Joseph: Powerful Mercy (Part I)

• Review
• Joseph has been lied about, sold, mistreated, and forgotten by everyone in his life
• Joseph is given a gift to interpret dreams that first gets him into trouble, then saves him from certainly rotting to death in an Egyptian prison
• Joseph interprets the Pharaoh’s dream
• 7 years of were coming
• 7 years of were coming right afterward
• Joseph suggested harvesting and saving in preparation for what was coming – even nations around would for food in Egypt
• Joseph is promoted to 2nd in Egypt – only under Pharaoh himself
• He stored so much food over the 7 years of plenty that they didn’t even bother to count any longer
• He was rewarded with a signet , a , a , and a .
• "Two men looked out from prison bars.
• One saw mud, one saw stars."
• What you see is what you get.

2Meanwhile…Back in Israel…

• The famine arrives and hits Jacob’s family hard Gen.42:1-2
  • The brothers had clearly not gotten over what they had done to their brother
  • Note their reaction when anything bad happens to them
  • These are grown men now – with families of their own – yet shackled to guilt because of their great sin (and Jacob probably never let them forget!)

3Meanwhile…Back in Israel…

• Even though his sons are grown with families of their own, who is still the clear “head” of the family? Genesis 42:1-5
• Jacob clearly has not grown in his for his least preferred wife’s sons Genesis 42:3-4
  • He wants to be sure that Benjamin (his only remaining son from his favorite wife, Rachel) stays alive and well

  • QUESTION: Do you think this shows that Jacob still harbored a mistrust of the other sons toward their one remaining half-brother?

  • Benjamin is now the apple of Jacob’s eye as earlier his brother and mother had been; Leah and her sons still matter less to Jacob.”
  • -G.Wenham (WBC p.405)

4Joseph Meets His Brothers Again

• Joseph’s system of meeting needs of the countries around him probably involved several hundred men – it is incredible that these traveling beggars should ever meet up with Joseph himself! Genesis 42:5-12
• Joseph wishes to see if these brothers were the same brothers that had kidnapped him and sold him into slavery – so he plays a game with them Genesis 42:5-13
  • These brothers fully deserved to be treated harshly (and more)

  • QUESTION: What were Joseph’s motives in speaking harshly to his brothers?

  • Joseph accuses them of being spies
  • They respond to the accusation by saying they are all brothers of one man

  • How would this argument help their cause?

  • Their answer is interesting in that in the was the son of one man…even including Joseph who they didn’t know.
  • Joseph continues to hammer away at the fact that they must be spies
  • In his interrogation, he is able to find out about his without giving away his
• He was particularly interested in what his half-brothers had done to his full brother (seeing what they had done to him) Gen.42:13
  • Let the Games Begin!
  • Joseph decides to prove his brother’s change of heart by putting them through a test
  • brothers would stay in prison, brother would go back for Benjamin
• Joseph is able to give his brothers a brief taste of Egyptian prisons where he had spent so many years of his life Gen.42:14-17
• Joseph has a change of heart Gen.42:18-20
  • Now only one would be held while the others return for Benjamin

  • Why did Joseph have a change of heart?

• The reader is suddenly informed more into the previous scene when Joseph’s brothers kidnapped him Gen.42:21-22

  • What was Joseph’s reaction during the kidnapping?

  • The brothers seem to reveal a guilt that they have been carrying around for some 20 years!
  • Reuben brings the message home by indicating that this is all happening because God is wreaking on their sinful deed against Joseph
  • He (Simeon) was Jacob’s second son, and tradition holds that he was the most cruel of all the brothers.

5– C.F. Pfeiffer, Wycliffe Bible Com. OT

• Joseph heard them and understood but kept the translator to keep the ruse going Gen.42:23-24
  • Joseph is putting on a ruse of harshness, but his is clearly still toward his brothers and his family
  • The ruse is complete when the son of Jacob, the brother to the other 9, is before their eyes and carried away
• Joseph completes the game by stuffing the brother’s bags with money Gen.42:25-28
  • Only ONE brother found the silver that night they stopped
• Reasons for Joseph filling the bags with silver:

  • Maybe a variety of these reasons?

  • They see the money as punishment and not a blessing

6The Brothers Report to Jacob

• The brothers report that they had spoken to “The man, the lord over the land” Gen.42:29-34
  • The brothers only gave certain details to their father in an effort to soften the blow
  • They never mentioned that they were in
  • They stretch the truth about Simeon’s whereabouts
  • They also omit the fact that “the man” threatened to take their if they fail to present Benjamin
  • They include a contrived tale about being able to in the land (to soften the blow?)
  • But Jacob’s reaction indicates that he was not fooled
  • All Jacob could think was that Joseph was gone, Simeon was gone, and now Benjamin is going to be gone too
  • Notice the brother’s reaction when they discovered the money in their sacks

  • QUESTION: They had just seen the money in one sack on the way home! Why are they so surprised here?

• Four Suggestions:
  • – This was added later to complete the story where the one brother found the money in his sack on the way home and now the others find money in their sacks
  • – This was not necessarily in chronological order meaning that the brothers ALL found money in their sacks AS they traveled home and the reader is just informed about it now
  • – The brothers all found money in their sacks, but it would have looked to suspicious to Jacob for them to include it in their story when they returned with one less son (he may have thought they sold their brother!). So, they ACTED like they were frightened and surprised so that their father wouldn’t be suspicious.
  • – The brothers were really not aware of the money and now it only added to their guilt of the re-enactment of the scenario 20 years earlier (they come to their father minus one son but plus money in their pockets)
  • No matter how you cut this, Jacob is clearly eyeing his brothers through a fog of (even though it is never spoken aloud)
• Reuben almost “picks up” on his father’s unspoken accusation of mistrust 42:37-38
  • Reuben responds that Jacob could take his son’s lives if they were not telling the truth (this time)
  • It is almost as if Reuben admits that Jacob was right to suspect the brother’s honesty the first time, but he should not this time!
  • This offer only heightens Jacob’s and he digs his heels in to not let go of Benjamin
  • Jacob refers to Benjamin as “my son” and “his brother” for Joseph. Jacob is any ties of brotherhood here.
  • Now that Joseph was gone, Benjamin has clearly taken his place in their father’s heart – Jacob would not risk Benjamin for these shysters
  • Their report to Jacob back home and their discovery of the money in their sacks only complicated their problem. What would they do? If they stayed home, they were thieves, but if they went back to Egypt, they had to risk taking Benjamin with them.

7- W. Wiersbe, Expository Outlines on the OT

• Conclusion
• Joseph is keenly seeking out to find if his brothers had changed their ways
• Joseph is specific about who he detains

• Will they abandon Simeon as they abandoned Joseph?

• A measure of guilt becomes apparent to the reader surrounding the brothers
• Everything bad that happened they saw as a result of the fact that they had done evil to their brother 20 years earlier – God is punishing them
• Joseph’s pleading (that we just find out about now) has apparently stuck in their minds for 20 years
• All actors are trapped by their past (Wenham)
• The brothers: trapped by - it even prevents them from rescuing Simeon
• Jacob: trapped by - it effects every decision he makes
• Joseph: trapped by
• Reconciliation is coming – forgiveness will be overwhelming
• The day of family reconciliation is fast approaching – the dreams that have kept Joseph’s hope alive are soon to be fulfilled
• Forgiveness is a funny thing-it warms the heart and cools the sting.

8- William Arthur Ward

• To return evil for good is devilish;
• To return good for good is human;
• But to return good for evil is godlike.