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Genesis 44
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.
[1]
[2]
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The
Lockman Foundation.
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