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[100]
Now these brethren of his were under distraction and terror, and
thought that very great danger hung over them; yet not at all reflecting
upon their brother Joseph, and standing firm under the accusations laid
against them, they made their defense by Reubel, the eldest of them, who
now became their spokesman: "We come not hither," said he, "with
any unjust design, nor in order to bring any harm to the king's affairs;
we only want to be preserved, as supposing your humanity might be
a refuge for us from the miseries which our country labors under, we having
heard that you proposed to sell corn, not only to your own countrymen,
but to strangers also, and that you determined to allow that corn, in order
to preserve all that want it; but that we are brethren, and of the same
common blood, the peculiar lineaments of our faces, and those not so much
different from one another, plainly show. Our father's name is Jacob, an
Hebrew man, who had twelve of us for his sons by four wives; which twelve
of us, while we were all alive, were a happy family; but when one of our
brethren, whose name was Joseph, died, our affairs changed for the worse,
for our father could not forbear to make a long lamentation for him; and
we are in affliction, both by the calamity of the death of our brother,
and the miserable state of our aged father. We are now, therefore, come
to buy corn, having intrusted the care of our father, and the provision
for our family, to Benjamin, our youngest brother; and if thou sendest
to our house, thou mayst learn whether we are guilty of the least falsehood
in what we say."
Flavius Josephus. The Works of Flavius Josephus. Translated by. William Whiston, A.M. Auburn and Buffalo. John E. Beardsley. 1895.
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