Welcome to Joseph: A Beautiful Patience, the companion podcast to Harry Peter De La Savane's literary retelling of an ancient family story of betrayal, patience, and forgiveness. In this fourteenth episode, nine brothers ride toward Canaan with the unspeakable to tell.

Jacob counts the figures arriving at his threshold and finds two missing. He hears them out, then turns away with a single sentence that names what they cannot bear to hear: their own souls have done this, again. He embraces beautiful patience for the second time in his life. The name pierces him: Joseph. The grief he has carried for decades surfaces now without restraint. His sight whitens. His sons accuse him of mourning that will kill him. Jacob's reply is quiet and absolute: I only complain of my suffering and sorrow to God, and I know from God what you do not know.

Then the command that sounds like madness. Go back to Egypt and search for Joseph and his brother. Do not lose hope in God's mercy. Only those who have abandoned faith entirely lose hope.

What follows is the chapter the whole story has been moving toward. The brothers stand again before the chief minister, begging for charity in their final hardship. Joseph dismisses the hall, descends from his throne, removes the headdress, and speaks at last in the language of Canaan. Two questions. Then the simple sentence that ends decades of concealment: I am Joseph, and this is my brother. The brothers collapse. The confession pours out. And the reply they could never have asked for arrives: no blame on you today.

In this episode:

• Jacob's verdict and his second vow of beautiful patience
• "Alas, my sorrow for Joseph!" and the eyes that turn white from grief
• The sons' accusation and Jacob's reply: "I know from God what you do not know"
• The command to search, and the line about who loses hope in God's mercy
• The third audience: Judah's plea for charity in the final extremity
• The dismissal of the hall, the language of Canaan, "I am Joseph, and this is my brother"
• The confession poured out, and the reply that could never have been asked for: "There is no blame on you today"

About the book: Joseph: A Beautiful Patience is a literary retelling of the story of Joseph and his family: the dream, the betrayal by his brothers, the years in slavery and prison, and the unlikely path to forgiveness. Harry Peter De La Savane writes from Ottawa-Gatineau, Canada, between English, French, and Arabic. The book is the first in a planned trilogy; novels devoted to Mary and to Jesus are also in preparation.

Get the book: Order Joseph: A Beautiful Patience at hpdelasavane.com, the perfect companion to this audio series.

Next episode: a caravan rides north with a plain shirt secured among its cargo. Far away in Canaan, an old man stands at his threshold, his sight gone but his certainty undimmed, waiting for what God has promised him.

Subscribe to follow Joseph's journey from the well to the palace, one chapter at a time.