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GENESIS 42
One of Joseph’s dreams was fulfilled as God’s plan unfolded. -- (DATE: Around 1662 before Christ)
DISCOVER Genesis 42: The terrible famine also struck Canaan, so when Jacob heard that there was food for sale in Egypt, he sent all his sons except Benjamin, the only son he had left from his beloved Rachel, to go there and buy food, so they may not all starve to death. -- As overseer of Egypt in general and the storehouses in particular, Joseph was the one who was responsible for the selling of grain. So when his brothers came to buy food for their family back home, it was no small wonder that he was present and able to recognize them as they bowed low before him, just as he had dreamed many years back. When he realized that his brothers didn’t recognize him (perhaps a bit of anger flared up in him, so) he had his interpreter ask them where they had come from. Of course they replied that they had traveled down from Canaan to buy food. But Joseph accused them of being spies, who had come to see the land’s defenses in this time of trouble. His brothers denied this in obeisance and repeated that they had come to buy food for their family. To give this claim credence they elaborated that they were all brothers and honest men, who had never spied for anyone. Continuing his charade, Joseph held fast on his accusation that the ten of them had come to spy on Egypt. -- Desperately trying to convince this high Egyptian official, the brothers denied the accusation once more and went into further detail about their family, saying that they were twelve brothers in all, with one being with their father and another one having passed away. Hearing this, Joseph passed his sentence on them, confirming that they were spies, however, he offered them a way by which they might yet prove their innocence: They were to bring their youngest brother to him, to confirm the truthfulness of their words. And he would allow only one among them to go and fetch him, while the rest of them were to wait here in incarceration. If the one going would fail to bring the boy, the life of the rest of these spies would be forfeited. To put credence behind these words, Joseph had them all confined in prison for three days. -- On the third day, Joseph (started to regret his harshness a little and thus) told his brothers when he came to them that as a God fearing man he would trust their word of being honest men and would be satisfied with only one of them staying behind, while the rest would go to bring their last brother to him. He would even allow them to purchase grain and bring it back to their home. Hearing that, together with the three days they had just spent in jail, the brothers began talking among themselves, regretting what they had done to their brother Joseph, when they hadn’t listened to his pleas for help and release from the pit while they were eating. And Reuben told them that they shouldn’t have sinned against their young brother, for the trouble they were in now was surely a divine reckoning for their misdeed against their kin. Since all conversations between them and Joseph up until this point had been carried out through interpreters, the brothers had no idea that their brother understood their words, causing Joseph to lose his countenance, so that he had to retreat and weep in solitude. -- Once he had regained his demeanor, Joseph returned and chose his father’s second born Simeon to be the one who would remain until his brothers returned with Benjamin. (Once they had left the prison) Joseph ordered his men to fill the brothers’ bags not only with grain, but also put the money they had bought it with on top of the grain. Before they departed, he even gave them provisions for their journey back to Canaan. -- On their way back to their father, one of the brothers realized that his money bag was in the sack he had opened to feed his donkey. When he told the others, they all despaired (fearing that surely the high ranking Egyptian officer would think they had stolen from him). But none of them questioned why God had done this to them. -- Once they arrived back at their father’s tents, they told him all that had transpired, and how they needed to bring Benjamin before the lord of the land of Egypt to free their brother Simeon and prove that they were honest men, who would be allowed to trade in Egypt. When they emptied the bags they had brought from their venture, the one good thing their journey to Egypt had brought, the brothers noticed for the first time that all the money they had taken with them had been with them on their way home, and fear overcame them all. Jacob, in his terror immediately denied the demands of this Egyptian officer. Never would he allow Benjamin, his youngest son, to undertake this dangerous trip, particularly since he was certain that by now, not only his beloved Joseph, but also Simeon must have already died. Surely Benjamin would meet the same fate should he go. (Holding fast to hope) Reuben asked his father to reconsider and tried to pacify him by offering that Jacob might take the lives of his own sons, should he fail to bring Benjamin back from Egypt. But Jacob would not budge and denied any attempt to reason with him.
PRAYER: Thank you heavenly Father that Joseph did not kill his brothers in retaliation upon seeing them for the first time after they had caused him so much misery. We give thanks to you that instead he implicitly dealt with them in grace and truth. Graciously he spared their lives and gave them the money back they had brought for buying food, and in truthfulness he punished them mildly to let them feel the consequences of having wronged him. In the same way we thank you, heavenly Father, that in your Son Jesus Christ you also dealt with us in grace and truth. By your grace your Son became man to reveal your love to mankind and in your truth Christ revealed that we all are sinners when you laid upon him our punishment to die for our sins on the cross. Thank you, Lord Jesus Christ, that you rose from the dead, according to the will of your Father, so that His grace and His truth in You could become the source of our salvation. We believe in you, Lord Jesus, open our hearts to you, and we give you honor and glory for completing our salvation, just like Joseph secured the survival of his brothers in the famine. Amen.
QUESTION 42: How did Joseph deal with his brothers upon seeing them for the first time after they had cruelly sold him as a slave years before?