Reading the Bible is not for the faint-hearted. Battles, murders, wars… violent solutions to violent problems are in almost every chapter. It seems as if the ancient world wasn’t one where the words “conflict resolution” were heard very often. Which of course makes the times when a gentle and peaceful end to a story does happen all the more extraordinary. One amazing example of this is the conclusion of the story of Joseph, which I find so moving.

Joseph, the annoying, favoured younger brother is bundled unceremoniously into a deep pit by his older siblings and left for dead. … they then decide to sell him instead to a band of merchants and turn away from him without a backward glance. Symbols of violence are scattered all over the Joseph narrative. Realising they will have to concoct a story for their father Jacob who will ask about his favourite son, they dip his torn coat in blood, so his father’s response will be to assume Joseph has surely been torn to pieces by a wild animal.

Meanwhile, fast-forwarding to the last scene, Joseph has survived slavery, prison and has in fact prospered. In a time of famine, he is an extremely powerful man in Egypt and his brothers come to him to plead for food, because they are starving. Of course they do not recognise Joseph, and they are completely in his power. But Joseph recognises his brothers, and after realising they have truly changed, he prepares to reveal his name to them.

And what marks this moment is not violence in return… but tears. All through the story, Joseph never stops crying. He is always turning his head away to weep, for his father, for his brothers, maybe for the pain of what he himself has endured.

A violent revenge would have been sweet for Joseph, and more to the point, it would have been easy. And justified. But finally when he reveals his identity to the brothers, he cries with a sound that could be heard throughout Egypt ….And then he cries some more….

And then….the brothers talk. Intriguingly, the bible does not record what was said. After the talk, there’s a bit more crying, and then, they sort out the future together. Life goes on.

I doubt if Joseph really did truly forgive his brothers. But Joseph expressing himself only through tears and ending the cycle of violence - avoiding a wild, spectacularly bloody revenge makes him the Bible’s biggest hero for me.