Genesis Chapter 45
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Genesis Chapter 45 (Joseph’s Reveal)
Genesis Chapter 45 (Joseph’s Reveal)
Intro: Joseph’s brothers have came back unto Egypt to get more grain during the famine, and this time they have come with Benjamin, Josephs full brother by Rachel.
And as James went over last chapter, These brothers show great example of repentance and willing to sacrifice for their brother Benjamin, despite him being favored by Jacob,
really the opposite of what we saw with them and Joseph at the beginning.
So they have shown huge growth from the time we start with Joseph being sold by his brothers unto slavery, to now.
And we end chapter 44 with Judah taking the lead in this offer of self sacrifice for Benjamin. And a plead asking Joseph for mercy.
And do not forget that Joseph is still playing this role of the Egyptians and his brothers are still unaware of who he is up to this point.
Joseph has been testing his brothers, and not as remorse or torture against them, but as a man led by God, in a way of working repentance into the hearts and minds of the brothers.
Divine plan of action taking effect here.
Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.
This is going to be the 3rd time that Joseph has broken down, once in Gen 42 and twice in Gen 43, and both times before he stepped away or his himself in order to protect his identity,
As we see here, he has broken down in front of his brethren now.
And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.
Joseph gets all of the Egyptians out of the room, and he is alone with his brothers.
and he weeps so loud that the house of Pharaoh heard this taking place.
There is a huge amount of emotion right here. Joseph could barely contain himself.
And his brothers were so astonished over him revealing himself to them, they were without words.
They couldn’t answer him because they were so shocked.
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Joseph is trying to comfort them and settle down the situation,
“come close brothers, I am Joseph your brother”
Joseph being like, “ look I know this is a huge shocker, but its ME!”
Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
Joseph does not want his brothers to hold that regret for selling him,
And he acknowledges, that this was God’s plan from the beginning in order for him to lead the famine and preserve life through the dream of the Pharaoh.
Joseph doesn’t hold a grudge over them, because he knows that this was Gods plan of action coming to pass.
Even though he might not have known from the beginning, Joseph recognizes now that God was using them as pawns and he is explaining this to his brothers.
For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.
Remember, Joseph knows this is a 7 year famine from Pharoah’s dream.
There are only a few people who know the details of this dream, Joseph, the Pharoah, and maybe some chief’s of the Pharoah,
But what’s important here is that Joseph’s brothers have no clue how long this famine will last,
So Joseph is explaining his divine knowledge he received from God to his brothers.
And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Joseph once again explaining how all that has happened to him, has been an action of God’s work.
and that phrase “preserve for you a remnant in the land”
is him connecting what has happened to him, and the family promise where Jacob and his sons, would become the 12 tribes of Israel.
So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
Joseph again saying,
It was not you that sent me here, but God.
God blessed me and made me a leader of Pharaoh,
A lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout the land of Egypt.
This is the 3rd time Joseph is confessing and giving God the glory and acknowledgment of what has happened.
Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:
Joseph’s telling his brothers,
Go get our father, tell him to come here that God had made me leader over Egypt and not to remain in the land of Canaan.
And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast:
Goshen, is the fertile region in Egypt.
it is described in the book of Joshua to be a place with rich soil.
Which makes sense if this is the place where they were able to grow the food for a 7 year famine.
And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.
Joseph saying,
“i will take care of you, because there are 5 years of famine left.”
Joseph is giving them and Jacob information that they did not have, He is explaining a time period of this famine.
And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
“my mouth that speaketh unto you”
Joseph is speaking to his brothers in their native language, proving that he is who he says he is,
So here is the final proof of the turning point of the story.
Joseph is no longer portrayed to his brothers to be the leader of Egypt.
He has confessed himself to them, and proving so also is speaking to them in their native tongue.
And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.
Explain to him my glory in Egypt, you all have seen what all I control, tell Israel about it, and bring him here.
And no this is not Joseph claiming this glory on his own,
Back in verse 9 he gives the glory to God why he is over lord over Egypt,
And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.
Imagine the amount of emotions built up to this point here,
after all that we have seen and read over Joseph’s story over the past few weeks, has lead up to this moment.
And I want to take note, Joseph does not act like all the sin and troubles his brothers caused him never happened,
Joseph just confesses that God’s plan was in action for their lives.
I’m going to touch on that a little more but lets keep reading.
And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Joseph’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
The pharaoh is still the head over Egypt keep in mind, he has just put Joseph over operations basically, but all in all the pharaoh still has the final say so,
But he is approving Joseph’s brothers and their family coming unto Egypt.
even his servants it pleased them as well.
This is a very strong verse given the racial segregation in Egypt at this time.
Proving God’s will overcoming the will and actions of man.
And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;
So the pharaoh is so pleased by this he is even stepping in and giving Joseph advice and assurance on what to offer his family back home.
And take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.
Bring your whole tribe, and settle, what is ours in Egypt is theirs as well.
Look at the hospitality being offered to Jacob and his people.
All because Joseph obeyed God’s will and used his gift from God of divine translation.
to now their WHOLE family being blessed by it.
I want to take note here.
Remember Joseph had a gift from God to be able to interpret divine dreams that many people could not begin to understand.
Joseph used this gift for God’s works and now he and his entire family are being blessed from it.
Any time you have a divine gift, whether that be a talent, an eye for interpretation, an ability to decipher things, whatever that talent may be,
It is important that we use these talents, these gifts from God, because all in all God blessed us certain talents for a reason, we should be using them for our works for Christ, and using them to spread HIS light unto others, so USE your Gifts!
I promise you we see proof here in the story of Joseph that when we use our talents our “gifts from God” and we use them for God’s plan and not our own, that us and those around us will be blessed,
We will begin to reflect the light of Christ and others around us will be shined upon as well.
We may not always be walking through green pastures, we saw what all Joseph went through,
but he used his gift the way God intended, and always prospered no matter in prison, or a slave.
USE YOUR TALENTS THE WAY GOD WOULD LEAD YOU TO and we will prosper through his plan.
God gave them to us for a reason, lets use them.
Papa’s singing and not being a gift,
Ability to study and understand God’s word, and to teach it unto others
Ability to read a tape measure.
Papa used his gifts to teach people on Job sites Gods word.
Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
They are even giving them transportation for ALL their people.
Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
He is saying,
“dont worry about your possessions. Everything you need we have here in Egypt, help yourselves.”
And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.
There is a connection here I want us to look at,
When Jacob showed favoritism unto Joseph back in Chapter 37 what did he give him?
A coat of many colors, clothing, raiment.
What is Joseph giving his brothers here?
Clothes, raiment,
Joseph sort of using this to show favoritism to his brothers almost like a final seal of forgiveness and peace unto them.
And yes he still shows greater favoritism over Benjamin as well.
But all in all it is an echo of favoritism for unto his brothers.
And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.
So even though they are going to bring them to Egypt, he still is sending them plenty of Food and Goods for the journey,
really representing an abundance of God’s blessings.
just for thought what does 10 represent in biblical numeric?
10 asses and 10 she asses?
10 - testimony, law , responsibility
Joseph is taking responsibility over his family by providing for his people.
So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.
This is a way of Joseph saying to his brothers “drive safe” “have safe travels”
And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,
And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not.
Jacob has believed that his favorite son Joseph has been dead over the last 20 plus years.
He even had the disguised evidence so he believed,
of his bloody coat of colors.
And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
Israel or Jacob, understanding and believing his sons, excited and ready to go and see his son Joseph.
Conclusion:
So we saw and went over using your talents to preform God’s work because all in all our talents are gifts from God
We have seen how Joseph uses his talent or gift of interpreting divine dreams
And God uses him for His plans and WILL be done, and him and others around him prospered from that,
He reflected God’s light unto others around him and was blessed for it.
But there is one other thing I want us to pay attention to here.
When Joseph is revealing his identity to his brothers what does he say?
And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.
Acknowledging them selling him unto Egypt.
Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
He is telling them to not be angry with themselves because God’s plan was leading up to this moment from the very beginning.
Before I get ahead of myself I want to clarify that NO it is not okay to sin because it could be righteous. That is not what I am saying at all. We are going to look at it from both sides here.
From the brothers point of view,
How many people do you know, or how many times in your own life does sin end up leading you closer to Christ?
Just because you accept Christ in your life, does not mean you are sin free anymore.
What it does mean if you are truly saved and know Christ in your heart, that when you catch yourself committing sin, that their is a guilt that starts to build inside from that sin,
We start to get frustrated with ourselves “or at least I do” and that is why it is important for us to repent and learn from our mistakes,
but take that self frustration and don’t use it to hold remorse against yourself, use it as fuel to commit yourself to Christ and His word and not unto sin,
learn from your mistakes and to grow and prosper from it and grow closer to Christ from it.
Just like Joseph is telling his brothers.
He is acknowledging their mistakes, but also tells them not to be angry with themselves.
Because they learned from their sin, you can tell they had guilt built up from selling Joseph unto Egypt, but what does Joseph reassure them?
God’s plan played out to his outcome either way!
Which leads us to looking from Joseph’s point of view.
Throughout life here in the flesh people will always sin against you,
there will be times were people spit in your face “figuratively or literally”
They will sin against you, have envy or hate against you,
But it is important for us as Christians to know that God has our back as long as we have HIS.
If you are doing what the Lord has placed on your heart and has lead you to do.
and you are using your God given talents and gifts in order to spread God’s truth and light.
God will lead you to prosperity in the End.
even the most, God could be allowing people to sin against you in order for you the opportunity to spread his light unto them as well.
Don’t hold remorse and anger towards those who may sin against you, because all and all God’s plan will lead us in the direction He has us to go no matter what,
The blessing is being able to help others in their relationship and journey with Christ along the way.
Genesis Chapter 45 (Joseph’s Reveal)
Genesis Chapter 45 (Joseph’s Reveal)
