Almost everyone is familiar with the biblical account of Joseph being sold into Egyptian slavery. Joseph is blessed by God over the years even though he at one point is falsely accused and thrown into prison. Eventually, he becomes the right-hand-man of the Pharaoh. In this position, he is the most powerful person in Egypt other than Pharaoh.
Joseph prepares Egypt for seven years of terrible famine. He does this because God gave him the ability to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams and the wisdom to know what to do during the good harvest years.
The famine is very bad and is over much of the known world at that time. Joseph’s father, Jacob, sends his other sons to Egypt to get food. All the boys go except Benjamin who is Joseph’s full brother. Joseph recognizes his brothers but they do not recognize him. He makes them go back home and bring Benjamin.
Benjamin arrives in Egypt and Joseph tells him and the other brothers who he is. Pharaoh learns about Joseph’s family and insists that they return to Jacob and bring the whole family to Egypt. As the brothers leave to go on the trip, Joseph gives all of them a change of clothing. But to Benjamin he gives five changes of clothing.
“When Joseph presented his half-brothers with gifts he gave Benjamin, his real brother, ‘five changes of raiment'” (Genesis 45:22). This is significant, because the number five was regarded by the Egyptians as the mark of special distinction (see Yahuda, Accuracy of the Bible, p.61). “The biblical account of how Benjamin was favored by Joseph reflects clearly the Egyptian attitude to the number five” (New Light on the Bible by Trude Weiss-Rosmarin, The Jewish Book Club, 1941, p.30).
Just little things like this show that the Bible is indeed the inspired Word of God. Even the small details given in the Bible are accurate. I am glad that God gave us the Bible. We can read and study it and know what he wants us to do.
If he was accurate in even the small details, then he must intend for the Bible to be important to us, and he expects us to follow even the small details.
