Brothers brought back
Gen: 44:1-34 · Vern Peterman · Feb 22, 2009
Genesis, No. 54
Holly Hills Bible Church
https://www.hollyhillsbiblechurch.org/teaching/messages/4926125233074

Transcribed from the recording by SermonAudio, so expect the occasional misheard word.

Good morning. You know, as we study through these passages in Genesis, I get to thinking, these men did this and that and said this and that and failed to do and say different things. And I often wonder if they have this perspective. Boy, if I'd known everybody would be reading about me and studying about me, I might have lived differently. And I'm sure as we look through here, you'll almost kind of wonder, heavens, what were they thinking? And that's part of what we're going to look at today. What were they thinking? And I think it's worth our taking a look at here.

One of the things that both Romans and 1 Corinthians makes note of is that these things in the Old Testament that we're studying were written for our instruction. They're there on purpose. They're not just accidentally there, they're intentionally there. And the Lord very much intends that we learn from the record of their lives and the Lord's interaction with them.

So join me here as we step into Genesis 44. We've been seeing Joseph dealing with his brothers as we look at this passage. Still, up until the next chapter after this, Joseph is not letting on to his brothers who he is. Here is this guy that they thought they had sold off to some traders, and they probably figure if he's still alive, he's a slave somewhere and we're never going to see him. They had no idea that they were talking to the guy who was second in command of all of Egypt, and that's their brother, the one they sold. It just had not crossed their minds at all.

Joseph had plenty to hide behind, everything from different, you know, kind of head gear and even cosmetics that the Egyptians commonly wore. Some of it not just for appearance but also even for protection from the sun and things of that sort. Different language that Joseph was able to speak and Joseph was able to hide behind the fact that he could speak the Egyptian language, have it translated into Hebrew and yet hear their response understanding Hebrew. He hid behind the fact that they in no way expected that their brother, the one that they had sold off to the slave traders, was now the one standing in front of them, commanding basically most of the affairs in Egypt. Just hiding behind that. So even as of this chapter and up until the very first of the next, Joseph will remain in disguise, incognito if you will.

His 11 brothers, after Joseph having given them basically a lunchtime party, and it was apparently quite a time, the best food that Egypt could offer, he sends his brothers home. Again, they don't know who he is. His 11 brothers are prepared to head home, and as that's taking place, Joseph has a few tasks for his Egyptian steward. Now, I have no idea what the steward was thinking. I would guess that he was probably astounded. What on earth is this guy Joseph asking me to do? But okay, he's Joseph and he's the one who's in command. I'll do it, even though I'm puzzled, right?

So, first he says, put the grain and money in their brother's sacks. The grain, he says, as much as their sack can hold. fill it just as full as you can get it. Pack it in. Give them all they can possibly hold and then put the money that they brought all back in the bags. Put it all back in the bags again. But here's the sticky point. Put Joseph's own silver cup, Joseph's own cup, in Benjamin's sack. Benjamin the youngest. Benjamin, Joseph's full-blood brother. Both Benjamin and Joseph had Mother Rachel, right? Put the silver cup in Benjamin's sack.

Then I want you to pursue the brothers and accuse them of repaying evil for good by taking the cup. Yeah. I want you to go and accuse them after you put the cup in there. Alright, so that's the setup. Here's the brothers. They're getting loaded up. They say, man, what a great meal. The guy was really nice to us. And our sacks are just loaded to the top. We've got money in the sacks. We're doing great. This is just wonderful.

So then they start heading out of town. They just get out of town. And Joseph says, okay, go. Go get them. So now the steward goes out there. Just as Joseph had directed, exactly. Before they search all their sacks, here's the steward come in, wait a minute, you guys have taken the cup. What have you done? Why have you paid? Good for evil here. Evil for good.

So now, now, you guys need to figure out which one of you guys has this. Well, of course, the steward knows. He put the cup in there, right? But he's also the one who was there to put him in birth order. So what does he do? He goes and checks from the oldest to the youngest. Checks through there. By the way, that's a correction to your handout. Oldest to youngest. He starts off with the oldest one. So the last one he's checking is Benjamin.

But before they have a chance to do the checking, all the brothers came up and they say, we didn't do it because none of them suspect that anybody's taken the cup. So they said, you can kill the person whose cup is in here because we know you're wrong. And you can take the rest of us as slaves. Of course, they're going to wish they hadn't said that.

But so now here's the setup. Can you imagine they're going to open up the sack? It's not in there. The brothers are thinking, man, this guy is really mistaken. He's blown it, made a big mistake. None of us is guilty of this. Finally, they get down to Benjamin. Benjamin Sack, there's the cup. Ah! No!

That is the awful discovery. They tear their clothes in lament, which by the way is a uniquely Jewish custom. It wasn't just everybody in the ancient world did that. Some of the steward may have been puzzled. What are they doing? But tearing the clothes is an expression of lament and grief. at this ghastly discovery. Why was this an awful discovery?

This was an awful discovery because Benjamin was the youngest. Benjamin was the one they didn't bring on the first trip because the father said, no, I don't want him going. He's young and he's especially prized. You see, Jacob, Jacob, his father favored Benjamin as the last remaining son, so far as he knew. of Rachel, his favored wife.

So, as they came back before Joseph, alright, now we're all coming back. We thought we were heading home. Now we're all coming back. They all fall before Joseph. They figure, we are toast. Whatever Egyptian toast looks like, that's what we are. We are toast. So they all fall before Joseph, realizing we are completely at this guy's mercy. Completely. Think of it.

What could Joseph have done? If Joseph had wanted, he could have ordered them all killed. He could have done that. He could have ordered that one of them be killed, as they offered, and the rest be slaves. Or he could have offered that, no, you'll all be slaves. Or he could let him go. Whatever he decided. He had the complete power and latitude to do exactly that.

Joseph first asks a few questions of them. Just to kind of poke at them. Painful questions. Judah, yeah, Judah then speaks up for them. First he asks questions. The questions are like, what can we say? He basically says, I'm speechless, but I'll tell you. I'll speak it. I don't know what to say. What could we possibly do to justify ourselves? We're at a loss for words.

He then offers all the brothers as Joseph's slaves. And by the way, That would be a nicer thing than having them all killed. Or even having one of them killed. Having them all be slaves, at least they would live. So perhaps he's appealing for a little mercy. So he makes that offer. Judah continues.

As Joseph refuses the offer then, he said, no, I'll just keep Benjamin here. and the rest of you go home. Oh, that's not what I wanted! Right? That isn't at all what he wanted because what had Judah done, he had told his father, I'll be responsible. Okay? You can blame me if Benjamin doesn't come back. So this is exactly the outcome Judah does not want. Okay? Does not want that. That would really put him in trouble. Now this is interesting. Judah speaks more directly and personally at this stage to Joseph.

He acknowledges first off, he says, you are like Pharaoh in authority. And in truth, he was. He had the command and order of everything, including military command. He was indeed like Pharaoh in authority. Judah then tells for Joseph, Kind of the family history builds up this whole thing, and he repeatedly talks about his father. My father, my father, my father, my father. And over a half dozen times he mentions his father in this account of the family history, telling Joseph all about the family's background. Judah spoke with Joseph here and he chose his words carefully. He expressed concern for his father's well-being through all this.

Very interesting. He offers to take, now this is amazing, he offers to take Benjamin's place as a slave in Egypt so that his brother Benjamin might return. Ah. Wow. The penalty that is due to that guy, Benjamin, I'll take the penalty instead. I'll take the penalty instead. This is the first instance of human substitution in the Bible. I'll take the penalty for him. That's what he offers. You want to keep Benjamin, what I'm offering is let Benjamin go. I'll be a slave for Egypt, lifelong. the rest of my days, I'll be a slave. But let Benjamin go.

So here is Judah, fourth son in the series, son of Leah, the unloved wife, who later on would have a descendant, King David, and ultimately a descendant, Jesus. Here's Judah who says, I will take the penalty for him. And eventually from that Judah would be descended our Lord who says, I'll take the penalty for them. By the way, that's you and me. You and me. We have to ask this question. We asked it last week, but it's still rather stunning, and especially in view of what we saw here.

Was this the same Judah? Judah was the one who, in chapter 37, that came up with the idea, hey, let's sell Joseph. Yeah, some silver. We'll just trade Joseph for some silver. It almost seemed like a spur-of-the-moment thought, too. Quick thinking. Not good thinking, but quick.

We saw as we studied chapter 38, a whole list here, filling up the rest of the slide, of things that show Judah was not a man of character. Was this the same Judah? The same one who had done all these things that chapter 38 tells us about? Was this the same guy? who stood up and was responsible, who stood up and said, I'll take the penalty for him. This Judah who once said, hey, let's sell Joseph as a slave, volunteering instead for Joseph's younger brother to be a slave instead. Yeah, that Joseph. That Judah. That Benjamin. Judah was indeed a changed man.

Judah now takes the lead. Judah, the one who had once succumbed to the offer of a prostitute, apparently without much resistance, Judah now takes the lead saying, I'll be the slave instead. This drawing that you see off in the one corner is a picture from one of the Egyptian tombs showing the Egyptian slave master beating one of the slaves and one of the other slaves pleading for mercy. And that's essentially what Judah is doing, saying, I'll be that slave instead. Judah takes the lead the way a leader should. This is a biblical leader. He stands up taking responsibility for his errors. and offers that he take the penalty out of concern for others.

It's interesting that we have some accounts from the early church. This is after the time of the New Testament. We have one particular instance that comes to mind where the Romans were bringing some persecution against the church. And one of the people in the particular church congregation had been caught by the Romans and the Romans were hauling that person off basically to punish them, possibly with death. And as the account goes, one of the elders in the church came up to the Roman officer and said, please, please, let me go in his place. Let me go in his place.

That's leadership. That's the kind of leader God intends. Judas, being that kind of a leader, comes up to Joseph and said, let me be a slave instead of my brother. He speaks up boldly, certainly humbly. He acknowledges Joseph's position. He appeals for mercy for the others, even if it comes at his own expense.

Judah takes the lead in expressing care for his father's welfare. Here was a guy in chapter 38 that didn't care what his father said or thought, or what the result was to his father, what the consequence was to his father. Now he cares for his father immensely.

As a matter of fact, that's the center. It's the center of everything he says to Joseph. It's because of my father. that I would like to do this. It's because of my father that I would prefer that we do that, even to the point of I'll be the slave instead. Think about these things. Think of the change that had taken place. Consider these.

The ten brothers, these are the ones that first treated Joseph with hate. They hated him. They really did. The Bible says repeatedly they hated Joseph because he was the favored son. They treated him with callous disregard. Should we kill him or sell him? They actually expressed regret here in this passage, remorse for what they did to him. Yeah, they had changed.

The brothers who had once lied to their father Jacob about Joseph's death pretending that Joseph had been attacked by a wild animal, breaking their father's heart. Jacob was heartbroken at the thought that Joseph had been killed. Now they're doing everything they can to assure Jacob and to protect him and even to look out for his well-being, even though he's many miles away at this point. Judah takes the lead in this. The brothers were ones who had once acted with deception and treachery are now trying to act honestly.

Hey, we have this money in our sacks and we're bringing it back. Plus, we're bringing some more and we want to make sure we pay for this. Yeah, that's the same brothers, the ones who said, hey, twenty pieces of silver for our brother Joseph, that sounds like a good deal to us. Now, they're thinking real differently, aren't they? These are the brothers who hated the children of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. Why? Because the father favored them. Resentment? Oh yeah. Grudges? Oh boy, no end.

Now they're promising to protect Benjamin even with their own lives, even specifically putting themselves in Benjamin's place if he has to be a slave. These brothers who had once abandoned Joseph and said, hey, let him go. He's headed off to Egypt. Who knows what will happen to him. Now returned in part to rescue their brother Simeon. They came back to Egypt because Simeon was under Joseph's control here.

Kept as kind of ransom to bring the brothers back. These brothers had changed, hadn't they? They had changed a lot. The Lord had made changes in their hearts and minds and lives. Something else we saw last chapter, chapter 43, they didn't resent Benjamin when Benjamin, Joseph's brother, one of the favored sons, was given a five times larger portion than the other brothers. Not just double, not just 50% more, five times. This was really obvious. Five times. You're not going to miss that.

This guy gets special treatment. So Joseph is looking. Will they hate Benjamin because he gets special treatment? Will they resent it? Or will they say, no, that's alright. That's okay. And think nothing of it and be glad for what they have been given. It's very clear they acted as one when the cup was found. They didn't go, ah, Benjamin, man, you're in trouble now. See you later. They didn't do that, did they?

They all lamented. They all had to go to the tailors and get their clothing repaired. Every single one of them took Benjamin's supposed guilt as their problem. All of them did. That's real different from the us and them and the finger pointing and the, well, let him go. We don't care about him. They acted as one. They completely humbled themselves for Benjamin's sake. They all bowed down. All of them.

That's what it says. For Benjamin's sake, appealing to the power of mercy that Joseph had. They recognize, this is in verse 16 of this chapter, they recognize and they said that this problem that they were having was a consequence of their sin against Joseph.

Isn't that something? Why would they make that connection? It had been a number of years. Hadn't they gotten away with it kind of? As far as they knew? Isn't it interesting? They recognize, no, You know, that was wrong for us to do that. And now this is coming back to bite us. They saw it. They recognized it. They faced up to it. They took it to heart.

They offered themselves, all of them, as slaves to Egypt together with Benjamin instead of isolating him. They showed genuine concern for how the Father would be affected in this. What's going to happen to our Father with all this? How do we do things? How do we appeal to Joseph so that things come out the best for our Father? You see that? How is this going to impact our Father? That's what they began to think about. Not just what story can we tell Him. Not just how can we deceive Him. How can we get back at Dad for having Joseph as a favorite? But how do we protect our Father? How do we show Him honor? Judah is willing here to be made this substitutionary sacrifice to his brother. to take his brother's place as a slave out of love for Benjamin and his father. Isn't it interesting? You think about that.

Why would Judah say, I'll be a slave for the rest of my days. I'll never see my homeland again. I'll not see my family again. I'll take his place. Why would he do that? What would cause him to make that kind of a sacrifice? I'll be a slave the rest of my days, away from everybody and everything that I know, in place of Him. What does that?

I think it's love. This Judah guy, who at one point in time, chapter 38, all of it, didn't care. Now all of a sudden he is showing love that's God's kind of love. That's a different guy. That's a changed man. We said last week that God intends to use circumstances to conform us to the image of Christ and His Word, His written Word, to transform us into the image of Christ. Here are the references and we had a slide that looked like this that lays that out.

We are by God's intent to be conformed to the image of His Son. that done by the circumstances that the Lord works together for that good. It doesn't mean that every circumstance we encounter is going to be one where we say, well, that was a good thing. No, it doesn't mean that. It means that the good of conforming will happen in every circumstance that we encounter as believers. All sorts of things.

The Lord's going to make all those things work together for good to conform us. As we Behold the Lord in His Word, including our time here together this morning. God is going to use that to transform us to what end? Into the image of His Son. Both of those things are that we look like Jesus. That's what the ultimate end of those two things are. Ultimately, the Lord intends, yes, to change us.

But there's another principle here that's beginning to take focus as we look here and we're right on the brink. The very next chapter, Joseph is going to say, Hey, I'm Joseph. And of course, they're all going to be stunned and tremendously relieved, if not a little bit concerned. Oh, is he going to forgive us? But that's all going to come out. His disguise, if you will, will be lifted. But there's another principle that's starting to come into focus here.

Why was Joseph looking for these people, these men, who had once betrayed him horribly, had once traded him off for some silver? Why was he looking for these men to see if they had changed? The reason is this. God is intending that we be changed, which is spiritual growth, that is true for each believer, individually and in the body of Christ, aiming in this situation, as the Lord intends for us, for resolution and reconciliation. What do we mean by that? Joseph is not naive about these brothers. They have been, well, their track record is really awful. He's not neglecting the fact that they've done something awful, is he? Their character at one point in time was unquestionably horrible.

He's not rushing to resolution and just saying, hey guys, I'm Joseph, come on down here, come join me. He wants to answer a question first. Have these guys truly changed? And the reason, even though he shows grace and mercy in the process, the reason he's going through this and not immediately just taking off the mask and saying, I'm Joseph in Hebrew, right? The reason he's not doing that is he is looking for change.

He is looking for change for the reason of resolution and reconciliation of his extended family. He's saying, can I trust these guys and ultimately resolve the separation that we've had? Can I trust these guys and bring a healing after the horrible treachery that they've carried out? He is looking ultimately towards restoration. He is looking towards reconciliation. That's why. That's why he's looking for a change in them.

It's God's desire for we believers to seek restoration and reconciliation. That's what the Lord intends for us. Same thing Joseph was looking for. Let's work towards reconciliation here. For us in the body of Christ, that ought to be our pattern as well. That is God's will and intent. To reconcile and restore everywhere possible. In our church, in relationships among us, in our families, with people that we have come into contact with, wherever possible, and admittedly sometimes it's not, but wherever possible, to look for and pursue restoration and reconciliation. That's God's intent.

The reality is, sometimes this may take a lot of time, just like it took time here for what you see with Joseph. It took time. He didn't just immediately jump to go ahead and come on down, you know, good to see you guys. Some things had to be worked out. He had to discover, have my brothers changed?

As believers, there may be some things that take a lot of our time and a lot of patience to work through. Some incredible persistence, but it is God's intent that we resolve those things. That's where we should aim. That's where we should go. Something else, though, in the process that we're not called to choose between love and truth. Let me explain what I mean. Sometimes you will run into Christians who will say, well, we just are called to love and so they set everything doctrinal aside. They set aside any moral issues. We're just supposed to love each other and not ask any questions.

Is that what he has in mind? No. Why? What's the problem with that? There's also this truth issue that's out there. Ah, but let's go to the other end of that same quandary. There are those who say, well, I'm going to stand on the truth, even if I have to cut you in two with it, right? And those who sit there and they'll argue and they'll chew and yell and scream, and boy, they've got everybody divided up and running in ten different directions, but boy, they're standing on the truth.

What Scripture repeatedly points to is love and truth. That's one of the things we keep looking at here with Joseph. He kept heading towards, I want to show love to these guys, but I also want the truth. Love and truth. We're not to sit there and pick between one or the other. And some Christians can mistakenly head one direction or the other. God says both. Both.

Some of the examples we've given, references here, 1 Corinthians 13.6 would be one where it says love rejoices in the truth.

Ephesians 4.15, speaking the truth in love. Those two are put together. But one of the reasons why we don't pick between the two is God is both truth and love. He is both of those. So we don't pick between the two any more than we pick God apart. Both of those are part of God's essential and eternal being. God is infinitely loving and infinitely truthful. He is the very definition of truth. You have in your handout some similar themes. I won't go into the details on that, but only to say that the only reason that it is possible for us to pursue resolution and reconciliation is because the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross.

When Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus, He spent about the first half of the book and a little bit more telling them all about what God had done through Christ. Eight times in that book there's the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. All three of them put together through the book. It is when Paul gets into the last part of the book that he actually has to deal with some pretty harsh issues.

He says, you guys who are stealing from one another, stop! Quit lying to one another. So some pretty severe issues. But right in the midst of that, He says, forgive one another as God in Christ has forgiven you. Past tense. It is because of Christ's death on the cross that there can be forgiveness. It's because of Christ's death on the cross that there can be resolution.

And sometimes what has been done might be pretty severe, just like the Ephesian church probably had to deal with. There might be some pretty big things to forgive, but it is the Lord's intent that we do so. Not ignoring the truth, but the basis for forgiveness, just as we'll see here in the life of Joseph. Joseph essentially was looking ahead to Christ having paid the price. But he didn't do it at the sacrifice of truth, love and truth, because Christ died, because Christ paid the price.

Let's pray. Lord, as we look at this passage here, We're right on the brink of Joseph revealing who he is. And yet in the midst of this we also see a tremendous application for our own lives. Application that says that indeed you are looking for change in our lives and in fact you've designed it very intentionally that way. You intend to change us. Into what? Into who? into the very image of Jesus Christ.

And likewise, it's your intent that things be restored and resolved as much as is possible and as much as it depends upon us. And Lord, that's beyond our resources. As simple human beings, that's not what happens. But because of what you've done, because of who you are, because of who we are in you and who you are in us, it is not only possible, but it's exactly what you have in mind. And Lord, we pray in our own lives and minds and hearts, if there are areas that you want us to act in a direction of restoration, in a direction of reconciliation, we pray that our hearts would be open to seeing that and they would be moved by your spirit in that direction. And we thank you, Lord, just for what you've laid out in front of us and that you have made these men examples for us to learn from. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.