Genesis 44:25-45:28

We even see Jacob, on his deathbed, giving his blessing to the brothers in Genesis chapter 49 and when he gets to Simeon, he hasn’t got anything good to say about him at all. Instead, he refers to his anger and cruelty.

However, even he goes back to Egypt to implore “the man” to deal mercifully with young Benjamin.

Today we’ll finish off chapter 44 with the last part of Judah’s speech to Joseph and we’ll get to the climax of this whole drama that Joseph’s put into place to deal with his brothers.

We’ll begin in Genesis 44:22 just before we left off last time. Judah’s finished giving Joseph, “the man” a recap of all the events that’ve happened since their decision to first come to Egypt to buy grain. He’s just at the point where he’s recapping how Joseph had told them to bring their young brother Benjamin back to Egypt and how they’d told Joseph that Benjamín couldn’t leave their father because it would kill him.

We notice that during the whole speech Judah refers to themselves, and to Jacob their father, as “your servants”.

So, we start from verse 22 with the rest of Judah’s speech to Joseph.

And we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 

But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’ 

“So it was, when we went up to your servant my father, that we told him the words of my lord. 

And our father said, ‘Go back and buy us a little food.’ 

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.’ 

Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces”; and I have not seen him since. 

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.’ 

“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, 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. 

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.’ 

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?” 

Again, Judah is the spokesman for the group, and we can be pretty sure that any one of them would have offered himself.

Joseph’s tested his brothers, and they all pass the test. Rather than see Benjamin go into slavery, they’re willing to take his place.

My friends, later on in history there came Another One from within the line of Judah. He’s known as the Lion of the tribe of Judah, and He bore the penalty for the guilty. We see in Romans 5:8,

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. 

Christ took the place of the guilty.

This brings us to Genesis chapter 45 and the story from the previous chapters continues.

Joseph’s about to reveal himself to his brethren.

Genesis 45 verse1,

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. 

Joseph clears the room of everyone but his brothers. It was probably a formal sort of a gathering with all the servants and other officers present but now everyone is cleared out. Only Joseph and his brothers are in the room.

Verse 2,

And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

The emotion inside of Joseph has now reached a point where it’s uncontrollable.

This time he couldn’t get out of the room. There’s just enough left in him to get everybody but his brothers out before he breaks down and begins to weep.

His weeping is so intense that the Egyptians outside the room heard it but not only that, the house of Pharoah heard it.

We assume that Pharoah’s house and Joseph’s house were separate, and we don’t know how far they were apart but those in Pharoah’s house heard Joseph weeping.

Can we imagine the passion and the explosion of emotions that were released from Joseph at that moment. All the hurt, all the pain of his life separated from his family and his entire journey since then must have combined with what he now felt as he stands before these same brothers who hated him so much they wanted him dead.

All this emotion explodes into a weeping that probably none of the Egyptians outside or even Pharoah had ever heard before.

No one knows why this incredible charge of emotion is released except Joseph.

His own brethren don’t know why, and nor does anyone else. Now there’s no further reason for Joseph to conceal his identity from them. He’s has fully tested his brethren.

Let’s repeat at this point that the day’s coming when the Lord Jesus Christ is going to make Himself known to His brethren, the Jews.

When He came the first time, John 1:11 tells us that,

He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him.

In fact, they delivered Him up to be crucified. But when He comes the second time He will make Himself known to His own people. Zechariah 13:6 tells us that and I’ll read,

And one will say to him, ‘What are these wounds between your arms?’ Then he will answer, ‘Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.’

Christ will make Himself known to His brethren. In Zechariah 13:1 we read,

“In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.

It will be a family affair between the Lord Jesus and His brethren. The episode of Joseph revealing himself to his brothers gives us a little insight of how wonderful that day of Christ’s revelation to Israel will be at His so called second coming.

Now let’s not confuse the Lord’s second coming that we see here with the rapture of the Church.

In these scriptures in Zechariah and in the picture that Joseph’s reconciliation with his brethren gives us, we see Christ’s reconciliation with his brethren, the Nation Israel.

In the rapture the Lord doesn’t come to the earth. We, the church, will meet Him in the air.

The rapture or the great “snatching up” as the Bible calls it is entirely Church related. The church is that great body of believers, Jew and Gentile, living and dead, who have believed in the redemption provided for them by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The purpose of this great “snatching up” that we call the rapture is to take that body of Christ off the earth before the great and terrible tribulation that follows where the nation of Israel will undergo the greatest persecution it has ever experienced. Much greater that the Nazi holocaust.

The Lord’s second coming is where He’ll come to earth on the Mount of Olives at the end of the seven year period known as the great tribulation.

As we journey through the bible, we’ll see this with a clarity that only a study of the whole Word, the whole counsel of God reveals.

So, we see that Joseph is so charged with emotion that he can’t contain himself. In the house of Pharaoh, they can hear the weeping and they can’t understand what’s happening over at Joseph’s house.

Genesis 45 verse 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. 

I-Am-Joseph!

Those words have bought the whole book of Genesis we’ve seen up to now to a climax.

Could the word translated “dismayed” here even begin to explain the tension, the fear, and all the range of emotions that must have been flashing through those brothers like lightning bolts.

If we thought they were afraid before, they were utterly terrified at Joseph’s presence now. It had been about twenty–five years since they’d seen him when they sold him to the Ishmaelites, and they’re sure that now he’s going to want to get his revenge.

Because of the punishment they now believed was coming to them, the great outpouring of emotion by Joseph and his manner in which he revealed his true identity, the brothers are too shocked and frightened to speak.

Joseph, the brother they’d hated and plotted to murder, Joseph who they sold into slavery was not only alive, but standing right in front of them, and not only that he was the second most powerful man in the world! Along with that he was the one on which they relied to avoid the starvation of them and their families.

He had told them many years ago that they would all bow down to him and they already have, multiple times.

Their terror and their astonishment prevented them from uttering so much as a word.

Verse 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. 

Joseph asks his brothers to come close to him and again he says, “I’m your brother. You know, the one you sold into Egypt.”

It doesn’t get any better for the brothers with these words.

But, notice the reaction of Joseph here in the next verse, verse 5. He’s not angry, and he doesn’t seek revenge even though that would be the normal, human reaction.

So, why doesn’t he seek revenge?

Let’s read verse 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. 

Here again we see this magnificent faith, this unmovable trust and belief in God. You see, the thing that Joseph could see in all of this was that God had permitted everything that’s happened to him for a purpose. God was moving in his life; God’s hand was always on him.

All Joseph’s sorrows were for a purpose. God used them to preserve his family and provide the right conditions for that family to become a nation. Although Joseph was a victim at the hands of men, God turned it around for His glory. None of it was for a loss.

If this family of Jacob’s didn’t go into Egypt, they would’ve mixed among the pagan tribes of Canaan and they would have ceased to become a special and separated nation of people as God intended them to be. God had to put them in a place where they could grow, yet still be separated from the pagan nations.

In this story we see the incredible wonder and harmony of the meeting of the free will of man and the predestination of God!

How can we explain this? Man acts just as freely as if there were no predestination whatever; and God ordains, arranges, supervises, and over-rules, as if there were no free will at all.” Only by recognising the incredible wonder of God can we accept this. We can’t fully understand it, hey we’re talking about our all-powerful all-knowing God after all, but we can accept it by faith.

Joseph says, “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God.” See, Joseph realised God ruled his life, not good men, not evil men, not circumstances, or fate. God was in control, and because God was in control, all things worked together for good.

We’re of course in Genesis 45 and now we read verses 6 to 8,

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. 

And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 

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. 

If you and I could see the hand of God in our lives, would we become angry and seek revenge? I don’t think we would. Again, this man gives the glory to God.

Joseph was seventeen when he was brought into Egypt. He was thirty when he stood before Pharaoh. There’d been seven years of plenty and now there’s been two years of famine. So, Joseph is thirty–nine years old and he’s been living in the land of Egypt for twenty–two years. He sees the hand of God in every part of this.

To verses 9 to 11 now,

“Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. 

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.” ‘ 

Jacob and his family simply could not have survived had they stayed in the land of Palestine at this particular time. The entire family would have perished. Joseph wants to bring them down to the land of Goshen which is actually the best part of Egypt.

It’s in that land that God’s going to make them a nation, sheltered from the rest of the world.

The lives of the brothers testified to the fact that they needed to get out of the land of Canaan.

Verse 12,

“And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 

Most probably they stood there absolutely spellbound and were down on their faces and then up again.

They had absolutely nothing to say as they listened to Joseph speaking these words that seemed unbelievable.

There was no interpreter now. Joseph was speaking to them in their native tongue of Hebrew. He says, “See it’s me talking. There’s no interpreter. It’s me speaking.”

Now verses 13 and 14,

So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.” 

Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 

What a tender scene this was between these two full brothers.

Verse 15,

Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him. 

Joseph was affectionate and loving to all his brothers. Joseph didn’t exclude even those who had been especially cruel to him. His heart was open to his brothers, both as a group and as individuals.

The brothers were stunned, but now they begin to recover their senses, and Joseph and them have quite a talk.

Just what they said to each other isn’t recorded, neither is how long they spoke for.

Did they talk about the events that led to the brother’s hatred? Did they beg Joseph’s forgiveness? Did they admit to now understanding what Joseph’s dreams really meant? Well, we can only imagine.

Now the news begins to be spread around. The gossip mill would have been exploding.

Now verse 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. 

There was all this noise coming from Joseph’s house, and the people could hear it. Pharaoh heard it as well and he wanted to know what was going on.

He probably asked one of the servants from Joseph’s house what all the commotion meant. The servant probably said, “Well, you know those eleven men who came down from Canaan, they’re Joseph’s brothers!”

It delighted Pharaoh. Why would it delight him? Well, remember that Pharaoh was probably a Hyksos king and of the same racial strain as Joseph and his family. He hadn’t been able to trust the Egyptians too much and was pleased with Joseph’s faithfulness; so, he was delighted that there were going to be more like him. Probably Pharoah also saw it as a way to keep Joseph doing what he was doing, working for the good of the land of Egypt.

To verses 17 to 19 now,

And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. 

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. 

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. 

Notice that these are Pharoah’s orders. He orders wagons to be sent. These men from Canaan were not using wagons yet, but the Egyptians were more advanced.

The sons of Israel received transportation, provision, garments, and riches because of who their favoured brother was. Pharaoh blessed the sons of Jacob for Joseph’s sake.

To return to Canaan with ‘carts from Egypt’ was like a person taking a plane ride when they had no idea that planes even existed.

Verse 20,

Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ” 

Pharoah’s saying, “You won’t need to bring anything extra because we’ll furnish everything you need.”

Verse 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. 

Now we go to Genesis 45:22-26,

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. 

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. 

So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.” 

Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 

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. 

Joseph tells the brothers to see they don’t become troubled along the way.

The idea behind the words “become troubled” means don’t become angry or quarrel amongst yourselves.

Joseph knew that as soon as these men left his presence, they’d be tempted to act in selfish and aggressive ways, and he tells them to guard against this.

So off they go back to Canaan again and they report to Jacob all that’s happened. Now, Jacob just couldn’t believe it was true.

Verses 27 and 28,

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. 

Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.” 

Jacob was told Joseph was dead and he believed it. Now he’s told Joseph was alive, and he didn’t believe it.

However, once his sons told him the words that Joseph had spoken and showed him the blessings that came to them through Joseph, he believed Joseph was alive. He believed he was alive even though he’d not physically seen him yet.

It’s the same with the Lord Jesus, we can say that the only way we know Jesus is alive is from His words and His blessings in our own lives.

Joseph never had God appear to him or speak to him like the other patriarchs did and yet his faith in God and his belief in him was strong.

Joseph didn’t have the volumes of the written Word of God as we do today but the word he did have from his father and his grandfather and from his own observation of the world around him were enough for him to believe. He believed not only that God existed but that His Word was truth. He knew God in other words.

We can say that we believe the prime minister of Australia exists, but how many of know him personally?

Many people, when asked about their belief in God will say, “I’ll believe when I see.” The trouble with that is that it can never happen. The heart of faith believes in order to see! You’ll see when you believe.

CS Lewis once said, “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen. Not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” If you believe in the love of God there are no questions; but if you refuse to believe, there are no answers.

The “believe it when I see it “crowd are not being honest because they actually believe in a great many things they don’t see. Air, gravity, electricity, wind thought, sound waves, love hate. They may see the effects of these, but they don’t see those things themselves and there are countless other things that are believed in without being seen.

Mostly, the believe it when I see it people simply are not willing to believe in an almighty, all powerful, all knowing God that they will be accountable to someday.

Like it or not these people live by faith, but that faith has only the world and its systems as a foundation and they’re wrong more than they’re right.

Faith is the foundation for everything. There can be no knowledge of anything whatsoever apart from faith. It’s therefore supremely important for us to think clearly about our faith, and decide what that faith will be based on, because what we believe about God effects our eternity.

Joseph says, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive.” Knowing that his favoured son was alive – back from the dead, so to speak, changed Israel’s words from, “all these things are against me”, as he said in Genesis 42:36 to, “it is enough.”

These words of faith came from Israel, not Jacob. When Jacob was in charge, we saw a whinging, self-pitying, complaining, unbelieving type of bloke, but, in Israel, the man God that had conquered, we hear words of faith.

So, finally old Jacob was convinced, and he began to exhibit some enthusiasm.

What thrilling things are going on here!

The prospect of seeing Joseph again certainly sparked a great enthusiasm in old Jacob and he makes the decision to go down to Egypt.

Did he intended to stay in Egypt? Probably not. More than likely, he intended to pay a brief visit to his son and then return back home as soon as the famine was over.

However, Jacob never returned to Canaan except for a burial, his own burial. He died in the land of Egypt. Although his whole family lived there, he was buried in the land of Canaan.

We’ll carry on the story next time my friends and until then always expect that whatever challenges you may go through in this life God has your good in mind and His purposes for simply cannot be changed.