Part 19  Book of Genesis

 

 

 

The brothers second trip to Egypt

43.1-7 The famine is more severe and Jacob tells his son’s to go for more food in Egypt. They tell him they can’t go without Benjamin. Judah insists on taking Benjamin. Jacob asks why they told the man they had another brother. They reply that the man kept asking them about if they had a brother and if their father was still living. “How did we know he would ask us to bring our brother there?” they reply to Jacob.

The family is bickering about this. They have many issues yet to be resolved.

43.8-14 Judah tells his father that he will be responsible for Benjamin and he himself will be “surety” for him. If he doesn’t bring Benjamin back he will be guilty forever.

Now Judah is asking his father, who already feels he has lost two sons, Joseph and Simeon, to take a chance on losing a third son. Judah pledges surety now for Jacob’s third son--he had refused to pledge his third son to Tamar.

Jacob now gives in and says they should also take some gifts of honey, gum, and nuts and twice the money--the money they found and more money to pay for these rations. Jacob will trust God for everything to work out and will accept whatever happens as the will of God.

Here we see Judah stepping up after learning from his past mistakes. We also see, perhaps, why Judah became the dominate and ruling tribe in the south and Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) became the dominate tribe in the north. God is beginning to heal the family as they learn from their mistakes.

43.15-25 So the brother’s take the gifts and the money and return to Egypt, where they present themselves to Joseph. When Joseph sees Benjamin is with them he tells his house steward to take them to the house and slaughter an animal for them all to dine on at noon. When the brother’s are at Joseph’s house they fear it has to do with the money from last trip and tell the steward they have that money to return and more to pay for the food they need now. The steward tells them they must have a great God because he got paid when they were here last. The steward then gives them water to wash their feet, brings out Simeon, and feeds their animals. They laid out the gifts as they were told Joseph was coming and they would eat with him at noon.

43.26-34 When Joseph came home they presented the gifts to him and bowed low to the ground to him. He greeted them and asked how their father was. Is he in good health? They replied that father was well. Then Joseph saw Benjamin and said, “God be gracious to you.” With that he was overcome with emotion and left the room and wept in another area of the house. The he washed his face and reappeared. He gave the order to serve the meal. Joseph was served by himself at a table, the brothers at a table, and the rest of the Egyptians ate at a table as they did not eat with Hebrews. As the brothers were seated by Joseph’s direction, they were seated in seniority from the oldest to the youngest they looked at each other in astonishment. Portions were served from Joseph’s table to them and Benjamin got the largest portions.

This time as Joseph seats them in order and Benjamin is shown favoritism by the largest portions, the brothers show no resentment. This in contrast to them sitting down and eating when Joseph was in the pit.

This is also Joseph as a type of Jesus, the suffering servant who ministers the bread of life to his brothers who once wanted to kill him. Now he feeds them from his table and saves them and the whole world form a famine of bread during a seven year period. This has important meaning for the seven years tribulation that will be coming upon the world at the end of the time of the gentiles.


The incident of the silver goblet

44.1-13 Then Joseph instructed his steward to fill the brother’s bags with food, put each one’s money in the bag, and put his silver drinking goblet in Benjamin’s bag. In the morning the brother’s left for home. After having just left and not traveling to far, Joseph sent the steward to overtake them and accuse them of stealing the silver goblet. He follows these instructions and the brothers claim innocence of any wrong doing. They remind the steward that they even offered to return the money from the first trip. They tell him whomever has the goblet shall die, and the rest of them will be slaves forever. The steward tells them their proposal is just, but he will just take the person who has the goblet with him back to Egypt and the rest of them can go free. The steward checks their bags from oldest to youngest and finally finds the goblet, as preplanned, in Benjamin’s sack. At this point all the brother’s returned with Benjamin to the city.

This appears to be a test: Will the brothers leave Benjamin alone or will they finally have learned the lesson about family sticking together. They had plotted against Joseph, now they are going to stand with their younger brother.

44.14-17 When the brothers enter Joseph’s house they throw themselves on the ground before him. Joseph demands to know why they have committed this crime. Judah speaks for the family asking how they can plead or prove their innocence. God, he says, has uncovered their crime. Judah says that they will be his slaves along with Benjamin in whose sack the goblet was found. Joseph says only Benjamin is guilty, they may go back to their father.

Having devised the plan to sell Joseph into slavery, Judah now offers to accept slavery upon himself and his brothers rather than abandon Benjamin as they, with the exception of ineffectual Reuben, had once callously abandoned Joseph.

We see Judah fulfilling his future role as the ruling tribe in the nation of Israel to come. The family has learned their lesson and their dysfunctional ways are being healed in love for one another.

44.18-34 Now Judah makes an appeal to Joseph that if Benjamin does not return to their father it will be the death of him from a broken heart. He explains how their father loves Benjamin most of all of them because his older brother is dead and Benjamin will be the heir. Judah tells Joseph he has pledge to his father that he will be guilty forever if he doesn’t return with Benjamin. He offers himself to be Joseph’s slave forever--just let my brothers and Benjamin go back to their father.

Now Joseph sees that his family has truly repented in their hearts for what they have done to him in the past. Judah’s plea shows that the brothers have accepted their father’s desire for Benjamin to be the heir in place of Joseph. They are no longer jealous or envious and have come to understand their father and his desires. All of this trial has made them realize their past mistakes, and shows their growth as a family unit. Perhaps Judah was coming to a realization that this man might be Joseph as he painstakingly describes to Joseph the whole family situation. This family is a type of the church struggling to become the pure bride of Yeshua!

The healing

45.1-8 Joseph could no longer control himself and had all his Egyptian attendants withdraw from the room. His sobs were so loud the Egyptians heard and the news reached Pharaoh’s palace. Joseph tells his brothers who he is and they were so dumbfounded they couldn’t speak. Joseph tells them he is their brother who they sold into slavery but that they should not be distressed for doing so--God has sent him ahead of them to preserve them. He tells them there will be five more years of famine and God has used all of this to save the family in an extraordinary deliverance.

Joseph only sees good--he sees the hand of God in all of this. He has probably meditated on all the promises of God to his great grandfathers and sees this as God preserving his family in order to keep the Abrahamic promises.

45.9-15 Joseph tells his brothers to return to Canaan and tell their father that he is alive and lord of Egypt. When they return to Egypt he will have them live in the land of Goshen, near him, with their flocks, herds, children, and grandchildren. He will provide for them there as their will be five more years of famine. He tells them to tell Jacob everything that has happened and to return quickly. With that he embraces Benjamin and they cry together. Only then could his brothers begin to speak with him.

The family is now able to accept Jacob’s favoritism with grace and good will.

45.16-28 The news reaches Pharaoh’s palace and he and the court are pleased. Pharaoh tells Joseph to relocate to Egypt where he and family can live off the fat of the land. He sends wagon loads of goods along with the brothers and tells them to leave their goods behind in Canaan as there will be plenty for them here. Joseph sends them off with a change of clothing and the wagons. To Benjamin he gives extra clothing and three hundred pieces of silver, plus wagon loads of the best things of Egypt to his father.

When the brothers arrive in Canaan and tell their father the news at first he doesn’t believe it, and then he is overwhelmed with joy. When Jacob sees the wagon loads of goods and it sinks in that Joseph is alive and lord over Egypt he is anxious to pack up and go!

Next: Part 20