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Genesis 45
September 12, 2004
Reading through the
Bible in one Year: Psalm 108-110
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 45:1-28 (NASB95)
1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who
stood by him, and he cried, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there was no
man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 He
wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of
Pharaoh heard of it. 3 Then Joseph said to his brothers,
“I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer
him, for they were dismayed at his presence. 4 Then Joseph said
to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they came closer. And he
said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 “Now
do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for
God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 “For the famine has
been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in
which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 “God sent
me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you
alive by a great deliverance. 8 “Now, therefore, it was not you
who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord
of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9
“Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph,
“God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. 10
“You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you
and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your
herds and all that you have. 11 “There I will also provide for
you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and
your household and all that you have would be impoverished.” ’ 12
“Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that
it is my mouth which is speaking to you. 13 “Now you must tell my
father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must
hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell on his
brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15
He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his
brothers talked with him. 16 Now when the news was heard in
Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his
servants. 17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers,
‘Do this: load your beasts and go to the land of Canaan, 18 and
take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the
best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land.’ 19
“Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for
your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. 20
‘Do not concern yourselves with your goods, for the best of all the
land of Egypt is yours.’ ” 21 Then the sons of Israel did so; and
Joseph gave them wagons according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them
provisions for the journey. 22 To each of them he gave changes of
garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and
five changes of garments. 23 To his father he sent as follows:
ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys
loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father on the journey.
24 So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to
them, “Do not quarrel on the journey.” 25 Then they went up from
Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26
They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over
all the land of Egypt.” But he was stunned, for he did not believe them.
27 When they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken
to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the
spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 Then Israel said, “It is
enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”[1]
Joseph finally broke
down and allowed the brothers to know who he was. Take note of the attitude
that Joseph kept though, he did not allow the Egyptians to hear or witness
the renewing of the fellowship with his brothers. He preferred to speak
with them on his own in private. When you consider this, it makes perfect
sense, the Egyptians may not have been aware that Joseph was a Hebrew,
remember at this point it was at least nine years that Joseph had held his
office. He had built up a reputation with the people, and had changed his
looks to appear to be a Egyptian, it was enough of a transformation that
even his brothers did not recognize him.
Look at his attitude
though; it was not an attitude of a haughty ruler who had power over his
brother’s lives. Joseph did have power over their lives. It was an
attitude of grace, an attitude of forgiveness, and an attitude of acceptance
of them. He was not bitter for the many years that he had spent in slavery,
or even for the three years that he had spent in prison due to their selling
him into slavery.
He had the attitude of
a prophet of God, one who was tapped into God's strength, and in touch with
God's will for his life. We often forget that Joseph was a prophet, yet
this was alluded to in the previous chapter when he spoke of the silver cup
being his divining cup. Some feel that that statement was a ruse that made
him more acceptable to the Egyptians who leaned upon the dark arts in order
to make spiritual proclamations. Joseph leaned upon God and understood that
God was in control of the entire situation. He realized that God had placed
him strategically in place to deal with the years of plenty and to prepare
stores to carry the world through the years of famine.
Joseph is consistent
with his authority in the land. He offered his family the land of Goshen as
a place to live and dwell with their families. He promised them sanctuary
from the famine, which had another five years to go. Can you imagine the
question that must have risen in the brothers minds at that statement? How
could he know how many years that were left on the famine? Only God could
make such a revelation to them. Imagine if someone made the same prediction
today under the same circumstances, we would probably humor them, but not
believe them.
The stage is set for
the fulfillment of the second of Joseph's dreams in this passage. When the
wealth of Jacob's family is brought to Egypt, along with it is the power of
the family, and the blessing of God. Pharaoh offered them the best of the
land; Joseph instructed them to move into Goshen which was farmland. Those
who worked in livestock were considered to be lower than the Egyptians.
The end of this
chapter covers Jacob getting the news of Joseph being alive and encouraging
him to move his entire clan to Egypt. It seems as if with very little
convincing Jacob is convinced, and they start the move. Can you imagine the
reaction of Jacob as he finally finds out that his son that he thought was
dead is still alive? I wonder how the brothers broke the news to Jacob that
they had purposefully deceived him for twenty plus years. Jacob seems to
have grown in grace, and ignores the obvious, looking forward to the meeting
with Joseph.
Genesis 15:13-16 (NASB95)
13 God said to Abram, “Know for certain that your
descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, where they will
be enslaved and oppressed four hundred years. 14 “But I will also
judge the nation whom they will serve, and afterward they will come out with
many possessions. 15 “As for you, you shall go to your fathers in
peace; you will be buried at a good old age. 16 “Then in the
fourth generation they will return here, for the iniquity of the Amorite is
not yet complete.”
[2]
I wonder if they would
have made the move as quickly if they had considered the promise to their
father, Abram. This set the stage for Israel to go into slavery in Egypt.
Yet Jacob was blinded by the desire to see his son who had been gone for so
many years. There is really no way of knowing if Jacob and his sons were
walking with God during this time. The only indication that we have is that
they were not talking like they were walking with God, and the habit of
building altars that had been established by Abraham and Isaac seems to have
been totally neglected. The truth is that there were so many deceptions and
lies that went on in the family, it is difficult to determine what their
spiritual state was. It seems that Jacob set off on the journey, then in
the next chapter, sought the face of God through sacrifices to Him. So even
though there is no immediate evidence of their practicing their beliefs in
their lives, there is evidence that they did not forget how to offer
sacrifice to God.
Look at this reference
in regard to Joseph revealing himself to his brothers: “Let me repeat that the day is coming when the Lord
Jesus Christ is going to make Himself known unto His brethren, the Jews.
When He came the first time, “he came unto his own, and his own received him
not” (John 1:11). In fact, they delivered Him up to be crucified. But when
He comes the second time, He will make Himself known to His own people. “And
one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall
answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” (Zech.
13:6). Christ will make Himself known to His brethren. And “in that day
there shall be a fountain opened to the house of David and to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness” (Zech. 13:1). It will
be a family affair between the Lord Jesus and His brethren. The episode of
Joseph revealing himself to his brothers gives us a little inkling of how
wonderful that day of Christ’s revelation will be.”[3]
When you think about the story behind the deception of Joseph’s brothers,
and the history of the family, it is incredible that they finally repented
of their sin. What is more incredible than that is the fact that through
the act of forgiveness that Joseph demonstrated, they were drawn back
together, and pointed back to God. This is an encouragement to all of us,
that we cannot get so bad that God will not redeem us from our sin. We
cannot stray so far from God that He will not seek a way to restore our
fellowship with Him.
I am going to close here, if you wish to add your comments be sure to
write in. I would encourage you again to look at the website under the
Archive for the chapter relating to this study, lots of good comments from
last year.
Father, as we consider Your word today, I pray that there will not be
anyone in this study that considers themselves so far gone that they cannot
be restored to fellowship with You.
In Him,
Joe Turner.
[1]
[2]
New American Standard Bible : 1995 update. 1995. LaHabra, CA: The
Lockman Foundation.
[3]McGee,
J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru
the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (Vol. 1, Page 9-179).
Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
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