Genesis 42:21 - They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that's why this distress has come upon us."
These words were spoken amongst 10 of Joseph's brothers (not Benjamin) approximately 21 years after they had sold him to the Ishmaelites and lied to their father Israel about what had happened to him. Joseph had been 17 at the time. He was 30 when Pharaoh promoted him to vice-pharaoh. (30-17=13) There had been 7 years (13+7=20) of plenty under his time of command, and now there probably had been at least a year of famine. (20+1=21) So it was for at least 20 years that the brothers' consciences had bothered them -- some days more and some days less, I suppose. I wonder if they had ever used this line of reasoning to explain something bad that had happened before.
I wonder if it bothered some of them more than the others. Maybe Judah at least a little more? It had been his idea to sell Joseph and make it worth their while to get rid of him.
Later when they had to bring Benjamin to Egypt, it was Judah who told his dad, "...you can hold me personally responsible for him." I wonder if he was thinking about Joseph when he said those words.
I wonder how many people have something stupid they did long ago come back to bite them 20 years later.
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