Done reading the Bible passage yet? It's a long one---but a great one. Of necessity you will only be following the main contours of the story with your class.

There are two layers or levels in this long story about Joseph and his family. On one, the human level, we are watching the trajectory of results from actions taken in the past. On another, the divine level, we are watching how God provides for his covenant people before and during a famine. The one sentence that brings the levels together---showcasing the all-important, underlying divine level---is found at the very end of the story, after old Jacob has died and his brothers are still not sure they trust Joseph: "You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives" (50:20).

As this part of the story opens, Joseph is thirty years old (remember that he was seventeen when sold into slavery). He has endured thirteen years of imprisonment on false charges, but by God's grace and his gift of interpreting he is now second in command of all of Egypt, administrating the all-important ministry of agriculture and managing the economy.

Meanwhile the brothers are experiencing a famine that has struck the whole area; knowing that the Egyptians have a plan and resources, Jacob sends them there for food. And for food, they have to deal with none other than Joseph. They come and bow low before this great dignitary but don't recognize him. But Joseph recognizes them and---we're pointedly told---remembers the dream he had told them years earlier about their bowing down before him.

Joseph isn't ready to reveal himself to them, and perhaps isn't at this point emotionally able to do so. His outward demeanor is harsh; he accuses them of spying. In the process they reveal that there is a younger brother (Joseph's only birth brother, the younger Benjamin), whom, of course, Joseph wants to see. He schemes to get them to bring this younger brother. At this point Reuben upbraids the brothers, pointing out that God is punishing them for selling their brother into slavery. But Joseph overhears them, and as all the pain of those memories flow over him he turns away and weeps. But he also secretly returns the money they have paid for the grain, leaving it in the mouths of their sacks. Now they are really afraid, but they go on home, leaving Simeon behind as the Egyptian second-in-command has insisted. Old Jacob refuses to ransom Simeon by sending his youngest son back with them.

Joseph continues to torment his brothers with what seem to be cruel psychological games but are probably better construed as tests of their character. Jockeying for more information, he plants stolen goods in their sacks, accuses them of robbery, and demands again that they return with their youngest brother. When Joseph at long last sees Benjamin, the son of his own mother, Rachel, his heart melts. After one more frightening ploy of planting his own silver cup in Benjamin's sack and having them all arrested, they tell him the whole story, still not knowing who he is.

Finally Joseph can stand it no longer. In what must have been a moving scene, he sends everyone but the brothers out of the room and reveals his identity: "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you" (45:5). Then the brothers all embrace as Joseph sends them back, laden with goods, to tell their father the astounding news. In an ironic touch of humor, Joseph's parting words as his brothers depart are "Don't quarrel on the way!"

What a story! Almost unbelievable. And yet it's meant to reveal something that goes on all the time. Our lives, too, operate at least two levels, the human and the divine. Trusting, believing, and knowing that makes all the difference in terms of our fragile human existence. There's a sign over each of us---God at Work.