Introduction

Good morning.  As you are turning in your bibles to the book of Genesis, chapter 43, I have one correction that I think I need to make from a few weeks ago.  If you remember when we covered the section on Joseph’s brothers selling him into slavery I made the connection to Isaiah 53, “He was oppressed and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth” because the text didn’t mention Joseph speaking up in defense of himself.  That of course led us to make the connection to Christ, the substance of Isaiah 53 of whom Joseph was a shadow.  

I will further note that such a connection was not original to me as at least one other commentator noted it and made the connection.  It certainly fits within the obvious framework of Joseph foreshadowing Christ.  After studying the passages leading up to this week though I don’t think that specific connection is appropriate and I will show you why.  This is also an applicable introduction to our story which is a second reason why I am bringing it up.  As we pick up the story in Genesis 43, Joseph’s brothers have already made one trip to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph and of course they don’t recognize him and why would they, it has been 22 years since they sold him away.  

During that trip Joseph puts all the brothers in a holding cell for 3 days in an effort to shake them up a bit and to offer them a deal to hold back one of the brothers if the rest would go and bring Benjamin back.  Benjamin didn’t come with the other brothers the first time because Jacob feared that if he sent him out the same thing may happen to him that happened to Joseph.  Benjamin is the only son Jacob has left with Rachel and he is very protective of him.  Joseph desperately wants to see Benjamin as well since he is his only full brother and the only connection Joseph has to his mother.  

So a deal was struck that Simeon would be kept in custody while the rest went back to fetch Benjamin and as a result of this predicament they now find themselves in the brothers say this in verse 21 of chapter 42.  

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.”

It seems clear enough from that passage that the brothers are assuming their current situation is a judgment on account of their mistreatment of Joseph and it seems clear enough that Joseph did plead with them to not do this to him, begged them it says, but they did not listen to him.  With that context, it is inaccurate to make the connection from Joseph to Isaiah 53 because clearly Joseph did open his mouth and beg for his life. 

So as I set-up the story for where we are this morning I needed to make that correction and once again point us to the fact that this demonstrates to us that Christ is the superior Joseph.  Christ is the only defenseless one who didn’t defend himself.  Christ is the only one who didn’t beg for his life but laid it down willing for our sake.  Christ is the only one who truly fulfilled all the prophecies and who is truly our savior.  That is the point that should have been established through that previous text but the one that I might have missed the full emphasis on because of the misreading of that previous passage.  Please accept my apologies for that.  

So as we begin our text this morning, the famine is in full swing, now 2 years into it and Joseph’s brothers and father are running low on food again and are in danger of starving if they don’t make a second trip back to Egypt with Benjamin to free Simeon and to buy more food.  The theme I want us to draw out this morning is that God uses all situations for our redemption.  We will see how all the pieces begin to fit together even more for the reconciliation of Joseph and his brothers, and the preservation of the remnant of God’s people.  So stand with me once more as we read Genesis 43, starting in verse 1

Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house. 

26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. 

The Brother’s Second Trip

We are all very fortunate and very blessed not to have ever been put in a situation where there is a real possibility that we could starve to death.  Sure money may be tight sometimes and grocery budgets get squeezed or you may have to scrape together some loose change to make it to the next payday but no one here, as far as I know, has had any real concern of starving.  This was not the case for the ancient world where they depended solely on their local agricultural output.  There wasn’t much cross country trading and there certainly weren’t any COSTCOS so if you didn’t grow it, you didn’t eat it.  If nothing grew, either plants or animals, then you didn’t eat.  

There have been hundreds of recorded famines over the course of world history, most of which were brought on by a combination of political and natural factors but this famine, recorded for us in Genesis, that happened in Egypt around 1950 BC is one of the first documented famines in human history but not the first.  Modern climate scientists claim there was a 100 year famine around the years 2300-2200 BC, which would place it in the time between Noah and Abraham.  To say that there was a massive climate shift shortly after Noah that sparked a near century long famine and a reset of the entire world’s climate is to fully back up the historicity of the bible.  

I won’t digress but to say that there is somehow a conflict between science and the bible is laughable at best.  So, Jacob and his sons (minus Joseph and Simeon) have eaten through most of the grain that they received during their first trip and with them being farmers and shepherds, they have grown little, and they and their flocks are in serious trouble.  This presents the first major conflict in our passage and that is do they go back to Egypt and buy some more grain?  On one hand they have to because their brother Simeon is still locked up there waiting on their return and on the other hand they can’t because that would mean they have to bring Benjamin and Jacob is completely against that.  The other concern is the fact that during their first trip the money they used to pay for the grain was found back in their bags when they made it home so they are worried that if they go back a second time they will be accused of stealing and thrown in prison or worse.  

All these factors are swirling, they are running out of food and will die if they don’t do something soon.  Judah returns to our story here, after having grown up significantly through the trials we have previously read through. Judah speaks up and says he will take full responsibility for Benjamin’s safety and vows that he will return him well and accepts the blame forever if that does not happen.  So they go.  

This marks the beginning of the text demonstrating God’s explicit mercy upon the brothers despite all the wrongs they have done to Joseph.  They are feeling the weight of their guilt and go back to Egypt with the fear of being called thieves because of the supposed money mix up and worried that God is judging them because of their wrongs.  Together with their fears of something already having happened to Simeon or that something may happen to Benjamin.  Added to that their worry is that if things don’t go well here and they aren’t given grain they are all going to starve to death, can you imagine the anxiety they are filled with as they enter into Egypt? 

What happens though when they get there? The red carpet of God’s grace is rolled out of them.  Joseph sees them coming from a ways off in much the same way the brothers saw Joseph coming way back when all this started but instead of plotting a way to wrong his brothers, Joseph tells his people to slaughter an animal and prepare a feast for them all.  There are so many connections that can be made here but the most obvious is the story of the prodigal son who upon returning to the father in a spirit of humility is received in grace.  This is certainly what we see here but even more is that the text also makes it clear who is showing the grace to them.  

They are a little worried because they are being escorted to the house and think something is wrong.  “Surely this is because of the money.” they say.  They immediately make their confession to the steward of the house about the mix-up and the steward’s reply is very important.  

23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.”

After all they have done to wrong their brother, after everything that Joseph had to go through as a result of their selfishness and jealousy, they come to this point where the steward of the house, like an angel messenger from the Lord himself tells them “don’t be afraid, God is blessing you.” Like, what? Here we are worried of starvation, worried of being thrown in jail, worried about money, worried about our brother, racked with guilt, and God says to them, “don’t worry, I am giving you a treasure.” I would have completely lost it right then and there but they hold their composure and make it to dinner at which time Joseph comes in and sees his brother.  His only full brother and his connection to his mother and all the emotions come flooding back on him.  Perhaps he even sees himself in Benjamin and all the things he went through and sees everything now coming together just as God foretold and he is so overwhelmed with emotion that he has to leave the room so he can weep.  

Joseph’s Test

This sets up the final test for the brothers, more specifically for Judah, but just prior to Joseph being overcome emotionally and leaving the room we do see the official fulfillment of the prophecy and I don’t want to miss pointing that out.  As we read, when Joseph came into the house they presented him with their gifts and they bowed down to him.  This is the fulfillment of the first dream Joseph had.  Joseph asks about his father and they give a good report of him and then bow down a second time.  This is the fulfillment of the second dream.  So at this point Joseph clearly knows that God is with him and that everything has happened for a reason and according to plan.  With that as the backdrop, Joseph sets up a test that he hopes will solidify their redemption.  

The test begins by seating them at dinner in order from oldest to youngest.  The brothers are astonished by this, “how could he have known their ages and seated them in order?” Joseph has their attention.  The second set-up is when the food is served and Benjamin is given a 5X portion than the other brothers.  How unusual would this have been? It couldn’t have been a mistake because of how they were seated in perfect age order and yet the youngest, not the oldest is given the largest portion times five.  This looks like Joseph all over again for the brothers doesn’t it?  Here is the youngest, the last remaining child of Rachel getting the special treatment again? Would this have angered them? Made them jealous? Begin to drive a wedge that the younger, more loved child is once again getting all the good stuff? That is the set-up.  

This is followed by him putting his silver cup in Benjamin’s bag so that he can issue the final test.  

Judah’s Sacrifice

We didn’t read it but they are sent back home only to have Joseph’s men catch up with them and accuse them of taking Joseph’s silver cup.  They of course deny it but upon searching their bags, they find the planted cup in Benjamin’s bag.  The punishment is that Benjamin is to become a slave of Joseph and not be able to go home to his father and this causes all the brothers to tear their clothes in mourning.  Previously when it was them who betrayed Joseph, it was only Jacob who tore his clothes in mourning over losing Joseph but here we see they are all now mourning in solidarity of having lost Benjamin.  The change in them is already showing.  

This brings them all back to Joseph’s house where they plead with him to have mercy on them.  Joseph makes a proposition to them that should be very familiar.  He offers them their freedom, no questions asked if they just turn over Benjamin to him.  They can finally be free of all their fathers favorites? Just as they did with Joseph, they can make their younger favored one disappear and this time it really wouldn’t be their fault.  This is a choice between self interest and sacrifice.  Their own desires against the desire and will of their father.  Their love of self against their love of their father.  Will the outcome be different now? 

Hear the words of Judah, mind you, the one through whom Christ our Lord has come. 

30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

Judah offers himself in the place of Benjamin.  Out of love for his father and in obedience to his fathers will Judah offers himself as a servant in place of the guilty so that Benjamin may go free.  22 years previous could Judah have ever imagined he would sacrifice himself to protect the life of one of the privileged children of Jacob and Rachel?  Surely not but oh how trials and circumstances change us don’t they?  

That is of course secondary to the fact that this is an obvious and clear foreshadowing of Christ, the gospel and the doctrine of substitutionary atonement.  Hear the words of Christ from John 6, a chapter that has been so foundational to us as of late.  So much so that I would contend that the Lord should have us memorize the whole of John chapter 6 and we would be all the better for it.  Here is our Lord:

37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” 

The Father presents the son with his children and sends Christ into the world and commands him to lose none of them.  To which Christ makes a pledge that he will take such a responsibility onto himself and that none will be lost.  So Christ enters into our world and to save us from our guilt and from a life of slavery he offers himself in our place.  We all, having been caught in our guilt, deserved all the punishment we have coming our way but instead Christ stands in the way and receives onto himself the punishment reserved for us that the will of the father may be satisfied having not lost any of his precious children.  

This is such incredible news isn’t it?  That one would stand in our place and speak and act in our defense.  That Christ would offer himself for you, not because you deserved it or earned it but because the father said to the son, that one is mine, don’t lose that one.  Who can explain the love of the father to his children? Who can explain the love of God to his children.  We don’t need to explain it, we need to receive it.  The gospel compels us to stop asking why and to start saying thank you.  The gospel teaches us to live in the same sacrificial humility that has brought us to God in the first place.  Such things are so clearly and obviously seen in this story. 

Conclusion

Let’s look at a few points of application now as we close.  First, the text teaches again that God is working even in the most unlikely of circumstances.  Joseph in verses 6 -8 of Chapter 45 says this, 

 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God.

So his brothers selling him into slavery was ultimately not them working but God working to bring him there and save everyone, including the remnant of God’s people on earth.  We talked about many times now but how God is actively working through sinful acts to bring about his purpose will forever be a mystery to us but the word is so clear that God is doing this that it is again past time for us to stop asking why and start saying thank you.  

This is because the text also teaches us that with God nothing is ever helpless or in vain.  God doesn’t make mistakes and even though we do and we sin, those mistakes and sins become the very means by which God transforms and brings about his will.  In that respect God is so good and so gracious that he has redeemed even our mistakes and our sins to be instruments of his grace.   He does this so that when he wipes our tears away in glory we shall see how he has truly worked all things for our good and his glory and then we will have no regrets and feel no guilt for then we will see his purpose in all things that have led to our salvation.  He is truly working all things for our good and I have the full assurance that we will one day know this to be true even though I know you still doubt it at times now.  

Finally, the text shows us that God is the one who is ultimately and always in control.  I know it doesn’t always feel that way and the night may seem too long and too dark but these stories should assure us that he has a plan, and he is in control.  Do not fear and do not be dismayed, our God is in control. 

 33 I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

We sang a song this morning that echoes these truths and I pray that it stays on your heart for many days and weeks to come.  

This is my Father’s world: 

O let us not forget 

that though the wrong seems oft so strong, 

God is the ruler yet.

This is my Father’s world:

Why should my heart be sad?

The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!

God reigns; let earth be glad

May it please the Lord to encourage our hearts with these truths this morning. Amen.