brought you down, bringing your confessions to make way for repentance, asking Him to forgive your sins, to graciously receive you, so He can hear you praise Him, vowing to never again worship idols, never more swearing to ones you have made, You are our gods. No, in You alone do orphaned ones, committed to live on earth find mercy.
Judah: Wrestling with God, demanding Him to reveal His knowing, will cripple us for life, warning us to only wrestle Him on things of this world, never wrestling Him in arguments, reasoning to convince Him we are blameless and upright, acknowledging nothing He holds us to, so we trust Him in prayer to make us effective, equipping us with the whole armor of God, without which father Jacob was crippled.
Reuben: We are few here, making it more likely we would become one with beliefs of our neighbors, seeing us come to worship like them, crippling us also.
Judah: We are few now and may remain few, never becoming the multitude God promises, but despite being few or many, as chosen ones we will always be blessed with a remnant, continuing our relationship with God for life into eternity. We must hear God, heeding His counsel for ways to protect survival for His remnant, but then, no matter what we do, He will certainly assure its lasting.
Reuben: If your sojourn here is lasting, who or what will we trust in years to come?
Judah: Only God knows. He is always in charge.
Joseph: Indeed God is in charge, blessing me with prophetic visions, disturbing my relationships with their interpretations, teaching patience seeming at times to be unbearable, sometimes forecasting hopelessness, other times promising hope, veiling me from much of His purpose, but telling me to trust Him as He prepares me for an unknowable task, at times training me in a prison's pit churning with despair.
Judah: How will He use us here, realizing we have no talents other than for tending flocks of sheep.
Joseph: God expects us to be the remnant so we will not be tempted to enjoy life as an Egyptian, promising us to raise up leaders, obedient to His ways, disavowing Egyptian life, preventing His loyal remnant from sanctioning idol worship, assured providence will continue His covenant's promise, realizing we can never know the circumstances for His time and place, offering opportunities to do His will. We must keep our faith alive, training our children to know and reach out to the Lord, never knowing one may be chosen as a remnant. You can succeed, being no more than shepherds, trusting God raises up ones so lowly, laboring so menially, blessed with little knowledge, but willing to learn, certain He will promise to fill them with wisdom, sufficient to fulfill His tasks. Announce your gifts to Pharaoh, telling him of your experience as shepherds, wishing no time to learn Egyptian wisdom, while thanking him for his concern, looking out for your welfare. Come with me now to tell him.
Reuben: How do we approach this mighty ruler?
Joseph: Follow me and listen as I relay our requests, My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all they possess, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen, ready to be in your service.
Pharaoh: What is your family's occupation?
Brothers: Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were, coming here to sojourn in your land, seeking pasture for our flocks, driven from our home by the famine, severely devastating the land of Canaan, responding with no rain despite our prayers; your servants beseech you to dwell in the land of Goshen, where fertility can still be exploited.
Pharaoh: Rejoice Joseph. With your father and brothers rejoining you, choose them to stay. Survey Egypt's land before you, settling them in the best you can find, making this their promised land, finding none better to dwell in than the land of Goshen, and by the way if any able herders are among you, put them in charge of my cattle.
Bystander: Joseph bringing in Jacob his father, standing him before Pharaoh, we all look on as Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Pharaoh: Jacob, how many are the days of the years of your life?
Jacob: Mostly tearful ones, filling years of my sojourning, amounting to one hundred and thirty years, few knowing joy, counting many as harsh, have marked the days and years of my life, but never approaching the days of years lived by my father's fathers during their sojourning, knowing greater peace compared to my turbulent days, conflicting with my father-in-law, grieving over Joseph's passing, long-lasting fears from Simeon and Levi, committing deeds to wipe out a city of men, remorse for all my children's deeds, falling on me for no good reason, never anticipating them to happen, never believing anything could have been done to prevent them, trusting changing unworthy deeds would have transformed many with hatred to love me.
Pharaoh: We have ones who could have helped you, seeing your God did not come to your rescue, promising no wisdom to relieve you of others suffering you with trials. We have many gods waiting to assist us, answering cries for help, providing immediate needs, knowing only local gods can support us. It is too much for a single god to understand all people's needs, especially when traveling in foreign lands having different gods, ones attuned to local needs, equipped to resolve all native problems.
Jacob: You worship many gods, claiming each provides different needs, but are any like us, made in our image so they can understand our desires? You worship a sphinx, never knowing if it thinks like us, or bow down to a cat, thinking its mind is like ours, or venerate a warrior god, believing its powers are more than human. Your gods, perhaps created to think like you and reason in your manner, are forced by their human nature to compete with each other, fighting each other to death, while our God, having no enemies other than of His making, has no comparable god He must defeat, maintaining His Almightiness, never needing to kill some god humans think are equal to Him, as He waits patiently, knowing gods humans create will eventually die, following all others of their creator's hands.
Pharaoh: We have tried to identify a single god to venerate, but have failed because our people insist on having many gods to worship, asking each to satisfy their wants, so we allow them to worship as they choose, while assuring they do nothing to disrupt the kingdom.
Jacob: We are little different, continuing to worship gods created by our imaginations, chiseled out of wood and stone, despite admonitions from God, commanding us to worship only Him.
Pharaoh: Then your people are prepared, trusting in belief for many gods, discerning they must learn about our gods so they can also reach out to them in worship.
Jacob: Joseph is probably different, trusting only his one God, attested by the visions he has been given, all proven by events having happened, and he maintains faith in his Lord despite all, moving him beyond being blameless or upright, seeking to win the prize of righteousness. He is still trying to succeed, fighting the good fight, but conflicting with ways of the world, he tries to please everyone.
God provides as He chooses
Bystander: With the severe famine continuing, no food was produced anywhere, as God withheld rain for both Egypt and Canaan, sending Egyptians to Joseph to buy more grain, which eventually drained their savings, forcing them to beg for food, complaining, Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is gone. How must Joseph answer?
Joseph: If your money is gone give Pharaoh your cattle, and I will give you food in exchange, scolding you for being poor stewards, wondering why your needs are squandered, speculating you wasted treasured food to satisfy your wants. Does God allow the famine devour your seed-grain, drying it to nothingness, until you begin to nourish your soul with living water, flourishing its seed to sprout, growing it the only way possible, nourishing it with true bread, provided only by heaven? Telling you to never love money, to be satisfied with what you have, God promises He will never fail or abandon you, giving you confidence to trust Him as your Helper, never thrusting fear to demobilize you, rendering inaction, asking what can mere people do to me.
Egyptians: We need bread now for our lives to continue flourishing with abundance.
Joseph: Your bread alone, as you want it, will continue wasting your flesh away, returning
you next year to seek more grain.
Bystander: When they return next year, Joseph's predictions will be true to his words.
Egyptians: We will hide nothing from my lord, our money all spent, forcing us give him herds of cattle, leaving nothing left in sight but our bodies and land. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our wasted land? Buy us and our land for food, making us slaves to Pharaoh, exchanging us for essential needs, giving us sustenance to live, preserving our lives, assuring we would not become desolate.
Joseph: Are you prodigals, returning after misusing your nourishing needs on fleeting delights, prepared to give away your birthright, everything to gain a bowl of porridge, learning nothing from advice, counseling you to neither live on bread alone nor tempt your fantasies, never realizing worthless dreams cannot feed your soul, coming only to serve justice. My ruler, Pharaoh, commits me to accept your request, making you farmers on land you no longer own, putting you in bondage to sustain your lives, to be in slavery as I have known, as I ask you to begin to know my God, to