Week 11: Joseph’s Reconciliation (42:1-47:31)

Randy Ramsey Jr.

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The Place of the Passage

Stories of reconciliation dominate the book of Genesis. We have already seen the story of Jacob’s reconciliation with Esau. In Genesis 42–47 we see Joseph’s reconciliation with his brothers and reunion with his father. This story shows the end result of Joseph’s experience in the dungeon and the fruit of the ongoing activity of God’s grace in Joseph’s life. Overall, the journey to Egypt in this section fulfills God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:12–16, and sets the stage for the exodus.

The Big Picture

Joseph reconciles with his brothers and brings his family down to Egypt.

Reflection and Discussion

Genesis 42:1–4 ESV

When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him.

Genesis 42:6–10 ESV

Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food.

Genesis 42:19–22 ESV

if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.”

Genesis 43:11–14 ESV

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

Genesis 43:26–31 ESV

When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.”

Genesis 44:1–2 ESV

Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

Genesis 44:11–13 ESV

Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

Genesis 44:30–34 ESV

“Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

Genesis 45:1–10 ESV

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

Genesis 46:2–4 ESV

And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation. I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”

Genesis 47:7–10 ESV

Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.” And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

Read through the entire text for this study, Genesis 42:1–47:31. Then interact with the following questions and record your notes on them concerning this section of Genesis. (For further background, see the ESV Study Bible, pages 123–132; also available online at www.esvbible.org.)

Famine drives the sons of Israel to Egypt again. Just as famine drove Abraham to Egypt (Gen. 12:10) and Isaac toward Egypt (though he sojourns in Gerar instead; Gen. 26:1–4), so famine drives the sons of Israel to Egypt to buy grain. Joseph’s dream that his brothers would bow down to him is fulfilled in Genesis 42:6. Read through chapters 42–44 and jot down notes on how the pain and scars from the past still affect the following people in Genesis:

1. How does pain from the past still effect:

- Jacob/Israel?

- Judah?

- Reuben?

- Joseph?

2. Jospeh clearly struggles with conflicted emotions throughout these chapters. How do we see this?

3. Chapter 45 is the climax of the story.

Read Genesis 45:4–8 “So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.”

How does Jospeh interpret his years of affliction?

4. Once Jacob hears the news that Joseph is alive and sees the wagons that Joseph has sent, his spirit revives. The narrator begins to call him Israel consistently from this point forward. What characteristics of Israel, the overcomer, do you see in this section? How is God’s blessing seen in his life?

5. How does Jacob advance The covenant of a blessing for the whole world as he appears before Pharaoh?

6. How should we put together Israel’s multiplying in Egypt with God’s desire to bring blessing to all nations?

Read through the following three sections on Gospel Glimpses, Whole-Bible Connections, and Theological Soundings. Then take time to reflect on the Personal Implications these sections may have for your walk with the Lord.

Gospel Glimpses

TRANSFORMATION. God’s work in Jacob’s life is ongoing. In Genesis 42:4, Jacob is gripped by fear once again. Like his fear in meeting Esau (Gen. 32:7), he is afraid to send his son Benjamin to buy grain in Egypt (Gen. 42:4). Only after much convincing does he send Benjamin to Egypt, trusting in God’s mercy (Gen. 43:14). Jacob’s fear does not, however, exempt him from God’s purposes. God continually pursues Jacob, and God himself assures Jacob about the patriarch’s own trip to Egypt: “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation” (Gen. 46:3). God’s goodness to his children is all out of proportion to what they deserve.

GOD IN EGYPT. God’s work is not limited to the land of Canaan; he saves the family of Israel in Egypt through Joseph. Before Stephen’s martyrdom in Acts 7, he recounts a summary of gracious salvation history to demonstrate that God’s presence was not limited to the temple in Jerusalem. God appeared to Abraham in Mesopotamia (Acts 7:2), to Joseph in Egypt (Acts 7:9–10), to Moses in the wilderness (Acts 7:30–34), and to Israel at Mount Sinai (Acts 7:38). God cannot be limited to any one location, traveling as he did in the “tent of witness in the wilderness” (Acts 7:44). Even Solomon’s temple could not contain him (Acts 7:48–50). This summary of salvation history provides the theological foundation for the gospel to expand outward from Jerusalem into Judea and Samaria (Acts 8:1). We must not limit God to any one location, but recognize that he is Lord over all and in all places.

Definition: Temple

Whole-Bible Connections

EGYPT. In Genesis, Egypt is a haven of protection from famine. Abraham flees to Egypt in the face of famine (Gen. 12:10), and Isaac desired to flee there too (Gen. 26:1). Just as Isaac was tempted to trust in Egypt in time of famine (Gen. 26:1), so Egypt embodies the political and military temptation to trust in another nation instead of the Lord in times of crisis (Isa. 30:1–5; 31:1–7; 36:4–10; Jeremiah 42–43), as Israel commits spiritual adultery with other empires and gods instead of being faithful to the Lord (Ezekiel 23). While Egypt begins as a place of slavery (Gen. 37:36) and imprisonment for Joseph (Gen. 39:20), it becomes a place of blessing for Joseph (Gen. 41:52) and the family of Israel (Gen. 47:27–28). However, with the coming of a new king, Egypt once again becomes a place of slavery (Ex. 1:8–10). Israel’s slavery in Egypt becomes the basis for a call to treat aliens differently in Israel (e.g., Ex. 23:9; Lev. 19:34; Deut. 5:12–15). Yet Israel herself becomes oppressive like Egypt and so suffers Egypt’s punishment (Amos 3:1–2, 9–10; 8:8). In the New Testament, Jerusalem is figuratively called Egypt because of its murder of Christ and his two witnesses, representing martyred believers (Rev. 11:8).

FAMINE plays a large role in this story of Joseph (Gen. 41:57), just as it did with Abraham (Gen. 12:10) and Isaac (Gen. 26:1). In all these contexts, famine provokes migration to a new land, just as it does later for Naomi’s husband (Ruth 1:1) and in the days of Elisha (2 Kings. 8:1). Famine is later associated with God’s judgment (Deut. 32:24; 2 Sam. 21:1; Ps. 105:16; Isa. 14:30; 51:19; Jer. 11:22; 14:11–18), a curse particularly associated with breaking God’s covenant (Deuteronomy 28). In the new earth, the abundance of Eden will be restored (Amos 9:11–15).

Theological Soundings

PROVIDENCE. God’s providence does not negate the role of human agency. While the brothers sell Joseph to a caravan (Gen. 37:28; 45:4–5), an action they recognize as sin (Gen. 42:22; 50:17), Joseph says, “God sent me before you. . . . it was not you who sent me here, but God” (Gen. 45:7–8). “God meant it for good” (Gen. 50:20). The good that Joseph recognizes is “to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors” (Gen. 45:7). God’s providence does not deny human agency. God is sovereign, and humans are responsible. This holds true even for human actions that are sinful. Without in any way sinning himself (James 1:13, 17), God rules providentially even over evil. This is proven when the Bible speaks of God foreordaining the crucifixion of Christ (Acts 2:22–23; 4:27–28). A rich confidence in divine providence rescues us from our hearts becoming mired in resentment and bitterness.

Definition: Providence

Personal Implications

Take some time to reflect on the personal implications of Genesis 42:1–47:31 for your life today. Jot down your reflections under the three headings we have considered and on the passage as a whole:

1. Gospel Glimpses

2. Whole-Bible Connections

3. Theological Soundings

4. Genesis 42:1–47:31

As You Finish This Unit . . .

How can a rich understanding of providence rescue your heart from bitterness? Bring your own resentments for past hurts before the Lord, and ask that he would shine a light on his shaping hand of providence in those situations.

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