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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: "Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack. Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain." And he did as Joseph said.
As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, "Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.'"
When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them.
But they said to him, "Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves."
"Very well, then," he said, "let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame."
Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.
Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him.
Joseph said to them, "What is this you have done? Don't you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?"
"What can we say to my lord?" Judah replied. "What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants' guilt. We are now my lord's slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup."
But Joseph said, "Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace."
Then Judah went up to him and said: "Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, 'Do you have a father or a brother?' And we answered, 'We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's sons left, and his father loves him.' "Then you said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.' And we said to my lord, 'The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.' But you told your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.' When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.”
"Then our father said, 'Go back and buy a little more food.' But we said, 'We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.' Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, "He has surely been torn to pieces." And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.'”
"So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life, sees that the boy isn't there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. Your servant guaranteed the boy's safety to my father. I said, 'If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!' Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord's slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.”
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, "Have everyone leave my presence!"
So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it.
Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still living?" But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me."
When they had done so, he said, "I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will not be plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.”
“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt. Now hurry back to my father and say to him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don't delay. You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.'”
"You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly."
Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
Genesis 44:1-34, 45:1-15
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we look at Genesis, chapter 44, we find Joseph sending his eleven brothers back to Canaan after treating then to a meal. We read where he doesn’t send them away empty handed because they have the much needed grain they came for. We see where he orders his steward to once again return the bags of silver coins to their sacks but then demands one more thing:
"...put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one's sack, along with the silver for his grain."
Of course, the “youngest” one was none other than Benjamin and the steward “did as Joseph said”.
Why did Joseph do this?
It was just one more test for his brothers for on the surface, it was going to appear that the silver cup was stolen from the Egyptian leader, an act that would be viewed as a terrible crime, especially in light of the hospitality that had been shown to the Hebrews.
And so after the brothers had begun to return to Jacob, we find Joseph issuing the following order to his steward:
“Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, 'Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn't this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.'”
And so the steward once again does as he’s told, pursuing the brothers and, after catching up to them, accusing them of stealing the sacred silver cup of his master.
Immediately, the brothers deny the charge, saying:
"Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master's house? If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord's slaves."
We read where the steward agrees to their challenge but modifies it, knowing that his master, Joseph, wouldn’t want to ever see his youngest brother die. He tells the brothers this:
"Very well, then. Let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame."
This sets the stage for the final testing of Joseph’s brothers, to see if they were indeed changed or would choose to repeat their mistakes of the past. Indeed, Joseph had seen some signs that they had learned their lesson but there was more at stake now. For if one of them had the silver cup, then they would be enslaved while the others brothers would return home.
These questions lingered and needed answered:
Would the brothers actually allow another one of their own to be taken off into slavery?
How were they going to respond when the silver sup is discovered in Benjamin’s sack, especially after they had promised his safety to Jacob?
When Benjamin was hauled off into slavery, would the other brothers lie about what happened like they did with Joseph?
In regard to the latter, we need to remember that Jacob still believes Joseph is dead and this is why he was so adamant about not allowing Benjamin to leave his side.
So what would happen?
We find the answer in our passage for today for the steward does find the silver cup in the sack of Benjamin, a finding that elicits a response from the brothers that is a first great indicator that their hearts and attitudes had indeed greatly changed. For we read where they immediately "tore their clothes", a sign of deep mourning, sorrow and repentance. I think there’s little doubt that they believed God was still punishing them for their sins against Joseph.
Well, in accordance with the consequences set by the steward, Benjamin was to return to Egypt and become a slave there but we should note that their brothers refused to abandon him. Instead, "they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city" where they entered the house of Joseph and "threw themselves to the ground before him." Once again, Joseph’s dream had come true but even more significantly, the brothers were proving that they had become different and better people.
The scriptures tell is that at first, Joseph chastises them for what has occurred but then Judah makes a heartfelt appeal, carefully recapping all that had happened. He reiterates that one brother was already dead (their assumed death of Joseph himself) and that the death of Benjamin would leave his father ready to die. Judah then explains that the father was reluctant to send Benjamin to Egypt on this trip in the first place but he (Judah) assured him he would protect the boy, which he was now doing.
To resolve the situation, Judah asks Joseph to allow him to take Benjamin’s place. Within the proposal, Judah would remain behind as a slave so to allow Benjamin to return home to his father. Through his offer, we see the depth of Judah’s love and willing sacrifice for his brother, a love and sacrifice that wasn’t present when Joseph was sent off to slavery.
We see that Judah’s willingness to surrender himself for his younger sibling was enough to show Joseph that things within his family had changed and for the better. The eleven had not only passed his test, but God’s as well.
And so, Joseph sends his Egyptian servants out of the room before revealing his true identity to his brothers who "were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence."
Talk about a shock factor. For the man they had treated so harshly and condemned to a life of hardship before was now in a position of power that could have them all killed. Immediately, they had to realize their precarious situation but then they received something completely unexpected, something that had to complete the transformation of their hearts and souls.
For Joseph tells them all to "come close to me" before restating:
"I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you."
What awesome words of comfort and grace these had to be to the brothers. For in essence, Joseph tells them that all the events that had happened were in sum all a part of God’s greater plan for God had intended to send Joseph to Egypt in advance so he could save lives, including those of his own family in Canaan. He then seals this amazing passage with the following words:
"God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God."
Here we find the brothers vindicated by Joseph’s words for he saw what they had done as just a part of the journey that God had him on, a journey that had now reunited him with them. His special love for his father and Benjamin also came shining through as he said:
"Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly."
And with that, Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept before kissing his other brothers and weeping with them. It was an ultimate happy ending, one where we find a family restored and better than it was before, ready to move forward in a new spirit of love and unity.
Friends, in the story of Joseph, we can see that sometimes we will go through both rewarding times and trials as we move toward our final destination in life. Being a Christ believer doesn’t excuse us from hardship but it does help us endure, knowing that our best life is still to come. Until that time, He has much work for us to do and so we need to always be prepared to carry out His will and way so to realize and accomplish His purposes. That journey might take us to a lot of places, but we will always be where He wants us to be to do what He wants us to do when we respond to His call with obedience, allowing Him to reform and transform us to be the people He wants us to be through the process.
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.
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