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Genesis 42
September 9,
2004
Reading through the
Bible in one Year: 2 Timothy 3-4; John 16-19
Weekly Memory Verse: 2
Corinthians 5:17
Good Evening Brothers
and Sisters,
Daily Reminder, pray
for the "Forty days of purpose" that is coming up on September 25th at 9pm
each evening. I am looking forward to the weekly meetings at Starbucks with
many of you, be sure to email me and let me know if you plan to
participate. I haven't decided if I should re-focus the study during that
time to focus on the "Forty days" material, or to treat it as a side study,
continuing our daily Bible study. Let me know what you want on this. I
realized this morning that I put Genesis 41 for the reading yesterday, Ooops.
I added the proper passage today, thanks. Since I am on a soapbox, if you
are interested in the upcoming Promise Keepers conference, write me.
Genesis 42:1-38 (NASB95)
1 Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to
his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?” 2 He said,
“Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy
some for us from that place, so that we may live and not die.” 3
Then ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. 4
But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers,
for he said, “I am afraid that harm may befall him.” 5 So the
sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine
was in the land of Canaan also. 6 Now Joseph was the ruler
over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And
Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the
ground. 7 When Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them, but he
disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them,
“Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy
food.” 8 But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they
did not recognize him. 9 Joseph remembered the dreams which he
had about them, and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at
the undefended parts of our land.” 10 Then they said to him, “No,
my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 “We are all
sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies.” 12
Yet he said to them, “No, but you have come to look at the undefended
parts of our land!” 13 But they said, “Your servants are twelve
brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and
behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer alive.”
14 Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, you are spies;
15 by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall
not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! 16
“Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain
confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But
if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” 17 So he
put them all together in prison for three days. 18 Now Joseph
said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: 19
if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your
prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of
your households, 20 and bring your youngest brother to me, so
your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so. 21
Then they said to one another, “Truly we are guilty concerning our
brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us,
yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” 22
Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, ‘Do not sin against
the boy’; and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood.”
23 They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there
was an interpreter between them. 24 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. 25 Then Joseph gave orders
to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack,
and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.
26 So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed
from there. 27 As one of them opened his sack to give his
donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money; and behold, it was in
the mouth of his sack. 28 Then he said to his brothers, “My money
has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts
sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this
that God has done to us?” 29 When they came to their father Jacob
in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,
30 “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us, and
took us for spies of the country. 31 “But we said to him, ‘We are
honest men; we are not spies. 32 ‘We are twelve brothers, sons of
our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father
today in the land of Canaan.’ 33 “The man, the lord of the land,
said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your
brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households,
and go. 34 ‘But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know
that you are not spies, but honest men. I will give your brother to you, and
you may trade in the land.’ ” 35 Now it came about as they were
emptying their sacks, that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in
his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they
were dismayed. 36 Their father Jacob said to them, “You have
bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and
you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” 37
Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death
if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will
return him to you.” 38 But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down
with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should
befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair
down to Sheol in sorrow.”[1]
First let's consider
the ages of the men involved. Joseph was around thirty-seven years old at
the time. Most of his brothers were older than he was, so when you consider
the ages of the men who were going to Egypt, they were family men, not young
kids. This is indicated in the latter part of the chapter where Reuben
spoke of having two sons (v.37). I think that we often get confused by the
idea that ten brothers went to Egypt, they were ten brothers, and they
were around the ages of 37 to 47 plus. Unless I am wrong, Joseph was number
11 in the family lineage, and Benjamin followed as number 12. That means
that all of the ten brothers that were sent were older than Joseph, making
them over 37 with the exception of Benjamin.
One other question
that nags at the back of my mind is why didn't Israel's family see the
famine coming? We know the obvious answer to it, God had revealed it to
Pharaoh, and Joseph was strategically placed to prepare for the famine. I
wonder though, what happened to the spiritual lives of the brothers of
Joseph? From the text today there is clear evidence that they were haunted
by the fact that they had sent their brother into slavery, (vs. 21-22).
Wouldn't it be hard to walk with God knowing that you had committed such a
deed and successfully covered it up? God used the misfortune of the
murderous hatred of Joseph's brothers for the good of the world. I can't
help but wonder what would have happened if they had all walked with God
from the start.
The famine in the land
was severe enough that it demanded something to be done. Jacob saw that
they were starving to death, so he commissioned them to go to Egypt to buy
grain. Notice though, he kept Benjamin back with him so that he would not
have trouble come against him. Consider the message that this sent to the
other brothers, Benjamin and Joseph were treated special because they were
the only reminders that Jacob had of Rachel. As far as he was concerned,
the other ten brothers could fend for themselves, he was going to protect
Rachel's sons.
Genesis 37:7-8 (NASB95)
7 for behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and lo, my
sheaf rose up and also stood erect; and behold, your sheaves gathered around
and bowed down to my sheaf.” 8 Then his brothers said to him,
“Are you actually going to reign over us? Or are you really going to rule
over us?” So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.
[2]
Joseph's first dream
was concerning sheaves of grain. The fulfillment of this dream had to do
with grain, you can be sure that Joseph was aware of the way that the dream
was being fulfilled right before his eyes. The first dream had to do with
food, and the brothers being under his authority in regard to provisions for
the land. Notice that it is only the brothers who are involved in
purchasing the grain, his father does not come along. The second dream had
to do with power, but that comes later.
The harsh manner that
Joseph treated his brothers can be expected in light of the way that they
had treated him in the past. They even admitted that they thought that he
was dead. The three days in prison was mild compared to the thirteen years
that Joseph had spent in a foreign land, three years of which were spent in
prison. It is estimate that Joseph spent about nine years in Potiphar's
house, three years in prison, then another seven years during the years of
plenty which brings him to nineteen years in Egypt total. Knowing that God
had placed him there probably made it easier to accept, however, the
irritation of being betrayed on such a permanent manner had to bear heavily
on his mind.
Considering Simeon
being held hostage, I puzzled over why Joseph chose him to stay in prison,
the only reason I could come up with was that Simeon and Levi headed up the
slaughter Shechem and the inhabitants of the city when Dinah was raped and
kidnapped (Genesis 34). It could also have been a joint decision between
the brothers.
Notice the tenderness
that Joseph displays toward his brothers. He feels it is necessary to test
them, and apparently wishes to see his brother Benjamin, all the other
brothers are step brothers. Joseph tests them in several ways, first he
places them in a defensive position, treating them as spies. Then he puts
them in jail, treating them like criminals. Then he holds Simeon hostage
and sends the brothers on their way, returning the money back into their
bags that they paid for the grain. That was probably one of the biggest
tests, to see what they would do with the money. If they had returned it,
they ran the risk of being accused of stealing the money. They opted to
return it on the return. The greatest test was whether or not they would
return for Simeon or leave him like they did Joseph.
Another thought that
nags at my mind is where Joseph says that he fears God in v. 18. Joseph had
not mentioned God up to this point in the dialog. It is interesting that he
refers to God in a uniquely Hebrew way by referring to Him as "Elohim", or
the one true God. Even with this statement, Joseph's brothers did not pick
up on the way that Joseph spoke. They did start thinking about the judgment
that God had placed on their lives as a result of what they had done to
Joseph. Consider also that Joseph, standing as a ruler of Egypt
demonstrated compassion on them and on their families by allowing the
brothers to return to their land with the grain. This is compared to the
brothers throwing Joseph in a pit with the decision to allow him to starve
to death. Joseph didn't just give them the grain that they paid for, he
also gave them provisions for the journey that was ahead of them. He went
overboard in showing compassion to his brothers, who he accused of being
spies.
One last observation,
Reuben took responsibility for Benjamin by promising to protect his life at
the expense of his own two sons. Jacob was not concerned with the life of
Simeon, he allowed him to remain in prison and refused to send Benjamin with
them. The story will change in the next chapter. It shows where Jacob's
heart was at though, he was not concerned about any son except Rachel's
sons. He was willing for another son to die in prison rather than chance
losing Benjamin.
“Thus
nearly all the actors are trapped by their past. The brothers cannot escape
the power of their past guilt by being honest now either to Joseph or to
their father. They live in fear of provoking a new uncontrolled outburst of
paternal sorrow if they take Benjamin and fail to return him. Jacob himself
is even more paranoic, suspecting his sons of selling Simeon to raise cash,
and above all determined not to let his beloved Benjamin out of his sight.
Only Joseph appears to be in control of the situation, but even he is
overtaken by emotion as he hears the first contrite comments by his brothers
for the way they treated him. And he cannot be sure whether the device of
holding Simeon will suffice to bring all his brothers, including Benjamin,
back to Egypt. Will his dreams be fulfilled or not?”[3]
In
closing, I would encourage each of you to access the website and read
through the comments from last year on this chapter. There were some good
observations. Also, if you wish to add to the study, be sure to write in, I
will post all comments.
Questions for thought:
Do you
feel that Joseph was working from revenge in dealing harshly with his
brothers, or by divine guidance?
Why
didn’t Jacob allow Benjamin to go with the brothers to redeem Simeon?
Father,
as we consider Your word, and ponder its meaning, show each of us how to
apply Your word to our lives.
In Him,
Joe
Turner.
[1]
[2]
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The
Lockman Foundation.
[3]Wenham,
G. J. (1998). Vol. 2: Word Biblical Commentary : Genesis 16-50
(electronic ed.). Logos Library System; Word Biblical Commentary.
Dallas: Word, Incorporated.
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