"the children which God hath graciously given Thy
servant," and as Benjamin was not among the children thus
spoken of, for he was born later, Joseph compensated him
now by blessing him with the grace of God.[245]

The table was set in three divisions, for Joseph, for his
brethren, and for the Egyptians. The sons of Jacob did not
venture to eat of the dishes set before them, they were afraid
they might not have been prepared according to the ritual
prescriptions--a punishment upon Joseph for having slandered
his brethren, whom he once charged with not being
punctilious in the observance of the dietary laws.[246] The
Egyptians, again, could not sit at the same table with the
sons of Jacob, because the latter ate the flesh of the animals
to which the former paid divine worship.[247]