It is now two years into the famine. That means it has been twenty-two years since Joseph has seen his father. Unable to hide his identity any longer, Joseph weeps aloud and identifies himself to his brothers: “I am Joseph!” So astonished are they that they cannot respond (45:3). Doubtless they now expect the worst. However, Joseph is above vindictiveness and retaliation. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is not his procedure. Instead he shares with his brothers a beautiful interpretation of what has happened to him. He affirms that it was to save lives that God sent him ahead. And quite possibly “to save lives” may refer to Hebrew lives and Egyptian lives. Not only are Jacob’s relatives spared because of Joseph, but so are the Egyptians. It was not the brothers who sold him, but …