LIFE SCRIPTS

25 Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, 26 they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. 27 At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. 28 “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.” Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” 29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, 30 “The man who is Lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.’ 33 “Then the man who is Lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. 34 But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’ ” 35 As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.” 38 But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.”
Genesis 42:25‭-‬38 NIV

https://bible.com/bible/111/gen.42.25-38.NIV.

So Simeon had not only been seized by Joseph as collateral but the silver the brothers had paid for the grain had been returned! Probably in our age of easy gain we would have celebrated and thanked God for receiving supplies for free. However this was a culture of honor. Whatever I take from someone was to cost me something. We see this with the way Abram bought land in Canaan, we see this by the way David bought a piece of land to offer a sacrifice to God. This mere fact stunned the brothers. They knew that they were dealing with a very powerful man who could not just do things without a reason. But as they arrived at home in Canaan, the news they had for their father sank him deeper into despair. Joseph had informed them that he would only release Simeon when they bring their youngest brother, Benjamin. Now, Jacob was an old man and his life had been a very eventful one. Many years before he had lost his second last born, Joseph. Now another of his son, Simeon was being held. Even though he had held onto the youngest one, he was now being forced to release him. Jacob’s mind must have recalled God’s promise to his grandfather, Abraham. God promised him a great number of descendants who would bless the earth. Yet now what Jacob was witnessing was an erosion of his own family taking place before his very own eyes. When we face situations of serial losses and defeats, do we lose faith in God? We have the benefit of knowing the happy ending to this story. However where Jacob was seating, things were moving from bad to worse. But even in such a dire situation, God was in the picture. Jacob’s situation is not farfetched from us. Times come when situations in our families deteriorate before our very own eyes. In such moments, we must not look around us but up towards God. We must ask Him to give us strength to have a faith that is stubborn. A faith that persists because ultimately, God will come through. Now Jacob was a depressed man. A chapter or two later, his heart would be filled with joy. At the end, this will be our testimony too.