. Through Joseph, they (the other faculties) are being educated; the famine in their land means that they lack understanding of their spiritual resources.
27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack;
28 and he said to his brothers, "My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!" At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, "What is this that the Gods have done to us?"
Joseph (imagination) is the avenue through which these resources are brought to them, and one of the lessons here presented under the guise of restoring to them their purchase money is "Give, and it shall be given unto you." They are treated as spies or aliens in this land of omnipresent divine resources because they are ignorant of the fact that they belong in the family of Gods and that Joseph is their kin.
29 When they came to Jacob, their father, in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had befallen them, saying,
30 "The man, the Lord of the land, spoke roughly to us, and took us to be spies of the land.
31 But we said to him, 'We are honest men, we are not spies;
32 we are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.'
33 Then the man, the Lord of the land, said to us, 'By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way.
34 Bring your youngest brother to me; then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver to you your brother, and you shall trade in the land.'"
35 As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed.
36 And Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin; all this has come upon me."
Jacob, grieving over the loss of two sons and fearful at the prospect of losing the third and dearest son next to Joseph, Benjamin, represents the selfish man who is still in bondage to selfish thoughts.
37 Then Reuben said to his father, "Slay my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you."
But Reuben (Spiritual Perception) is launching out and is beginning to realize that all is well (in divine order) and is willing to offer up his most valuable possessions as surety for the safe return of his brother Benjamin: "Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee."
38 But he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm should befall him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave."
The Hebrew word for grave is Sheol. It is indicative of the grief, sorrow, and darkened state of mind that result when the human consciousness sees death or the loss of loved ones as reality.