JOSEPH REVEALS HIS IDENTITY.
Genesis 45:1-7, Genesis 45:15.
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 (cf. Genesis 37:28). Favoured by His Father (cf. Luke 3:22), Jesus ‘came unto His own, and His own (people) received Him not’ (cf. John 1:11), and He was betrayed for thirty pieces of silver (cf. 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, and he tearfully revealed his identity to his brethren (GENESIS 45:1-2). “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). [I see a similarity here to the words of our Lord to Saul of Tarsus: ‘I AM Jesus, whom you are persecuting’ (Acts 9:5).]
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); and ‘it was not you that sent me here, but God’ (cf. Genesis 45:8).
Jesus said, in effect: ‘Love your haters, do good to those hostile to you’ (cf. Luke 6:27). It is the kind of Love which God demonstrated when He gave His only begotten Son (cf. John 3:16), loving US even while we were yet sinners (cf. Romans 5:8). Jesus also said, ‘Be merciful, as your Father also is merciful’ (cf. 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’ (cf. Genesis 50:20). All things DO work together for good for those who love the Lord (cf. Romans 8:28).
