He turned away from them and wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.Here we see both Joseph's soft and hard sides. He still loves his brothers, and has to withdraw from them to keep from breaking down in tears when they express remorse for what they did to him. However, he then recovers and proceeds to bind Simeon, probably in much the same way he was bound for sale into slavery.
Now, I have to ask the obvious question here: why did Joseph choose Simeon to imprison? I have a theory, but it's not provable.
When Joseph was taken by his brothers and sold into slavery, Reuben was not there; he came later, and was distressed by what had happened. With Reuben absent, Simeon was the oldest brother. That would have made it his responsibility to protect Joseph from the others' evil intent, and he did not do so. Also, being in that position, it's possible that Joseph thought that it was Simeon's idea to sell him; he probably had no idea it was Judah's scheme. I have to wonder, if he'd known it was Judah, if Joseph would have imprisoned him instead.
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