Dr. Ron Sumners
December 6, 2009
The pressure in this story is building and the pace is quickening tremendously. In all the details of the story we have seen God’s hand in Joseph’s life.
God’s sovereign arrangement of events is once again obvious in the account of intrigue and surprise that is set both in Canaan and Egypt. The events were designed to test the sincerity of Joseph’s brothers, and save the family from the famine that gripped the world. It is hard to imagine that, as Governor of Egypt, Joseph personally handled each of the transactions made by the multitudes who lined up to purchase grain. So, it was providential that he had been present on the particular occasion and had seen the faces of his ten brothers among the crowd.
Put yourself in Joseph’s position and try to imagine what it would be like to suddenly find yourself face-to-face with the persons who were responsible for the turmoil and suffering you had experienced the last twenty years of your life.
What would come out of your heart in that moment? Would it be twenty years of hatred from the pent-up hurt? If those feelings were inside Joseph, clearly, they would have come out. But it is obvious that God had been working in Joseph’s heart – fashioning events in such a way that Joseph recognized that all of his days were under the sovereign, providential care of a God who loved him with an everlasting love.
The time had not yet come for Joseph to reveal himself to his brothers. However, he longed to see his younger brother, Benjamin, so he decided on a plan that would bring Benjamin back to Egypt. He would detain Simeon until the others returned with Benjamin. But he also gave the brothers ample food to take to their families and returned each man’s silver to him. (42:25)
The brothers trembled with distress when they found the silver they had paid still in their sacks.
This caused the brothers to ask, “What is this that God has done to us?” They felt that they were in deep trouble; even they had done nothing wrong.
What we are seeing here are hearts and minds set on jagged edge by twenty years of living with unrepented sin. We saw the same response when Joseph accused them of spying. Their consciences were so agitated that the slightest hint of wrongdoing or accusation brought them right back to the point of their sin and departure from God.
This was the providential hand of God in the brother’s lives – not only to bring them to repentance, but to also accomplish God’s purpose of bringing Jacob’s entire family to Egypt. He would accomplish the redemption of His people, Israel, out of slavery, bringing them to the land of promise in the unfolding of His plan.
When the nine brothers returned home, they told Jacob all that had happened to them. Jacob saw the grain and the silver in their bags, but his focus was on his sons. He was upset at the loss of Simeon, but was even more distressed that the Governor of Egypt demanded to see Benjamin before Simeon would be released.
Despite Reuben’s vow to assure Benjamin’s safety, Jacob flatly refused to allow his younger son to travel to Egypt. He was saying, “If anything happened to Benjamin, it would kill me.” So, the family settled in and began to live off the food Joseph had sent from Egypt.
The famine remained severe. It was inevitable that Jacob’s large family would sooner or later eat all the grain brought from Egypt. We do not know how long it took, but it was long enough that Jacob forgot about the demand concerning Benjamin.
As the grain ran low, Jacob told his sons, “Go back and buy more food” (43:2). Judah jarred his father’s memory by reminding him that they dare not show their faces to the governor of Egypt again unless Benjamin was with them. A little of the old Jacob flared up as he blamed his sons for telling Joseph that there was another brother at home. Judah tried to explain that the information had come out innocently, but Jacob seemed to want to blame someone for his despair.
Judah stepped forward again, offering to ensure Benjamin’s safety at the cost of bearing the blame for the rest of his life if anything happened to Benjamin. This was the first time that Judah put himself on the spot for Benjamin. We will see him do it again later in the story.
Jacob finally agreed to let Benjamin accompany his older brothers to Egypt. Jacob prepared gifts for the Egyptian Governor and sent the brothers with the sorrowful parting, “If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
The caravan headed to Egypt and when they arrived the brothers presented themselves to Joseph.
Obviously, the brothers did not realize what they were headed into. They thought they were headed back for a series of dealings with the stern governor in hopes of getting the grain they needed and being united with their brother Simeon.
Based on the comments made in 42:28, “What is this that God has done to us?” it seems evident that the brothers felt that they deserved better than what had happened to them in Egypt. The answer to their question was that God overruled the details of their lives in conformity with the purpose of His will!
He does the same with us. Even though Jacob said, “Every thing is against me!” (Genesis 42:36), he could have said, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31). This is the question that Paul asked after making the great declaration in Romans 8:28: “All things work together for good for those that love God and are called to His purposes.” The answer to Paul’s question is that nobody can be against us when God is for us. He is sovereignly in charge, and we can trust in Him.
Joseph’s heart must have leapt when he saw Benjamin. He instructed his steward to take the brothers to his home and prepare a meal for them. Once again, the brothers reveal a guilty conscience in fearing that they were being set up for an ambush. There fellows had been waiting twenty years for God’s judgment to fall, and they feared that this was it.
Joseph’s servant assured them that everything was all right and brought Simeon out to eat with them. At noon Joseph came home for a very unusual lunch.
When Joseph came home, the brothers presented him with their gifts and bowed down before him. Joseph inquired about the condition of their father. As the brothers answered they bowed low again before Joseph. Joseph’s dream of so many years earlier was being fulfilled!
When Joseph saw Benjamin, he was overcome with emotion and had to hurry to his private chambers so he could weep. When he had composed himself, he came back out and the meal was served according to Egyptian tradition, the Hebrew visitors had to eat by themselves. Benjamin received five times more food than the other brothers, perhaps another small test to see if his brothers would react with the same resentment they had showed toward him.
The final testing comes in chapter 44. Joseph has his steward plant a silver cup in Benjamin’s pack. This gave Joseph the excuse to send his servant after the men once they had departed.
The steward quickly overtook the brothers and accused them of stealing the cup. The brothers were so sure of their innocence that they pronounced a death sentence on the guilty party if any one of them was found to have the cup. The steward said that only the guilty party would be punished and the others could go free. Can you imagine the feeling of the nine brothers when the cup was found in Benjamin’s pack?
Verses 13-14 tells us that the brothers tore their clothes in anguish. And they returned to the city for what they assumed would be terrible consequences.
The first thing that the men did upon appearing before Joseph was to throw themselves on the ground once again. This was getting to be routine.
Judah spoke for the group, probably because he was the one who had guaranteed Benjamin’s safety. “God has uncovered your servants’ guilt,” he said to Joseph. Judah was expressing humility and remorse at the discovery of Joseph’s cup among the brothers’ possessions – on offense of which they were innocent.
Judah’s statement had a deeper ring of truth to it. God was orchestrating the events of their lives in such a way that their true guilt, their sin against Joseph, was now being uncovered. And Joseph had arranged events to test the depths of his brothers’ repentance.
The story reached another dramatic climax when Joseph repeated the steward’s sentence. “The man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you may go back to your father in peace.”
Can you see the irony of the situation? The ten brothers had thrown Joseph into the pit, then sold him to a caravan of traders, and then returned home, seemingly scot-free. Would they leave Benjamin in the same predicament to save their own skin, going home and telling Jacob that there was nothing that they could do?
Not this time! Judah put himself on the line a second time for his baby brother. He delivered a heart-rending plea, which included the offer to replace Benjamin as Joseph’s slave so Benjamin could go free. That speech moved Joseph so deeply that he wept bitterly.
Judah began by telling Joseph what he already knew, namely that Benjamin was especially beloved by his father because he was born to Jacob in his “old age.” He told that Benjamin’s brother was dead, leaving Benjamin as the only surviving son of his mother, Rachel (vv. 18-20).
Joseph’s heart must have wept as Judah recounted these details. All at once, he was being confronted with memories of his father, his mother, and the reminder of his own years of suffering. What a toll his supposed death must have taken on his family.
Judah then reminded Joseph of his warning to the brothers not to return to Egypt without their youngest brother and recounted the conversation that had taken place in Canaan when the food ran low. Then Judah came to the crux of the issue: “If the boy is not with us when we go back, our father will surely die. It will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow.”
So, Judah made a proposal that signaled to Joseph the depth of the heart change that had occurred in his brother. “Now then, please let your servant remain here as the Lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.”
What a change from 20 years ago. Judah was the one who had suggested that Joseph be sold into slavery. Now, he is willing to be a slave himself to save his younger brother! What a tremendous change of heart. This was a contrite son saying, “I cannot bear to bring my father any more pain. I can’t bear to see him die in anguish. I have seen, for the past twenty years, the agony we have caused him through our lies and intrigue, and I can’t do it any more. Please don’t send me back without Benjamin.”
Throughout these meetings with his brothers, Joseph’s overriding concern had been for his father. He asked three times, “Is your father still living?”
Judah’s appeal on behalf of his father brought Joseph to the point at which he could no longer control his emotions. He broke down weeping and cried so hard that the sobs were heard by the Egyptians and they reported the news to Pharaoh.
Notice what Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me” (45:4).
This was an incredible response on Joseph’s part. The meetings with his brothers had taken a deep toll on him. He was reminded of all that they had done to him and of all the anguish they had but Jacob through for all those years.
Joseph had the power and authority to have his brothers executed for their sin against him. Instead, he reached out to them and said, “Come close to me.”
What a wonderful picture of Jesus’ response to you and me. We stood before Him in our, animosity and rebellion, completely condemned and without excuse. We were deserving of death, yet Jesus went to the cross for us and said, “Come unto me (just as Joseph had), all ye who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.”
And today, He reaches out His hands, scarred by the nails of Calvary, and offers us forgiveness, salvation and the wonder of a personal relationship with Him.
What hatred or animosity do you harbor in your heart? It may be against a brother, as was Joseph’s. How have you handled it? Have you approached it as Joseph? Have you said, “Come close to me.” Have you allowed the power of God’s love to take away your destructive feelings? Why not do that today? Why not accept the forgiveness that Jesus offers as He says to you today, “Come to Me!”
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