AND SO THE BROTHERS RETURNED HOME, their thirty donkeys loaded with sacks of grain. As soon as they entered their father’s tent, they told him what had happened and what was required of him. The donkeys waited outside, steaming and pungent.
Jacob barely listened to them. What they were saying made no sense. He didn’t want to find sense in it. He could see only the loss. At least his family wouldn’t starve for now. But how could they ask him to let Benjamin go? Did they want to tear his flesh with their teeth, like a pack of wild dogs? Let Simeon rot in Egypt. Let them all go to Egypt, or go to hell. Benjamin would stay right here.