This was Joseph’s second part of the final exam. First came the vertical test. Had his brothers gotten to the place where they read the hand of God into their daily life? Yes. They had demonstrated this in their attitude.

The sons of Jacob were not far from the city when they looked back and saw the prime minister’s steward overtaking them. Once he caught up, he accused them of stealing from the Egyptian leader.

Guilt always does a number on us. It certainly did on Joseph’s brothers. Though standing before an unnamed, soft-spoken servant from Egypt, whom they had never really known throughout their lives, they poured out their confession.

Joseph’s brothers wanted to get out of Egypt, like, fast. When the sacks of grain were loaded on their donkeys, they immediately began their journey back to Canaan. But something happened on the first night.

When you have done wrong to someone and haven’t gone through the necessary process to make things right with them and with God—when you haven’t fully dealt with your transgression—you become the victim of the very distress that you put that person through.

Put yourself in Joseph’s sandals. How must he have felt as he heard their words? So far as his brothers were concerned, he no longer existed! He was buried in the graveyard of their memories. He was “no more.”