Brothers At Last

Author's Note: This is a short story I wrote a little while ago, and I really ended up liking it, and thought I'd share! I'd been reading the story of Joseph in the book of Genesis, which is easily one of the most emotional stories in The Bible. I really started wondering what those first few days must have been like, when Joseph was reunited with his brothers, and this story was born! It was never meant to be read by anyone other than myself, and so it's written assuming the reader knows the story of Joseph. The original story of Joseph and his brothers can be found in Genesis chapters 37-46.

The great door swung shut behind Joseph, and he let a small sigh escape him. He knew Pharaoh trusted him more than anyone, and yet he still feared he had promised his brothers a home too soon. It was a relief to have Pharaoh's approval, and a sure life set before him and his family.

He glanced around the looming hallway before him, empty except for a lone cat which twisted between the pillars, the gold bands around its paws twinkling with every step. The image of his father came to mind, and he could not help the tears that threatened to fall. Never, in so many years, had he hoped to see him again. And yet, now he only needed to wait a few days more. Most of his brothers had traveled back to Canaan to gather their families and provisions, but Reuben, Judah, and Benjamin had chosen to stay behind, preparing their new homes in the shadow of the palace.

Joseph began walking without purpose, his mind still reeling with the events of the last three weeks. Only two days before, he had revealed himself to his brothers. And though the joy he felt to be reunited with them was indescribable, decades of pain and loss held him back from becoming fully vulnerable with them. He turned a corner, the setting sun glaring through the open pavilion he now stood on. As he looked towards the garden, a figure caught his attention, crumbled on the ground with his back against a wall.

Reuben had been doing much the same as his younger brother- walking to forget. But the guilt crashed over him like a wave as he spoke with Benjamin moments earlier.

"I just don't understand," Benjamin had said, his eyes filled with so much distrust and pain. "I thought all this time Joseph was dead and you...you allowed me to believe it. And our father...all these years we could have been together."

"We were young." It was all Reuben could manage to say.

"And that excuses selling your own brother? Why did you not try to find him? Did you never for a moment regret betraying him? You were supposed to protect him! To protect me! But it's your fault I grew without a true brother."

The words echoed through Reuben's mind now, as he collapsed to the ground. I grew without a true brother. But he was right, wasn't he? What was a brother if he did not protect those beneath his care?

Joseph slowly began walking towards Reuben. Though he forgave him the moment he fell into his eldest brother's embrace a few days before, Joseph was not sure how to trust the man who had sold him as only a boy.

"Reuben," Joseph said quietly. It still felt so odd to say their names. To speak his native language.

His brother did not move, but instead seemed to shrink further into himself. Joseph sighed, and lowered himself to sit beside the weathered, aged man who was so familiar and a stranger all at once. They sat together for a few moments, the only sound between them the quiet sobs of the elder.

"I do forgive you," Joseph finally said, his own words surprising him.

"I wish you would not," Reuben muttered, lifting his head to look at his brother, now draped in linen and gold. "I do not deserve forgiveness."

"No. You do not. Nobody does, but I do not want to live a life of anger. And I am ashamed of how I have treated you, and can only hope for your forgiveness."