NOTES for Gen 42:1-38
At last the day came when the brothers had to do what they had so wanted to avoid: they had to bow down to Joseph. They did not recognize him, of course, which is no surprise: they never expected to find their brother in the position of first minister. Joseph, however, recognizes his brothers at once: he had never forgotten them.
The only strange thing is the way Joseph behaves toward his brothers. If he wanted to teach them a lesson or punish them, what would have kept him from doing it immediately? If he had forgiven them everything, why not reveal himself to them at the first meeting? Joseph clearly has other plans; he wants something from his brothers.
Either to obtain something from them, or to explain something to them. Explaining it "head-on," of course, would be useless: if Joseph's brothers had managed without him until then, without remembering him in any special way, that means they simply sold him into slavery and forgot him. Well, not completely forgot him, but they certainly did not think of him often. So Joseph wants to make them remember. Precisely to remember, not simply to see him in all the splendor of his position, of which none of the brothers left in the wilderness could even have dreamed. The brothers would surely have recognized this new Joseph, and just as surely they would have been afraid: now he really could call everything to mind against them if only he wanted to. But Joseph wanted them to remember that former younger brother, the one they had so wanted to get rid of, to remember how they sold him into slavery. Now the situation had changed: before, Joseph depended on his brothers, depended on them completely and unconditionally; now they depended on him just as completely and unconditionally.
From there everything is simple: if you are not spies, next time bring your younger brother to me, and until then leave a hostage - a practice quite ordinary for those times; even solid rulers of solid states resorted to such methods. Now they will never forget their younger brother, never. But not only that - there is also the grain received for free. So that they would understand: in the world not only evil happens, but also good, and a person can choose what will enter the world through him. So Joseph gives his brothers their first lesson - a harsh one, but an absolutely necessary one.