“…that your words may
be tested, whether there is truth in you.”
Genesis 42:16
What would you do the first time
you saw your 10 brothers for the first time after they stripped you of your
multi-colored coat and throw you into a pit?
The ones who hated you, who had discussed killing you, but ultimately settled
on selling you into slavery. As you are
chained and taken away, begging your siblings not to do this, you turn back to
see them splitting up the 20 pieces of silver that was their price to get rid
of you. The only thing you have done
wrong is that you are the favored son. You are sold into slavery in Egypt. No one comes for you. No one looks for you. You go from a life of privilege
to no position in life. You are despised
and rejected as a Hebrew in the Egyptian culture. You serve others day after
day after day. You learn a new
language. You learn a new culture. You wonder what you have done to deserve
this.
Joseph: Born the eleventh of
twelve sons in Jacob’s household. Joseph finds himself completely alone in a
foreign country, except for one thing that he knew and that others around him
saw: God was with him. The Lord blessed
him in all that he did. First in
Potiphar’s household, who was a high ranking official as captain of the guard
for Pharaoh. Then falsely accused and
placed in the king’s jail. Each time
Joseph rose up and managed the business dealings of both because the Lord was
with him.
Joseph had another unique skill;
he could interpret dreams. First he tells his brothers in his teenage years of
2 dreams he has of them bowing down to them.
This fueled the fire of their jealousy.
Then he interprets 2 other dreams: one of the cup bearer and one of the
baker to Pharaoh. Both interpretations
of the dreams come to pass just as Joseph said they would occur. Then, through circumstances that only God
could orchestrate, Joseph is brought before Pharaoh to interpret 2 dreams that
Pharaoh is perplexed by and that no one else can interpret. When Pharaoh states that he has heard that
Joseph can interpret dreams, Joseph replies, “It is not in me; God will give
Pharaoh a favorable answer.” (Genesis 41:15) The message from God is that Egypt
will have 7 years of plenty followed by 7 years of famine. Pharaoh promotes Joseph from slave to second
in command of Egypt to prepare for the famine to come. “You shall be over my house, and according to
your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne will I be
greater than you.” (Genesis 41:40)
Joseph goes from rags to riches
overnight. He is given a wife and has 2
sons. His firstborn son he names
Manasseh, which means “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my
father’s household.” (Genesis 41:52). But
his father’s household, these same ten brothers, whom he has not seen for 22
years, travel to Egypt to buy grain, for the famine has arrived and was very severe
in Canaan also. Just when you think you
have forgotten all your troubles, here walks in trouble through the door! When his brothers bow down to him, not
recognizing him, Joseph remembers his dream of the sheaves of wheat bowing down
to him that he had told to his brothers so many years ago. Now, years later, he is the overseer for the
sale of grain to those affected by the famine, and his brothers have come to
buy wheat from him.
Joseph had a choice at this
moment in time. He had every opportunity to enslave his brothers who had
enslaved him. He also had the power to
have them killed as they had talked about doing to him. If revenge had been on his heart, oh what
sweet revenge it would have been. No one
would have ever known…no one but God Himself.
But Joseph understood that to sin was to sin against God. It is what kept him pure through the
temptation with Potiphar’s wife and being stripped of his garment a second time. It is what kept him pure now seeing his
brothers and not seeking retribution.
Instead, Joseph works out a plan
to see if his older brothers would respond differently with a similar set of
circumstances. No one knows if Joseph
knew from start to finish what he would do, but we do know that it mirrored the
same situation of when they chose evil and hatred over goodness and truth. We can see God’s hand in bringing them to
repentance and redemption. They were given a second chance to prove if their
hearts had changed.
- · Would there be repentance? There was no remorse when Joseph’s brothers sold him into slavery. When they did so, they sat and ate dinner while he was in the pit, discussing if they were going to murder him. Now in Egypt, Joseph holds his brothers in jail for 3 days (could it be the same king’s jail that he had been placed in?), accusing them of being spies. During this time Joseph hears them talking about the fact that distress has come upon them because of what they did to Joseph and “now comes the reckoning for his blood.” (Genesis 42:22) Their sin of 2 decades before, although buried deep down in their hearts until this day, is already rising to the surface. It moved Joseph to tears to hear them talk of their past sins against him.
- Would there be truth spoken? Joseph had no proof that his father or his brother, Benjamin, were alive and that his other 10 brothers were telling the truth. “If you are honest men…bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be verified…” (Genesis 42:19-20). Joseph keeps his brother, Simeon, in Egypt while the other 9 brothers travel back home to convince their father to allow Benjamin to return with them.
- · Would there be greed? Joseph returned the money into their sacks of grain that they had used to pay for the grain on their first journey home. Would they keep it or return it? The brothers not only returned it, but doubled the money to return plus brought some other gifts, the best of the land, from Canaan, when they arrived back the second time to Egypt, this time bringing also their youngest brother, Benjamin.
- · Would there be a sacrifice of another younger, favored brother? Joseph sets up a final test in which a special cup of Joseph’s is placed in the sack of Benjamin as they leave to return home for their final journey. “He whom it is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” (Genesis 44:10) How tempting it might have been for the 10 other brothers to decide to allow Benjamin to remain a slave in Egypt, and repeat their past pattern of selling Joseph into slavery in Egypt. It was presented to them that the rest could go free. But this is when Judah, one of Joseph’s older brothers, steps forward and repeats the promise he made to their father, that Judah himself “became surety for the lad to my father.” (Genesis 44:32). Judah offered to take Benjamin’s place as a slave forever in Egypt and send his brother home so that he would not bring further distress upon his father again, knowing his bereavement over Joseph all these years.
“Then Joseph could not control
himself…he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of
Pharaoh heard of it.” (Genesis 45:1) His
brothers had passed the test of truth.
They could be trusted so that Joseph could reveal who he was to them and
ultimately bring his family to provision and safety in Egypt, including being
reunited with his father who thought his son was dead.
Character is both revealed and
developed through a time of testing. “I,
the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind.
Even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results
of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17.10)
Joseph is evidence of a steadfast heart through the trials of faith.
He never let bitterness or revenge take
over his heart. Somehow the Lord had
revealed to him that “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in
order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.”
(Genesis 50:20) Joseph’s life would be a
testimony of the meaning of the name of the second son, Ephraim, who was born
to him: “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.” (Genesis
41:52) Joseph would ultimately save his
extended family from starvation and receive a double blessing through his
father to his 2 sons, and would extend mercy and grace to those that did not
deserve it.
Judah is evidence of a repentive heart through the test of faith. First he gives a confession before Joseph:
“…how can we justify ourselves? God has
found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both
we and the one in whose possession and cup has been found” (Genesis 44: 16) Then,
Judah, who was the brother who originally suggested that they sell Joseph into
slavery, is the one all these years later who offers himself up to go into
slavery so he could protect his youngest brother, Benjamin, from harm. “Now, therefore, please let your servant
remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with
brothers, for how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear
that I see the evil that would overtake my father.”(Genesis 44:33-34)
Although fourth in the line of
brothers, Judah stepped forward and took the lead in breaking the past and
forging the future. His tribe would rise
up and become the largest and most influential tribe of Israel. “Judah, your
brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your
father’s sons will bow down to you.” (Genesis 49:8) It
would also be the tribe from which the Messiah would come forth, and Jesus Christ
would forevermore be known as the Lion of Judah.
How about you? Do you see God in
your circumstances, even when you are currently in the land of affliction? Are you allowing the Lord to make you
fruitful in the midst of your suffering?
Where is there sin in your life buried deep down? Have you come to realize that any sin is a
sin against God? Ask the Lord to speak
truth in your heart on where you need to ask for forgiveness from Him and from
others, and start anew. Are you going
through a test of faith right now? Is it
proving your character or developing you spiritually? The Lord wants you to
change and grow and pass the test of truth, the test of faith.
“Consider it all joy, my
brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your
faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its perfect result, so that
you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.” James 1:2-4
