Joseph

Joseph

The End of the Beginning

The End of the Beginning

Genesis 50

Today we mark a major milestone in our study of the Bible—we have come to the last chapter of Genesis, the last sermon in our exposition of this first book of the Bible. We started this journey through Genesis in September of 2020, the year of the COVID pandemic. We have spent the better part of two years walking through Genesis. Today’s sermon is lesson number 69.  For those of you who have been with us from the beginning, I applaud your perseverance in the word of God and your long-suffering with me as I teach the Bible.

In Genesis 50 three things are brought to a conclusion.[1] First, we conclude the story of Jacob’s descendants, which began in Genesis 37:2 with the words “This is the history of Jacob.” Remember that Genesis is divided into ten major sections, each beginning with the phrase “these are the generations of …” or something similar that translates the Hebrew word תּוֹלְדוֹת (tôlḏôṯ). Here we will see the burial of Jacob, the final patriarch of the nation which bears his new name, Israel.

Second, we conclude the story of Joseph and his incredible journey from being the highly favored son in his father’s house; to being hated by his brothers; thrown into a pit to die; sold into slavery; taken down to Egypt; being faithful in Potipher’s house, yet falsely accused and put in prison; and being forgotten there for years before being raised to the highest position in the court of Pharaoh. Joseph’s story of faith and faithfulness ends in Genesis 50 with his death and preparations for burial.

And third, Genesis 50 concludes the whole book of Genesis. The next page of your bible is the opening chapter of Exodus. Although centuries will pass between Genesis 50 and Exodus 1, the narratives are connected. Exodus does not tell a new story. Instead, it continues the story that was begun in the book of Genesis. We started in Genesis 1-2 with God’s beautiful creation and Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden where “God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good,” (Gen. 1:31). But it didn’t take long for man to ruin that perfect world by sin and rebellion against God. Evil spread rapidly after Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s command in the garden: brother killing brother in the Cain and Abel incident; the repeated phrase in Genesis 5, “and he died”; the corrupt conditions of the world in the days of Noah necessitating God’s judgment through a worldwide, catastrophic flood; the prideful construction of the Tower of Babel–all of these serve as very prominent examples of the evil associated with the Fall and the depravity of mankind.

Yet, we also saw the promise of redemption in the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent’s head, destroying Satan’s usurped dominion over this world (Gen. 3:15). Genesis is the story of God’s divine purpose to bring salvation to mankind. The stories of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, and even Judah show how God selected and sanctified a people to fulfill His purposes. Through all of these narratives, we have learned much about the person of God, about His divine election, about God’s holiness and grace, and about His faithfulness to keep His covenant promises.

This final chapter has the two bookends of the death, embalming, and burial of first Jacob and then Joseph. But sandwiched in between is the heart of what God wants to communicate–His prevailing goodness working itself out in the providential governance of His creation.[2]

1. The Burial of Jacob – Foretaste of the Promised Land

Genesis 50:1-14 tells the story of the burial of Jacob. Moses recorded Jacob’s death at the end of Genesis 49, “And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.” (Gen. 49:33). In Genesis 49 Jacob had blessed his twelve sons in Egypt, but with his eye on Canaan, the promised land.  

Here we see Joseph and his brothers carrying out Jacob’s final wishes—to be buried in Canaan in the tomb of the covenant family in the cave of Machpelah. What Moses seems to emphasize here is not only the obedience and care shown by Joseph and the respect and honor shown by his sons but also the honor and mourning demonstrated by the Egyptians. They mourned Jacob’s death for seventy days, only two shy of the customary period of mourning for a Pharaoh in that time. Pharaoh granted Jacob’s request that he be buried in Canaan. What’s more, Pharaoh sent a significant delegation of political and military officials with Jacob’s family on the journey to and from Canaan for the funeral.

Egypt had embraced not only Joseph who saved them from the famine but also Jacob. They honored him. We must never forget that the covenant promises made to Abraham which were passed along to Isaac and Jacob had the nations of the earth in view. God said to Abraham, “In you all the families of the earth will be blessed” (Gen. 12:3). Throughout Genesis, we have been shown little glimpses of this. And here at the end of Genesis, we see that the Egyptians had such love for Joseph the Hebrew and for Jacob his father that they mourned many days at his passing. Yet, in spite of all the honor Jacob received in Egypt, this was not his home.

In Genesis 50, the Hebrew word עָלָה (ʿālâ) meaning ‘to go up’ occurs eight times (Gen. 50:5, 6, 7(2x), 9, 14, 24, 25). It is the word that in the next book will often be used for the exodus–Israel going up from Egypt into the Promised Land. It indicates where Israel really belongs–in the Promised Land. So, this funeral procession foreshadows the going up of the Israelites to Canaan after 400 years in Egypt. Jacob, though he was dead, was a firstfruits of the Israelites from Egypt. He was laid to rest in the cave at Machpelah as a deposit, guaranteeing what the LORD had promised was to come. Just as God had promised Jacob he would be laid to rest in Canaan (Gen. 46:4), so too, did the LORD promise Abraham that his descendants would return to Canaan after a four-hundred-year sojourn in a foreign land (Gen. 15:13). Jacob’s presence in his tomb in Canaan (along with Abraham, Isaac, Sarah, Rebekah, and Leah) would have encouraged the Israelites of the exodus to persevere in their journey. It would have let them know that God had prepared a place for them.

We have a similar but greater promise from our Lord Jesus Christ. He has gone up ahead of us by His death, resurrection, and ascension to prepare a place for us in God’s house. His promise stands that He will return to bring us to Himself, to dwell with Him in His Father’s house as sons and daughters of God (John 14:1-6).

Second in this chapter we see,

2. The Request of Jacob’s Sons – God’s Good Providence

After Jacob died, his ten older sons were worried that Joseph would turn on them and seek vengeance for the wrong they had done him forty years before. They had been living together in Egypt for seventeen years, under Joseph’s provision, but they feared Jacob’s presence was a mediating influence. The restoration of the brothers with Joseph was clearly not complete. There was work to be done still in their own hearts and between them and Joseph. For Joseph’s brothers, the ache of their guilt and shame was still present, manifesting itself in their fear and distrust.

They understood the severity of their sin. They understood that Joseph would do no wrong if he judged them. They feared Joseph. And so they offered sincere repentance, saying,  “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.’” (Gen. 50:16-17). Humbly they fell before Joseph pledging their obedience and submission (Gen. 50:18). They now volunteered to do the very thing which Joseph’s dreams had predicted (Gen. 37:5-9) and which they had sought to avoid by their sin against him (Gen. 37:19-20).

Joseph’s response is a model for all who would respond in a godly way to unfair treatment or ungodly persecution: Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. 21 Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. (Gen. 50:19-21).

Vengeance belongs to God, not man. Joseph would not consider usurping a prerogative that belonged only to God (cf. Romans 12:19; I Thessalonians 5:15; I Peter 4:19). Furthermore, while their attitudes and actions were evil, the result was intended by God for the good of all (verse 20; cf. 45:5-8; Acts 2:23). How could Joseph be angry when good had come of their sin through God’s providence? Instead, Joseph returned kindness for cruelty (cf. Proverbs 25:21-22; Romans 12:20,21). The kindness Joseph had shown while his father was alive would continue he reassured them.[3]

We serve a God who is able to use that which is evil to bring about good. Never does this minimize or dismiss the evil that others do, but it does give us hope to know that God is sovereign even over the sinful actions of others. “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” (Romans 8:28). In the story of Joseph, we have a clear illustration of this. His brothers meant evil against him, but God meant it for good.

Most of us are quick to see God’s goodness in the blessings of life, but not so quick to discern His goodness in the trials. Jacob was like that. When his sons returned from their first trip down to Egypt to buy grain, and the unknown lord of the land (Joseph) had taken Simeon captive and was demanding that Benjamin accompany them on the return visit, Jacob wailed, “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” (42:36). But, in fact, all these things were not against him. The truth was, that God was for him. Even the trial of the famine was being used to reunite him with his beloved Joseph and to provide for all his needs for the rest of his life.[4]         

Joseph knew this. He was able to see that God could use that which was meant for evil for good, and it helped him to forgive, knowing that he was not in the place of God to take vengeance on his brothers. God was working through His providence to unite the fractured family of Jacob into a nation, to preserve them as a people, and to use them to bless the whole world through the Savior-to-come.

Finally, we see,

3. The Death of Joseph – Future Possession

More than 50 years elapsed between Genesis 50:21 and 22. Moses was intent on placing the deaths of Jacob and Joseph side by side so we would see the parallels. Again we can see how truly blessed by God Joseph was with long life and being able to see even his great grandchildren.

But the real emphasis here is on the final words of Joseph in Genesis 50:24-25, “24 And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”” Notice the repetition here, “God will surely visit you.” It is interesting and significant that the one event in Joseph’s faithful life on which the New Testament writer of Hebrews comments was this event. “By faith Joseph, when he was dying, made mention of the departure of the children of Israel, and gave instructions concerning his bones” (Heb. 11:22).[5]

Although the exodus of Israel from Egypt was not to take place for hundreds of years Joseph’s faith looked forward and said, “Do not forget Canaan to which you are going.”[6] Joseph believed in the promise of God. He not only believed it, he acted on it, making his family swear to carry his bones out of Egypt with them and bury him in Canaan.

The contrast between 1 and 50:26 is surely more than an ordinary coincidence. The book opens with life, it ends with death—“in a coffin in Egypt,” because in between had come sin which brings forth death. And yet Joseph’s coffin spoke of life as well as of death. It was a symbol of hope, a message of patience, a guarantee of life everlasting. When Joseph ordered them to carry his body out of Egypt, he is believing in immortality. Genesis, with its coffin in Egypt, was followed by Exodus, which means departure, deliverance; and Joseph spoke of that exodus, that salvation, which God would accomplish in His time.[7]

After centuries of watching and waiting that coffin was carried up out of Egypt: “And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him, for he had placed the children of Israel under solemn oath, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here with you.”” (Exo. 13:19). Then for forty years, that coffin accompanied the people of Israel wherever they went, and at length came the fulfillment of Joseph’s hopes. In the days of Joshua “The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem” (Josh. 24:32).[8]

All this means that “a coffin in Egypt” is not just the end of this great book of beginnings. More importantly, it is part of the beginning of the end. For it is the testimony of one, who like many others, looked for the coming of Him who was to destroy death, crushing Satan’s head.[9]

And so as we bring the book of Genesis to a close, to you want to sum up the message of Genesis we remember that:

  • Sin kills (Adam)
  • Judgement is sure (Noah)
  • Salvation is by grace through faith (Abraham)
  • God’s salvation comes through substitutionary sacrifice (Isaac)
  • All whom God saves He conforms into the image of His Son (Jacob)
  • God causes all things to work together for good (Joseph)
  • So set your mind on things above, not on earthly things.

Genesis reveals God as a holy God who judges sin. The God of Genesis is one who provides salvation from His judgment apart from man’s efforts and in spite of man’s failures. Genesis reveals a sovereign God who chooses His servants according to grace, not human merit, and who works all things after the counsel of His will. Genesis reveals God not only as Creator, but also as Law-Giver, Judge, Preserver, and Redeemer. Genesis tells us who God is, who we are, and what we must do. Our Savior Jesus Christ is there in promise and in type. God prepares the way for Christ through His divine providence.

Genesis begins with life and ends in death, a sad reminder of the effects of sin on this world and on mankind. But that is the point, isn’t it? Genesis is not the end. It is the beginning. The rest of the Bible will bring us the end of the story, the redemption through Christ that was promised and foreshadowed in Genesis.

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[1] Joe Anady, Genesis 50: You Meant Evil Against Me, But God Meant It For Good, https://emmausrbc.org/2020/03/08/sermon-genesis-50-you-meant-evil-against-me-but-god-meant-it-for-good/

[2] Paul Apple, Bible Outlines: Genesis 50:1-26 — God’s Master Plan, https://www.bibleoutlines.com/blog/genesis-501-26-gods-master-plan

[3] Robert Deffinbaugh, The End of An Era (Genesis 49:29-50:26), https://bible.org/seriespage/50-end-era-genesis-4929-5026

[4] Steven Cole, A Mindset for Enduring Trials (Genesis 50:20) https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-85-mindset-enduring-trials-genesis-5020

[5] W. H. Griffith Thomas, A Devotional Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1946), 487.

[6] W. H. Griffith Thomas, A Devotional Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1946), 487.

[7] W. H. Griffith Thomas, A Devotional Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1946), 488.

[8] W. H. Griffith Thomas, A Devotional Commentary: Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1946), 488–489.

[9] James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 1277.

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Joseph

Jacob’s Deathbed Prophecies

Jacob’s Deathbed Prophecies

Genesis 49

Last words can be so memorable and powerful. This week, as we approach Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we would do well to remember that Jesus said seven last words from the cross, including: “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34); “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43); “Woman, behold your son! … Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27); “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34); “I thirst!” (John 19:28); “It is finished!” (John 19:30); and “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46).

Genesis 49 is often given the title “Jacob’s Last Words” or “Jacob Blesses His Sons.” The dying words of any man should not be taken lightly, much less those spoken by a patriarch and recorded under the superintendence of the Spirit of God.

Listen to the word of God:

1 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days: 2 “Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father. 3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength, The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power. 4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel, Because you went up to your father’s bed; Then you defiled it– He went up to my couch.

5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers; Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place. 6 Let not my soul enter their council; Let not my honor be united to their assembly; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob And scatter them in Israel.

8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you. 9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people. 11 Binding his donkey to the vine, And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washed his garments in wine, And his clothes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, And his teeth whiter than milk.

13 “Zebulun shall dwell by the haven of the sea; He shall become a haven for ships, And his border shall adjoin Sidon. 14 “Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between two burdens; 15 He saw that rest was good, And that the land was pleasant; He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden, And became a band of slaves. 16 “Dan shall judge his people As one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path, That bites the horse’s heels So that its rider shall fall backward. 18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD! 19 “Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him, But he shall triumph at last. 20 “Bread from Asher shall be rich, And he shall yield royal dainties. 21 “Naphtali is a deer let loose; He uses beautiful words.

22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall. 23 The archers have bitterly grieved him, Shot at him and hated him. 24 But his bow remained in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob (From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), 25 By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. 27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; In the morning he shall devour the prey, And at night he shall divide the spoil.”

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing. 29 Then he charged them and said to them: “I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place.31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah.32 The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth.”33 And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Let me make some general observations[1] about this chapter before we dive into the details.

First, these are words of blessing. Here the 147-year-old patriarch of the covenant family of God speaks his last words, words of blessing, to his sons. Genesis 49:28 emphasizes this by repeating the word blessing: “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.” The blessings were peculiar to each one of them. Some are very short, others (Judah and Joseph) are much longer. Some blessings include rebukes (Reuben, Simeon, and Levi). All the sons of Jacob were blessed in that they were to be a part of the nation Israel. All would enter the land of Canaan and inherit the land. Some would certainly receive a greater blessing than others. But even those who were rebuked by Jacob and whose future appeared not as bright were blessed.

Second, this is poetry. Jacob obviously thought out his words carefully in advance and planned what he would say to each son. Because it is poetry, it is written in figures, idioms, play-on-words, metaphors, and unusual expressions. It uses rhythm, parallelism, symmetry, and exalted language. It conveys heartfelt warmth, stern warning, and hope for the future. Poetry is much harder to translate and interpret than prose or narrative.

Third, this is more than poetry, it is prophecy. Twice Jacob commands them to gather together and to hear and listen to him. Jacob is giving them the word of the Lord (Gen. 49:18) as the patriarch of the covenant.

1 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days: 2 “Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father. (Gen. 49:1-2).

Jacob says that he will tell his sons “… what shall befall you in the last days” (Gen. 49:1), implying that the fulfillment of his words would be beyond the lifetime of his boys. Jacob’s words reveal “things to come” for his descendants—not just Jacob’s sons as individuals but as tribal leaders. Jacob foretells the future of the nation as manifested in the twelve tribes. Many of these prophecies have been fulfilled already and some may still be ultimately fulfilled in the future Kingdom of God.

Fourth, this Jacob’s prophecy concerning his sons was based partly on their character. Moses told us that every one of the sons was given “the blessing appropriate to him” (Gen. 49:28 NASB). The blessings of Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, were based upon the sins which they had committed in the past. Joseph, on the other hand, had been bitterly attacked but had remained faithful (Gen. 49:23-24). For others, their blessings related to the name they had been given at birth. Judah, meaning ‘praise’ (Gen. 29:35), is now prophesied to be praised by his brothers (Gen. 49:8). Dan, meaning ‘judge’ (Gen. 30:6), will “judge his people” (Gen. 49:16). “Prophecy, then, is not detached from history, but an extension of it into the future.”[2]

These things give us a clue as to the purpose of Genesis 49. Although these words were spoken to the sons of Jacob, they would not live long enough to see them all fulfilled. Most of these prophecies would be fulfilled hundreds of years later when the nation of Israel returned to the land of Canaan.

But that is the point. One message that Jacob is preaching to his sons, and that the author Moses is preaching to his congregation is this: Egypt is not the end. Jacob has been sending this message ever since he arrived in Egypt. He instructed his sons to bury him in Canaan, not Egypt (Gen. 47:29-31). He assured Joseph that “God will be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers” (Gen. 48:21). He has promised Joseph a double portion of the land of Canaan (Gen. 48:22).

And here in Genesis 49, Jacob gives a prophecy to his sons. This prophecy meant to focus their gaze on the future, on the promised land, on the promised seed, and on the blessing that would come to the whole world through them. Jacob is moving their perspective to the future, to the “things to come,” to the things beyond Egypt. He will speak of the hardships they will face, victories they will win, even on the specific land that some of them will inherit.

Israel needed this blessing to guide its course through the dark days they would encounter during their stay in Egypt. Israel was to look forward to the blessed time when the tribes would be safely established in the Promised Land, every tribe in its own inheritance. Jacob wanted his sons to focus on the covenant promises, on the covenant land, and on the covenant Savior.

Jacob gives his blessing by the order of his wives. He begins with Leah’s six sons, then he moves to the sons of the concubines, and lastly, he speaks to Rachel’s sons.

I am going to move quickly through much of this, only commenting briefly on some of the sons.

Reuben (Gen. 49:3-4)

Reuben was the firstborn son of Jacob. He was born to Leah. By natural selection, Reuben should have received the birthright and the blessing from Jacob. He should have been the heir, the next patriarch, And he should have received the double portion of the inheritance. And yet, because of Reuben’s sin in sleeping with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine Reuben lost his place as the firstborn. Reuben had to be rejected from his position of power and pre-eminence. He who would rule must surely first rule himself.

Matthew Henry writes: “No judge, prophet, nor prince, is found of that tribe, nor any person of renown except Dathan and Abiram, who were noted for their impious rebellion against Moses.”[3]

Simeon and Levi (Gen. 49:5-7)

Like Reuben, Simeon and Levi had demonstrated character that was not befitting to godliness. We are familiar with the incident regarding the Shechemites back in Genesis 34 when one of the Shechemites raped their sister Dinah, Simeon and Levi consented to give her in marriage to the man if all the men would agree to be circumcised. When the men were in pain from the procedure, Simeon and Levi attacked them with the sword and slaughtered the entire village.

Jacob was angry then, and apparently, this act also disqualified them as potential firstborn in Jacob’s eyes. Jacob said, “Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly.” In other words, don’t let them call the shots and don’t let my name be associated with their violent decisions.

Jacob spelled out the consequences for their violence: “I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.” Neither of these tribes had a true inheritance in Canaan. Levi became the tribe without a land inheritance since they were the priests. Simeon’s allotment actually came inside of Judah’s (Joshua 19:1, 9).  

And so, the first three sons all carry a common theme, And that would be the consequences for iniquity. This would be a tremendous reminder to all the nation of Israel about the dangers of sinful behavior and its effects on generations to come. By God’s grace, although these tribes suffered the consequences of their own sin, they were not treated like Ishmael or Esau. They still had a blessing. God had not rejected them—only disciplined them.

Judah (Gen. 49:8-12)

Clearly here we see prophesied the leadership of Judah. We have seen this begin to emerge in the last few chapters of Genesis as Judah spoke for the brothers, was even willing to sacrifice himself in order to save Benjamin, and led the brothers into Goshen.

The important fact to remember again, however, is that Judah’s selection was not due to his impeccable character. Reuben was rejected for adultery. Simeon and Levi were rejected for violence. And yet Judah was guilty of both. We know of his incestual affair with Tamar, and we remember that selling Joseph into slavery was his idea.

Yet God selected Judah for preeminence. Jacob prophesied 4 things for Judah:

1) Praise (Gen. 49:8)

Previously, Joseph had received such a promise from God. Yet now it is given to Judah. If you will remember when Joseph received the revelation that his brothers would bow down to him and honor him, we attributed it to the fact that God was indicating Joseph as a savior. God indeed saved this family from the famine through Joseph.

Now God is setting Judah apart as the savior. And as a result of his salvation, his brothers will praise him.

2) Power (Gen. 49:9)

Jacob portrays Joseph as a conquering lion, satisfied with his kill, sitting supreme over all the other beasts. His power is unmatched and no one dares mess with him.

3) Preeminence (Gen. 49:10)

Rueben may have lost it, but Judah received it. It is promised that “the scepter shall not depart from Judah” and that “until Shiloh comes.”

The term “Shiloh” has been a difficult one for translators and theologians. Some see it is a proper name (another name of the Messiah). Some see it as a single word meaning peace or rest. Some see it is a compound word meaning “he whose it is.”

Regardless of how you read it, the interpretation is the same. There is One who rightly deserves the scepter. There is One who will bring peace and rest. He is none other than Messiah. He is the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Rev. 5:5). And Jacob prophesied that Judah will reign until Messiah comes.

And the result of this will be:

4) Prosperity (Gen. 49:11-12)

All of these poetic statements speak of excess and abundance. You’d never tie your donkey to the vine – it would eat the grapes! You certainly wouldn’t tie it to the choicest vine. That would be as foolish as using wine or grape juice to wash your clothes. The picture is that of such excess that they use the most valuable things for the most menial purposes.

Washing in wine should remind us of Jesus’ first miracle in John 2. There Jesus takes six stone water jars (the kind used for ceremonial cleansing) and He turns the water into wine. He abundantly provides for the wedding—a preview of the Kingdom age.

Of course, this will be the effect of the Messiah reigning on the earth. Judah, regardless of his past flaws, will be the tribe that ushers in the Messiah Who is the Savior, Who will restore Israel to prosperity.

6 For unto us a Child is born, Unto us a Son is given; And the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. 7 Of the increase of His government and peace There will be no end, Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, To order it and establish it with judgment and justice From that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isaiah 9:6-7).

In another Messianic prophecy, Isaiah would say:

“Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.” (Isaiah 55:1).

The last two sons of Leah are:

Zebulun, Issachar (Gen. 49:13-15)

Not much is said about Zebulun, Except that Jacob announces his allotment of the land. “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore” That may seem insignificant to you, but remember, when Jacob made this prophecy, Israel didn’t own any of the land. Jacob was dispensing the land, even when he did not yet own it.

Issachar would be a man not given to battle, but rather to peace and service. It does not indicate some sort of forced slavery but rather the quiet life geared for work and labor.

Then Jacob speaks to the sons of the concubines:

Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali (Gen. 49:13-21)

16 “Dan shall judge his people As one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, A viper by the path, That bites the horse’s heels So that its rider shall fall backward. (Gen 49:16-17)

Jacob obviously does a wordplay on his name here. Dan means “to judge” and Jacob says that is precisely what he will do. He will also be a dangerous enemy to those who oppose him. Pictured as a snake that lies in wait, but that which is lethal when it strikes. Over the centuries people have almost universally seen this at least partly fulfilled in Samson, a judge from the tribe of Dan who brought judgment to the Philistines.

And then comes a parenthetical thought from Jacob: (Gen. 49:18) “I have waited for your salvation, O LORD!”

The Hebrew word for salvation is “yeshuwah.”[4] This is the word later used of the Messiah (Jesus). It is a reminder that Jacob is focused on the prize. He sees the service of Issachar and the fighting of Dan and still longs for a better day. Jacob is looking to Yahweh, to the LORD for salvation for not only himself but his whole family and the nation that would come from him. Knowingly or not, Jacob called out for Jesus.

Up next is Gad. (Gen. 49:19). Gad’s name meant “fortune” as in “good fortune.” And yet, Jacob prophesied that there would always be others who would seek to take that from him.

Then comes Asher. (Gen. 49:20) Asher would also be a picture of wealth and comfort. Some see it as though Asher would be a great farmer, others as though he would be rich and luxurious.

And finally, Naphtali (Gen. 49:21) “Naphtali is a deer let loose, He uses beautiful words.” Naphtali is apparently the gracious and beautiful one of the sons.

Finally, Jacob speaks of Rachel’s sons:

Joseph and Benjamin (Gen. 49:22-27)

Obviously, the keyword for Joseph is that of blessing and prosperity. Jacob recounts the hardship that Joseph went through and how God blessed him in the midst of it. This not only accurately described Joseph’s life but also was prophesied over his descendants.

Importantly in this section, Jacob uses five titles for God. Taken together, the names for God found in Genesis 49:24—“ the Mighty God of Jacob…the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel”—speak of His strength, His tenderness and care, and to His firmness and stability, respectively.  The Lord had been all these things and more to Jacob, and he now invokes those same blessings for his beloved son, Joseph.  Those last two terms in particular are used in reference to Christ in the New Testament, where He is called “the good shepherd” in John 10:11 and “the cornerstone” in Ephesians 2:20.

The names for Deity continue in Genesis 49:25 with “the God of your father” and “the Almighty.”  The God in whom Jacob had come to trust was the One who had brought Joseph through all the trials and pitfalls and into the privileged position he now enjoyed. All the hope of the nation rested in God Almighty.

And the final boy to be addressed is Benjamin. Benjamin is a wolf that attacks, plunders, and enjoys the plunder. He would be one successful in battle and victorious in his raids.

What lessons can we see from these prophecies for the entire nation and for us?

1) There will be consequences for sin.

It is impossible to read these prophecies and not recognize that choosing sin was not wise. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi felt the consequences of their sinful behavior. And it would affect their tribes for years to come.

Another clear reminder for the nation of Israel is:

2) There will be times of tranquility.

By in large what Jacob prophesied for his boys was positive. They are seen as dwelling by the sea, resting between the flocks, enjoying royal dainties, speaking beautiful words, being blessed beyond measure, and enjoying the spoil. Much of what Jacob promised was good for his descendants. There would be times of tranquility and peace and comfort.

However, they would also see:

3) Moments of adversity.

They would be raided. They would be slaves. They would be in battle. There will be difficult times. God will use those to shape and change and mold and sanctify, but that does not mean they will be easy.

And yet all of that points to Jacob’s main focus:

4) Eventual blessing.

Without a doubt, the prophecy that sticks out in the chapter is that of Judah. When the descendant of Judah comes who rightly deserves to rule, then the entire nation will be able to enjoy the peace and prosperity that God intended. As Jacob lay dying in Egypt, his message to his sons was extremely clear. Look for the coming savior!

Don’t settle for Egypt, God has much more in store for you than that. The Lion of Judah will come and lead you to absolute victory, and when He does, praise Him!

Of course, from the New Testament we know exactly who this is: Revelation 5:5,

 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the scroll and to loose its seven seals.”

It is Jesus who will receive the praise of the nations. It is Jesus who will be clothed in power. It is Jesus who will rise to absolute preeminence. It is Jesus who will lead Israel to prosperity.

As Jacob lay dying, he did not want his sons and their families to grow comfortable in Egypt, he wanted them to eagerly await the coming savior who would usher in God’s promises to Israel.

That is the same message Moses would preach to his congregation and the same message preached to us today. Don’t settle for this place. Don’t seek treasure here. Don’t attach yourself here. Look beyond Egypt, look for the Savior, look for the coming King who will set this world right.[5]

————————————————————————————

[1] Robert Deffinbaugh, The Purpose of Prophecy, Genesis 49:1-28, https://bible.org/seriespage/purpose-prophecy-genesis-491-28 (I adapted these preliminary observations from Deffinbaugh’s introduction).

[2] Deffinbaugh, ibid.

[3] Matthew Henry, Commentary on Genesis, pg. 68, notes on Genesis 49:3-4

[4] David Guzik, Enduring Word Commentary: Genesis 49. https://enduringword.com/bible-commentary/genesis-49/

[5] FBC Spur TX, https://fbcspur.org/beyond-egypt-genesis-491-33/ (I was greatly helped by a sermon on this website and drew some of the points from here).

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Joseph

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

Genesis 48

Even though this last section of Genesis has focused a lot on Joseph and Jacob’s other sons, Moses introduced it back in Genesis 37:1 with the heading: “This is the history of Jacob” (NKJV) or “These are the generations of Jacob” (ESV). Now having walked through Jacob’s history in Genesis, let me ask: what event in the life of Jacob would you have chosen to illustrate his faith in God? It is interesting and significant that the writer of the book of Hebrews in his great chapter on faith has only one verse about the patriarch Jacob’s faith. And what in Jacob’s life demonstrates his faith? The events of this Genesis 48. Hebrews 11:21 says, “By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.”

“By faith, Jacob crossed his hands in worship and blessed his adopted sons as he surrendered his life and the future of his people to God’s word.”[1] Hebrews 11:1 defines faith this way: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (Heb. 11:1). This is the characteristic of faith that shines forth, the conviction of things not seen.

Hebrews says of all the patriarchs:

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Heb. 11:13-16).

This is what the writer of Hebrews thinks is the important thing in the life of Jacob, the conviction of things that are not seen. Here, Jacob is concerned about the future of his family, their inheritance. Jacob had not yet received the fulfillment of God’s promises. But he blessed Joseph’s sons believing that God would keep His word through them. In that act of faith, we see Jacob imparting to his son and grandsons the most important thing he could have given them: faith in the promises of God.[2] And here, Hebrews says, Jacob worships by faith. “This is because to believe God’s word, and to base everything in the future upon His word, is worship!”[3]

Here in Genesis 48, we find that the last days of Jacob’s earthly sojourn were drawing to a close. The death of which Jacob had so frequently spoken and, at one time, desired was soon to visit him. Joseph was summoned to his father’s side where Jacob bestowed the birthright on Joseph. Our text comes in three parts: 1) the birthright revealed (Gen. 48:1-7); 2) the birthright rendered (Gen. 48:8-20); and the birthright reiterated (Gen. 48:21-22).[4]

1. Birthright Revealed: Jacob Adopts Joseph’s Sons (Gen. 48:1-7)

1 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, “Indeed your father is sick”; and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you”; and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. (Gen. 48:1-2).

What we have here in Genesis 48 and Genesis 49 are Jacob’s final words. He will pronounce a blessing (Gen. 49:28) on each of his sons in Genesis 49, commanding his sons (Gen. 49:33) and prophesying about their future (Gen. 49:1). But before blessing all his sons, Jacob concentrates on his faithful son Joseph. So Joseph is summoned to Jacob’s side and gathering all his strength, Jacob sat up in bed to speak words of vital significance to Joseph.

3 Then Jacob said to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, “Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ (Gen. 48:3-4)

Twice God had appeared to Jacob at Luz (Bethel, 28:10-17; 35:9-12), and in both appearances God had blessed him, promising him that he would become a great nation and that he would possess the land of Canaan. God had promised to give all the land of Canaan to Abraham and his descendants “as an everlasting possession” (Gen. 17:8).

Jacob looked at his beloved son Joseph—his son who had spent the majority of his life in Egypt, who was raised to the highest position in the land, who now enjoyed great fame, power, prestige and wealth—and in effect, said to him: “Don’t ever forget about the promises of God. These promises of God that were given first to Abraham, then to Isaac and now to me are more precious than anything found within Egypt, and they are yours. God has blessed us, Joseph. God has promised to make a nation of us and to give us Canaan. Don’t ever forget it.” Jacob is keeping that promise and his inheritance ever before Joseph’s eyes.

Jacob then does an amazing thing. He literally adopts Joseph’s sons as his own:

5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 6 Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. (Gen. 48:5-6).

Joseph’s sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, were born in the land of Egypt. As sons of Joseph, their future in Egypt may have seemed very bright. Perhaps they might fill the shoes of their father, taking places of power and influence in Pharaoh’s administration. But their greatest hope lay in a land they had not yet seen, for they were destined to be a part of the “multitude of people” (Gen. 48:4) that God had promised Jacob.

From Jacob’s perspective now, “Ephraim and Manasseh” are his sons just as “Reuben and Simeon” are. This is how Jacob will enact his bestowing of the birthright on Joseph who was the eleventh of Jacob’s twelve sons. Reuben was the firstborn (Gen. 49:3), but due to his sin of lying with Bilhah, Jacob’s concubine (Gen. 35:22), he would be stripped of his birthright (Gen. 49:4). The normal course would have been to transfer the birthright to the next oldest son, Simeon. But both he and the next after him, Levi, were guilty of the mass murder of the Shechemites (Gen. 34:25). The next in line after them was Judah. But although we will see that the kings would come from Judah (Gen. 49:10), Joseph got the birthright. 1 Chronicles 5 explains it:

1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; 2 yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s— (1 Chron. 5:1-2)

The effect of Jacob adopting Joseph’s sons is that he got the double portion of the inheritance, the birthright. Any other sons who might be born to Joseph would receive their inheritance as though they were the sons of either Ephraim or Manasseh (although no other sons of Joseph are recorded). The primary focus of Jacob was the promise of the land of Canaan and the assurance that Jacob would become a numerous people. Since God had assured Jacob of becoming a great and numerous people, then surely he was justified in adopting two more sons who would contribute to this proliferation of people.

If the justification for Jacob’s adoption of Joseph’s sons is found in the promise God had made at Bethel, the reason seems to be reported in verse 7:

7 But as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

Joseph was the son of Rachel, Jacob’s chosen wife. A major factor in his preference for Joseph was the fact that he was the firstborn of Rachel, his bride by choice. The adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh provided Jacob with two more sons, technically “through Rachel.”[5]

Next, we see:

2. Birthright Rendered: Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48:8-20)

8 Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?” 9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.” And he said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.” 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. (Gen. 48:8-10).

Just as his father Isaac had suffered the infirmity of poor eyesight in his later years (Gen. 27:1), Jacob’s vision was dim with years. So, Jacob asked for identification of Joseph’s sons before he would pronounce their blessings. Notice that Joseph recognized that it was God who gave him his sons. Notice also the affection of Jacob toward his grandson who have become his own sons.

11 And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!” (Gen. 48:11).

Jacob remembers God’s goodness to him is in this event. Jacob not only had the joy of reuniting with his son Joseph, but of blessing his grandsons.

12 So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. (Gen. 48:12-13).

Joseph, knowing that his father was about to bless them (verse 9), drew the boys, now near the age of twenty,103 from his father in order to arrange them properly for the blessing. Manasseh, the eldest, he had at his left hand (Jacob’s right), and Ephraim was at Joseph’s right hand (Jacob’s left). This was intended so that Jacob’s right hand would rest upon Manasseh, the oldest. But look at what Jacob does:

14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Israel surprised Joseph by crossing his hands and pronouncing this blessing:

15 And he blessed Joseph, and said: “God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name be named upon them, And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

Notice first, Jacob’s God is the God of his fathers, Abraham and Isaac, the God who had made His covenant with them and kept them all the days of their lives. Second, Jacob, the shepherd (cf. 30:27ff.), recognized that God had cared for him as his Shepherd. Jacob, in effect, testified, “The Lord is my shepherd …” Third, Jacob’s God was the “Angel” (cf. 32:22-32) who had redeemed him from all evil. This is the first occurrence of the word “redeemer” in the bible. To redeem means to “buy back”. God was a redeemer who paid the debt and bought him back.

This God, this Shepherd, this Angel, will bless the sons of Joseph in a special way. In them, Jacob’s name (Israel) will live on. The work which God began in Abraham and Isaac and faithfully continued in Jacob, He will carry on in these men. They will grow into a great multitude in fulfillment of God’s promise.

When Joseph saw his father crossing his hands and giving the preeminence to Ephraim, he assumed it was a mistake and attempted to correct it, but he learned from his father that his action was intentional:

17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” 20 So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, “May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!”‘ And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. (Gen. 48:17-20).

The book of Genesis is full of instances in which the younger was chosen over the older. Seth was chosen over Cain; Shem over Japheth; Isaac over Ishmael; Jacob over Esau; and now, Ephraim over Manasseh. Why does Jacob set Ephraim over Manasseh? Personally, I believe that this is Jacob’s method of demonstrating his belated comprehension of and submission to the doctrine of divine election. In the choice of Ephraim above Manasseh the principle of election is clearly illustrated, for Jacob’s choice is not conditioned by selfish motives.

God is not obliged to act “traditionally” or according to our expectations. That is the prerogative of a God who is sovereign. It is again a reminder that God doesn’t operate by a scale of human merit, but on a scale of sovereign grace. Jacob, at last, has come to see this and has symbolically given testimony to his grasp of the principle of divine election.

3. Birthright Reiterated: Jacob Gives Joseph the Double Portion (Gen. 48:21-22)

Having given priority to Ephraim, the younger, Jacob now turns again to Joseph to give him yet another blessing before Jacob’s other sons are called to his bedside (Gen. 49):

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.” (Gen. 48:21-22).

Jacob’s death is imminent, and he will not live to see the return to Canaan. As a special blessing, Jacob gives to Joseph a particular portion of land, that which Jacob took with his sword and bow. What piece of land is this?

The term “portion” is literally Shechem. Jacob had lived there for a time and his family pastured their flocks there. Does Jacob give Shechem to Joseph? Ephraim will inherit this portion of land when Israel returns to the promised land. Joseph’s bones were brought up from Egypt and buried at Shechem:

The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel had brought up out of Egypt, they buried at Shechem, in the plot of ground which Jacob had bought from the sons of Hamor the father of Shechem for one hundred pieces of silver, and which had become an inheritance of the children of Joseph. (Joshua 24:32).

When Joseph is buried at Shechem, it is referred to as the land “which Jacob had bought,” not the land for which he had fought. Some commentators believe that Jacob is referring to what Simeon and Levi did in killing the men of Shechem. Jacob may now look back upon this incident as being prophetic of the future possession of Canaan by Israel. That land will not be purchased, but it will be taken by force. The main point is that Joseph will get the double portion in the inheritance of the land.

Jacob is passing out land as an inheritance land that he doesn’t possess. It would be like your dad putting in his will that he was leaving you all of the Rocky Mountains. Jacob obviously believes the promise of God. He believes the word of God.

Jacob’s deathbed was the singular triumph of his life. There he worshiped by faith, trusting God and believing God for the future which Jacob would not see with his own eyes. This is true worship: to believe God’s word and to base everything in life and in the future upon His word.

Are you believing in God’s Word? Are you standing on the promises of God?

Standing on the promises of Christ, my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring;
“Glory in the highest,” I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.

Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.

This is how we worship.

 

[1] Kent Hughes, Genesis: Beginning and Blessing, Crossway, Wheaton Ill 2004. p. 547.

[2] Steven Cole, A Godly Heritage (Genesis 48:1-22), https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-79-godly-heritage-genesis-481-22

[3] Hughes, p. 542.

[4] I borrowed the alliterative outline from a sermon on https://fbcspur.org/josephs-birthright-genesis-481-22/

[5] Robert Deffinbaugh, The View From the Graveyard (Genesis 48:1-22), https://bible.org/seriespage/48-view-graveyard-genesis-481-22

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Joseph

Israel’s Prosperity in Egypt

Israel’s Prosperity in Egypt

Genesis 47

As we approach the end of our study in the book of Genesis it’s good to remind ourselves of the big picture. We began the book with God’s good creation where God blessed mankind and gave them dominion over the earth. They lived in Paradise, in the newly created Garden of Eden, where all was right and good in the world under God’s righteous rule. After mankind sinned in Genesis 3 bringing the curse of death, God gave the promise of the seed of the woman who would eventually crush the head of the serpent, that is, destroy the usurped dominion of Satan and bring redemption to mankind and restoration to creation.

In Genesis 4-6 we saw the increasing wickedness of mankind that culminated in the Flood to destroy the earth with God saving only a small remnant in the family of Noah in the ark. As mankind again began to populate the world, man’s pride and rebellion at the Tower of Babel resulted in God’s sovereign judgment of the multiplication of tongues and men’s dispersion on the earth.

Then in Genesis 11 and 12, we saw God call one man, Abraham, to leave his country, his family, and his home to go to the land of Canaan, promising to give all that land to Abraham and his descendants. God promised to bless him and his descendants, to make of them a great nation, and to bless all the families of the earth through Abraham’s seed. God passed on those promises to Abraham’s son Isaac, to his son Jacob, and now to Jacob’s twelve sons.[1]

In all these narratives of Genesis, we have seen God’s sovereign providence at work in protecting and prospering Abraham, then Isaac, then Jacob, and now Joseph to fulfill God’s promises and accomplish God’s ultimate purposes. But it has been a rough road. These men have faltered in their faith at times, have sinned against God and men, and have seemed to jeopardize the very plan of God to save the world. God has tested these men both through prosperity and through affliction. And through all of it, good and bad, God is accomplishing His sovereign purposes and fulfilling His gracious promises.

God had promised to bless Abraham, to make him a great nation, and to bless all nations through his descendants. In Genesis 47 we see God beginning to bless Abraham’s descendants and to use them to be a blessing to others. Throughout this chapter we see the contrast between the prosperity of Israel and the poverty of the Egyptians—yet also how they both were saved through the famine by God’s providence and Joseph’s wise administration.

Let’s divide this chapter into three parts from which we can draw three points of application for our walk with God. In Genesis 47:1-12, Jacob and his sons appear before Pharaoh, settle in Goshen, and God provides for them through Joseph. In this section, we see the principle of distinctness for God’s people. In Genesis 47:13-26, Moses describes the desperate situation of the Egyptians and Joseph’s wise administration in the famine. Here we see the principle of blessing others. Then in Genesis 47:27-31, Jacob has Joseph promise to bury him in Canaan when he dies, not in Egypt. It shows us the principle of priorities.[2]

1. Israel obtains permission from Pharoah to settle in Goshen (Gen. 47:1-12)

At the end of Genesis 46, we saw the reunion of Jacob with his son Joseph (Gen. 46:29-30) and the relocation of Jacob’s entire family to Egypt. Joseph had brought them to the land of Goshen (Gen. 46:28) and prepared his family to meet Pharaoh, instructing them to tell Pharaoh that they are shepherds and keepers of livestock (Gen. 46:31-34) so that Pharaoh would approve of them settling in Goshen. Now In Genesis 47, Joseph brings his family before Pharaoh:

1 Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in the land of Goshen.” 2 And he took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. 3 Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” 4 And they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” (Gen. 47:1-4).

Why would Joseph want to keep his family in the land of Goshen? Let me suggest several reasons, beginning with those least important.[3] First, Goshen must have been some of the best land in Egypt. When Pharaoh heard about Joseph’s family in Genesis 45, he had said to Joseph, “Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.” (Gen. 45:18). Now, here in Genesis 47, that is what Pharaoh says he is giving them in the land of Goshen:

5 Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.” (Gen. 47:5-6).

Second, Goshen was located close to Joseph so it made it easy for him to provide for them in the famine. In Genesis 45:10-11, Joseph told his brothers, “You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.”

But by far the most important reason for Joseph settling his family in the land of Goshen was to keep them isolated and insulated from the culture and religion of Egypt. They were to tell Pharaoh the truth that they were shepherds because as Joseph pointed out in Genesis 46:34, “every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.” Joseph saw the disdain for shepherds as a blessing in that it would keep the two cultures from merging.

Joseph was spiritually strong enough to survive life in the city, at the palace, and amid a pagan culture, but his brothers had already proven their propensity to compromise and even intermarry with pagans in Canaan. What would become of the nation Israel if they were integrated into Egyptian life? Joseph clearly saw the need for separation, and thus he ensured that his family settled in Goshen. Joseph’s concern was that God’s people, Joseph’s family, maintain their distinctiveness.

When I look at Jacob’s sons as they approach the Pharaoh, king of Egypt, I can’t help but think of what Peter writes in the New Testament,

11 Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul ,12 having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation.

13 Therefore submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake, whether to the king as supreme, 14 or to governors, as to those who are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers and for the praise of those who do good. 15 For this is the will of God, that by doing good you may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men–16 as free, yet not using liberty as a cloak for vice, but as bondservants of God.17 Honor all people. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the king.

One of the greatest needs for God’s people today is that we would be distinct from the world, set apart unto God. The biblical term for that is holiness.[4] Biblical holiness is not asceticism, not cloistering yourself away in your own Christian monastery. It is standing apart from the corrupt culture of this world by living according to God’s word. One reason holiness is hard is that we all want to be liked by the world.

Jacob’s family had to anticipate the scorn of the Egyptians in their commitment to live separately unto God in Goshen because shepherds were loathsome to the Egyptians (Gen. 46:34). “You have to recognize upfront that if you’re going to follow the Lord, you may not win any popularity contests. You may be respected, as Joseph was. But more often than not, the world ridicules you behind your back, if not to your face, for living a holy life.”[5]

In Genesis 47:7-10 we see Jacob’s interview before Pharaoh:

7 Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 10 So Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

Jacob’s emphasis as he describes his life is that he is a pilgrim. He has been a sojourner. He has endured evil from circumstances, from others, and as consequences of his own sins. But the hand of God’s providence has been on Jacob all along. So Jacob has lived as his father Isaac and his grandfather Abraham, as a pilgrim of God, as one who belongs to a better country, as a stranger in this world.

So, in partial fulfillment of the promise of God to bless the nations of the earth through Israel, Jacob blessed Pharaoh. The exact words are not recorded, but probably it was a prayer that God would prosper Pharaoh and be gracious to him. Hebrews 7:7 reminds us “Now beyond all contradiction the lesser is blessed by the better.” Although Pharaoh is the ruler of the land, he is the lesser. In God’s plan, this lowly shepherd Jacob is the greater. God’s hand of providence is upon Jacob. The presence of Jacob in Egypt was a blessing to the emerging nation of Israel, but it also greatly blessed Pharaoh and the Egyptians. The Abrahamic Covenant is finding partial fulfillment in this sojourn.

Then finally we see God providing for Jacob and his family through Joseph.

11 And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 Then Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families. (Gen. 47:11-12).

In the next section we see that,

2. Joseph administers resources during the famine (Gen. 47:13-26)

Listen to how God worked through Joseph’s wisdom to provide for Egypt during the famine:

13 Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. 14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.” 16 Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.” 20 Then Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 And as for the people, he moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. 22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands. 23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” 25 So they said, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Jacob’s word of blessing to Pharaoh was fulfilled in deed by Joseph’s wise administration on Pharaoh’s behalf. Notice the contrast between Genesis 47:12, which states that Joseph provided his family with food, and Genesis 47:13 which says that there was no food in the land because of the famine. God’s people prospered while the Egyptians used up their money, then their cattle, then offered their land, and finally themselves to become Pharaoh’s slaves so that they could survive this famine.

Some commentators criticize Joseph for being harsh and degrading these people through slavery. But it is a mistake to read this story through the lens of our own history with slavery or our modern culture. The Egyptians’ evaluation of Joseph was, “You have saved our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants” (Gen. 47:25). If they were happy with him, who are we to criticize him? This was a life-and-death situation. Their concern wasn’t democracy; it was survival and this Joseph ensured for them.[6]

It was no small feat for Joseph to please Pharaoh while at the same time pleasing the people so much that they thank him while he sells them into slavery and taxes them at 20 percent! Joseph did what few have done: he was a skillful administrator while at the same time he was a man who put first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. He was truly a blessing to others.

This is the principle of blessing others. Whether at work, in the neighborhood, or at school, God wants you to bless others. Seek the best interests of your employer and fellow employees at work. He wants you to be His channel for blessing to those around you. How do you do that? The same way that Joseph did—by maintaining your integrity through a close walk with God.

So wherever God has you, God has designed for you to be distinct as a Christian and to be a blessing to those around you through your godly behavior and your gracious words of witness.

Finally, we see in the last section,

3. Joseph promises to bury Jacob in Canaan (Gen. 47:27-31)

27 So Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. 29 When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” 31 Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed. (Gen 47:27-31).

The final 17 years of Jacob’s life were probably some of his best. He had all his children with him. His family prospered in Egypt. They enjoyed favor with Pharaoh. It might have been easy for Jacob to think, “Egypt isn’t such a bad place. We’ve had a good life here. God has taken care of us. We could just settle here permanently.” But instead, as he came near to death, he called Joseph and made him swear that he would bury him in Canaan, not in Egypt. He wanted his posterity to remember that God had promised them the land of Canaan, not Egypt. Jacob knew that this was only part of the journey, part of the pilgrimage. He was not home yet.

The writer of Hebrews says about these Patriarchs:

13 These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off were assured of them, embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14 For those who say such things declare plainly that they seek a homeland. 15 And truly if they had called to mind that country from which they had come out, they would have had opportunity to return. 16 But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:13-16).

We must have this same attitude about our homeland. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-2). Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). So, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth.” (Col. 3:2). Jacob had known much adversity. He said, “few and evil have been the days of the years of my life” (Gen. 47:8). Jacob also knew prosperity. Both of them drove him to long for his ultimate home.

If you’re suffering right now, I don’t have to tell you to long for heaven, That is a natural response. But if you are prospering, let me remind you what Jacob knew: don’t get too attached to this place. This is not the end—it’s a pilgrimage. We are aliens and strangers on this earth. All that God has done, is doing, and will do, Is NOT about the betterment of this life, It is about fulfilling His plan for eternity.

This is the principle of priorities. The call is whether things are bad here or good here, remember that either way, we will not stay here. Jacob never lost sight of the promise. We must remember that our purpose for being here is not to accumulate the things Egypt has to offer. We’re here to further God’s purpose, to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. The plan of God is to prepare you for eternity. The plan of God is to take you to heaven, the land of promise. Regardless of how good it gets in Egypt, determine not to settle for it over what God has in store.

Jesus said,

19 “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; 20 “but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matt. 6:19-21)

If Jesus is your true treasure, heaven is your home. If you’ve never received Christ as your Savior, you may be very successful by this world’s standards, but you’ve missed the prosperity that really counts. Someday soon you will die and then who will own all that you have worked to accumulate? Jesus advises us to be rich toward God. That process begins when by faith you receive God’s offer to forgive your sins and give you eternal life as His free gift.

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[1] Paul Apple, https://www.bibleoutlines.com/blog/genesis-471-31-providential-prosperity-in-the-midst-of-surrounding-poverty (I found Apple’s summary helpful in writing my summary of Genesis).

[2] Steven Cole, The Prosperity That Counts (Genesis 46:31-47:31), https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-78-prosperity-counts-genesis-4631-4731

[3] Robert Deffinbagh, Life Begins at 130 (Genesis 46:1-47:12), https://bible.org/seriespage/46-life-begins-130-genesis-461-4712

[4] Cole. Ibid.

[5] Cole. Ibid.

[6] Cole. Ibid.

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Joseph

Following God’s Leading

Following God’s Leading

Genesis 46

Have you experienced life-altering changes in following God’s will for your life? Maybe these changes involved new places to live, new employment, new ministry opportunities, new relationships, new blessings, new trials. Maybe these changes involved leaving some things behind, leaving family, leaving comfort, leaving friends. How did you arrive at the conviction to make such a drastic change in your circumstances?

Kathy and I have experienced this kind of change several times over the years. One, when I separated from the Air Force, changed my career, left our church family, and moved over 1700 miles to Kansas City to go to seminary in obedience to God’s call for me to be a pastor. Almost 13 years ago we again left our home, two of our grown children, our church family of 19 years, and many friends to move to Grand Junction and New Covenant Baptist Church. I know Pastor Shockley made even more drastic moves in following God’s call for him to be a missionary.

In Genesis 46:1-30, Jacob moves his whole extended family down to Egypt. I imagine that this was not an easy thing for a 130-year-old man to do! There was a famine in Canaan and his son Joseph had promised them the best of Egypt. Jacob desperately wanted to see Joseph, whom for 22 years, he had thought was dead. But Jacob knew that his grandfather, Abraham, had gotten into trouble in Egypt (Gen. 12). God had forbidden his father, Isaac, to go there during a previous famine (Gen. 26:2). Jacob knew that God’s covenant promises to his family involved Canaan, not Egypt. In going, Jacob had to leave all that was familiar to him, go to a foreign land, and live among people whose culture and language were different and whose attitude was hostile to Hebrews (Gen. 43:32; 46:34).

Jacob was fearful and anxious. Was this the Lord’s will? So, Jacob stopped in Beersheba before leaving the promised land to seek the Lord and did not move on to Egypt until God gave him a green light. One of the main reasons Moses included this section was to show how this move out of the Promised Land fit in with the covenant plan of God.[1]

Genesis 46–47 belong together. They tell the story of the third and final journey of the family of Joseph down into Egypt. This time it was not only a portion of the family that went but all of Israel. Jacob all his offspring picked up and moved. And this time the covenant family would not quickly return, but they and their descendants would remain in Egypt for centuries.

In the narrative of Genesis, Moses has made it abundantly clear that this was the will of the LORD. Years before, the LORD God had told Jacob’s grandfather Abraham, “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions.” (Gen. 15:13-14). It was in Egypt that God would fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that He would make of them a great nation and a people too numerous to count (Gen. 12:2; 18:18; 26:4; 28:14; 35:11).

Genesis 46 text falls into three sections: the relocation from Canaan to Egypt which features Jacob’s encounter with God at Beersheba (Genesis 46:1-7); a genealogy which shows the relationships of the children of Israel (Genesis 46:8-27); and the joyful reunion of Joseph and Jacob (Genesis 46:28-34).

1. Relocation of Israel to Egypt (Genesis 46:1-7).

1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2 Then God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 So He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.” (Gen. 46:1-4).

Having heard from his other sons that “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt” (Gen. 45:26), and having seen the evidence of all the wealth that Joseph sent back with his brothers (Gen. 45:21-23; 27), Jacob resolved to go to Egypt to see Joseph. He said in Genesis 45:28, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob had hastily packed his belongings (Gen. 46:1), gathered his family, and begun the long trek to Egypt, just as Joseph had urged (Gen. 45:9). Beersheba was on the way to Egypt, but more than that, it was a place rich in the history of God’s covenant family. Abraham had called upon the name of the Lord at Beersheba (Gen. 21:33) and had settled in this place after offering up Isaac on Mt. Moriah (Gen. 22:19). At Beersheba God had visited Isaac and reiterated the covenant He made with Abraham (Gen. 26:23-25). It was from Beersheba that Jacob had fled from Esau and departed to Haran (Gen. 28:10).

Beersheba was also at the southern extremity of the land of Canaan. Once Jacob left Beersheba, traveling south, he would be leaving the land of promise, which was the land that God had promised Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3; 15:7,18-21), Isaac (Gen. 26:2-4), and Jacob (Gen. 28:13; 35:12). How could Jacob leave Canaan to enter Egypt without stepping outside the will of God? How could Jacob be assured of God’s blessing if he was leaving the land of promise?

Therefore, at Beersheba Jacob “offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac” (Gen. 46:1). This expression, “offered sacrifices,” is used frequently in the Pentateuch for sacrifices of various kinds. Only the context clearly indicates the precise nature of the sacrifice. Here it seems most natural that by this sacrifice Jacob is seeking divine guidance concerning his journey down to Egypt. God’s response in Genesis 46:2-4 supports this conclusion because there God gives Jacob assurance and alleviates his fear.

God calls Jacob by name, “Jacob, Jacob!” and identifies Himself as “God,” Ha’el (הָאֵל), meaning “the Strong One.” With the definite article, it means the one who especially deserves that name, “The True God.” Then God reveals Himself as “the God of your father,” ’elohey ‘abhî’kha (אָבִיךָ אֱלֹהֵי), reminding Jacob that God will deal as faithfully with him as He did with his father Isaac.[2]

God told Jacob “do not fear to go down to Egypt,” (Gen. 46:3). Then God gave Jacob four assurances, four promises, to confirm His approval of Jacob’s move to Egypt.

First, He promised Jacob “for I will make of you a great nation there” (Gen. 46:3). That is where God will fulfill His promise to Abraham in Genesis 12:2. Strangely, it would be in Egypt that Jacob’s offspring would multiply into a great nation (Gen. 46:3). God would fulfill His covenant promises to make Israel a great nation in Egypt, not Canaan. That is where He will make Israel a great nation.

Second, God promised, “I will go down with you to Egypt” (Gen. 46:4). Many years before, God had assured Jacob at Bethel that He would be with him as he journeyed north and east to Haran (Gen. 28:15). Now God would be with him as he traveled south to Egypt.

Third, God promised, “I will also surely bring you up again” (Gen. 46:4). That is, God would bring him back to Canaan, the land of promise. Jacob himself will only return to be buried after his death (Gen. 50:13-14). But here, Jacob represents all his descendants, the nation. Israel will return to Canaan, for there all of God’s promises would be fulfilled concerning the land (Gen. 35:12).

Fourth, God gave a very precious personal promise: “and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes” (Gen. 46:4). His son Joseph would give Jacob comfort in his time of death. Joseph would be there to close his eyes at the moment of his death—what a great comfort to this old man!

God would go with Jacob to Egypt and greatly multiply him there. He would comfort him in his moment of death through the presence of Joseph. And He would bring Israel back to Canaan as a mighty nation. With this assurance, Jacob could enthusiastically proceed to Egypt. The entire family now made their way to Egypt with Jacob the patriarch.

5 Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the carts which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him. 7 His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

So Jacob trusted God and obediently responded to God’s command and promises. Importantly, Genesis 46:5 calls Jacob’s sons, “the sons of Israel,” Beney Jisra’el (בְנֵֽי־ יִשְׂרָאֵל), a designation that will be used over six hundred times in the Old Testament and usually translated, “the children of Israel”. It becomes a technical phrase for the people of God, the people that the LORD God has chosen for Himself. When Jacob went down into Egypt, all of Israel went with him. They were the complete nation of Israel in miniature, ready to grow as God had ordained. God is forming the sons of Israel into His people, His nation—the nation through whom God will bless all the nations of the earth (Gen. 12:3; 28:14).

2. Relationships of the children of Israel (Genesis 46:8-27).

The second section of our text (Gen. 46:8-27) is a long list of names of people we know little about. It’s not even useful if you’re looking for names for your baby unless you want something like Muppim, Huppim or Ard. But God saw fit to include it in Scripture and we need to think about why.

8 Now these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. 9 The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three. 16 The sons of Gad were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. 18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons. 19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him.21 The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all. 23 The son of Dan was Hushim. 24 The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all. 26 All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. 27 And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

We need to remember that to the first readers of this book, these names meant something. This is a list of every tribe that later formed the nation Israel and every major family group within those tribes. Every Hebrew knew his family ancestry. The division of labor, the organization of the army, and the parceling of the land all were based on the tribes. Even the coming of the Messiah was through the particular tribe of Judah.[3]

These lists of boring names meant something to Moses’s readers because this was family. Their identity was tied up in being of a certain tribe, of the nation descended from Israel. They saw themselves as a distinct people, set apart unto God. That’s why Genesis 46:10 singles out a son of Simeon whose mother was a Canaanite woman. That was both unusual and wrong. God’s people were not to intermarry with the Canaanites. They were to be distinct. This is part of the reason that God moved them to Egypt for 400 years.

As you can imagine, there are different ways to count this clan. The total number of people in Jacob’s household who went down into Egypt was probably much larger than 70 if you count all of the wives and servants of Jacob. But 70 is the number of Jacob’s physical descendants who moved from Canaan to Egypt, including Joseph who went down earlier, and his sons.

In the Bible, the number 70 is a number of completion. It communicates symbolically that all of Israel went down into Egypt. It is also significant that in Genesis 10, in the table of the nations descended from Shem, Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, there are 70 sons. There are 70 nations from whom all the nations of the earth come.[4]

So, when Jacob went down into Egypt with 70 of his descendants, we are to understand that a nation would come from them, and from this nation, a new humanity would spring forth. From this 70 God would provide a Savior for the 70 nations who descended from the sons of Noah.

3. Reunion of Israel (Genesis 46:28-34).

Finally, in Genesis 46:28-34, we see the reunion of Joseph and Israel, in the preparation for the audience with Pharaoh, we see Israel beholding Joseph’s greatness.

28 Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen. 29 So Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 And Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.” 31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, “My brothers and those of my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 And the men are shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ 33 So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, “What is your occupation?’ 34 that you shall say, “Your servants’ occupation has been with livestock from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

Just notice four quick things in this section. One, notice that Judah again takes the lead. He went before the others to prepare the way into the land of Goshen. And in this respect, he is also a type of the Christ who would descend from him. Christ lived, died and rose again. The New Testament refers to him as “the first-fruits” of the resurrection. He rose from the dead and has ascended into the heavenly places in glory, leading the way for his brethren.

Two, notice Joseph’s love for Jacob. He loved his father and missed him very much, having been separated from him for all of those years. Three, notice Jacob’s relief. Genesis 46:30, And Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.” Jacob would not die for many more years, but now he was at peace regarding his son Joseph.

Finally, Joseph gives instructions to his brothers for their appearance before Pharaoh. His desire was for his family to settle in Goshen. The reasons for this were probably threefold. One, the land was good for grazing sheep which was the occupation of the sons of Jacob. Two, the land was set off a bit from the population of Egypt. This would have protected Israel from racial discrimination. And three, the land was near the border of Canaan which would have allowed Israel to return at the appointed time more easily.

God has a plan…for Himself and His people. Sometimes that plan requires us to experience drastic changes in our lives. It is those who are willing to humble themselves by submitting their plans to God’s plan who are truly blessed by God and will be a blessing to others. No one other than you and God knows where you truly stand in your relationship with the Lord today, but one thing is certain…you were made and exist for God’s purposes, not just your own.

Remember what God said to Jacob at Beersheba. He is God (Gen. 46:3). His plan is sufficient (Gen. 46:3). His presence is promised (Gen. 46:4). And He will complete His purposes (Gen. 46:4).[5] Then respond as Jacob did: he obeyed the word of God; he submitted himself to God’s plan; he worshiped by offering a sacrifice to God; and he rested in the peace that God gave him—even in death.

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[1] Steven Cole, Should I Move, Should I Stay? (Genesis 46:1-30), https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-77-should-i-move-should-i-stay-genesis-461-30

[2] H. C. Leupold, Exposition of Genesis, https://ccel.org/ccel/leupold/genesis/genesis.xlvii.html

[3] Cole. Ibid.

[4] Joe Anady, Genesis 46:5 – 47:31: Sojourners In Egypt. https://emmausrbc.org/2020/02/23/sermon-genesis-465-4731-sojourners-in-egypt/

[5] Deron J. Biles. GENESIS 45:16-46:30. https://preachingsource.com/sermon-structure/genesis-45-16-46-30/

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Joseph

The Key to Forgiveness

The Key to Forgiveness

Genesis 45

In Genesis 45 we come to the climax of Joseph’s story. In this text, Joseph, who was hated by his brothers and sold by them into slavery (Gen 37), had been exalted to governor of Egypt (Gen 41). God had been using him to provide for Egypt during a severe famine. In Genesis 42, this same famine caused his own brothers to come from Canaan to Egypt for buy grain. Since Joseph’s brothers didn’t recognize him, he was able to test their character through both harsh treatment and kindness. In his last test when the brothers returned to Egypt with Jacob’s youngest son Benjamin, he prepared an elaborate feast for them and sent them home with great provisions (Gen 43). However, Joseph had his servant plant his silver cup in Benjamin’s luggage, accused him of stealing it, and was going to enslave him. Would the brothers take the resources and leave Benjamin, as they did twenty-two years previously when they sold Joseph into slavery? No, confessed their guilt before God. Judah then made an impassioned appeal for mercy on his aged father, offering himself in place of Benjamin (44:18-34). Speaking for the brothers, Judah poured out his soul evidencing an amazing change of heart. He ended his speech by saying, “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?”  (Gen. 44:33-34).

The brothers have shown true repentance. God has done a work in their hearts. They are no longer the same men who jealously hated Joseph and callously grieved their father. The stage is set for reconciliation.  Now, it is Joseph’s turn to respond. We have witnessed the kindness of Joseph toward his brothers over the last few chapters. Joseph has forgiveness in his heart. Now that the brothers have demonstrated repentance, that forgiveness can be transacted. Reconciliation comes through repentance and forgiveness.

But I want you to notice that although the brothers’ repentance was the occasion for Joseph to express his forgiveness, the basis for Joseph’s forgiveness lies elsewhere. Genesis 45:5-9 Joseph makes one of the most astonishing faith statements found anywhere in the Bible. Joseph bases his forgiveness on the sovereignty of God and His good providence. The key to forgiveness and reconciliation is recognizing the providence of God and submitting ourselves to His sovereignty.

We are going to see that Joseph had a heart of forgiveness, a heart that promoted reconciliation because he had confidence in God. He trusted in God’s providence and submitted himself to God’s sovereign purposes.

Genesis 45 breaks into three parts. In Genesis 45:1-15 we see Joseph revealing himself to his brothers and their reconciliation. Genesis 45:16-24 gives us Pharoah’s response of generosity and Joseph’s instructions. Finally, Genesis 45:25-28 shows us the report of Joseph’s brothers to their father Jacob and his faith-filled response.

1. Reconciliation between brothers (Genesis 45:1-15)

In the first four verses of Genesis 45, Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers.

1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

Now that it was time to reveal himself, Joseph made all the Egyptians leave the room. Why did Joseph wish this to be done alone? For one thing, this was a family matter. It was to be an intimate time between brothers, outsiders might be a distraction. Also, Joseph was overcome by his emotions and did not wish to be a spectacle in front of the Egyptians. Mainly, however, I believe that Joseph commanded everyone to leave except his brothers so that he could deal with the matter of the sin of his brothers in strictest privacy. Personal sin and forgiveness is best dealt with personally, not publicly.

To hear Joseph then command everyone to leave them alone must have struck terror into his brothers’ hearts. Perhaps they would all be thrown into prison or worse yet, sentenced to death. After all, they had been caught with the money and the silver cup. Joseph, powerful the Egyptian governor, then weeps aloud. Was this an expression of deep personal grief or pent-up anger? No—for Joseph, who had previously hidden his emotions from his brothers, these were tears of relief and joy at this long-awaited reconciliation and restoration of fellowship with his brothers.

Finally, Joseph reveals his identity. “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” (Gen. 45:3). They were so surprised and terrified by this revelation they were dumbstruck: “his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence” (Gen. 45:3). This word for “dismayed” describes a deep, visceral fear. How foolish and fearful they must be after having told Joseph several times that their brother (Joseph) was dead, only to see the dead man standing before them! No wonder he had been so interested in their younger brother and their father. No wonder he knew their ages when he seated them at the banquet in birth order. No wonder they had bowed down to him—his dreams that they had tried to prevent had shockingly come true!

“Fear and guilt were written on their ashen faces.”[1] It was bad enough to stand before a powerful Egyptian governor who was angered at the theft of a cup—but to realize that this same man was their brother whom they had mistreated and sold into slavery—that was too much! Before this, they might have hoped that the Egyptian would be impartial and show mercy. But now how could they hope for mercy from the one to whom they had been enemies? No wonder they were petrified. Their sin had found them out for sure.

Joseph eases their fears by initiating intimacy. Joseph says: “Please come near to me.” Now, no longer is Joseph the seemingly stern, demanding ruler of Egypt, but their brother. Suddenly they must have understood all the initially harsh treatment from Joseph, the tests he had put them through, the cross-examinations about their father and Benjamin, the money returned in their sacks, their royal luncheon in the governor’s mansion, and the trap of the silver cup.

When they came close enough to truly look at their lost brother, he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt” (Gen. 45:4). He does not remind them of their sin to rub it in or to hurt them, but to prove that he truly was their long-lost brother. He does not minimize their sin but forgives it.

In Genesis 45:5-8 we learn how Joseph was able to forgive the great evil his brothers had done against him, how he was able to look past all the affliction he endured from them, from Potiphar, in the prison—all his years of suffering—Joseph believed that God ordained all these things for good. Listen to Joseph’s faith:

5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

From verse 5 to verse 9, Joseph mentions God’s name four times: “God sent me before you to preserve life” (Gen. 45:5); “God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance,” (Gen. 45:7); “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God,” (Gen. 45:8); “God has made me lord of all Egypt,” (Gen. 45:9).

Joseph’s focus was on God, on God’s providence, God’s preservation, and God’s purposes. Joseph was a man who saw God in everything. Remember when Potiphar’s wife tried to seduce Joseph? He immediately thought of God: “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (Gen. 39:9). When Joseph was in the dungeon and the cupbearer and baker had their dreams, Joseph’s response was, “Do not interpretations belong to God?” (Gen. 40:8). When he was called before Pharaoh to interpret his dreams, Joseph said, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Gen. 41:16). And in giving Pharaoh God’s interpretation, Joseph used God’s name four times to underscore that “the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass,” (Gen. 41:32; also 41:25, 28).

When Joseph’s wife bore him two sons, he gave them names that bore witness to God’s faithfulness. He named the first Manasseh, saying, “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house”; and he named the second Ephraim, saying, “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction,” (Gen. 41:51, 52). When Joseph’s brothers came to buy grain, even though Joseph wanted to disguise himself from them, he could not hide his relationship with God. He told them, “Do this and live, for I fear God” (Gen. 42:18). When they returned with Benjamin, Joseph, still disguising himself, said to his brother, “God be gracious to you, my son,” (Gen. 43:29). Joseph obviously instructed his steward to tell the worried brothers concerning the money returned to their sacks, “Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks,” (Gen. 43:23).

More than anything else, this was the secret of Joseph’s life: He saw God everywhere. He had such a profound sense of God’s presence that he understood that every event in his life must somehow be ascribed to the hand of God working behind the scenes. The sovereign God was at the center of Joseph’s life and now God is at the center of Joseph’s forgiveness.

When Joseph says, “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen. 45:8), he means to say more than simply “God was there” when all the bad things happened. That is true, of course, but it does not comprehend the full sense of his words. Joseph means to say, “God was in charge of the whole process.” It’s not as if the brothers sold him into slavery and then God intervened to bring about a good result. His words demand something more than that. Joseph means that everything that happened—the good and the bad—was part of God’s ultimate plan for his life. He was sent to Egypt to save the lives of his own family—the very brothers who had betrayed him. This was God’s plan from the beginning, and that fact alone explains all that happened to him. What a profound view this is of the sovereignty of God.[2]

Joseph says to his brothers, “But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.” (Gen. 45:5). Though what the brothers did to Joseph was cruel (and they were fully responsible for what they did), nonetheless God was at work, using their wicked treatment of Joseph to accomplish His sovereign purposes. God was in control of his life, not the brothers. Nothing had happened by chance or coincidence. God ordained the brothers’ evil actions to achieve His good purposes. Joseph sees God’s good purpose worked out in three ways: to preserve life (Gen. 45:5); to preserve a posterity (Gen. 45:7), and to save by a great deliverance (Gen. 45:7).

If we believe in the sovereignty of God, we have a reason to forgive those who hurt us deeply. To forgive means to clear the record so that we no longer cling to the hurts of the past. This is only possible when we come to see that those who have hurt us, even our enemies, are agents of the Lord, sent by Him for reasons that we may never fully understand. These things have not happened just because of evil men—but because of a good God.

When we understand that God is sovereign over all things, even over the evil that men do, it frees us to forgive even as we have been forgiven in Christ. How do we do this? By faith.  We choose to believe that God is at work in everything that happens to us. And we choose to believe that even when we see nothing at all that makes sense to us. Faith like that is made strong when it is based on the Word of God. And that’s why the story of Joseph is so important.

The unsaved have no hope in this world. To those who don’t know Christ, bad things happen with no ultimate purpose. Not so for those who know the Lord. As the Christian navigates a tempestuous ocean, he does so knowing that an All-wise, Almighty Pilot is at the helm. Even when the waves rise around him and threaten to cast him into the deep, he has no fear. Though he does not know what will happen in the short run, he is certain that in the long run God’s plan for his life will be worked out perfectly. Therefore, he is satisfied and has perfect peace in his soul.[3]

The Christian firmly believes that Romans 8:28 is true in every circumstance. He believes that all things work together for his good and for God’s glory because God has said it is so. Thus he walks by faith, not by sight. He firmly believes that someday he will see all the links in the chain of circumstances that led him from earth to heaven. And in that day he will bless the Lord for his sovereign wisdom displayed in every circumstance of life. With that confidence, he can rest in the Lord now, knowing all will be well later.

That’s the main point of this chapter. The rest of Genesis 45 just reinforces that point.

2. Pharoah’s blessing and charge to Joseph (Genesis 45:16-24)

16 Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, “Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. 18 Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land. 19 Now you are commanded–do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. 20 Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.”‘

Can you see God at work here? By God’s providence when Pharaoh heard about Joseph’s family he welcomed them and provided for them for Joseph’s sake. This was an extravagant and abundant provision for their needs. This is the heart of God, who provides for us “abundantly above all that we could ask or think” (Eph. 3:20). This is the heart of God to those who are repentant, forgiven, and reconciled.[4]

 21 Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them carts, according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. 22 He gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. 23 And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father for the journey. 24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.”

Joseph’s forgiveness was expressed in his generosity and kindness to his brothers. He believed that God had a plan to bring his family, God’s covenant people, to Egypt for a time just as God had promised to Abraham many years before. By this God would make them a great nation and provide for them a great deliverance.

Joseph tells them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way” (Gen. 45:24). They would naturally be troubled about what to say to Jacob, for now, for the first time in all these years, they would have to tell him the truth about Joseph. Now they were caught in the lie that they had concealed so long and so well. Also, they might be troubled about returning to Egypt. How would they live among the Egyptians, people of different language, culture, and religion? How would they be treated when they returned? Would their relationship with Joseph be smooth and happy?

Joseph wanted them to trust in God as he did. That trust in God would keep them from becoming troubled.

Finally, we see,

3. Revival in the heart of Jacob (Genesis 45:25-28)

25 Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 26 And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still, because he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28 Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Notice Jacob’s response is one of faith also, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” Jacob is convinced that Joseph is alive, and that realization breathes new life into him. Suddenly he has the courage to make the long trek to Egypt. Words of truth, words of good news bring Jacob comfort and courage. God has brought Jacob’s son back from the dead. He will trust in God’s providence.

God is sovereign over all the events in our lives. Therefore, nothing happens outside the good purposes of God. Sometimes God uses the evil deeds of evildoers to further His own plans in the world. When Christ was born, the Father used the paranoia of Herod the Great to guide the Magi to Bethlehem. Later He used Herod’s slaughter of the innocents to lead Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus to Egypt so that the Scripture could be fulfilled that says, “Out of Egypt I called my Son” (Matt. 2:13-15).

We see this even clearer in the events surrounding the death of Christ. Who killed Jesus? For 2,000 years men have argued that question. Did the Jews kill Jesus? Yes, plotted to have Him killed; they called for Him to be crucified and handed Him over to Pilate and asked for a murderer to be released instead of Jesus. What about the Pilate? He knew Jesus was not guilty and still handed Him over to be crucified. The Romans were the only ones with the legal power to put someone to death—and they put to death this innocent man. And in a larger sense, is not the whole sinful world of humanity guilty of His death? Did not our sins put Him on the cross? There is plenty of guilt to go around in the death of Jesus Christ.

But what about God? Though God cannot be “guilty” of the death of Christ, was not the death of Jesus part of the Father’s plan from the beginning? The answer is yes. Jesus was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). How do we reconcile the plan of God with human guilt in the death of Christ? Here is Peter’s answer as he preached in Jerusalem to some of the very men who participated in the death of our Lord: “Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death” (Acts 2:23). Jesus’ death was not some afterthought with God, as if it happened because events suddenly spun out of control. He died according to the “definite plan and foreknowledge” of God, and He could not have died otherwise. But His death took place at the hands of “lawless men” who stand guilty before the Lord. Even though we may not fully see it, there is perfect harmony between God’s predestination and the free moral choices of sinful men. In the case of Christ, God used the wicked deeds of wicked men in crucifying the Son of God to bring salvation to the world.

 

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[1] Robert Deffinbaugh, Recognizing God’s Providence: Fellowship Restored (Gen. 45:1-28), https://bible.org/seriespage/9-recognizing-god-s-providence-fellowship-restored-gen-451-28

[2] Ray Pritchard, Overcoming Lingering Bitterness Genesis 45, https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/overcoming-lingering-bitterness/

[3] Pritchard, ibid.

[4] Roger Pascoe, Recognizing God’s Providence: Fellowship Restored (Gen. 45:1-28), https://bible.org/seriespage/9-recognizing-god-s-providence-fellowship-restored-gen-451-28

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Joseph

Found Out! True Repentance

Found Out! True Repentance

Genesis 44

Numbers 32:23 says, “… be sure your sin will find you out.” Moses spoke these words to the Israelite tribes of Gad and Reuben who had just pledged to fight until the land of Canaan was conquered for their brethren before they return to their inheritance east of the Jordan River. Moses’ full statement to them was: “But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.”

In the statement “be sure your sin will find you out” is revealed the mystery of sin and the necessity of repentance. The nature of sin is such that, whether or not others find out your sin, your sin will “find you out.” You cannot hide your sin from the all-seeing God. Sin carries within itself the power to pay the sinner back, and sin’s payback is death and hell. Don’t even think about toying with sin. It cannot be tamed, outrun, or shaken off. No matter how safe you think you are, if you are a sinner, your sin will find you out.[1]

Speaking about the hypocritical sins of the Pharisees, Jesus said, “For there is nothing covered that will not be revealed, nor hidden that will not be known.” (Luke 12:2). The only way to escape sin’s imprisonment and deadly grip is to be forgiven of your sin by faith in the death and resurrection of Christ (Romans 10:9; 1 John 2:2; Revelation 1:5).

This truth, “be sure your sin will find you out,” is illustrated profoundly in Genesis 44 with Joseph’s brothers. The reason this chapter is so vital to us centuries later is that repentance is an indispensable part of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet it seems in our day repentance is seldom discussed and frequently misunderstood. In Genesis 44, we get to see Joseph observing whether his brothers have real repentance in their hearts, as he tests them and tries their hearts. I invite you to come along and ask God the Holy Spirit to show you if indeed, your repentance is genuine, or not.

When last we left Joseph and his brothers, they were enjoying a great feast at Joseph’s house in Egypt (although they still didn’t know it was Joseph). For the first time in over 20 years, all 12 brothers were together. The last statement in Genesis 43 was, “So they drank and were merry with him.” Plenty of food, plenty to drink, much to celebrate. Everything seemed to finally be going well for Jacob’s sons. The trouble with this Egyptian governor has been resolved, they have Simeon back from prison and Benjamin is safe. For a moment they seemed to forget about their brother Joseph and what they had done to him.

Boy, are they in for a big surprise! They are about to be found out and set free from their guilty past, and they don’t have a clue that Joseph is behind it all. And behind Joseph stands God who has orchestrated every detail to bring them to this moment of repentance.[2] In the last two chapters of Genesis, Joseph had been testing his brothers, seeking to prove whether or not they were still the same jealous, hard-hearted men who had planned to kill him and sold him into slavery all those years before. Are they still willing to break their father’s heart to cover their guilt and save themselves? Had they changed?

In Genesis 44 Joseph gives one more soul-searching test of the hearts of his brothers. He desires to be reconciled with his brothers. Even through his testing of them, Joseph has shown great kindness and concern for his brothers. He had forgiveness in his heart. But as I said last time, when sin has broken a relationship, repentance is necessary for reconciliation. Forgiveness is only transacted when there is repentance. Will they not only regret what they did but will they truly repent of their sin?

This is the test. So, in Genesis 44:1-6 we have Joseph’s setup for the test. In Genesis 44:7-13 we see the response of the brothers. In Genesis 44:14-17 we have the sentence against Benjamin. Then finally in Genesis 44:18-34, the speech from Judah.

1. The Setup (Gen. 44:1-6)

While the brothers slept that night in anticipation of their departure for home the next morning, Joseph was busy with setting up their final test.  

1 And he commanded the steward of his house, 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 Also put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain money.” So he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. 3 As soon as the morning dawned, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4 When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get 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 with which he indeed practices divination? You have done evil in so doing.”‘ 6 So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words.

The brothers must have thought that they had it made. The great Egyptian had been so friendly to them; he filled their bags to the very top; they had Simeon back and Benjamin was safe with them. They could return to their father in peace. All of this, however, was part of Joseph’s strategy. The test would come out of the blue; it would devastate them; and it would force them to respond to this sudden disaster. In other words, Joseph had made the test as demanding as he could. Character is best tested in the heat of a crisis.[3]

The accusation was designed to provoke maximum fear. Joseph had instructed his servant to take his “cup, the silver cup” (Gen. 44:2) but then tells the servant to mention that Joseph used the cup for divination (Gen. 44:5). To practice divination is to uncover hidden knowledge by supernatural means. It is associated with the occult and fortune-telling, a practice later forbidden in the Law of Moses (Deut. 18:10). Divination by means of goblet is well known from the ancient world, something like reading tea leaves. I doubt that Joseph really practiced divination. Rather, this is just one more element of the carefully constructed disguise and strategy of Joseph. He wanted them to think that he was an Egyptian with the power to know their secrets until they confess their sin. He had already shown that he was able to seat his brothers at the table according to their age, an act that astonished and puzzled them (Gen. 43:33).

So he sets the stage for Benjamin to be found guilty in the sight of Joseph because Joseph is interested to see if they will treat Jacob’s favorite with as much jealousy, callousness, and contempt as they once did to him. Notice that twice the servant mentions their “evil” deed: “Why have you repaid evil for good?” (Gen. 44:4); and, “You have done evil in so doing” (Gen. 44:5). His words are designed to take the brothers back to the evil they did to Joseph, to prick their consciences, to remind them of their guilt before God.

2. The Search (Gen. 44:7-13)

7 And they said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from us that your servants should do such a thing. 8 Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. 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 And he said, “Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.” 11 Then each man speedily let down his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack. 12 So he searched. He began with the oldest and left off with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

Overtaking these Hebrew men as they headed back to their father, the steward accused them of stealing the silver “divining” cup. With smug confidence and self-righteousness, the brothers assured the steward that such a thing was beyond them. After all, had they not attempted to return the money which they found in their sacks from the first journey?

The brothers are so confident that none of them had stolen the cup that they make a bold statement: “With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” (Gen. 44:9). Slavery was what these men had most feared (cf. Gen. 43:18), and yet they were willing to risk it because they were certain of their innocence. Knowing where he would discover the cup and knowing the intent of his master test the brother’s loyalty to Benjamin, the steward modified their self-imposed sentence: “Now also let it be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you shall be blameless.” (Gen. 44:10).

Each man hastened to take down his sack and open it, for they were certain that their innocence would be proven. While nothing is said of the gold which was placed in each man’s sack (Gen. 44:1), the discovery of their money in each of their sacks must have made their hearts sink just as it had before (Gen. 42:28, 35). Their logic had been, “Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?” (Gen. 44:8). And yet, they did have his money. Imagine the sense of dread that must have come over these men as each sack was opened. The basis for their righteous indignation was gone. But the steward makes no mention of their money. All he wished to discover was the thief of the cup. From the oldest to the youngest, the steward made his way down the line until he reached Benjamin, the last. So Genesis 44:12 says, “the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.”

Now this word, found, that “the cup was found” is a key word in this chapter. It shows up eight times in Genesis 44. God is finding out, he’s searching through and finding out their sin, their evil, so that what was hidden is now being found. The brothers will be brought face-to-face with their sin.

Here was the first phase of the final test of Joseph’s brothers. Would they renounce Benjamin as a thief, abandon him, and get safely out of Egypt as quickly as possible? More than twenty years had passed since they had sold Joseph into slavery, and yet it was as though they were reliving the event. Benjamin, Jacob’s beloved, was in their care, far from Jacob’s protection. He was accused of a terrible crime for which there was no opportunity to establish his innocence. They, without any real guilt, such as they deserved before, could choose to walk away and be free at Benjamin’s expense. They could return to their father just as they had done so long ago and break his heart with the news that his other son was “no more.” More than twenty years later, the same temptation faces these men. Will they evidence a change of heart, or will they act in self-interest? That is what Joseph must know. The moment of truth has arrived. “Their life seemed to hang by a thread, but oh how strong the thread!”[4]

3. The Sentence (Gen. 44:14-17)

Here Benjamin is sentenced, but the brothers all admit their guilt.

14 So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there; and they fell before him on the ground. 15 And Joseph said to them, “What deed is this you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?” 16 Then Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; here we are, my lord’s slaves, both we and he also with whom the cup was found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

The brothers all fall prostrate before him, no longer seeking justice, but mercy. Joseph rebuked them for their wicked deed, again reminding them of his ability to know the truth (by “divination”). They could not deceive him; he knew all. That is the thrust of his words.

Judah seeks to convey their brokenness. They are without any defense. The key sentence in this chapter is in Genesis 4:16, “God has found out the iniquity of your servants.” The word iniquity speaks of perversity, depravity, in-dwelling sin, and the guilt that accompanies it. It is God against whom they have sinned. They see that it is not for the theft of Joseph’s cup that they are now in trouble, but for their hidden sins of the past. “True repentance doesn’t make up a defense for the small area where you’re innocent, but rather admits the larger sphere where you’re guilty.”[5]

As all were guilty of that past sin (except Benjamin, interestingly), so they are all guilty before the governor of Egypt, and thus all are his slaves. They will suffer together since they shared in a common act of sin. But Joseph would not hear of this. Instead, he twists the knife when he says, “Far be it from me that I should do so; the man in whose hand the cup was found, he shall be my slave. And as for you, go up in peace to your father” (Gen. 44:17). Will they continue to take responsibility for their sin or will they abandon Benjamin to save themselves?

4. The Speech (Gen. 44:18-34)

Judah once again assumes the role of spiritual leader among his brothers. It was he, after all, who had offered himself as surety for Benjamin’s safe return (Gen. 43:9). When the Egyptian offered him and his brothers their freedom at Benjamin’s expense, Judah rose to speak and to plead. And what follows, in Gen. 44:18-34, is the longest speech and the most passionate speech in the book of Genesis. Here Judah will declare his willingness to suffer on behalf of his brother, and he reflects a heart which has been changed by the hand of God.

18 Then Judah came near to him and said: “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s hearing, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even like Pharaoh. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, “Have you a father or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, “We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, who is young; his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, 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 And we said to my lord, “The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 But you said to your servants, “Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’ 24 “So it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord. 25 And our father said, “Go back and 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 may not see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then 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 to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. 29 But if you take this one also from me, and calamity befalls him, you shall bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.’ 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 it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. 32 For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, “If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’ 33 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. 34 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?”

Judah humbly asks for an opportunity to tell the whole story from the beginning to the end (Gen. 44:18). So Judah retells their situation in Genesis 44:19-26. Then in Genesis 44:27-32 he conveys the accurate picture of the effect that Benjamin’s capture would have on their father Jacob. Then at last Judah offers to substitute himself in place of Benjamin (Gen. 44:33-34).

Twenty-two years earlier Judah, bitterly resentful of his father’s favoritism, had engineered the selling of Joseph into slavery in Egypt. Now he was prepared to offer himself as a slave so that the other son of Rachel, the other favored son of Jacob, could be set free. Twenty-two years earlier, Judah had stood with his brothers and watched when the bloody tunic they had brought to Jacob as a means of covering up their crime, sent their father into a fit of anguish that was to last for years on end; now he is willing to do anything in order not to have to see his father suffer that way again.[6]

Judah was not the same man he once was. He was not the man any longer whose idea it was to get rid of their brother and make some money on the side. He was no longer the man who raised boys so evil that God executed them in the middle of their lives. He was no longer the man who refused to fulfill the duties of a patriarch and see to the needs of his daughter-in-law and, as a result, later committed incest with her, thinking her a prostitute.

Judah’s speech represents nothing less than a shocking and sublime transformation. From a betrayer of his family, he became the savior of it. From a selfish and indifferent son, brother, and father, he had become a man whose love for others was a power sufficient to make him offer his own life for theirs.

There are two ways you can tell that repentance is genuine[7]: First, there will be the absence of any blame, except toward yourself. Judah didn’t blame Jacob for playing favorites; he didn’t blame Benjamin for the stolen cup; he didn’t blame Joseph for being cruel. That’s the first mark of genuine repentance, when a person says, “I have sinned. I take full responsibility for what I have done.”

The second mark of genuine repentance is that it always affects your relationships, both with God and with others. Judah here sees that God is behind all these circumstances. If you have repented of your sin toward God, it will show in a change of heart toward those who have wronged you. Instead of bitterness, there will be a concern for their feelings and an absence of concern for your own feelings. Judah never complains about what will happen to him as a slave, because his focus is on what would happen to his father if Benjamin becomes a slave.[8]

It is interesting, isn’t it, here, the guilty offers himself as a substitute for the innocent. But there would be another lion of the tribe of Judah who was innocent, but who would offer himself as a substitute for his guilty brothers. And that substitute would be accepted and He would live and die in their place that they might experience His glory.[9]

The Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was without sin, and yet He offered Himself to take the penalty you and I deserve for our sin. He bore God’s wrath so that we who are sinners could go free. “Be sure your sins will find you out.” You cannot escape from the consequences of your sin. All you can do is to plead for mercy and the grace of God. Jesus Christ has already atoned for your sin by His death on the cross. Have you repented of your sin and believed on Him for forgiveness and the gift of eternal life? The only way we can approach God is by submitting to His authority over us, by owning up to our sin, and by appealing to His great compassion as demonstrated in the sacrifice of His own Son on the cross. If we approach Him on that basis, He will never turn us away.

———————————————————————-

[1] What does Numbers 32:23 mean when it says, “Be sure your sin will find you out”?, Got Questions Ministries, https://www.gotquestions.org/be-sure-your-sin-will-find-you-out.html

[2] Ray Pritchard, Do You Want to be Set Free? Genesis 44-45. https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/do-you-want-to-be-set-free/

[3] Robert Rayburn, The Heart of the Gospel, Gen 44:1-34, https://www.faithtacoma.org/genesis/the-heart-of-the-gospel-gen-441-34  

[4] Robert Deffinbaugh, The Final Test: Dothan Relived (Genesis 44:1-34), https://bible.org/seriespage/final-test-dothan-relived-genesis-441-34#P4537_1365521  

[5] Steven Cole, How Grace Leads To Repentance (Genesis 43:15-44:17),  https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-72-how-grace-leads-repentance-genesis-4315-4417

[6] Rayburn. Ibid.

[7] Cole. Ibid.

[8] Cole, ibid.

[9] Rayburn. Ibid.

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Joseph

Fear, Faith, and Feasting

Fear, Faith, and Feasting

Genesis 43:1-34

The final section of Genesis, the generations of Jacob, began in Genesis 37. There seem to be two overarching purposes of God’s providence that God is accomplishing in the story of Joseph.[1] First, God is working through these events to bring Israel, the family of Jacob and his sons, to Egypt in fulfillment of the word of the Lord to Abraham in Genesis 15:13-14. By taking them to Egypt, God will remove Israel from the evils of Canaan for a time and unite them as a people. Genesis 37-41 focused mainly on God’s development of Joseph for leadership in Egypt, so he could save not only his family but many nations during a world-wide famine. Second, Not only did God have plans to use Joseph greatly, but also his brothers. They would be the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel, a great nation in fulfillment of the promise God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. So, Genesis 42-44 focus on God’s development of Joseph’s brothers (especially Judah), who had previously sold Joseph into slavery. These men had sinned against their brother Joseph, against their father, and against God. This family needed reconciliation.

We have talked about the need for true repentance in order to affect true reconciliation. For this family to come together in peace, they will need to surrender themselves to God. God has been in the process of leading these brothers to repentance through several steps: 1) The physical famine has pointed to their spiritual famine and hopelessness; 2) Joseph’s harsh treatment and testing has awakened their guilty consciences; 3) Their confinement in prison led to their confession of sin against their brother (Gen. 42:21); 4) Their distress is heightened upon their return home when they find their money and acknowledge God’s hand at work (Gen. 42:28).[2]

However God is not done yet. He is using Joseph to test these men and He is suing the situation to bring about repentance which will lead to reconciliation. God not only uses hardship, testing, and time to awaken our consciences, He also lavishes His grace and kindness on us to lead us to repentance. Paul reminds us in Romans 2:4 that “the goodness of God leads you to repentance.”

This passage bounces back and forth between the fears of Jacob and his sons and the unbounded kindness and provision from the hand of Joseph. Certainly, Joseph’s compassion and kindness and grace and mercy and love overflow in every interaction with his family as God providentially sets up the ultimate reconciliation.

1. Jacob’s fear and faith (Gen. 43:1-14)

1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, “You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, “You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.”‘ 6 And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?” 7 But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, “Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, “Bring your brother down’?” 8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”

The seven-year famine persisted throughout the land of Egypt and Canaan. God’s disciplining providence continues for Jacob’s family. Although Jacob’s sons had previously received abundant provisions from Egypt, they apparently didn’t last long, perhaps only a few months because “the famine was severe in the land” (Gen 43:1). And although they don’t know it, there will still be five more years of famine coming (Gen. 45:11).

After most of the provisions were used up, Jacob said, “Go back, buy us a little food” (Gen. 43:2). In response, Judah challenged him saying that they could not return without Benjamin. The Egyptian ruler (who was really their brother Joseph) warned them not to return without their youngest brother. Remember that Joseph had detained Simeon in Egypt to test their integrity and ensure their return. When Jacob was told that Simeon was held captive he blamed it on his sons saying, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me” (Gen. 42:36). Jacob resisted sending Benjamin to Egypt, even if it meant that Simeon remained imprisoned and the family went without food, saying, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave” (Gen. 42:38). In other word, “You want to take Benjamin to Egypt? Over my dead body!”  

Now that his family is all in danger of perishing again Jacob blamed it all on his sons, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?” (Gen. 43:6). I imagine this argument probably happened several times over the months since they returned from Egypt. Jacob is wrapped up in his own misery and fears.

Judah once again steps up and pledges himself as security for Benjamin—he would take care of him at all costs (Gen. 43:8-9). Genesis 43 and 44 demonstrate Judah’s rise to leadership among his brothers. Here, he intervenes with his father and he accepts all responsibility for returning Benjamin safely. Later, he is listed separately from his brothers (“Judah and his brothers,” Gen. 44:14); he will accept responsibility for the supposed theft on behalf of his brothers (Gen. 44:16); and he is the spokesman with Joseph who and offers himself in the place of Benjamin (Gen. 44:33). At least Judah’s heart seems to be changing.

At this point, Jacob relents: Genesis 43:11-14:

11 And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man–a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. 14 And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

Jacob sets forth a plan for his sons to return to Egypt with Benjamin. He tells them to take some of the best products of the land and to bring double the money to the ruler, to make up for the money that was mysteriously returned to them before. Jacob also prayed for his sons. Some commentators see Jacob as pessimistic and continuing to act in fear rather than faith here. But I think God is working a remarkable change in Jacob. Jacob’s faith is displayed here.

One way that Moses signals this change in Jacob is that he uses the name “Israel” instead of “Jacob” in this chapter (Gen. 43:6, 8, 11). Previously, after Abram’s name was changed to “Abraham” (Gen 17:5), his new name was always used. That represented a “profound and prominent change in his character.”[3] However, with Jacob, Moses continues to us his old name, probably indicating that his old nature still prevailed in him. The name “Israel” has not been used since Genesis 37:13. God is using this famine not to reconcile Jacob’s sons, but also to restore Jacob’s own faith.

Even godly people become discouraged, doubt God, and compromise with sin. For Jacob, it happened after the loss of his son, Joseph, and he needed this famine to awaken his trust in God. He needed Judah to speak truth into his life, so his faith could overcome his fears and he could start to live like “Israel” again.[4]

Notice three things about this prayer that Jacob offers. First, he uses the name, “God Almighty,” El Shaddai. That is the name by which God had come to his grandfather, Abraham in Genesis 17. There God promised to give Abraham a son, a seed from his own body. This is significant here because Jacob is about to send all of his sons, his seed, to Egypt with the possibility that they will never return. All of his eggs are in one basket. But it is God’s basket. And so he calls on the name of God Almighty.[5]

Second, notice what he asks for, God’s mercy. He asks that God Almighty would grant them mercy or compassion in the sight the man. He knows that the heart of this Egyptian is held in the hand of God Almighty. God can cause the Egyptian to be compassionate with them.

Third, notice his words of resignation, “If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!” (Gen. 43:14). Jacob is risking everything here. Once again in the book of Genesis, we are seeing God require his man to risk everything in order to gain the promise. Jacob finally says, “If God takes all my children so be it” (paraphrased). Essentially, he says, “God, your will be done.” Was Israel’s faith missed with doubt? I am sure there was. Just like there is with ours. But ultimately Jacob trusts in God.

In the next section we see,

2. The brothers’ fear (Gen. 43:15-25)

The predominant theme of these verses can be summarized by two words, “fear” and “works.” The brothers’ fears, like their father’s, are completely unfounded. They sought by the works of their hands to win Joseph’s acceptance and favor. When Joseph brought them to his house for a feast, they feared that it was designed to be an opportunity to take them as slaves. Joseph, however, wished only to shower them with blessings.

15 So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph.16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” 17 Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. 18 Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.” 19 When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; 21 but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. 22 And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. 25 Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there.

Joseph’s brothers came with a plan of action previously outlined by their father. They would offer the Egyptian governor a gift of some of Canaan’s best products (Gen. 43:11), and they would give back the money which had been returned in their sacks (Gen. 43:12).

When Joseph looked out and beheld Benjamin with his older brothers, he set a plan in motion, apparently without talking to them. He instructed his servant to take these men into his house and to prepare a meal for them in a way that parallels the reception of the prodigal son in the New Testament (Luke 15:11-32).

Unaware that they were being taken into Joseph’s home to partake of the noon meal, they thought it was they who were destined for slaughter. In desperation they took the steward aside to explain how they had found their money in their sacks and that they had brought it with them to repay it. The steward sought to calm their fears by assuring them that he had received the money for their grain. Saying it was their God and the God of their father who had provided this money (Gen. 43:23). To further assure them, he brought out Simeon and returned him to them.[6]

By this time the men had learned that the reason for their being brought to Joseph’s home was to partake in the noon meal with him (verse 25). Anticipating Joseph’s arrival, they first were given water to drink and freshen up and fodder to feed their animals. After this, they set themselves to the task of preparing the gift which they would present to Joseph when he arrived (Gen. 43:25). In their fear, they hoped their gifts would appease this man.

Fear causes us to try to earn favor with God. Steven Cole writes:

That’s typical of sinful man’s attempt to approach God with his own efforts. A man is nervous about his sin when he approaches a holy God, so he says, “Maybe if I give some money at church, God will accept me. Maybe I’ll add some other good deeds, too.” So we bring our pistachio nuts and almonds to placate our guilty consciences and hopefully be accepted by God. But God’s response is the same as Joseph’s: He completely ignores our gifts! Joseph doesn’t even comment on their elaborate present.[7]

In the last section we see,

3. Joseph’s kindness (Gen. 43:26-34)

26 And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth. 27 Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. 29 Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.” 32 So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. 34 Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

Notice the many signs of Joseph’s kindness to his brothers. We already saw the steward’s gracious reply when the brothers express their concern about the money in their sacks (Gen. 43:23). Certainly, this was at Joseph’s instructions. Returning their money had been a sign of Joseph’s love for his brothers and God’s grace toward them.

Next, Simeon was returned to them. His healthy return to his brothers was another sign of Joseph’s kindness. Then, the steward even washed their feet and fed their donkeys (Gen. 43:24). They weren’t being treated roughly, as prisoners, but with the respect given to honored guests.

When Joseph arrived home, he asked them (still using an interpreter) about their welfare, and especially about their father. Then Joseph saw Benjamin. His little brother had been only a year old the last time Joseph had seen him. As he gazed upon Benjamin, thoughts of his family and his mother, who died giving birth to this child, flooded over him. He managed to say, “God be gracious to you, my son” before he was overcome with compassion and left the room to weep. Genesis 43:30, “Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep.”  The word “yearned” here is the “mercy” or “compassion”—the same word that Jacob prayed that the man would show to his sons (Gen. 43:14).

Then, Joseph treats his brothers to this great feast. Joseph, being the master, sat at a table by himself. His Egyptian servants sat at another table, not wanting to defile themselves by eating with these Hebrews. They must have wondered why in the world Joseph would invite these hicks from the sticks to eat in his home. Then, even more puzzling, why did he keep giving them portions from his table, a sign of special honor? Benjamin got five times as much, again due to Joseph’s special love for his own full brother. Some think Joseph was again testing the other brothers, to see if they would be jealous as they had been with him so many years ago.Like Joseph’s brothers, who had sinned terribly against him, every person has sinned against God. If He gave us what we deserve, we would all go straight to hell. But as Jesus said, “For He is kind to the unthankful and evil” (Luke 6:35). He grants us the many blessings of life when we deserve His judgment, so that we will turn from our sin.

Romans 2:4, asks: “Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?” If you have not turned from your sin to faith Christ, you are shrugging off the kindness of God. The next verse warns, “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.” In other words, now is the time when God has graciously shown you His kindness so that you may turn to Him. But if you shrug it off, the day of judgment lies ahead.

“‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.” Joseph’s kind treatment of his brothers allowed them to enjoy this sumptuous meal (Gen. 43:34). Their fears are relieved—almost! At this point in the story, before the brothers have fully repented of their sin, the kind treatment they have received from their brother whom they have wronged has almost taken away the fear caused by their guilt–almost, but not quite. When they sit down to this meal, to their astonishment they are seated in the exact order of their birth. And, contrary to custom, the youngest is given the most. This made these brothers a bit nervous. They had the feeling that this man had some uncanny power to know things which they had not revealed.

In this chapter the brothers promised to take the blame for any catastrophe (responsibility); they acknowledged their culpability and made restitution for the money in their sacks (honesty); they retrieved their brother from prison in Egypt (unity); they recognized that God was at work in their midst (belief); and they rejoiced in their provisions, even when a brother was receiving more than they were (gratitude).[8]

God is working through His gracious kindness and compassion to bring these men to repentance and reconciliation.

Has God’s kindness brought you to repentance and faith in Him?

[1] Ligon Duncan, The Brothers Return to Egypt, https://fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/the-brothers-return-to-egypt/

[2] Brad Mills, The Kindness of God (Genesis 43), https://gracefresno.com/sermons/the-kindness-of-god-genesis-43/

[3] James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), p. 1025.

[4] Gregory Brown, How God Changes Hearts (Genesis 43-44), https://bible.org/seriespage/6-how-god-changes-hearts-genesis-43-44

[5] Duncan. Ibid.

[6] Robert Deffinbaugh, The Fears of Jacob and the Tears of Joseph (Genesis 43:1-34), https://bible.org/seriespage/fears-jacob-and-tears-joseph-genesis-431-34

[7] Steven Cole, https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-72-how-grace-leads-repentance-genesis-4315-4417

[8] Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1998), p.122.

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Joseph

Awakening of a Guilty Conscience

Awakening of a Guilty Conscience

Genesis 42

The last three chapters of Genesis that we have studied have taken place in Egypt as Joseph the favorite son of Jacob, due to the treachery of his brothers, was made a slave in the house of Potiphar where he rose to prominence only to be falsely accused and imprisoned (Gen. 39). Again, having risen to prominence in the prison and having helped Pharoah’s officials, Joseph was forgotten (Gen. 40). Then in Genesis 41 we saw the meteoric rise of Joseph from the prison to the palace of Pharoah after he interpreted the king’s dreams. Having spent thirteen years suffering in slavery and prison, He was elevated to the second-highest position in Egypt and put in charge of preparing for and administering the seven years of famine that followed the seven years of abundance.

According to Genesis 45:6, these events took place sometime during the first two years of the famine. Therefore, it has been over twenty years since his murderous brothers had sold him to Ishmaelite traders. Now Joseph is effectively ruling over the major world power of his day. Because of this change of God’s providence in his life, Joseph said, “God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house” (Gen. 41:51). In our passage this morning we will see that he is not able to forget for very long.

Genesis 42 begins the next section of this very important history in which God will bring about the restoration of Jacob’s family and their relocation to Egypt. The attention shifts from Joseph the individual and from the Egyptian empire back to the family of Jacob from which Joseph was torn years before. Moses places the spotlight on Joseph’s brothers who had betrayed him.

Genesis 42 can be divided along geographic lines[1]: in Genesis 42:1-5 we have Jacob and his sons in Canaan; then in Genesis 42:6-28 we have the sons of Jacob in Egypt with Joseph; and then in Genesis 42:29-38 they are back in Canaan again with their father. In this chapter, God is awakening the sleeping consciences of Joseph’s brothers. They are guilty of great sin against God, against their father, and against Joseph. Through His providence, through the actions of Joseph, and through the attitude of Jacob God will stir the consciences of these men.

Twenty years is a long time. A lot is forgotten and never mentioned again. Some things are never mentioned but they are never forgotten either. Perhaps the brothers of Joseph thought that the passage of time would remove their guilt. After all, they hadn’t seen their brother or heard from him since that fateful day when they threw him in the pit, dragged him out again, and sold him to the Midianites headed for Egypt. They assumed he was dead. And why not? Slaves didn’t have a long lifespan. If their conscience pricked them from time to time, if the unending sorrow on Jacob’s face reminded them of their evil deed, they had long since learned to deal with it, to hide it, to cover it, to quickly change the subject.[2]

In this passage, Joseph’s brothers, through God’s providence and the testing of Joseph, are finally forced to confront their sin of selling their brother into slavery. For 20 years, they had lived with their unconfessed and unaddressed sin. Will they face their past? Will they admit their guilt? Will they be brought to repentance? Will there be reconciliation in the family?

Feeling guilty is not a bad thing if you are truly guilty. God can use a guilty conscience along with His word to bring a person to repentance and reconciliation. God begins that work in Joseph’s brothers in this chapter.

First, we will look at The Reminder of Guilt (Gen. 42:1-5). Second, we’ll see The Distress of Guilt (Gen. 42:6-28). And third, The Assumption of Guilt (Gen. 42:29-38).[3]

1. The Reminder of Guilt (Gen. 42:1-5)

1 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.” 3 So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest some calamity befall him.” 5 And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. 

The seven years of famine that God revealed through Joseph in Pharoah’s dream not only affected Egypt but all the surrounding countries as well. As the last verse of Genesis 41 told us, “So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.” (Gen. 41:57). In Canaan, Jacob learns that Egypt has grain. At the mention of Egypt, the place where Joseph had been taken, Judah must have looked at Reuben, and Reuben at Simeon. Levi must have thrown anguished glances at Zebulun. “Why do you look at one another?” Jacob asked. Boice comments, “The fact that Joseph’s brothers looked guiltily at one another instead of taking decisive steps when the family heard that grain was in Egypt, shows that their consciences were not entirely dead, only asleep, and that fitfully.”[4]

God used the hardship of famine to force Joseph’s brothers to bring them to Egypt—the last place on earth they wanted to go. But the famine was in Canaan (Gen. 42:5), as well as in Egypt. Crops had failed. Livestock were dying. People would die eventually. Jacob says, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die” (Gen. 42:2). What should they do? If there was grain in Egypt, they would have to go there or perish—as much as they dreaded the thought of doing so.[5] The famine was God’s first means to awaken conscience in these men and remind them of their guilt.

God sometimes permits seasons of hardship to turn people to Himself. When things are easy, people are tempted to forget God and their sins against Him. In Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. The father allowed his son to leave his household, spend all his money, and then experience a severe famine (Luke 15:14). It was when he was starving that he “came to his senses” and decided to return to the father’s house.

The second reminder was when Jacob would not send his youngest son Benjamin with them. Benjamin was no longer a child, but a grown man. Yet Jacob is protective of this son of his beloved, deceased wife Rachel and obviously favored him just as he had done with Joseph—another reminder of what they had done to Jacob’s favored son Joseph. Time doesn’t erase a guilty conscience. You can brush your sin under the rug and hope that enough years will take care of it. But one day, perhaps years later, God will apply pressure in your life, or a word that triggers your memory, or circumstances cause your sin to flash in your mind as vividly as if it was yesterday.[6]

And God is not done awakening their guilty consciences. Next, we see,

2. The Distress of Guilt (Gen. 42:6-28)

Genesis 42:6, “Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth.” The ten brothers arrived in Egypt along with many others to buy grain from Joseph. Without realizing they were fulfilling the prophecy of Joseph’s dreams years before (Gen. 37:6-11), his brothers bowed low before him.  

Then Moses records in Genesis 42:7-8, “7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” 8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.”

Joseph was sold into slavery at seventeen years old, and he was now around thirty-nine. He was dressed in Egyptian clothing, speaking through an interpreter, and was clearly royalty—none of the brothers would have suspected that the Egyptian governor was Joseph, their younger brother whom they sold into slavery.

After Joseph recognized his brothers, instead of revealing himself, he chose to speak harshly to them and treat them roughly.

9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!” 10 And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.” 12 But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 13 And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” 14 But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, “You are spies!’ 15 In this manner you shall be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” 17 So he put them all together in prison three days. 

This was clearly a test. Joseph needed to see if Benjamin and Jacob were alive. He needed to see if the brothers had mistreated either of them and if the brothers had become trustworthy men. Therefore, Joseph spoke harshly to them and accused them of being spies four times. With each reply, they gave more information: First, they answered that they were from Canaan—trying to buy food (Gen. 42:7). Next, they said they were brothers and had the same father (Gen. 42:11). Finally, they said they came from a family with twelve brothers, the youngest was with their father, and the other was no longer alive (Gen. 42:13).

After the brothers revealed that they had a younger brother, Joseph said that they must send one person back to bring Benjamin, so he would believe they weren’t spies. He imprisoned them for three days.

It is clear that Joseph was actually doing to them what they had previously done to him. In Genesis 37:2, Joseph gave a bad report about his brothers to Jacob. So when Jacob sent him to check on his brothers and the flock they may have thought “What is he doing here? Coming to spy on us?” Though Joseph appealed to them many times, they put him in a pit and then sold him to slave traders. Now Joseph accused them of being spies and then imprisoned them threatening to keep them all there until one of them returned with Benjamin.

After three days Joseph relents and changes tactics, Genesis 42:18-20:

18 Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. 20 And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so.

Joseph’s plan as outlined in 18-20, was not simply a punishment that fit their ancient crime, but that, in detaining one brother and making them return to their father without him, he was making them relive their actions of twenty years before. And again, this distress began to awaken their consciences to their guilt. Genesis 42:21-22, “Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.”” After they were subjected to similar treatment, they concluded that their circumstances were judgment for how they treated Joseph. This is the first time in over twenty years that we see these brothers confessing their sin against Joseph. God was using Joseph to help the brothers remember their sin and repent.

Moses lets us see that Joseph is not being vindictive or looking for revenge here. He loves his brothers and longs for reconciliation. Listen to Genesis 42:23-25:

23 But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. 24 And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 25 Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them.

I think Joseph had long since forgiven his brothers. But forgiveness can only be transacted when there is repentance.[7] God is using Joseph to help bring these men to repentance so that there can be reconciliation.

It is possible that, after hearing that Reuben, the oldest, had tried to save him as the brothers discussed their circumstances (Gen 42:22), Joseph concluded that Simeon must have encouraged the treacherous act of his enslavement. Joseph knew the character of his brothers: Simeon was the second oldest. Along with Levi, they murdered the men of Shechem (Gen 34). Simeon was an ungodly person. In fact, when Jacob blesses the sons before he dies, Simeon and Levi received non-blessings. He called them weapons of violence and cursed their anger (Gen 49:5-7). Perhaps, that’s why Joseph imprisoned Simeon—maybe he needed it more than others. Certainly, Simeon was reaping what he had sown.[8]

When the brothers were going to leave for Canaan, Joseph first encouraged them with the fact that he “feared God” (v. 18). He wanted them to know that he was an honest man and that if they brought their younger brother back, he would free Simeon. Then, Joseph had his servants give them grain, return their money, and even give them provisions for the journey.

Then Moses tells us:

26 So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. 27 But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. 28 So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

The reason they were afraid was because they thought the Egyptian governor might accuse them of stealing. However, it doesn’t seem that Joseph was trying to trick them—he was trying to show them that he was a God-fearing, honest, and generous man. Later, when the brothers returned to Egypt, they shared about the mix-up with Joseph’s servant—how they found the money in their sacks even though they paid. Joseph’s servant simply replied, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money” (Gen 43:23). If the servant truly received the money, it is likely that Joseph paid for them.

The brothers assume all of their affliction is punishment from God (Gen. 42:28). They knew they were guilty before God. In their distress, their guilt would not depart from them.

Similarly, that is how God often works in our lives to draw us to repentance. He not only sharpens our conscience by reminding us of our sin, allowing us to experience lack, and reap what we’ve sown, but he also allows us to experience grace—his unmerited favor. Romans 2:4 says that God’s kindness leads people to repentance.

3. The Assumption of Guilt (Gen. 42:29-38)

Upon their arrival the brothers had quite a story to tell. We read it in Genesis 42:29-38,

29 Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying:30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 But we said to him, “We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, “By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.”‘ 35 Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” 37 Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”

All Jacob’s bitterness and sorrow comes welling up to the surface when his brothers return without Simeon and suggest they must take Benjamin with them. Jacob’s speech begins and ends with self-pity (36). This is the picture of a believer who has lost his way. He is deeply pessimistic and overly possessive of Benjamin. He behaves as if God has betrayed him. He has forgotten the promises he received (Gen. 28:15). Jacob assumes his sons are guilty—he blames it on them saying “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin.” He says, “All these things are against me.”

Again God is using the attitude of their father Jacob to prick the consciences of these brothers. Throughout this chapter, we can observe the attitude of Joseph’s brothers changing. Faced with a personal crisis they acknowledged their guilt. They regarded their suffering as righteous divine punishment, and they began to place Jacob’s interests above their own. However, their repentance was not yet complete. The process of contrition had to run further before reconciliation was possible.

What if you, like Joseph’s brothers, are burdened with a guilty conscience?

If God’s hand seems harsh and heavy against you right now, you need to know that His purpose is to rescue you from sin and the character traits which ultimately would destroy you and damage many others. When you yield to Him and draw near in repentance, you will discover His great compassion and grace.

“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.” (Isaiah 1:18).

Hear the Good News of the Gospel! Christ came to save sinners. Come to Christ. Run to the cross. Lay hold of the Son of God who died for you.

The door is open in the Father’s house and the lights are on. You will not be turned away. As the old song says,

Let not conscience bid you linger,
Nor of fitness fondly dream,
All the fitness he requireth
Is to feel your need of him.

 

 

[1] Mark vander Hart, Genesis 42:1-28 – Joseph Puts His Brothers on Trial, https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/genesis-421-28-joseph-puts-his-brothers-trial

[2] Ray Pritchard, Are You Willing to Face Your Past?, https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/are-you-willing-to-face-your-past/

[3] Brad Mills, The Burden of Guilt, https://gracefresno.com/sermons/the-burden-of-guilt-genesis-42/ (I borrowed the outline from Mills).

[4] James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998), 987.

[5] Boice. ibid.

[6] Steven Cole, When Your Conscience Says “Ow!” (Genesis 42:1-28), https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-70-when-your-conscience-says-ow-genesis-421-28

[7] Joe Anady, Genesis 42: Forgiveness And Reconciliation Predicated On True Repentance, https://emmausrbc.org/2020/02/02/sermon-genesis-42-forgiveness-and-reconciliation-predicated-on-true-repentance/

[8] Gregory Brown, How God Leads People to Repentance (Genesis 42) https://bible.org/seriespage/5-how-god-leads-people-repentance-genesis-42

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Joseph

From Prison to the Palace

From Prison to the Palace

Genesis 41:1-57

In our journey through this last section of Genesis which tells the story of Joseph, we have observed two predominant themes.[1] First, we have seen the providence of God—that God works in all the circumstances of this world and our lives to accomplish His will for His glory. God’s providence is Him actively sustaining and governing the universe for His purposes. Even when God is not seen or recognized, He is not absent or passive. Secondly, we have seen that God is fulfilling His promises to Abraham and His purpose to make of Jacob’s family a great nation through whom He will bless the whole world. Like all of scripture, this story in Genesis finds its ultimate meaning and fulfillment in the Savior of the world, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Genesis 41 is a long chapter, so we will not read the whole thing at the beginning, but in sections as we walk through the text. We can outline Genesis 41 in four words:[2] dreams, interpretation, plan, promotion. Pharaoh had two disturbing dreams which none of his advisors could interpret. Joseph was brought before Pharoah and God enabled him to interpret the dreams which predicted seven years of plenty followed by seven years of famine. Joseph advised Pharoah of a plan of action for the future of Egypt. Pharoah then promoted Joseph to second-highest in Egypt and Joseph implemented his program to save Egypt from the coming famine. In all of this, we will see the hand of God’s sovereign providence directing these events according to His purpose.

1. Pharaoh’s dreams (Gen. 41:1-13)

1 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. 2 Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow .3 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river .4 And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. 5 He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. 6 Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. 7 And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream. 8 Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh. (Gen. 41:1-8).

Moses informs us that “two full years” had passed since Joseph had given the chief butler a favorable interpretation of his dream and had implored him to remember him and rescue him from prison. But we know from the last verse of Genesis 40 that, “the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgot him,” (Gen. 40:23). God had a perfect time for Joseph’s release and elevation.

The occasion for it was the dreams of Pharoah, king of Egypt. Later in the chapter, we will learn that God gave these dreams to Pharoah (Gen. 41:25, 28, 32). The dreams were dramatic and disturbing. After each, Pharaoh was awakened (Gen. 41:4, 7). The dreams were distressing to Pharaoh because they followed one-on-another, interrupted by him being awakened. Their meaning was puzzling, for the seven lean cows remained lean and gaunt, even after consuming the fat cattle. The same was true with the grain. It was not normal for cows to eat cows or grain to consume grain, but surely the lean things should have been fattened by what they ate. Something had to be wrong, but what was it?

The king’s usual sources of information, “all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men” (Gen. 41:8), were totally baffled, as was Pharaoh. These were the wisest, best-educated men of Pharaoh’s kingdom, schooled in the art of interpreting dreams but could not fathom the meaning of the dream. Ligon Duncan comments:

Moses is putting before you a picture of the god of Egypt, Pharaoh, stumped. He hasn’t a clue what is going to happen in his own land, the land over which he reigns. And so he’s showing us a picture of the weakness of the gods of this age and of this world, and he’s preparing us to contrast Pharaoh with Himself, the God of Joseph, who knows and reveals the future.[3]

Though Pharaoh was the mightiest man in Egypt and thought to be a god by his subjects, he was helpless to understand his own dream. Money and power and worldly success may gain many things, but it is all worthless in discerning the things of God. The magicians were stumped as well. A thousand years of pagan religion could not reveal the truth. This crisis exposes the futility of the world in the things that matter most. It reveals the true condition of the human mind and heart apart from God. Without divine revelation, human wisdom and power can never discover the truth of God or salvation. That must “come down” from God above.

Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 1:20, “Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?” and then answers, “But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Cor. 2:14).

The king’s frustration at having such impressive dreams and yet being unable to know their meaning reminded the chief butler of his dream and of Joseph. Look at Genesis 41:9-13:

9 Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. 10 When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, 11 we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. 12 Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. 13 And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.” (Gen. 41:9-13).

Now we begin to see God’s providence in sending the butler to the prison where Joseph served him and interpreted his dream. We might have wondered why the chief butler forgot Joseph and why God let him languish in prison for two more years. But now we see that God had prepared Joseph for this appointed time. So Joseph was hurriedly brought out of Potiphar’s dungeon to stand before the king.

2. Joseph’s interpretation (Gen. 41:14-32).

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” 16 So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Gen. 41:14-16).

Moses gives us the little details of his accurate account that Joseph shaved and changed clothes before bring brought before Pharoah. This was not just “cleaning up,” which surely was needed; it was a cultural necessity. To the Hebrews, a beard was a mark of dignity (cf. II Samuel 10:4-5; Ezra 9:3), but for the Egyptian, it was an offensive thing.[4]

Don’t you love Joseph’s answer to Pharoah about his ability to interpret dreams? “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” (Gen. 41:16). The ability to interpret dreams, which the butler and Pharaoh had credited to Joseph, was not his at all. Only God can interpret dreams, Joseph quickly corrected.

God is the revealer of the future. Joseph is going to reveal the future, not because he has some innate power to know the interpretations of dreams, but because God Himself controls the future and reveals it as He wills. Joseph was clear on that. He didn’t let the splendor of Pharaoh and his palace make him forget, “Without God, I’m nothing. He is the source of any ability I have to interpret dreams.”[5] And Joseph didn’t just think to himself that God was the source of his ability to interpret dreams; he gave that testimony to Pharaoh. H. C. Leupold writes, “After twelve years and more of injustice Joseph’s first consideration is not deliverance but to take care that his relation to his God be entirely upright”.[6]

Is that your first thought when someone asks you about your talents or success? If your daily aim is to do all things to the glory of God, then you’ll be quick to speak bear witness of Him when opportunities arise.

Pharaoh then eagerly repeated his dreams to Joseph, closing by confessing the inability of his most able counselors to give him any word of explanation:

17 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph: “Behold, in my dream I stood on the bank of the river. 18 Suddenly seven cows came up out of the river, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. 19 Then behold, seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and gaunt, such ugliness as I have never seen in all the land of Egypt. 20 And the gaunt and ugly cows ate up the first seven, the fat cows. 21 When they had eaten them up, no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were just as ugly as at the beginning. So I awoke. 22 Also I saw in my dream, and suddenly seven heads came up on one stalk, full and good. 23 Then behold, seven heads, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. 24 And the thin heads devoured the seven good heads. So I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.” 

Joseph immediately has the interpretation from God:

25 Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do: 26 The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good heads are seven years; the dreams are one. 27 And the seven thin and ugly cows which came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty heads blighted by the east wind are seven years of famine. 28 This is the thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. 29 Indeed seven years of great plenty will come throughout all the land of Egypt; 30 but after them seven years of famine will arise, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land. 31 So the plenty will not be known in the land because of the famine following, for it will be very severe. 32 And the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

Joseph interprets and explains the dreams to Pharaoh. But as he does so, he makes it clear that God is not only the revealer of dreams, He is the one who, in fact, ordains the future. His God not only knows what is going to happen, but He knows what is going to happen because He has ordained what is going to happen.[7] Twice Joseph says, “God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do” (Gen. 41:25, 28). And again in Genesis 41:32, Joseph testifies, “the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.” The future of Egypt does not depend on Pharoah—it is God who is sovereign over the events of this world. He directs the events of this world according to His purposes for His glory.

Job came to this realization and said to the LORD, “I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You” (Job 42:2). Nebuchadnezzar, the powerful King of Babylon, also came to understand this after being humbled by the LORD. He said “And at the end of the time I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me; and I blessed the Most High and praised and honored Him who lives forever: For His dominion is an everlasting dominion, And His kingdom is from generation to generation. All the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; He does according to His will in the army of heaven And among the inhabitants of the earth. No one can restrain His hand Or say to Him, ‘What have You done?’” (Dan. 4:34-35).

God is able to reveal the future because God ordains the future. So God enabled Joseph to interpret the dreams. How easy it would have been to stop here. There was good news and bad news for Pharaoh—abundance followed by famine. But Joseph gives Pharoah more, a plan for the future.

3. Joseph’s plan (Gen. 14:33-37).

33 “Now therefore, let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. 34 Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint officers over the land, to collect one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven plentiful years. 35 And let them gather all the food of those good years that are coming, and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities. 36 Then that food shall be as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which shall be in the land of Egypt, that the land may not perish during the famine.” 37 So the advice was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants. (Gen. 41:33-37).

When God used Joseph to reveal to Pharaoh what it was that he was about to do in bringing seven years of famine after seven years of great plenty, Joseph did not throw his hands up in the air and say, oh well, what will be, will be. Instead, he proposed a plan of action. Do you see again the conjunction of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility? This is what God is going to do. This is what you need to do in response. God’s revelation, everywhere in Scripture, always requires a response. If God reveals that He is bringing judgment, what is our response to be?—repentance. If He is bringing us a revelation of warning like this one, what is our response to be?—responsible activity in accordance with what He has revealed.[8]

Joseph’s plan was in five steps:[9] 1) Put the right man in charge (Gen. 41:33); 2) appoint overseers in the land (Gen. 41:34); 3) collect a heavy tax of grain in the seven plentiful years (Gen. 41:34); 4) strategically store and guard the grain (Gen. 41:35); 5) distribute the reserve grain in the seven lean years (Gen. 41:36). Everyone saw the wisdom in Joseph’s plan. So this was the impetus for,

4. Joseph’s promotion and program (Gen. 41:38-57).

38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” 39 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. 40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” 41 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44 Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

Though he was a pagan ruler, Pharaoh recognized the work of God’s Spirit when he saw it. He made Joseph the second-in-command, which really made him the second most powerful man in the world. Then he sealed the deal in regal fashion: he gave Joseph his signet ring (like having the King’s credit card); he gave him linen clothing (a sign of high honor); he gave him a gold chain (a sign of royal authority); he gave him a chariot for transportation (so he could go wherever he wished); he had the soldiers call out “Bow down!” when Joseph passed by (so everyone got the message);[10] he gave him a name that to the Egyptians would mean “Savior of the world,” which is exactly what Joseph was to them, and to the Hebrews would mean “Revealer of secrets,” which he would be to his brothers; and finally Pharoah gave Joseph a wife from a priestly family (making him nobility).

How much of this did Joseph see in advance? Not a bit. How much of it happened by chance? None of it. Who was behind it all? God.

The final section serves several purposes. First, it reveals the accuracy of Joseph’s interpretation. Second, it evidences the administrative astuteness of Joseph in handling the affairs of state in preparation for the famine to come. Finally, it reveals to us Joseph’s continued spiritual commitment to the God of his fathers.[11]

46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. 47 Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. 48 So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. 49 Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable. 50 And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. 51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” 52 And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Joseph displays his faith in God in the naming of his sons. Manasseh and Ephraim are Hebrew names. Even though he was living in Egypt and even though he married an Egyptian woman who was the daughter of a pagan priest, Joseph gave his two sons names that would remind them forever of their true heritage. It tells us that though he appeared to be Egyptian on the outside, on the inside he still worshiped the God of his fathers.

He named his firstborn son Manasseh, which sounds like the Hebrew word “forget.” He even spelled out the meaning so no one could mistake it. “God has made me forget all my hardship and my father’s house.” He didn’t mean he had forgotten his family. As we will see later in the story, they remained always close to his heart. But it means that God had enabled him to forget the pain of the rejection and betrayal by his brothers.

The second child he called Ephraim, which means made fruitful. The Hebrew is a form that means something like “super-fruitful.” The “land of my affliction” refers to all that he suffered in Egypt-the false accusation, the unjust imprisonment, and the years of total abandonment. Yet in that place where he had suffered so much, he now experiences untold blessing. J. Vernon McGee called Joseph’s two sons Amnesia (forgotten) and Ambrosia (fruitful).[12]

The order of these names is important. Manasseh must come before Ephraim. First we are set free from bitterness, then we experience God’s blessing. That too was because of God’s sovereignty. When a man believes in a sovereign God, he can let go and move on.[13]

Let me conclude with three observations:

One, this story demonstrates that the LORD is God Most High and Sovereign over all creation. He not only knows the future, He ordains it for His own good purposes.

Two, this story highlights how God begins to fulfill the promises made to Abraham. God had promised to bless him, to make his name great, to make of him a great nation, and to bless the world through him. In Joseph, these promises were initially and partially fulfilled. They are ultimately fulfilled in the seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ, the Son of God who died for our sins and was raised for our justification.

Three, the story of Joseph demonstrates that the proper response to the knowledge of God’s sovereign will is responsible and wise action. It is the same for us. God has revealed His sovereign will to save a people for Himself from every tribe, nation, and language. But God has also given us the responsibility of preaching the gospel to all the world so that men might be saved.

———————————————————————————

[1] Ligon Duncan, Pharoah’s Dream. https://fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/pharaoh-s-dream/

[2] Ray Pritchard, How Big Is Your God. https://www.keepbelieving.com/sermon/how-big-is-your-god/

[3] Ligon Duncan, Pharaoh’s Dream, https://fpcjackson.org/resource-library/sermons/pharaoh-s-dream/

[4] Robert Deffinbaugh, From the Pit to the Palace (Genesis 41:1-57), https://bible.org/seriespage/41-pit-palace-genesis-411-57

[5] Steven Cole, Coping With Success (Genesis 41:1-57). https://bible.org/seriespage/lesson-69-coping-success-genesis-411-57

[6] H. C. Leupold. Exposition of Genesis [Baker], https://ccel.org/ccel/leupold/genesis/genesis.xlii.html p. 1026

[7] Duncan. Pharoah’s Dream.

[8] Duncan, Pharoah’s Dream.

[9] Paul Apple, https://www.bibleoutlines.com/blog/genesis-411-57-from-pit-to-pinnacle

[10] Pritchard.

[11] Deffinbaugh.

[12] Quoted in James Montgomery Boice, Genesis: An Expositional Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1998)

[13] Pritchard.

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