No matter what his situation, Joseph had proven that he was always a hard worker, responsible, and wise. Because of this, the pharaoh appointed Joseph as governor of all Egypt, second only to himself. The pharaoh was so serious about this, that he took off his own ring and put it on Joseph’s finger in front of all his counselors and administrators.

Not only was Joseph happy, but the pharaoh was also happy because he didn’t have to worry, or trouble his mind, about the affairs of his kingdom. He trusted Joseph completely.

Joseph began to prepare for the coming famine. He built storehouses in important areas of pharaoh’s kingdom. Joseph made sure that during the years of great harvest, every farmer had to bring twenty percent of his crop to the pharaoh’s storehouses.

After seven years, as Joseph predicted, there came a drought that caused a famine. So Egypt opened all the storehouses and sold the grain to the people of Egypt and the surrounding countries. Not only did it save the peoples’ lives, it made the pharaoh very rich.

When Jacob, Joseph’s father, had heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent Joseph’s brothers there to buy some corn. Since Joseph was in charge of the storehouses, the brothers had to go to him to buy the grain. When the brothers arrived, they did not recognize him. Joseph, however, recognized his brothers.

Joseph tricked them by speaking Egyptian to them through an interpreter, pretending he did not understand his own native language. And he began to speak rudely to them, saying, “Why have you come to our country, are you spies?” Joseph put them all in prison.

While they were in prison, one of the brother’s suggested that God was punishing them for selling their brother, Joseph, into slavery. They seemed sorry for what they had done. Joseph overheard what they said.

But Joseph wanted to test them more, to see if they were truly sorry. He pretended to let them go free to return home. But he secretly put a silver cup into the youngest brother’s bag.

After his brothers had gone outside the city, Joseph sent his soldiers to arrest them and bring them back. When they stood before him he said, “Your youngest brother has stolen my silver cup, he must stay here and be my slave.”

But Judah stepped up and said, “Please don’t take our youngest brother, it will kill our father. He has already lost his favorite son because of us. Please, we will be your slaves. Just let our youngest brother return home.”

When Joseph saw their willingness to sacrifice themselves, he knew that they were truly sorry for their past actions. He began to cry, and he finally told them who he really was. He forgave them and loved them. They had a big dinner and Joseph told them all about his past adventures. In the end, they all came to Egypt to live a very good life with Joseph.