Bible Study Online ArticleLocated at the Bottom of Page Have you ever watched a movie that showed you how a story was unfolding in two different locations at the same time? You'll be watching the movie, and all of a sudden the movie switches to a split screen. This happens so you can see the complete storyline, although the story is happening in two different places at the same time.
I like to call this "The Parallel Story Effect" and this "effect" begins to come into a clearer focus as we reach this part of the Sacred Account that deals with the rise of Joseph. But now, the Sacred Record takes us away from Joseph for a moment, and it now turns our attention towards the land of Canaan and Joseph's father's house - the household of Jacob. It would also be at this time that the Sacred Record reveals to us that the "famine of seven years" had struck wide and far, for it wasn't just Egypt that would be affected: "So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain , because the famine was severe in all lands." - Genesis 41:57 People hadn't experienced a famine like this before, and Joseph's brothers seemed to be clueless, when it came to trying to find a surviving solution when it came to it. But eventually word had reached Jacob letting him know that there was grain in Egypt. And after finding this out, Jacob tells his sons: "Why do you keep looking at each other? I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die." - Genesis 42:1,2 After hearing what their father had to say, all ten of Jacob's sons left and headed off to go and buy grain from the land of Egypt. Benjamin who was the youngest wasn't allowed to journey with his brothers, since Jacob had feared for his safety. Just the mere fact that they were going to be traveling to foreign lands and with the food being as scarce as it was, would cause their journey to be quite dangerous and volatile, being that there was an increase in crime and violence due to the lack of food and water in the nearby lands. Now we find that the story comes back together again, being that the screen is no longer split. For the Holy Scriptures have now informed us that Joseph's brothers had arrived at Egypt looking to buy grain. And soon after their arrival they would find themselves bowing face down in front of Joseph the brother they had betrayed some twenty years before. But they didn't recognize him - the man who was now selling the grain to the people and governing the land. Now personally I find this moment to be very interesting... Let's take a quick moment to look at something? Understand that we have to make sure that we pay close attention to what's happening, for if we don't, we could easily think that up to this point all of Joseph's dream interpretations had already come to pass. For it would seem as if they had, but it wasn't until this moment from within the Sacred Account that we could have truly said, that everything that Joseph had interpreted had actually come to pass. Keep in mind that back when Joseph was a teenager around the age of fifteen or sixteen, he had interpreted his own dream. It was because of this "dream interpretation," his brothers had become envious and ill willed towards him, which started a cycle of events that would have seemed in the beginning, to have went against Joseph: "Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves (bundles) of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it. His brothers said to him, 'Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?' And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said." -- (Genesis 37:6-8) However, Joseph is now thirty seven years old and it has been a little over twenty years since he had told this "dream interpretation" to his brothers. Now we're presented with a moment where we can truly say, that all that Joseph had interpreted up to this point in his life - has now been fulfilled. The Holy Scriptures have informed us that Joseph's brothers are now bowing down in front of the very one they sought to destroy, their brother who is now known as: The Prime Minister of the Egyptian State -- Zaphenath-Paneah the Revealer of Secrets: "Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth." -- Genesis 42:6 Like I stated earlier, this is a very interesting moment and I must say, a true test for Joseph. What will he do, now that he has his brothers who'd betrayed and sold him into slavery some twenty years before - now bowing down before him? I'm curious... What would you have done, if you had the very person or people who tried to destroy you - now before you, in dire straits asking you for help? I feel another wisdom lesson that we all can benefit from, coming together here. Jacob - The Path of Uncertainty **YOUR CURRENT BIBLE STUDY ONLINE SERIES WOULD BE HERE** 84) Joseph's Dark Dreams Interpretation 85) Joseph the Overseer of Egypt 86) Joseph the Revealer of Secrets 88) The Seven Years of Abundance 90) <-CURRENT PAGE-> 91) Joseph's Temptation of Revenge 93) The Confessions of the Ten Tribes 
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