As I stated when I began reading about Joseph's travails, this section of Genesis is set apart by its appeal to the emotions, its very human element. There are of course some moving, emotional moments in Genesis prior to Joseph entering the scene, but its usually more subtle. We are taken along on Joseph's long sufferings, his rises and falls. He is persecuted for his gift, ridiculed by his brothers, victimized by devious people, elevated to lordship, but also thrown in the dungeon. He evokes raw pathos from the reader. When Joseph first encounters his brothers after more than twenty years of estrangement, they don't recognize him, though he does them, and in the middle of speaking with them "he t
urned himself away a little while, and wept: and returning, he spoke to them" (Genesis 42:24). One can feel how the plethora of emotions must have been churning in Joseph's stomach as he faced the brethren he loved and who betrayed him. Again, later when his brothers bring Benjamin to Joseph, he sees his youngest, dearest brother and must flee the room "because his heart was moved upon his brother, and tears gushed out: and going into his chamber, he wept" (Genesis 43:30).For these reasons, many Biblical scholars readily note that the story of Joseph marks a shift in the narrative of Genesis. The story of Exodus has already begun.
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