What Does Genesis 43:26 Mean?

When Joseph came home, they brought him the present that they had with them into the house and bowed down to him to the ground. Joseph arrives at his own home for the noon meal and the brothers present the gifts: the Canaanite luxury goods Jacob carefully selected. They bow to the ground as they present the gifts: the second bowing in Genesis 43, continuing the fulfillment of the dreams of Genesis 37. The dream of eleven bowing to Joseph is now encompassed by the full complement of brothers (including Benjamin) prostrating before him.

The presentation of gifts along with the prostration is the standard ancient Near Eastern protocol for approaching a superior: you bow and you offer. Jacob's strategy is executed: the brothers enter Joseph's presence with honor and offering rather than empty-handed. The balm, honey, gum, Myrrh, pistachios, and almonds of Canaan are being presented to the prime minister of Egypt in his own home: the family of the promised land offering its best products to the man who, unknown to them, administers the world's food supply.

Joseph receiving the gift is receiving his father's thoughtfulness: Jacob chose these specific goods, prescribed this specific gift. Joseph does not know this in the moment (the text does not say the brothers explained who chose the gift), but the reader knows that what Joseph is receiving is his father's diplomatic intelligence and care, expressed in a package of Canaanite luxury goods sent to soften a crucial encounter. The father who sent the gift and the son who receives it are still separated by ignorance of each other's living presence: but the gift has crossed the gap.