February 4, 2024
Reading: Genesis 44
Focus: Genesis 44:33-34 – “Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?”
Father God, thank You for all of Your blessings today. Thank you for reminding me that You are in control. You are so good, and You will not let me fall. Help us to see You in this chapter. In Jesus Name, Amen.
Let’s look back at what Joseph has done to his brothers and why. But let us also be aware that Joseph was being led by God. His actions were God’s tools to bring the brothers to repentance. First, he accused them of being spies and threw them in prison. I would imagine that they were interrogated, not only by Joseph but by his servants as well. I mean, if you are arrested as spies, wouldn’t you expect to be carefully questioned? Then, rather than letting them all go, he kept Simeon as prisoner and sent the rest back to Jacob. Then he sent them away with the money they had paid for the grain secreted in their grain sacks. What is he trying to find out? What is God doing in the brothers’ lives? Think about it and we’ll come back to the answers in a minute.
They had to face Jacob without Simeon. Jacob was grieved. He said “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” (Genesis 42:36). Jacob had believed the lie of Joseph’s supposed death. Jacob unknowingly rubbed salt into the reopened wound of the lies they had told their father about Joseph. Guilt is a horrible taskmaster. Jacob had believed the lie of Joseph’s supposed death. Lies have power. Especially those lies that Satan tells us. God has forsaken me. I am beyond hope. I can never confess my sins. I am worthless. He tries to convince us that God can never love us. But just as Joseph loved his brothers, God loves us. In spite of our sins. Jacob was a pessimist. For all of the blessings that God had given, he still could not trust. Notice please, that he didn’t seem concerned about Simeon. All of his concern was for Benjamin. Jacob still had not learned that God can be trusted in all things. He was still God’s chosen Keeper of the Covenant. He was healthy and he was wealthy.
Second, Joseph, after seeing that his brothers had returned with Benjamin, he fed them favoring Benjamin in their presence. He returned Simeon to them and again, put the money they had returned and the money they had paid for this second purchase into their grain sacks which were filled as full as possible without splitting open. The steward, directed by Joseph, put Joseph’s silver cup in Benjamin’s sack. He again gave the provisions for the journey and the next morning, sent them on their way. Now, what is the significance of this cup? The steward said that Joseph used it for divination. However, we know that Joseph had no need for a cup to divine the will of God. God gave him dreams and the knowledge to interpret them. In Egypt, sages and seers all had cups or bowls that they used to decipher the will of the gods, so it should come as no surprise that Joseph possessed one as well. It was probably a gift from Pharoah himself, making it precious to him. What was his purpose here? Think about this too. We’ll be back with answers.
Third, when they were traveling home, Egyptians caught up with them and the steward accused them of stealing. The brothers were positive that they were innocent. So much so that they immediately unloaded their sacks and grain and opened them, stating that the person in whose sack the cup was found would die and the rest would be slaves. The steward turned it around saying that the ‘guilty’ party would remain as a slave and the rest would be free to go home. When the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack, all of the brothers reacted as if someone had died. They tore their clothes in grief. Then they returned to the city to face Joseph, again.
Joseph was ready with an angry demeanor. They threw themselves at his feet. Again fulfilling the dreams which had made them so angry over twenty years before. Joseph played the Egyptian seer to the hilt. He asked if they realized that he could find things out by divination. Judah again took the lead. He didn’t beg. He didn’t whine. He asked how they could prove their innocence. He confessed that God had uncovered their sins but he was not talking about the cup. He was talking about what they had done to Joseph and their father. He offered all eleven of them as slaves to Joseph. He showed him that they would all stand with Benjamin and would not abandon him. But Joseph pretended that he did not want that. He only wanted the culprit, and the rest would return to their father.
Judah then makes one of the most powerful speeches in scripture. He boldly asks that Joseph allow him to speak. He acknowledges Joseph’s position and reminds him that it was he who questioned them about their family. Asking after their father and if there were any other brothers back at home. Judah remind him that they told him of Benjamin and that there had been another brother who was dead. (At least, as far as the brothers knew.) He reminds Joseph that he was the one who insisted that Benjamin come to Egypt. He was the one who said that they would not see him unless Benjamin was with them. That they had told him that Benjamin could not leave his father or he would die. He tells Joseph that Jacob spoke of the two sons of Rachel and that one was ‘surely torn to pieces’ and that he has not been seen since. Judah never says the words ‘he is dead’ because, for all they knew, he might still be alive somewhere. Losing Benjamin would kill their father. He tells Joseph that if Benjamin does not return, Jacob would die. Judah tells him of the vow that he made to his father. That he would bear the blame of his father for the rest of his life.
Now let’s look at those answers. The first test was a test of their honesty. Were they telling the truth about their father and younger brother? And the money? The money could have been simply put back into the family coffers and nothing more would be said. But they didn’t. They and Jacob agreed that it should be returned. So they took it back to Egypt. The second was to see if they had learned to love their brothers, regardless of the favoritism that Jacob gave to Benjamin. Joseph learned that there was affection, care and protection for the youngest and their father. Their reaction when the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack was as if someone had died. Their grief at the probable loss of Benjamin and then their father was extreme. They knew that they were doomed. But they proved that they would stand together and fall together if need be. Finally, Judah’s willingness to sacrifice himself for Benjamin’s sake and his admission that God had found out their sins showed joseph that they had all changed.
Here is the evidence of those changes. They did not resent that Benjamin had been favored at the banquet with Joseph. They did not accuse one another of the ‘crime’. They protested their innocence but did not point fingers. They stuck together. They all grieved. They humbled themselves when they threw themselves at Joseph’s feet when they returned to the city. They admitted that this was punishment for the sin they had committed against Joseph. They offered themselves in Benjamin stead and they showed great concern for their father. And Judah willingly offered to sacrifice himself for the favored son.
That Judah makes such an offer shows Joseph just how much the brothers had changed over the years and through these trips to Egypt. While all of them were willing to be slaves, Judah offers himself in Benjamin’s stead as slave to Joseph. Judah willingly offers to sacrifice himself to protect Benjamin, the favorite of his father, his father and his brothers. Remember that it was Judah who instigated the sale of Joseph to the slave traders so many years before.
I see Jesus here. Jesus standing before the Father, interceding for us. Offering Himself in our stead. He willingly took the punishment for our sins on Himself.
Are you willing to offer yourself for others?
Father God, thank You for this picture of Jesus offering Himself in our place. For His willingness to be totally separated from You, wresting the keys of death from Satan and rising again, so that we will never have to be separated from You and Your Presence. In Jesus Name. Amen.
Food for Thought
- What would you do if you were in Joseph’s place and saw people who wronged you years ago coming to you for a job or something like that?
- Can you love a person who has hurt you so badly that you thought you would never recover? Why or why not?
- Why do you think that Joseph would not take revenge?
- Is revenge ever a correct response to evil done to you? Why or why not?
- Could you ever offer to take someone else’s punishment? Why or why not?
