Will the Guilty Party Please Stand Up! - Genesis 42:6-38
INTRODUCTION:
You had a break from Joseph for a week, but for those of you in Sunday School you have already seen the end of the story, I will be going through the life of Joseph a little slower. If you remember from two weeks ago, Joseph had saved up grain abundantly during the seven years of plenty, so much that he stopped counting it, it was immeasurable. Then the seven years of famine began and it was far reaching and all the known world of that time was suffering, but in Egypt there was grain and Joseph opened the storehouses and began to sell grain to the Egyptians. Then foreigners from other nations heard that there was grain in Egypt and they began to come to Egypt to purchase grain. Among those foreigners, we learned two weeks ago, were ten of the brothers of Joseph.
This morning we pick up where Joseph’s brothers arrive in the land. Let’s pray and then we will read our passage of Scripture this morning.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Genesis 42, we will be looking at verses 6-38 this morning. Please stand in honor of the reading of God’s Word and follow along as I read.
Genesis 42:6-38,
“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. 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.’ But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him. 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.’ Then they said to him, ‘No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies.’ Yet he said to them, ‘No, but you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land!’ 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.’ Joseph said to them, ‘It is as I said to you, you are spies; by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here! 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.’ So he put them all together in prison for three days. Now Joseph said to them on the third day, ‘Do this and live, for I fear God: 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, and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified, and you will not die.’ And they did so. 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.’ 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.’ They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. 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. 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. So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. 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. 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?’ When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ‘The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country. But we said to him, “We are honest men; we are not spies. 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.” ‘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. 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.”’ 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. 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.’ 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.’ 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.’” (Genesis 42:6–38, NASB95)[1]
HARSH WORDS (Genesis 42:6-17)
Verse 6 begins by reminding us that Joseph is ruler over all the land of Egypt. Only Pharaoh has more power and authority than Joseph. Joseph was appointed as the one who would store up the food during the years of plenty and he is the one who oversees selling it to the people during the years of famine. Why Joseph was at the storehouse that his brothers came to we are not told. Possibly all foreigners had to go to one place and this is where Joseph was working. His ten older brothers arrive and recognize that this man is a great ruler in Egypt and they bow themselves down with their faces to the ground before him. The very reason they had sold him into slavery was so they would not bow down before him, and that is exactly what they were doing. Joseph recognized who these men were, but they did not recognize him. 20+ years had passed, Joseph had been a teen when they sold him, he was now at least 37 or 38 years old if this was during the first year of famine. They were dressed as Hebrews, as shepherds, Joseph was dressed as an Egyptian and was shaved as an Egyptian. It says he disguised himself from them, he did this by using an interpreter to speak with them. Even though he could understand them, he spoke to them in Egyptian, and they responded in Hebrew and the interpreter translated for each.
Then it says that Joseph spoke harshly to them, and many people think that he was seeking to exact revenge on his brothers for what they had done, but that is completely out of character for Joseph. If he was that kind of person we would see that in his life before now. Remember the last time that Joseph saw his brothers they had spoken of killing him, but in the end, they had sold him into slavery. I believe Joseph was seeing if they had changed, if they had repented and confessed their sin. Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed as a teenager and he was seeing God fulfill them before his eyes as his brothers bowed before him. He accused them of being spies to find the undefended parts of Egypt three times, this tactic allowed Joseph to find out about his father and Benjamin his younger full brother. Joseph told them that they would all be confined in prison and one would go back and get Benjamin and return with him to prove that they were honest men. Joseph then confined all ten of them in prison for three days. A time for them to reflect upon what they had done 20 years earlier, and to seek God. Did they seek God? What they did not understand was God had orchestrated all of this, the seven years of plenty, the next seven years of famine to bring Jacob and his family into Egypt where they could grow into a nation without being corrupted by the people of Canaan. God had told Abraham that his descendants would go to a land not their own, and God used what the brothers meant for evil to bring about his purpose in the people of Israel and to save many people alive.
GUILTY HEARTS (Genesis 42:18-28)
After three days in prison Joseph brought out his brothers, and he told them of a new plan that he had decided on. In this we see Joseph’s mercy towards his family, he does not want them to go hungry, he also understands it is much safer to travel in a group then to just send one back and only two to return. Joseph prefaces his new plan by telling them that he is a God fearer, maybe this was meant to be a little hint to them as to who he was, they did not get it. Joseph said that one would remain confined in prison, and the other nine would carry grain back to their families. But to get their one brother back and verify that they were honest men they must return with their younger brother.
Then we get a little glimpse into what they had been thinking about during their time in prison. Their guilty hearts were beginning to bring them under conviction. They speak of their guilt concerning their brother, when he pleaded and cried that they would not sell him into slavery and they had not listened, now they believe 20 years later they are paying for what they did. Reuben reminded them that he had warned them not to sin against the boy, and now divine judgment was imminent for the blood of their brother Joseph. Unknown to them was Joseph understood every word that they said and had to remove himself from their presence to weep. He was beginning to see the repentance that was needed by his brothers. Joseph understood that repentance begins with an inward admission of wrong but also required an outward confession of it to be true repentance. Joseph returned and had Simeon bound before them and taken to prison. He commanded that their bags be filled and each man’s bundle of money be returned to their sack of grain. They began the journey home and when they stopped at a lodging place for the night one of the brothers opened a bag of grain to give fodder to his donkey and there in the mouth of the sack was his bundle of money. We are told that their hearts sank and finally they began to ask, “What is this that God has done to us?” The guilt of their hearts was finally causing them to reflect upon what they had done and realize that they were guilty of sinning against the Lord.
DESPAIR (Genesis 42:29-38)
Upon arriving home, they related to their father all that had happened to them in Egypt and how the ruler of the land had spoken harshly to them and questioned them about their family and accused them of being spies. How he had kept Simeon in prison unless they returned with Benjamin. Then as each man unloaded his bags of grain and opened them up they each found his bundle of money in the mouth of his sack. Despair came upon them all, seeing that they were being judged by God. Jacob spoke of how his sons bereaved him of his children. Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin from me. This verse may indicate that Jacob had some idea that the older brothers had a part in Joseph’s death. Benjamin was his last physical link to his beloved wife Rachel, if they took him and something happened it would be his death.
Reuben tries to make a deal with his father, saying that if anything happened to Benjamin in his care, Jacob could slay two of his sons, as if Jacob would take the lives of two of his grandsons. The chapter ends with Jacob declaring that his son Benjamin will not go down to Egypt. His brother is dead, and he is the only one left and if something should happen to him it would bring Jacob’s gray head down to the grave in sorrow. Jacob was still grieving over Joseph, and the thought of sending Benjamin with them was more than he could bear to think about.
CONCLUSION:
A question that came to my mind during my study of this passage was why did Joseph never contact his family during the seven years of plenty? We will never know the answer to this question unless we ask when we get to heaven. Possibly it was because he feared that Jacob had died or something had happened to Benjamin. Also, he did not know how his brothers would react to knowing that he was still alive. This was the sovereignty of God working to bring about everything that happened in such a way that would bring Joseph’s brothers to repentance, that would result in forgiveness.
This is the same that happens to each of us before we have forgiveness from God for our sin. We must come to that place of repentance. True repentance begins with and inward admission of wrong, we must recognize that we are sinners and admit that there is nothing we can do to make ourselves acceptable to God, that we have fallen short of His righteous standard. Once we have reached that place we can outwardly confess our sin to God and confess that we believe that Jesus Christ’s death on the cross paid the penalty for our sin and that because he was buried and three days later rose from the dead, we can have forgiveness for our sin. True repentance is a crucial step in salvation, without we do not see a need for a Savior.
--Let’s Pray--
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. LaHabra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995