Gospel Light Christian Church Thru-The-Bible Series (23.3)

The Book of Genesis

Genesis Chapter 42 - Read this Bible passage once through before referring to the notes below.

The Awakening of Joseph’s Brothers’ Conscience

v.1-5 The famine extended to Canaan, and Jacob became somewhat upset with his son’s lack of initiative because they just “look one upon another” (v.1).   As he “heard that there is corn in Egypt” (v.2), he sent “Joseph’s ten brethren…down to...Egypt” (v.3) but kept Rachel’s only remaining son, Benjamin, by his side “lest peradventure mischief befall him” (v.4).  The journey of the “sons of Israel…to buy corn” (v.5) in Egypt was under the guidance of the providential hand of God in bringing about the restoration of the broken relationships within Israel’s family.

v.6-8 In fulfillment of the dream revelations of Joseph, his brothers came and “bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth” (v.6), upon their arrival in his presence.  Although Joseph recognised his brothers, he pretended not to, and spoke harshly to them (v.7).  Because his brothers did not recognise him (v.8), Joseph embarked on a plan to apply pressure to awaken the conscience of his guilty brothers.

v.9-13 He began by accusing them of spying (v.9), a serious charge punishable by death.  Now, Joseph was turning things around to put them into situations similar to those false lies he suffered under (cf. 37:19-20; 39:14-18).  His brothers’ protests of innocence (v.10) were met by Joseph’s repeated accusation (v.12).  A remarkable observation we may make is that the brothers, who are faced with a life-threatening situation, responded with honesty and integrity instead of lies and deception, which indicates that a change had occurred in them.  Upon Joseph’s second accusation, they confessed their family background, and included the detail of the “one [that] is not” – Joseph – lest their integrity be questioned (v.13).  The mention of the brother who “is not” gives the first hint of the awakening of his brothers’ conscience.

v.14-20 On the “youngest [who] is this day with our father,” Joseph directed the focus of his testing on his brothers.  They have to prove what they said to be true by fetching their “youngest brother” (v.14-15) to Joseph.  The initial plan was to only allow 1 brother carry out this mission and the rest of the 9 would be kept in prison (v.16).  In order to demonstrate his power and ensure their obedience, he imprisoned them for three days (v.17).  The inconvenience of 3 days in prison together was small in comparison to the affliction of 13 years in bondage alone.  Staying in prison would have continued to work on their consciences.  Upon their release from prison, Joseph directed his brothers’ thoughts and focus on God by declaring, “This do, and live; for I fear God” (v.18).  His new plan was to let 9 of the brothers return to fetch Benjamin (v.19), while 1 remain in prison in Egypt, so that their “words be verified, and [they] shall not die” (v.20).

v.21-22 With the threat to Benjamin surfacing twice under Joseph’s proving hand (cf. v.15, 20), they were probably reminded of their cruel treatment of Joseph when they sold him to Egypt.  Their short imprisonment would also have given them a taste of what Joseph must have experienced.  The circumstances and tests by this governor combined to evoke the guilt feelings in the brothers – “We are verily guilty concerning our brother” (v.21).  They associated their crime against Joseph over 20 years ago (“we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear”) with “this distress” upon them now.  At this point, the brothers displayed an accurate spiritual discernment of the nature of their sin against Joseph and the reason for their present distress.  Reuben’s remonstration further expressed this guilt – “behold, also his blood is required” (v.22 cf. 9:5).  The testimony of Scripture clearly demonstrates that unresolved sins of the past brings a deep-seated guilt to the heart, which may lie buried for a time – a guilt, which time will not wash away but will surface again one day.

v.23-24 Joseph appeared on the surface to be handling them roughly and vengefully but underneath the severity, there was affection as he “understood them” (v.23), and was so moved emotionally that “he [had to turn] himself about from them, and wept; [before returning] to them” (v.24).  A hard man of hate is incapable of such tender emotion.

v.25-28 The 2nd phase of Joseph’s plan in testing them was to plant their money in the sacks (v.25), before they departed (v.26), to place them in a compromised position and thus, quicken the fear of God in them.  At a stop at the inn, one brother “opened his sack”  (v.27) to feed his ass and made the discovery of the money in one sack.  As the sense of guilt was already aroused in them, “their heart failed them, and they were afraid” (v.28) at this next turn of events.  Here, they linked implicitly the unexpected discovery of the money in their bags with the money they earlier received for the sale of Joseph.  Their rhetorical question – “What is this that God hath done unto us?” – has a touch of irony in it because this expression had been used to interrogate the guilty (cf. 3:13; 4:10; 12:18).  These words may appear to imply ignorance at what God was doing but inwardly the brothers knew that He was bringing their guilt out into the open.

Up to this point in the Genesis account, the patriarchs who had been guilty of misdeeds had been confronted with their sins and received their correction from someone whom they had considered less godly than themselves (cf. 12:18; 20:9; 26:10).  Finally, there is now a truly godly man whom God can use as His instrument in the confrontation and correction of those who had done wrong.  Even so, believers must be careful when they imitate this example of Joseph, lest they fall into the danger of pride (cf. Gal. 6:1) and set themselves up unwisely as judges of other men (cf. Ja. 4:11).  We need to remember that Joseph was a humble man (cf. 41:16), who is under the control of the Spirit of God (cf. 41:38), and manifested that his actions were Spirit-led in that they were carried out with compassion (cf. v.24) towards the goal of restoration (cf. 45:4-5), without any malice in his heart (cf. 50:15-21).

v.29-34 The brothers returned to “Jacob their father” (v.29), reported to him all that had happened to them (v.31-33), repeated the governor’s demands for their youngest brother to be brought before him the next time so that he can ascertain that they “are no spies but…true men [before Simeon would be released] and [they] shall traffick in the land” (v.34).

v.35-38 When “they emptied their sacks, [they discovered] that, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack” (v.35).  Both the brothers and the patriarch were afraid when they saw the money for it had become an omen that “something” was menacing their lives.  However, only the brothers could perceive that it was God’s retributive hand, for this is the second time they had come home with money (see 37:28 for the first), having abandoned a brother to prison in Egypt (cf. v.24).

Jacob, seeing the foreboding nature of all these events, lamented the loss of Joseph and Simeon and threat now against Benjamin, and protested that “all these things are against me” (v.36).  Reuben, representing his brothers, was determined to return and see matters through.  In his attempt to assure his father and guarantee the safety of Benjamin, swore an oath – “Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee” (v.37).  Although Reuben’s demonstration of concern for Benjamin (as if he were his own son) is magnanimous, it is also foolish because slaying two Jacob’s grandsons would do nothing to relieve the grief of losing three of his sons.  However, the fact that Reuben and his brothers were willing to comply with the Egyptian governor’s test, even at a great personal sacrifice, revealed they had changed in their character.

Jacob refused at that moment because the loss of Joseph was great enough for him and the loss of Benjamin would be too much.  Jacob’s reference to himself by the expression, “my gray hairs with sorrow” (v.38) indicates his grief and sorrow already over the loss of Joseph, the loss of Benjamin would be the death of him (“bring down…to the grave”).  The tension between Joseph’s demand and Jacob’s refusal over Benjamin going to Egypt, which the brothers are caught in, puts them in a dilemma, which brings them to face their past crimes.  Only when they began to have their consciences awakened could they perceived their guilt, and only then would they be willing to prove themselves honest and protect their brothers at the same time.

The lesson for Christians today is that if believers have unresolved guilt in their lives, God will stir up their consciences to see if they are spiritually sensitive enough to share in the work of His kingdom.  God may do this through deliberate testings by the hand of His chosen leaders as He directs them.  When such people have demonstrated their spiritual sensitivity to their guilty consciences and made choices to be honest people, then they can be trusted to act righteously and be fitted for service.