A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. "Where do you come from?" he asked.

"From the land of Canaan," they replied, "to buy food."

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected."

"No, my lord," they answered. "Your servants have come to buy food. We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies."

"No!" he said to them. "You have come to see where our land is unprotected."

But they replied, "Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more."

Joseph said to them, "It is just as I told you: You are spies! And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!" And he put them all in custody for three days.

On the third day, Joseph said to them, "Do this and you will live, for I fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die."

This they proceeded to do. 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." Reuben replied, "Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood."

They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter. He turned away from them and began to weep.

Genesis 42:6-24

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Just as God had promised, a great famine came over Egypt and all its surrounding nations to include Canaan. We know Canaan was impacted because in yesterday’s message from the opening verses of Genesis, chapter 24, we saw where Jacob dispatched ten of the eleven sons at his disposal to go to Egypt and purchase grain. Only Benjamin, the youngest of the sons, was left behind.

As we move to today’s passage and its associated message, we find Joseph’s brothers arriving in Egypt and being brought before him, the “governor of the land” who “sold grain to all its people." The scriptures tell us that as they "bowed down” with “their faces to the ground", Joseph realized that while he recognized them, they didn’t know who he was and so he "pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them" while he “remembered his dreams about them."

What were those “dreams” mentioned here?

Well, you may recall that back in chapter 37 of this book, Joseph shared this with his brothers:

"Listen to this dream I had: We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."

This prompted his brother to respond in anger, saying:

"Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?"

After this, we read where they “hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said." (Vv.6-8)

Now, fast forward to this moment in chapter 42 where we find Joseph’s brothers indeed bowing before him out of respect for his positional authority over them, just as the dream had predicted.

The dream had actually come to be.

So how would Joseph respond to these brothers who had mistreated him so badly?

We read where he spoke to them harshly, accusing them of being spies. In doing so, we can see how Joseph was working to gauge the mindset of his brothers who he had been separated from for so long.

First, we can see how he was testing their attitude.

How would they respond while being accused and judged?

Well, it’s obvious right away that the brothers are frightened about the charge for spying was a crime punishable by death. And so we find them vehemently denying the accusation, repeating over and over that they had just come to get grain because of the famine that had struck their homeland of Canaan.

Despite their pleas of innocence, we see where Joseph persisted in accusing them and with every charge of spying, we sense the brothers getting ever more fearful of what might happen to them. Within this circumstance, they were being severely humbled and I’m sure had never thought they would end up like this as Joseph’s dream became a staunch reality.

I believe Joseph was also interested in what the brothers had to say about him but he had to go about it in a rather sly fashion so he wouldn’t reveal his identity. We read where his persistent spy claims led to the brothers defending themselves through confessing the family they were a part of. They tell Joseph they were from Canaan and were ten of twelve brothers, adding that "the youngest is now with our father, and one is no more". We know the youngest was Benjamin who had remained behind with Jacob while the one that was "no more" referred to Joseph who now knew that they believed he was now dead.  

With this, we read where Joseph presses them even harder, this time demanding that they prove their truthfulness. He proposes a test, saying:

"As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

And with that, he put them all in custody for three days. In their minds, they thought their imprisonment was because the Egyptian governor (aka Joseph) had failed to believe that they weren’t spies. In actuality, the ten brothers were actually just getting a taste of their own medicine. For just as they failed to believe Joseph after he told them his dream foretelling future events, now they were finding out how it feels to not be believed despite their best efforts to refute the spying accusations. And just as Joseph found himself imprisoned after being sold into slavery by his brothers, now his brothers are incarcerated so to get a glimpse of what they caused their brother to have to endure while in slavery.

As we see in the scriptures, the time in jail was a time of self reflection for the ten brothers as we see them doing a lot of soul searching. Specifically, we see them start to confess their wrongs, associating their current misfortune to their mistreatment of Joseph.

“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."

We also find Reuben, the oldest of them, chiming in, saying:

"Didn't I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn't listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood."

Indeed the brothers were beginning to come to grips with the sins they committed and as they talked among themselves, we know that Joseph heard them and was touched by their words, words that were truly remorseful and drove him to weep. We have to know there was a wellspring of emotions inside of Joseph at this moment for after years of struggling with the way he was unloved and mistreated by his siblings, their words must have been ones that he prayed he would one day hear.

We’re not quite there yet but we’re going to see how the tears that fell from Joseph’s eyes began to form a river of reconciliation that would eventually lead to mercy and grace but not before his brothers would learn a major life lesson.

As we reflect on this message, a quick question:

Have you ever done something wrong to someone and then had that same wrong come back on you from someone else?

I think we all may have experienced how the Lord definitely has a way of giving us a taste of our own medicine and, most of the time, we don’t like the way it tastes even though it’s necessary to teach us, correct us, and refine us to be the people He wants us to be.

My prayer is that we’ll all embrace all of the Lord’s instruction, and even correction when needed, so we can turn from sin and toward the righteousness He desires for us to have. For friends, this is His will for us and we need to carry it out or else He will have to give us stronger doses of our own medicine, bringing the sins we commit toward others back on us, until we respond in obedience. Let’s save ourselves a lot of trouble and not put Him to the test.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.