Saturday, October 11, 2014

Joseph's Half Brothers come to Egypt for Food Genesis 42

To see Genesis 42 without my comments click HERE.

It took a famine that came directly from the Father to elevate Joseph to the position of Governor and treasurer of Egypt. This once again put him in a position to see his brothers which sold him into slavery. When Joseph's 10 Brothers came to Egypt to buy corn they did not bring their youngest brother Benjamin with them. This is because their father Jacob (Israel) wanted Benjamin to stay with him while the others went to Egypt v.4. Jacob (Israel) believed that something may happen to Benjamin along the journey. I believe that it is because he didn't trust the other sons to take care of him, probably knew that they did not have anything but their own selfish desires to motivated them.

Joseph's Half Brothers had to talk to Joseph to buy corn.

For Jacob's brothers to get the corn, they had to talk to Joseph. Joseph purposely made himself a stranger to them so they would not be recognized by speaking through an interpreter and of course he looked different being older and dressed in traditional royal Egyptian clothes. Although Egypt did have food, Egypt was fearful of Asiatic spies in which Joseph used this as a pretense to imprison his brothers for 3 days. It's possible that 3 days could have been the same amount of time that Joseph spent in the cistern before his brothers sold him into slavery.

Joseph in turn decided to test his brothers to see if they were repentant for selling him into slavery years earlier. Although his brothers were Hebrews they were not following the laws of the Father when they sold Joseph into slavery. Under Hebrew law kidnapping is punishable by death for those who kidnap and sell people into slavery. This is also true for all of us as we all have broken the Father's laws and do not deserve the forgiving grace of the Lord. So at this point, the only thing keeping his brothers alive legally and literally, is Joseph's whim.

During the 3 days Joseph had time to think. Joseph told his brothers if they want to live and all to be fine, then they will bring the corn to Jacob's household and bring their youngest brother Benjamin with them when they return to Egypt for more food. Joseph told his brothers to not come back to see him for more food again unless Benjamin was with them Gen43:3. Benjamin was Joseph's only and full blooded brother and he wanted him to be with him in Egypt.
As a pledge or hostage, Joseph decided to hold Simeon in prison while the others brought food to Jacob and for them to bring Benjamin from Canaan land. His decision to hold Simeon is because according to legend Simeon was the cruelest of the brothers and this idea can be readily supported by the fact that Simeon and Levi slew all the males of the land of Shechem Gen34:25.

Joseph's Half Brothers Beg for mercy.

When Joseph's brothers were released, Joseph had his brothers money put into their sacks without them knowing, to carry back to Canaan land, so when they opened their sacks they would be even more fearful of the situation because they would look like thieves. He also knew that they would have to return to see him or they would starve.
Undoubtedly Joseph's brothers caravan had months worth of corn and other provisions with them when they returned to Canaan land. This of course can only mean that Simeon was going to spend months in prison waiting for the others eventual return.

Joseph's brothers told Jacob (Israel) that the Governor of Egypt was holding Simeon hostage and that he personally wanted to see Benjamin to confirm that they were not spies. Jacob of course was distraught because he lost Simeon to prison and believed that Joseph was dead. Israel didn't want Benjamin to go with them because Benjamin was the only surviving son of the wife that he truly loved. Israel stated in v.38 that “...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.”

Notice in the statement above that Israel (the man), stated “to the grave” he would go and he didn't say he would have sorrow until he flew off into outer space into the heavens after he dies to see his son again in heaven?

The concept of Christians going to heaven I have posted about before and will not go into here for the sake of brevity. If you wish to see the post I am referring to then click HERE.

Despite whether people agree with me or not about Christians going to heaven, I pray for all to read their Bible daily read the truth of God, and to follow his commandments! 1 John 2:4



No comments:

Post a Comment