STUDY THEME: LEARNING TO LIVE A LIFE OF GRACE. 8-24-03

"FINDING MY PLACE IN GOD’S PLAN." GEN. 45:4-8, 25-28; 46:1-5.

GENESIS 45:4, 5-8, 25-28; 46:1-5

PLEASE OPEN YOUR BIBLE TO GENESIS 45.

I am pleased that you took time last week to read Genesis 42-44. This will help us understand how thoroughly Joseph had tested his 10 brothers, before revealing himself to them. He wanted to find out if his brothers were still the evil rascals who had cruelly sold him into slavery or if they had changed.

In Genesis 42:1 the famine had now replaced the 7 years of plenty and is touching lives of those in Canaan as well as those in Egypt. When news came to Canaan that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob commanded his sons to go to Egypt and get food that their families might not die. Benjamin remained at home with his father Jacob.

We asked last Sunday if Joseph remembered the two dreams of his youth. Certainly when the 10 brothers bowed before him in Gen. 42:6, one dream, lacking Benjamin, was fulfilled. Joseph recognized his brothers in their shepherd’s dress, but they did not recognize Joseph in his regal Egyptian attire. Also, he was 22 years older than the 17-year-old lad they had sold as a slave. And was the last person in the world they expected to be Prime Minister of Egypt.

Joseph began by accusing his brothers of being spies and put them all in prison for three days. It would appear that Joseph is getting vengeance. In prison the brothers reminded each other of their treatment of Joseph when he was 17 years of age. Reuben reminded them that he had warned them at that time not to mistreat Joseph.

Upon arriving home in Gen. 42:29 they recounted to Jacob all that had happened to them in Egypt. As they emptied their sacks each man found the money, paid for the grain, in his sack. They and their father were afraid. Jacob pointed out that "Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more and now you want to take Benjamin. Although Reuben offered his two sons as assurance Benjamin would be brought back; In Vs. 38 Joseph refused to let Benjamin go to Egypt.

In Gen. 43 the famine continues and the grain bought from Egypt has been eaten. Jacob commands the 9 sons to go to Egypt and get some food. Judah points out that without Benjamin they cannot go, but, if Benjamin is permitted to go Judah will be security for him. Jacob in Gen 43:13 agrees to let Benjamin go. In Vs. 15 they stood before Joseph. Joseph entertains his brothers in his home. The steward of Joseph’s house eased their minds about the money found in their sacks and brought Simeon from prison to be with them.

When Joseph arrived the 11 brothers in Vs. 26 and again in Vs. 28 "bowed down before him to the earth." They drank and were merry with him. Joseph does not reveal who he is at this time.

In Gen. 44 Joseph tests the brothers again. He had the steward of his house put their money in the grain sacks and in Benjamin’s sack he had the steward place his silver cup as well as his money.

Before the sons of Jacob had gone very far from the city Joseph had the steward overtake them and accuse that one of them had taken his silver cup. The steward had placed it in Benjamin’s sack "but he began the search with the oldest and left off with the youngest." The Cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. They all returned to the house of Jacob. He said he would hold Benjamin as his slave and the others were free to return to their father. From Gen. 44:16-34, Judah pleads with Joseph to keep him as a slave and let Benjamin return to his father. Judah offered to take Benjamin’s place. He said the loss of Benjamin would kill their old father. This was enough to convince Joseph that his brothers had changed.

And this is where our lesson begins today.

1. TEACHER TO READ GENESIS 45:4. ( And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.)

When all outsiders were sent away Joseph blurted out to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living? His brothers were shocked and terrified at his words. They had been used to him speaking to them in the Egyptian language using an interpreter. They were used to him remaining aloof from them. Now he was speaking to them in Hebrew, and walking toward them. Since he was speaking Hebrew, he had understood all of the earlier discussions that they had had among themselves about Joseph. No doubt they feared for their lives. At any rate, they did not respond to Joseph’s first announcement.

Joseph saw and understood their fear. He quickly tried to remove their fear. He told them, "Be not distressed, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me hither." These words by themselves would not have calmed the brothers, for Joseph still spoke of them selling him. Then they heard these amazing words from Joseph: "For God did send me before you to preserve life." The interplay of the words "ye sold me" and "God did send me" is one of he classic statements of providential control in the Bible. Joseph was able to see clearly the two aspects of the event—on the one hand, human mishandling, on the other hand, the perfect will of God---and to fix attention on the latter as alone being of any consequence. Joseph repeated this idea in Vs. 7 and 8. It was the heart of his message to his brothers.

And then Joseph revealed to his brothers that the famine was only beginning and would grow much more severe. He told them that he now realized that ultimately it was God who sent him ahead of them. Joseph knew that God was at work preserving the lives of the sons of Israel. But even greater than that, the Lord was at work preserving the line of the Messiah, keeping His promises to the patriarchs in Gen 12:3 of blessing that would be for "all peoples on earth."

At the time disasters come, we often cannot see God’s hand, or believe that any good can come from such trials. Usually it is only in looking back that we can see how God has used bad circumstances to achieve something good. Joseph had the kind of faith that enabled him to survive the shock, fear, and uncertainty of that terrible day of betrayal. His trust in the goodness of God sustained him on that day and during each trial and temptation in Egypt. As the administrator of the grain, Joseph realized that God had put him in the one spot where he could save his family from starvation. This was Joseph’s role in God’s plan of redemption. By saving the life of Jacob and his family, Joseph played a role in preserving God’s line of promise, through Israel—the line through which Christ would come.

The fact that God used the brothers’ evil actions to place Joseph in Egypt did not excuse the brothers for their sins. But God in His love used their evil for good. The brothers were used in spite of their sins.

A less gracious person than Joseph might have nursed the feelings of pain from the day his brothers sold him. He might have lived each day hoping for a chance to get even. But Joseph did not want to carry the weight of such hatred for his brothers. He was willing to forgive them and be reconciled to them. Because of this spirit, God could use him to preserve his family as a remnant in the earth. He was used by God to save their lives by a great deliverance.

In Vs. 8 Joseph called himself a father to Pharaoh. The Egyptians used this unusual title for Pharaoh’s chief advisor, not for the literal father of Pharaoh. Actually, Pharaoh reinforced Joseph’s plan to settle his family in the part of Egypt called Goshen and even gave them wagons to transport their father and families to Egypt.

Goshen was located in the Northeast section of the Egyptian delta region and was excellent for grazing the herds of Jacob. Over 400 years later, at the time of the Exodus, the Jews still lived in Goshen. It had a number of advantages for the family of Jacob.

Pharaoh’s approval for Joseph’s relatives to immigrate to Egypt came unsought from Pharaoh. He assured them in Gen. 45:30, that they need not be concerned about their goods, "for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours."

PLEASE MOVE DOWN TO Vs. 25.

After revealing his identity to his brothers, Joseph sent his brothers back to his father in haste to bring Jacob down to Egypt and to take care of them all during the five remaining years of famine. He sent them away with new changes of clothes, carts, and donkeys laden with good things. The message he sent to Jacob was "God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the Land of Goshen. There I will provide for you." Jacob was 130 years old at that time.

It is interesting that Joseph sent 20 donkeys to Jacob. Ten of them were laden with "the best things of Egypt," and ten of them were loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for their journey.

Joseph’s parting words in Gen. 45:24 were, "Don’t quarrel on the way." They had several things they could quarrel about. "How shall we confess our sins to our father? "How shall we explain Joseph’s position in Egypt?" "How can we get father Jacob to move?"

The brothers were eager to tell Jacob that Joseph was alive. They wanted to share the good news with one that needed to hear it. When the brothers arrived back in Canaan they told their father, "Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt. Jacob could not believe their words. After all, they had once in unison told him quite another story. He had seen Joseph’s coat with his own eyes with the bloodstains on it. It did not seem real to him; he was not convinced. Jacob could not accept the wonderful idea that Joseph was still alive until he saw the evidence.

When Jacob heard everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. For more than 20 years Jacob had lived with the grief of Joseph’ death and was carefully guarding the life and health of Benjamin, the last son of Rachel. Now he beheld 20 treasure-laden donkeys and carts ready to take them all to Egypt. When he believed their report and spoke in faith, the text used his covenant name to underscore his faith. Israel said, "I’m convinced My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.

When Jacob said I’m convinced! He was literally saying, "It is enough!" He needed no more evidence to convince him that Joseph was alive. No doubt Jacob felt more alive than he had for 22 years. He had lived to see something that he never expected—evidence that Joseph lived. Now he desired to see his beloved son’s face before he died.

Jacob had been assured by the overwhelming evidence brought by his sons, and verified by his own eyes, that God’s promises were still being fulfilled and that the future was secured for the generations of promise. God’s provision was evident, abundant, and---according to His wonderful economy---timed perfectly.

After loading up everything and everyone, the camp of Israel moved from Hebron to Beersheba. Beersheba was at the southern extremity of Canaan. Here they made a camp, and Israel or Jacob offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. He was at the border of Canaan, and it was here that in a vision by night the Lord gave Jacob further encouragement about going down to Egypt.

God called to him in the vision and said, Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there, I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes. God relieved Jacob’s fears about whether he should leave the land of Canaan.

He comforted Jacob by telling him that He would be with him and that He would bring him back up. But, for the moment and most significantly, He comforted Jacob by telling him that he would survive the trip down to Egypt, for Joseph would be the one to shut his eyes in death. Jacob would indeed see Joseph again in the land of the living.

Jacob and his family then left Beersheba and headed for Egypt with all the provisions sent by Joseph. His sons were all present with their wives and their children, Jacob’s grandchildren. Many were riding in carts to help them in their journey. Jacob had believed God. God had been faithful to him. God's promises to Joseph’s father were fulfilled. Their generations would survive the famine. And Joseph’s dreams, despite all the obstacles, had been fulfilled.

In spite of Joseph’s ability to get even with his brothers for their sins against him when he was just a teenager, Joseph recognized his position in Egypt as from the hand of God. He trusted in God’s sovereign purpose for his rise to power, and he recognized that, in spite of his suffering, God had done great things for him and for his father’s household. His sufferings led to his deliverance. He now understood that it was worth it all. His brothers may have sold him into Egypt with evil motives, but it was God’s good will for him to be there.

In Genesis 28:3 and 35:11 Jacob had received the special blessing and injunction to be fruitful and multiply. He now had a numerous family, of whom no longer one was selected, but all were included in the chosen seed. This was God’s chosen family to be the beginning of the chosen nation. God promised in Gen. 46:3 that he would make of Jacob’s family a great nation. It will be called after Jacob’s new name Israel. Gen. 46:27 says all the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were 70 souls. At the end of the 400 years of slavery they will depart Egypt as a nation of about 2 million souls.

If Jacob, in the process of growth from a family to a nation had remained in Canaan, he would have been amalgamated with that nation by intermarriage and conformed to its vices. By his removal to Egypt he is kept apart form the demoralizing influence of a nation, whose iniquity become so great as to demand judicial extermination.

Jacob is also kept from sinking into an Egyptian nation by the fact that a shepherd, as he was, is an abomination to Egypt. By his location in the comparatively high land of Goshen which is a border land, not naturally, but only politically, belonging to Egypt; and by the reduction of his race to a body of serfs, with who that nation will not condescend to intermingle; The chosen family will be comparatively isolated from Egyptian society. Goshen is desirable because it was best suited for pasture. God promised that "Joseph shall put his hand upon thine eyes." Jacob’s long-lost son shall be present to perform the last offices to Jacob when he dies. According to Gen. 47:28 Jacob will be 147 years old when that service is rendered at his death. Joseph will die at age 110.

NEXT SUNDAY FROM GENESIS 50: 1-26 WE SEE FORGIVENESS RESTORING RELATONSHIPS. A.V. DAUGHERTY 8-24-03

After 3 days Simeon was brought from the prison, bound in the presence of the other 9 and retained as a hostage to guarantee they would return with Benjamin. On the way home one of them opened his bag of grain to feed his donkey. He found the money he had paid for the grain was in his sack. Their question now was, "What is this that God has done to us?"

Then Joseph said to them, "Come close to me." They moved closer, probably still shocked and afraid. And he said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt." At this point in the story, his words must have struck even more fear into their hearts. When Joseph had first accused them of being spies, they had expressed guilt for this very sin. They said to one another, "Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen: that’s why this distress has come upon us." Now they were at the mercy of the brother whom they had sold into Egypt. They feared what he would do with them.

Jacob had received assurance that Joseph was alive after hearing his sons repeat the words from Joseph and seeing all of the treasures that Joseph had sent with them to their father. Recognizing God’s provision for the time of famine, Jacob then went in faith toward Egypt and was comforted by God at Beersheba about his journey. It was there that he approaches God in sacrifice at the old abode of Abraham and Isaac, before he crosses the border to pass into Egypt. God’s words "I will go down with thee," implied that it was the will of God that he should go down to Egypt, and the he would be protected there. Though his pilgrimage through life had been difficult and filled with sorrow, Jacob was on the right path. God’s provision was more than any of them could have imagined.