12th Sunday After Pentecost. August 20th, 2023. Series

Genesis 45:1-15, Psalm 133:1-3, Isaiah 56:1, Isaiah 56:6-8, Psalm 67:1-7, Romans 11:1-2, Romans 11:29-32, Matthew 15:10-28

A). GOD SENT ME HERE.

Genesis 45:1-15.

The Old Testament Joseph is very much a Type of Christ. Favoured by his father (cf. Genesis 37:3), Joseph was sold by his brethren for twenty pieces of silver (Genesis 37:28). Favoured by His Father (Luke 3:22), Jesus ‘came unto His own, and His own (people) received Him not’ (John 1:11), and He was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:15).

Joseph went from his father’s favour to the pit, and into slavery. In Potiphar’s house, he went from his master’s favour to false accusation to prison. In prison, Joseph went from the warder’s favour to the forgetfulness of his surviving former cell-mate: but at last the LORD intervened, and Joseph was raised from prison to the position of Prime Minister of the land!

In the passage before us, we see Joseph’s brethren on their second visit to Egypt. They were totally unaware that the powerful man who had been toying with them, seemingly seeking occasion against them, was their despised brother of so long ago. Neither were they aware that he understood every word they were saying.

For Joseph, it finally became too much. “I am Joseph!” he declared. And, following that revelation, the first item on the agenda: “Does my father still live?” (Genesis 45:3). To which the reply was gobsmacked silence!

The powerful man in Egyptian regalia again spoke to his brothers: “Please come near to me” (which they did). “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt” (Genesis 45:4).

Is Joseph now beginning to accuse them, after all these years? No, he encourages them not to be angry with themselves, and three times informs them that “God sent me” here “to preserve life” (Genesis 45:5); “to preserve a posterity for you… and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Genesis 45:7); “not you sent me here, but God” (Genesis 45:8).

Jesus said, ‘I go to prepare a place for you… that where I am there you may be also’ (John 14:2-3). In like manner, Joseph had sent word to his father, speaking of all his glory in Egypt, and providing for all his father’s posterity in the best part of the land (Genesis 45:9-11).

The likeness to Jesus continues. Given up for dead, Joseph proved to be yet alive (Genesis 45:12). And the grave could not hold Jesus!

Jesus said, in effect: ‘Love your haters, do good to those hostile to you’ (Luke 6:27). It is the kind of Love which God demonstrated when He gave His only begotten Son (John 3:16), loving US even while we were yet sinners (Romans 5:8). It is the kind of Love which Jesus demonstrated when He forgave Peter (Mark 16:7).

Jesus also said, ‘Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful’ (Luke 6:36). This seems to be what Joseph accomplished here. Joseph “kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him” (Genesis 45:15).

The whole Joseph cycle shows us the outworking of God’s providence in the life of His servant. Years later, Joseph would reiterate: ‘you meant evil against me: but God meant it for good’ - not only for His own family, but also in sparing ‘much people alive’ Genesis 50:20). All things DO work together for good for those who love the Lord (Romans 8:28).

B). THE DEW OF HERMON.

Psalm 133:1-3.

I like the Scottish Metrical version of this Psalm:

“Behold, how good a thing it is,

and how becoming well,

Together such as brethren are

in unity to dwell!”

A good one to sing, perhaps, as we break bread together.

“Behold” calls us to look carefully, to look intensely. In the Greek of the New Testament, we are told that John ‘saw’ the grave clothes lying on Resurrection morning; but Peter ‘looked intently upon’ them (John 20:5-6). Or we could say, Peter ‘beheld’ them.

So, in our Psalm, what are we to look upon with such intensity? We are to look upon, to consider, “how good and pleasant a thing it is” for “brothers” (and sisters) to dwell together in unity. This applies on every level of life.

First, it applies on the level of kinship. It is more than just ‘nice’ if we can get on with our siblings. However, we are more familiar with negative examples: like Cain’s murderous, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ (Genesis 4:9); or the supplicant before Jesus who complained that his brother had not divided the inheritance with him (Luke 12:13).

In the Bible, Jonathan and David were only brothers-in-law, but their souls were ‘knit’ together in a mutual, covenantal, love (1 Samuel 18:1; 1 Samuel 18:3).

Second, it applies on the level of community. As the bombs fell on London in the early 1940s, many were the acts of sheer human kindness between people in the same plight as one another. Similarly, in the times of distress caused by natural disasters elsewhere in the world.