Well the last time we saw Joseph Pharaoh had promoted him from the prison to the palace making him the prime minister of Egypt. All because he was able to interpret the dream that God had given to Pharaoh. Also, because Joseph had great solutions to the famine that would be coming to the land after the seven years of abundance in the land.
But these next few chapters are about much more than Joseph’s rise to fame. There’s a lot more going on here.
First of all, the next few chapters show how God was fulfilling His promise made to Abraham many years before about how the nation of Israel would be under bondage to Egypt for 400 years.
[Read Genesis 15:13-14.]
God was building a nation that would have the strength to follow Him completely. That development included their 400 year training course in depending on God through the school of Egyptian enslavement. God had to get the nation of Israel there and these next few chapters show how He accomplished that.
It’s also worthy to note that we must remember that God’s always at work at something much bigger than us all the time. Ye He works in and through our individual lives, but it’s always a part of a grander plan. Just like here with Joseph.
So that’s the first theme – God moving Israel into Egypt.
But the second theme that’ll be brought out in tonight’s passages is the principle found in Numbers 32:23, “Be sure your sin will find you out.”
In that passage the people were promising Moses that they would obey the Lord’s commands concerning the land. Moses responded by assuring them that if they disobeyed the Lord, their sin would find them. In other words, they could not hide their sin from God. They might be able to hide it from man – but not from God. And since we have a holy and just God, they would have to answer for their sins.
[Luke eating crayons story.]
So let’s see how develops that theme through the events in Joseph’s life.
I. The faith of Joseph remains
[Read Genesis 41:50-52.]
Now it’s important to remember that though Pharaoh had tried to make Joseph very Egyptian. Joseph was made to look like an Egyptian with his grooming and clothing, he was given an Egyptian name, he was given an Egyptian wife, and he was made ruler of Egypt. But even with all of that, Joseph remained very Jewish. Look at the names he gave his sons.
- Manasseh, “forget”
- Ephraim, “fruitful”
Both of these are Hebrew names and both have everything to do with God blessing his
life. These names stood as constant reminders to everyone, and to Joseph himself, of what God had done in his life. He might have been surrounded by paganism, but his faith in God was evident for all to see. I think that’s why the Lord continued to bless him so much!
But just like Joseph had prophesied, after the seven years of abundance in the land, seven years of famine came. So lets look at how:
II. The famine that affected everyone
[Read Genesis 41:53-57.]
The seven years of abundance was over and the fields all dried up. The people seemed to run out of food quickly as if they hadn’t prepared like Joseph had. But when they ran out they all started to come to Joseph to buy grain. The word got out and people from all over the world started to come to Egypt to buy and trade for food.
Not only did this provide for people’s needs, but it surely increased the wealth and power of Egypt in the land. So while the famine made people dependant on Egypt, it also made Egypt the first, real superpower in the world.
So if the whole earth had been affected, it must have affected Joseph’s family back home. Here’s where they come into the picture.
[Read Genesis 42:1-9a.]
Joseph’s dreams were coming true and he knew it!
[Read Genesis 37:6-7.]
Not only was the dream true concerning the brothers bowing down to him, but also the fact that his grain stood tall while they were experiencing the famine.
So in this moment of recognizing his brothers, Joseph also recognized God’s faithfulness. But how come the brothers didn’t recognize him? Well remember that 15 years had passed. The last time they saw Joseph he was 17 years old – now he’s 32. Also, he had been groomed and dressed to look like an Egyptian. So we can understand why they didn’t know it was Joseph.
But he sure knew them. And in that moment of recognition he remembered what they had done to them. But wait, there was only 10 of them. Where was his brother Benjamin? Did they treat him like they had done to himself? Joseph had to know for sure if his only brother from his own mother was still alive. So he comes up with a plan to find out for sure keeping in mind that he simply cannot trust his brother’s word. He needed proof.
[Read Genesis 42:9-20.]
Joseph accuses them of being spies so they wouldn’t know that he knew who they were. He then seems to ask for a volunteer to go get Benjamin while the others stay in prison. It seems that nobody volunteered so they spent the next three days in prison thinking about it. Then, Joseph tells them that only one of them would stay in prison while the rest of them go and retrieve the younger brother.
But then something happens. While they were on their journey to do as the ruler of Egypt had instructed them, they become convicted of their sin against Joseph and feel like God is repaying them for their sin. After all it was:
III. The sin that was seen by God
[Read Genesis 42:21-23.]
In other words, Joseph had been using an interpreter to talk with them, hiding the fact that he understood Hebrew.
[Read Genesis 42:24-28.]
When Joseph witnessed the conviction the brothers were going through it caused him to weep. The emotions were so overpowering that he had to leave the room to compose himself. It was probably a combination of sorrow for years lost with the family, for the pain that they made him go through, but also some compassion on the because of the pain they were going through. Even with what they had done to him, he still loved them.
He sends them on their way with food for home, supplies for their trip, and even gave them back all their money that they had used to buy the grain. This act of kindness on his part brought great conviction upon the brothers. They didn’t see it as the kindness of Joseph. They saw it as a sign from God that He knew what they had done to their brother.
You know over the years they had probably trained themselves to not think about what they had done to their brother. But these events brought it all back to mind. Sometimes the kindness of others will show us the cruelty in our own hearts.
That’s why mean people get so mad when you’re nice to them. Your kindness shows them their sin. If you react rudely to rude people, then you’re both wrong. But love makes hate show up. This act of kindness by Joseph put a spotlight on the selfish actions of the brothers.
So there they were, blessed by a man they didn’t know, thinking about how cruel they were to their little brother. They knew God had seen what they did. They knew this principle even before it was ever recorded in Scripture. Hebrews 4:13 reads: “And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”
We might think we can hide our sins from God, but there’s no chance of that. He sees even the most private and even internal sins of our hearts. And know this, if we don’t deal with our sins – He will! God will chasten His children to help them live like they ought to live.
The brothers are realizing that their sin against Joseph was known by God. They’re also going to realize that their sin was also known, or at least suspected, by their own father.
Remember what Jacob said to his sons back up in verse four?
[Read Genesis 42:4.]
Keep that in mind as we look at:
IV. The sin that was seen by Jacob
[Read Genesis 42:29-38.]
So here’s what’s happened. They come home to Jacob and tell him everything that’s happened. While they’re talking and unloading all the grain they brought back with them, its discovered that they still have all the money they took with them – yet Simeon is gone!
Jacob’s suspicions are now sky-high as he feels like the brothers have sold Simeon for grain instead of buying it. He even half-way accuses them of doing this to Joseph and wanting to do it to Benjamin.
[Read Genesis 42:36.]
Now, they didn’t sell Simeon as a slave and had no intentions of selling Benjamin as a slave – but their reputation was so bad in their father’s eyes that he drew the conclusion that his sons were up to no good. So he tells them that no way could they take Benjamin back to Egypt. Their sin against Joseph was obvious to Jacob even though thy went to great lengths to cover their tracks.
So often this is the case. We think we’re so sneaky and that nobody knows about our sins, yet, they are apparent to those around us.
Dealing with a drug addict story:
- financial problems
- eyes, shaky, erratic
- lies, slip-ups, confessions
- wife and kids
You see, not only are our sins seen by God, but they are usually seen by others at some
time or another. So how do we deal with that reality? We need to deal with sin quickly and completely. Repent of your sins and do go back! Then you don’t have to worry about God or anybody seeing anything!
So while Joseph is trying to find out if his kid brother Benjamin is still alive, God is using these events to bring the brothers to repentance. We’ll see more of that next week. But until then, what will it take for us to repent of the sins we hold onto? The conviction of God? The confrontation of others? Why wait. Deal with whatever sins you have today. God sees it all and will chasten us if we refuse to listen to His Spirit of conviction within our heart.
