What Does Genesis 45:22 Mean?

To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. Joseph's personal gifts to each brother are a change of clothes: the same gift that will Mark restoration and new status in the ancient neareastern gift economy. Clothing was the most personal and significant gift available; receiving new clothes from a superior indicated a changed relationship, elevated status, new provisions for a new chapter. Each brother receives this gift from Joseph: a reversal of the stripping of Joseph's robe in Genesis 37:23.

Benjamin receives five times the amount of clothing (five changes versus one) and also three hundred shekels of silver. The fivefold differentiation for Benjamin mirrors the fivefold feast portion in Genesis 43:34: Joseph's special provision for his full brother is a consistent pattern. The three hundred shekels of silver for Benjamin (not given to any other brother) is a significant personal gift of considerable wealth. The gift specifications for Benjamin show Joseph's heart toward his mother's other son: the most personal, the most generous, the most marked.

The reversal of the clothing dynamic from Genesis 37 is one of the chapter's quiet theological completions. In Genesis 37:23, the brothers stripped Joseph's robe: the ornamented coat that marked his favored status: and left him in the pit. In Genesis 45:22, Joseph gives each brother a festive robe. The man who was stripped gives the garments; the brothers who stripped him receive them. The inversion is not stated as irony but enacted as grace: Joseph uses the resources of his elevation to clothe the brothers who stripped him.