Joe Turner

Shelley Norman

Reggie

September 11, 2004

Reading through the Bible in one Year: 1 Chronicles 25-29

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.  I am thinking of finishing out Genesis, then selecting a short study to lead up to the "40 days", and devote the entire time to each section of the book.  I am emailing the author to see if I can have permission to copy and paste the book into the study. 

Genesis 44:1-34 (NASB95)
¹ Then he commanded his house steward, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. ² “Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph had told him. ³ As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. ⁴ They had just gone out of the city, and were not far off, when Joseph said to his house steward, “Up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵ ‘Is not this the one from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’ ” ⁶ So he overtook them and spoke these words to them. ⁷ They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. ⁸ “Behold, the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹ “With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” ¹⁰ So he said, “Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” ¹¹ Then they hurried, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. ¹² He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they tore their clothes, and when each man loaded his donkey, they returned to the city. ¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination?” ¹⁶ So Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found.” ¹⁷ But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.” ¹⁸ Then Judah approached him, and said, “Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh. ¹⁹ “My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ “We said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² “But we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³ “You said to your servants, however, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴ “Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵ “Our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ “But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷ “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸ and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ ‘If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’ ³⁰ “Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, ³¹ when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³² “For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever.’ ³³ “Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. ³⁴ “For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?”^[1]

Joseph was not contented to let them go without giving it one more try with the silver cup.  I find it comical that Joseph had all of their silver returned to their sacks.  Therefore, when the steward started searching the sacks, can you imagine the astounded looks on their faces when they saw the silver once again in each one of their sacks?  They were probably concerned with foul play especially when the silver cup was found in Benjamin's sack.  Regardless how the silver and the cup got into the sacks, they knew that they could not return without Benjamin. 

Notice though, the silver money was ignored.  This must have worked hard on their minds, knowing that the silver remained in their bags.  It is almost like the guiltiness of sin that remained in their lives after they had disposed of Joseph many years earlier.

One thing that comes to mind is whether Joseph was playing games of his own accord, or if God was directing him to play out the scenario's that were going on.  One commentator stated that this was the brothers final test, and if they failed, God was going to start over with Joseph.  I don't see how he came to that conclusion.  I do see that God used Joseph's actions to finally drive the brothers to repentance, and to cause them to reach a state in their lives where they were willing to admit and suffer punishment for their earlier sin.

Another aspect that came to light when the brothers returned was their deep regret and their repentant heart toward what they had done to Joseph many years earilier, (v. 16).  They demonstrated repentance, and a willingness to suffer the punishment of slavery because they were certainly guilty of sin in their lives.  They offered their own lives in slavery in exchange for Benjamin's freedom because Benjamin was innocent of guilt. 

Springing off of that thought, Benjamin was like a type of Christ in this story.  He was wrongfully accused of wrongdoing.  Then his sacrifice guaranteed the release of the guilty brothers who would go in freedom.  Benjamin was found to be totally innocent, he was also on loan from his father who desperately wanted to have fellowship with his son.  The scenario falls apart though when you consider that Benjamin was an unwilling victim, as opposed to Christ who purposefully put himself in the position in order to pay the price for the sin of mankind. 

It is interesting though that Judah was the one who offered his life for the life of Benjamin and his brothers, (v.33) therefore reversing the scenario on us.  Judah stood as the eldest of the brothers, but more importantly demonstrated through his leadership that he was willing to intercede for Benjamin.  God honored this act of leadership that purchased the freedom of his brothers through the sacrifice of himself.  (Another picture of Jesus).  Jesus came through the tribe of Judah, the eldest of the brothers who stood willing to sacrifice himself to purchase their freedom.

Romans 5:8 (NASB95)
⁸ But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. ^[2]

I think that in this chapter, Joseph finds an aspect about his brothers that he had not realized up to this point.  He found out that they truly cared about their father.  The fact that Benjamin was going to be taken into slavery, caused the brothers to share the real story behind the reason for the delay in returning for Simeon.  Joseph may have seen their reluctance to return as uncaring, and now found out that Jacob was the problem.

The crux of the lesson today is personal responsibility.  Judah and the brothers were finally faced with their sin and made a decision to either take responsibility for it, or to hide it and deal with the effects of the sin.  We know from the story that they chose to take responsibility for their sin, and to repent of it. 

I am going to close here, the story will continue tomorrow.  If anyone wishes to add comments, please feel free to write in.  For more information on this passage, look to the "Archive" page on the website, some great observations were made by the group last year.

Father, as we consider Your word today, give each one of us the strength to realistically acknowledge our sin and place it at the foot of the cross.  Free us from the bondages of unconfessed sin, and give each of us freedom in You.

In Him,

Joe Turner.