Genesis 42:1 – 43:14 Bible Teaching

WELCOME
PRAYER
SONG
SILENCE

We are working out way through Genesis verse by verse. We will begin a summary of chapters and even books once we get to Exodus depending on the content.

We just sang or heard IF GOD IS FOR US WHO CAN BE AGAINST US?

No idea that they would play this one but its fitting for what I want to say before we start today.

Last week we had a wonderful baptism of Hanna here in our little live studio parking lot after the teaching.

Ethan brought to friends who had never been here before – Taylor and Tiana as they are also friends of Hanna.

I got a text from Ethan telling me that Taylor had a seizure in her sleep and passed.

She was 18. In our little tiny group we have come face to face with a lot of death – especially sudden death. Some of them really surprising and shocking and quick. All of them sobering reminders of this life being short and ephemeral and the import of learning how to live well.

The Bible presents traits and characteristics of God that ought to overwhelming to any thinking person.

Passages that say that He is Holy, the ultimate Judge, powerful even a consuming fire.

From these passages we create a God who stands as a pillar to be fearfully approached, who loves and accepts conditionally, and represents pure judgement.

We tend to describe Him in these ways as unchangeable and stick to this narrative about Him – He is the unchangeable God.

But reading the scripture we repeatedly find that He . . . changes. Constantly. Especially . . . His mind.

This is in direct contrast to the imagery we have of Him as a rigid, staunch, unwavering pillar of fire . . . isn’t it?

Of course, this God is very representative of Calvin’s God – Holy unapproachable and ready to punish all with eternal fire except those He elects.

And this is what we are told to fear. But God so loved the WORLD – as it was – the WORLD that He, in changeable love

Now, I admit that God should be revered and seen with awe, humility and reverence – but I want to submit something to you that has come to my awareness of late, through a brother who opens the scripture up to me, and we talk about the scriptural facts – God is love and as such the only rule about Him not changing is that He, as love, is always changing – constantly – and depending on our responses and reactions to Him.

If we are in need of correction, he will allow for challenges – in love. If we are in need of mercy, patience, longsuffering, kindness, silence, rebuke – He is there, in love, to adapt Himself to whatever the individual is in need of as a means to bring them to Him in the end.

This is what unconditional love looks like. It is always striving to do what is best in the face of a persons freewill.

He will not, as love, encroach upon our freewill. He will merely respond in the MOST needed way though love to the choices we make.

Receive Him – He works in love in one way. Don’t? He works in love, here and afterward and forevermore – in another way.

He changes like any parent who wants to reach their child, according to the childs choices, mindset, and needs.

And if human parents will do this, would not the living God? He would, He does and all because of the finished work of Christ.

So, we left off with Egypt and the surrounding area being in a drought.

Let’s pick it up at chapter 42:1

Genesis 42.1-38/43.1-14
August 13th 2023

Genesis 42:1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?
2 And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.
3 And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.
4 But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.
5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.
9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
11 We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.
12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.
14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.
16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:
19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.

21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.
22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.
24 And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.
25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.
26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence.
27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack’s mouth.
28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?
29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,
30 The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.
31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies:
32 We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
33 And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone:
34 And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land.
35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
36 And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.
37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.
38 And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Alright back to verse 1 where we return to the purpose of the narrative which is not Egypt but the children of Israel. And how they get to Egypt.

1 Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?

When Jacob heard the report of others that there was food available in Egypt.

In that time and day famines were common as agriculture, water rights and distribution were still rudimentary.

And Canaan, or the promised land, given by YAHAVAH to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob seems to have been peculiarly vexed by them as Genesis 12:10 mentions one in Abrahams day, and Genesis 26 mentions one in Isaacs time.

So great was this one in Jacobs time that Stephan in Acts 7 mentions it in his recital of history before He was stoned to death as the first Christian Martyr.

In any case this was the third famine and it was in the time of Jacob.

2 And he (Jacob) said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die.
3 And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt.
4 But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, Lest peradventure mischief befall him.
5 And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
6 And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.

What a scene huh? It seems that Joseph was adorned in the Egyptian drab as he governed here and this made it difficult to detect him as we know he purposefully altered his appearance to avoid detection and since at least 13 years have passed and he was only 17 when they sold him into slavery them knowing him would be difficult.

So, they bowed down themselves before him and does this not fulfill Joseph’s dream that their sheaves would bow down to his? (as we read back in Genesis 37:7-8)

I mean he told them his dream, then they did everything but kill him to prove his dreams were fanciful and here they are being shown that there was nothing that they could do to stop it from happening.

7 And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, “Whence come ye?” And they said, From the land of Canaan to buy food.
8 And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him.

Can we say that anything was more true of Christ who came unto His own but His own received Him not (as their own).

9 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.

Another way to say this is you are vagabonds here in our land under the pretense of “looking to buy rice but what you really want to see is our defenses to see if you can invade us and run and hide back into their own country.

It appears that Joseph spoke roughly to them as a means to perhaps cover his heart for them but moreso to cause them to fear and feel shame for their acts of the past.

10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come.
11 We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies.

“We are not a conglomeration of nomadic tribes, we are all one man’s sons!” Our family does not care about taking over Egypt.

From this it seems that Joseph had encouraged them to speak of them having one father or of their one father and so perhaps he accuses them of being marauders of different tribes to bring this out from their mouths.

At verse 15 Joseph will use this approach and the information they offer to learn more of them and their family. Anyway he continues (verse 12)

12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come.
13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not.

Of one is not alive.

14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies:
15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

As Pharaoh lives, as surely as the King of Egypt lives ye will not go from here unless your brother (who was Benjamin) comes here.

Remember, this brother who stayed behind was from his mother Rachael and Jacob so he was his full brother. And Joseph says to them

16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.
17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
18 And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God:

That last line that Joseph makes to them, “for I fear God” is him saying, “for I fear haElohiym.”

The Ha is an emphasis on the Word Elohiym and serves as the article THE and is like Joseph saying, “I fear THE Elohiym” or “I fear the God’s” as elohiym is plural.

Some suggest that Joseph is saying that he fears all the god’s OR that He is letting them know that He too fears the Living God of Abraham, Isaac and His father, Jacob. This would have given them some sort of comfort if the latter. And he adds at verse 19

19 If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses:
20 But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.
21 And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.

Part of the liberty Christ brings to the human soul is the emancipation of cancerous guilt we tend to bear about with us when it is unresolved.

Right or wrong and whether there is a connection to events or not, our minds tend to reach back to the evil we have done when we are experiencing something difficult in our lives and make connections.

Its part of our make-up to see cause and effect – I did this, I am now paying for it.

This is what these brothers were doing.
They did a great evil toward Joseph and they can’t help but feel this treatment is deserved.

It is the need for us to atone for our sin somehow as our psyche needs wants balance, wants to rid ourselves of the guilt we feel for whatever we have done.

What happens when Christ takes our shame and guilt is we get liberated from the suspicious thinking we bear when guilty and with right minds bear up more reasonably under the tragedies we face.

In Christ, the bad fortune is seen as something allowed by God in love to teach us not imposed by God as punishment.

Without Christ we will assume all things are our getting our just deserts; in Christ we are learning from Him.

Either way it’s a shift in the mind and in my experience a shift for the better.

With Him as our living savior and king on the throne, we will not see bad fortune in our lives as retribution but as lessons and opportunities to rely MORE heavily upon Him, and not less and to be humble to Him for His love not his inflicted pain.

Herein lies the issue with someone thinking that they possess their own righteousness – when troubling times come, they shake a fist at God seeing the problem as undeserved.

In Christ, however, and by comparison to Him, all souls readily see themselves as nothing but deserving of whatever comes, and move-in closer toward Him for comfort and compassion.

So still riddled with guilt, the brothers ironically find themselves feeling it as they stand before Joseph who they mistreated.
(verse 22)

22 And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.
23 And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.

It is believed that the people of that region in that day (Egyptians, Hebrews, Canaanites and Syrians) could all understand each other.

His having an interpreter could have been for appearances or perhaps one was needed. Can’t really say. What we can say is Joseph privately understood them when they talked.

Family communications are rife with nuanced intonation. They bring to the surface years – decades even, of parenting and parental mistakes, and sibling hurts and harms, joy, memories and injustices.

There are few things more volatile and deeply felt that the exchanges between siblings and therefore they require more of the Spirit of Christ to face and overcome than most other people and circumstances around us.

Why?

Because that is where the emotions of our development lie – in the realms of the childhood and teen home.

There are “older middle younger kid dynamics,” parents who treat each kid in ways that anger the others, and all of that stuff comes undone in the hearts and minds of adults who usually don’t even realize that they are responding to each other as if they are still children in the home.

Very, very emotional stuff and therefore bearing extreme volatility. How was Joseph’s feeling to ward these situation.

24 And Joseph turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

Why did Jospeh take Simeon? It is suggested that it was because Simeon was the one who took Joseph and bound him before throwing him in the pit.

So, according to some Jewish rabbits it was straight up sibling relatiation of one act deserving another.

25 Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.
26 And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence.

27 And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack’s mouth.

So they stop (it reads at an INN which is very doubtful but more like a rudimentary place to rest)

28 And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?

Their reaction can be captured in the phrase, “my heart leapt out of my chest.”

And they said among themselves, “What is this that God hath done unto us?”

This was the money paid for the corn they received. So they could not have something good done to them without it being seen suspiciously.

So, their guilt continued to govern them through fear and suspicion now. In some ways they were right, though weren’t they?

29 And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying,
30 The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.
31 And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies:
32 We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.
33 And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, “Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone:
34 And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land.
35 And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.
36 And Jacob their father said unto them, “Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.

“All these things are against me or are more than I can bear.”

37 And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.

Now, Reuban shows some courage and dedication to his father, Jacob. Reuban had a mistake in his life by laying with his father’s concubine and for which Jacob cursed him, but it was Reuban, who was the first born son of Jacob and Leah who saved Joseph from his brothers wanting to kill him and now he dedicates his own sons to the hands of his father if he is not successful in returning Benjamin to him.

It’s an odd offering none the less, though, isn’t it for how could a Grandfather ever slay his grandsons?
In any case,

38 And he (Jacob) said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.

Benjamin was the only remaining son of Rachel in Jacobs mind (as he also believed that Joseph was dead.) And this brings us to chapter 43. Let’s read

1 And the famine was sore in the land.
2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.
3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:
5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.
6 And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?
7 And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, “Bring your brother down?”
8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.
9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:
10 For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.
11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:
12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:
13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:
14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

Alright back to verse 1

1 And the famine was sore in the land.
2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.
3 And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, “Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. “
4 If thou wilt send our brother (Benjamin) with us, we will go down and buy thee food:
5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, “Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.”
6 And Israel said, “Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?”

In other words, why on earth did you even mention another brother to this man? Are you just trying to invite misery and woe into my life?)
7 And they said, “The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, “Bring your brother down?”

When the dead sea scrolls were discovered by a shepherd boy in 1946, we got verification that 99.9% of what is called, The Genesis Apochryphon was accurate – by a confirming source 1000 years older than anything we had on hand before.

There were all sorts of critical claims against the OLD TESTAMENT Text around before hand that the Dead Sea scrolls shut down. Boom.

These little insights, like the conversational items between Jacob(Israel) and sons bring so much authenticity to the heart – if you let them.

8 And Judah said unto Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.

A better word than lad is found in the Hebrew and suggests that this should read the “young man” as Benjamin at this point is believed to have been between 24 and 30 years of age and according to Genesis 36 had a family of his own.

“Send the young man with me,” Judah says, “and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.”

Judah’s point? Unless we do this all of us are gonna die. Then he says to his father,

9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever:

We remember the pledge Judah gave to Tamar until he provided the price for relations with her – a kid – but now he is offering up his own life as a surety or pledge to his Father.

There is a picture here to consider as we note that this is Judah (the father of the Tribe from which Jesus came) promising His father that he would bring one of His children back to him or the blame would be on him forever.

Somehow this speaks to Him and the surety He was when sent by His father to bring back his brothers and the fathers true sons but we will leave it at that.

10 For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.

This seems to be a bit of a complaint from Judah, as if to say, “If we had not gotten all weird about Benjamin we would have been there and back with grain!”

11 And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:

I thought they were in a famine? What is this about gifts of honey and nuts?

It was customary to give gifts when having an audience before an authority in those days (on out to today) and what they were offering were staples that can last on a shelf even in times of famine – like honey and nuts (deemed pistachio’s to most) almonds and balms, spices and myrrh.

No grains but staples.

12 And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight:

What was returned in their sacks, and what was farther necessary to buy another load – take it with you. And then Jacob submits to the demand and says

13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man:
14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

This seems to be a resignation of Jacob as he says, “if I am bereaved because of my children, I am bereaved.”

In verse 14 where we read Jacob say, “And God Almighty give you mercy before the man.” The Hebrew is El (the singular title for God as elohiym is the plural) but it is added to Shaddai, (Shad-dah-ee) which means “all mighty.”

This is in contradistinction to just el, which could be assigned to moloch or baal as lesser worshipped and certainly not “almighty gods.”

El is not a personal pronoun name of God Almighty but the title for any god in heaven or hearth. Interestingly Elohiym is also applied to gods on earth.

We will leave off here.

Question/Comments/Prayer

Prayers for the family and friends of young Taylor.

Taylor’s family, Chance and Becky (brother lost Curtis) David, Laura, others.