Genesis 42:1-38

Joseph’s dream came true.  The famine that plagued Egypt spread to Canaan as well and all of Joseph’s brothers except for Benjamin came to purchase grain.  They could never guess that the ruler who was in charge of selling grain was the brother they had sold into slavery about twenty years earlier.  The brothers all bowed before Joseph and he recognized that God was in the process of making his dreams from so many years ago come true.
GOD USES THE FAMINE: God had told Abraham from the very beginning that his descendants would spend 400 years in Egypt as slaves.  God had told Joseph that his brothers would bow down before him.  God brings about a famine in the land in order to accomplish what He had revealed so many years before.  Once again we see that the events of this planet are firmly in the hands of the Father.  His purposes are accomplished through means that we may not understand, but we must rest in the reality that they are indeed accomplished and that He is in control of the events of our lives.  We may face famines of our own that appear to be beyond God’s control.  We certainly cannot see how God could bring any good out of it.  The key thing that we all must learn is trust.  We must always trust that the circumstances through which God allows us to pass are truly under His control and will ultimately be used of Him for the glory of His own name.
JOSEPH HIDES HIS FACE: Joseph recognizes his brothers, but he chooses not to reveal himself to them.  He accuses them of being spies and throws them into prison for three days.  There is no real way for us to know what Joseph wanted to accomplish in this confrontation.  It could be that he wanted to find out if his brothers had changed or if they were now treating his full brother Benjamin the same way that they had treated him.  He may have simply wanted to see Benjamin.  One thing that is clear is he did not trust his brothers so he kept Simeon in Egypt in order to make sure that the brothers would come back.  He makes provision for the family by sending all the other brothers back home and he returns all of their money to them.  This gesture of provision shows that Joseph is concerned about his father and the entire family and he could not bring himself to charge them for this provision.  I am sure he was interested to see what his brothers would do with the returned money.  I am sure that Joseph considered selling all his brothers as slaves in order to repay them for the evil they had done to him.  We are bound to be hurt by others on this sin cursed world.  When that happens, we must never give in to the spirit of vengeance that is bound to spring up in our souls.  We must learn to leave these things in the Lord’s hands.
JACOB RESPONDS IN FEAR: When Jacob hears how his sons were treated and that the prince in Egypt wanted to see Benjamin, he responded with great fear.  He thought Joseph was dead and considered Simeon to be lost forever and he could not bear the thought of loosing Benjamin too.  Then when he saw that all of the money had been returned to him he just thought that he was being set up.  He did not permit the brothers to return.  However, in time, the grain ran out and they needed to go back.  Jacob was adamant that Benjamin would not be allowed to go.  Ruben takes responsibility for his younger brother but insists that he go.  It seems that the hardships of Jacob’s life have tested his faith and caused him to live in fear.  Fear and faith in God should never coexist.  If we truly trust God, there is never a need to live in fear.  When we are controlled by our fears we demonstrate that we trust ourselves or our circumstances far beyond our faith in God.  No matter  how difficult our circumstances or life experiences become, we must always cling to our trust in the truth that God is in control and in this truth we can rest.

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