Episode 312 - "We meet again" - Genesis 42

Gen. 42:1 When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” 3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. 5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

Gen. 42:6 Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” 8 And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 10 They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.”

Gen. 42:12 He said to them, “No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see.” 13 And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.” 14 But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you. You are spies. 15 By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” 17 And he put them all together in custody for three days.

Gen. 42:18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, 20 and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. 21 Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 25 And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.

Gen. 42:26 Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. 27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. 28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this, their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

Gen. 42:29 When they came to Jacob, their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30 “The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.’”

Gen. 42:35 As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

This is an amazing story. A story has a conflict or a problem that needs to be resolved. But this story introduces all kinds of problems. At the very highest level, we ask, “How is the promised seed going to come and crush the head of the serpent. This family line ordained by God through whom the seed is supposed to come is a mess. Jacob’s sons have committed multiple offenses. Joseph has mostly been in a prison in Egypt, where he has not only interpreted other people’s dreams, but he’s also seen them come true as he interpreted. Yet, his dreams have not come true. Despite all his troubles, Moses has consistently reminded us that God was with Joseph, an important reminder that just because followers of the LORD may experience terrible and even unjust circumstances, it doesn’t mean the LORD has abandoned them.

We read last week that Joseph’s circumstances were significantly reversed. He went from being a prisoner to second in command of Egypt because the LORD had used him to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams. Pharaoh then put him in charge of managing the supply of food, knowing that a famine would be coming. Will he ever get to see his father again? Will there be any redemption of his relationship with his brothers? What about the ominous prophecy the LORD gave to Abraham that someday his descendants would be in bondage in a foreign country for 400 years before the LORD would lead them back to the land he promised Abraham and his descendants?

We are at a point where plot movement leads to answers to these questions and problems, but it does so by creating more tension. The famine is severe beyond Egypt. Jacob sent Joseph’s ten older brothers down to Egypt to buy grain so they could survive. Jacob did not trust them to take Rachel’s son Benjamin along. He believes Joseph has died, and he was not going to take any chances by sending Benjamin along.

When the brothers arrived in Egypt, Moses made it clear that they did not recognize Joseph, but he recognized them. What a great opportunity for Joseph to even the score. If we’d never read or heard this story before, surely we’d be wondering how he might torture them or have them all executed. What unfolds is that first Joseph accuses them of being spies and treats them as such for a little while. At the same time, he has extracted information from them about their father and his younger brother.

There is a sense in which Joseph’s treatment of them appears to be a clever, but harsh treatment of them that, on the surface, looks like a cat playing with a mouse before it kills the less powerful creature. But as the story unfolds, we see grace and mercy shown to them. What is happening? I think Joseph is simply an instrument of God who is exacting confession of their wrongdoing against Joseph. Joseph hears their admission to each other about how they treated him. Now, they interpret Joseph’s demand that they bring their younger brother to Egypt while he keeps Simeon in custody as divine reckoning for their sin against Joseph. We have their confession of guilt in verse 21. Their confession to each other, unaware that Joseph understands, leads Joseph to weep. He sends them back to their father with grain and secretly puts their money back in their sacks of grain. When they discover it, they are convinced that God has caused this as punishment. Later, they will be told that God caused it for their blessing. This is an essential and central truth to the whole story of Jacob’s family and Joseph being sold into slavery in Egypt.

When they arrive back home without Simeon and the demand that they take Benjamin to Egypt, Jacob refuses. Who can blame him? He cannot bear the thought of losing Benjamin as well. This leaves us with another problem, doesn’t it? What will become of Simeon? Will he die in an Egyptian prison? Will Jacob and his sons survive the famine? They were not allowed to go back to Egypt without Benjamin. We’ll see what happens in the next chapter.

One last thought from this part of the story. Joseph had those dreams so many years ago, and they’d never come true. Furthermore, for most of that time, it appeared that it would be impossible for the dreams to come true. In the meantime, Joseph had interpreted dreams for a baker, cupbearer, and Pharaoh himself, and they had all come true. Finally, Joseph remembers the dreams when his brothers bow before him. Joseph has trusted in the LORD, and now the LORD is affirming that he is faithful to his word. What a great encouragement for us to remember.