bottomless pits, wandering endless streams searching for gold, never escaping from its enchantment, stumble, entrapped with their dreams and hopes unfulfilled, perhaps at last realizing gold never needs refashioning into any human design to become an idol. By one's choosing, gold is treasured, people determining its worth, or perhaps making it valued no differently from the soil releasing it from hiding.
Judah: Gold is an idol. Blemished as we all are, trusting no one is unblemished, we need something to adorn our bodies, acknowledging gold is a sacrifice to make us whole, but can I ever be restored, removing my blemished deeds, atoning for the making of Perez?
Reuben: Care nothing about gold, value the good news of discovering Joseph, treasuring his resurrection, thanking God for now preparing us all to be prophets, selected to carry good news to our father, rejoicing in all of God's new blessings, carrying gifts He chooses for us to have, returning to our father's home, designated by Him since father Abraham, changing his name to be His blessing.
Bystander: Would you commit yourselves to forsake your God-chosen home, wondering for how long, being tempted by Egypt's abundance, never considering if you will long for returning to your designated home, returning to Canaan, or will you soon forget its promises by remaining in a foreign land too long, forgetting to yearn for what your ancestors enjoyed. You are blessed with Egypt's love now but how long will it last, knowing few people accept immigrants long, soon detesting their difference, tolerating them minimally, burdening them with menial tasks, sometimes leading to virtual enslavement. Don't tarry in Egypt too long or God will develop ways for you to suffer, breeding greater intolerance for you, beating you down by Egyptians, hating you more each day, enslaving you as Neanderthals, hoping you to go their way, vanishing, leaving only fossil remains.
Joseph: Trusting you now have a time of joy, consider everyone's welfare on your journey home, contemplating nothing to entangle you in quarrels, voicing no claims of one being most blameless, least responsible for my exile, telling another, It was you who counseled us to throw him into the pit, or you urged to sell him naked and in chains to slave traders. As I send you in peace, I have forgiven you all, so must you forgive each other. Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you, for where there is peace, wrath has no place, trusting discord is displaced, dissension is routed, permitting no one to be angry with a brother. Maybe I erred in sending gold with you, tempting you to envy what another might have been given, wondering about an unequal distribution, pondering a count for each one's share, thinking another might have more, believing you are just as worthy and should receive more, but wondering if your convictions have never changed by these many years, be content each of you carries the same share of gold, satisfied I do not test you now.
Reuben: Blessed to be a blessing, exercising virtues unknown by us, you dismiss any thought of us being your enemy, showing you love any would-be foe, convincing us of your love for all, forgetting our sins against you, forgiving us for exercising hatred.
Joseph: Surely it was not you who did this against me. It was God's plan, permitting my circumstances to materialize, assuring the realization of my dreams, providing the opportunity to equip me, preparing me to ensure His promised people's survival. God in His wisdom orchestrated all my circumstances, leading me in unrevealed ways, disclosing nothing of His plans, giving me few insights to understand His intent, revealing His plan in bits and pieces, until now, as I understand His plan is not for me, never about me, only about God. You were chosen to be the instrument for developing His plan. He only asks you to forgive me, attesting to your willingness to serve Him, in an unworthy way if necessary.
Bystander: Working at living in peace with everyone, striving to live a holy life--understanding unholy ones will never see the Lord--looking after each other, assured they would receive God's grace, convinced no one succeeds in dishonesty, the brothers fear yet imagined troubles, trusted to be inevitable.
Reuben: With peace, knowing you have welcomed and forgiven us, we must still face our father, telling him of our envy, pride and deceit, stealing his devotion to Joseph, demolishing relations for his most loved one, leaving only memories, forcing us to confess our lies, deceptions concerning his disappearance, stranding him in hopelessness, never certain of his fate, disguising it for father to know.
Bystander: Can anything surprise one filled with years of experience, believing nothing else remains worth seeing, nothing left to disturb someone's few remaining years? Jacob's peace is fabricated from experiencing all life's trials, settling all, putting all at rest, convincing him nothing can awaken new ordeals, nothing to disrupt his comfort with new turmoil. Can Jacob survive what is about to happen, a surprise never dreamed of coming?
Jacob: Welcome home my sons, bringing both Benjamin and Simeon with you, surprising me with God's mercy, proclaiming no other blessing could please me. The master in Egypt must be filled with grace, helping us to survive.
Judah: You haven't heard our greatest good news. Joseph lives, being the master we met who rules over all Egypt, being second only to Pharaoh.
Jacob: I don't believe you, telling me about a son you convinced me was dead, convicting me of its truth, making me sorrow until I could weep no longer, eventually drying my tears, but to never forget my beloved one.
Judah: Forgive me. When Joseph disappeared from your life we knew he still lived, never being killed by some animal, seeing him alive after he came looking for us. Considering his death by our hands, we were reminded, The soul that sins, the same shall die. With nothing to temper our hatred for Joseph, remembering we struggled for a decision but stymied on every side, offering us no way out, a choice of sinning for doing what we wanted, killing him as the first suggestion, trusting it would demand our death, or choosing a less blameless option, exiling Joseph from life's promises, delivering him to nothingness, he returns now to haunt us, springing a new trial, renewing our anguish, threatening us as never before, giving us no escape from the inevitable terror of your thoughts. We report your son Joseph is living. We confess our deceitful words telling you of his disappearance. I confess my words, suggesting he be sold in slavery, saving his life from certain death in a pit, removing and exiling him so his presence would no longer darken us, banishing any reason to continue our hatred and deceitful ways. It had to be this way or eventually one of us, hating Joseph more than any other, would carry out Cain's way to erase his life.
Jacob: Your startling words, giving no assurance they are true, knowing you all have ways to deceive me, distrusting me with more convictions of your reports, never knowing if they are true, or perhaps you are beginning to believe in visions of Joseph's reappearing, of someone's resurrection to resemble him, convincing you to see him as atonement for your sins, cleansing you, wiping out your persistent hatred, lurking unnoticed in your soul, transfiguring you into rebirth, renewing your conscience, all in efforts to make you worthy now. Surely, discovering a master in Egypt, solving the problem of your famishing afflictions, you could discern him as a redeemer, picturing him as one of you, sent by God, planned by Him, sending one from humble beginnings to do great things, blessing me with a great surprise, telling me my son Joseph is still alive.
Judah: We deceive you of nothing now, seeing no phantom of truth, wishing to return the joy of your life.
Jacob: In trusting your message, I will go with you, believing I will see Joseph, hoping to renew love for a forgotten one before I die, trusting God to delay my ending, reviving me long enough to meet my favored one, long forgotten as a victim, but reported to me now as never succumbing, never a prey for wild beasts, resurrected, but only from slavery, to become a ruler in Egypt, restoring my hopes, renewing my faith in God, revealing His plan to redeem us all, fulfilling His goodness. Hopefully, God rekindles my spirit, reigniting my life, reuniting me with my beloved son, his blood remaining in life, never having been taken. With his garment rent, his shroud bloodied and torn in two, God revealed the beginning of His plan, climaxing it with ado
rnment, robing Joseph in splendor, ordaining him as a ruler in Egypt. I no longer need to go down mourning to rejoin my son in the nether world.
Bystander: Confession, whether freely given or by coercion, is better now than later, releasing one from torment, certain to continue with sins concealed, predictable for sins hidden until judgment on the Day of the Lord.
Judah: Joseph accepts our confession and forgives us for sinning against him. We also beg for your forgiveness, understanding this may be harder but not impossible, surprising you with good news, suddenly reporting what may be difficult to comprehend, confusing your imagination with judgment, giving no time for discernment, judging jumbled considerations, deciding whether any are deserved, never worthy of forgiveness, as we recall our crime, confessing it to you today, revealing it openly to you our father. Our error was failing to understand Joseph's dreams, picturing us all becoming his slaves, making us servile to him alone, never understanding he dreamed for us, visioning freedom from