Joseph's Brothers Return to Egypt
Notes
Transcript
Return to Egypt
Return to Egypt
When we left the brothers, they had just gotten back from Egypt.
They had been accused of being spies.
Then they found their money in their grain sacks, so they expect to be called thieves.
They left Simeon behind.
And Jacob has written him off.
Because he won’t let the brothers take Benjamin to Egypt to get Simeon freed.
In short, things are a mess.
Now if the famine would just break, the family of Jacob could just move on from here.
But...
ge 43 1-
Now the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”
But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”
The famine did not let up.
They have eaten all the grain brought back from Egypt.
But Egypt still has grain.
So Jacob tells his boys to go back and buy them some food.
Judah reminds him that, unless they bring Benjamin, they won’t even have the chance to buy food.
If you send Benjamin, we’ll go buy some food.
But if not, we won’t.
Because we won’t see the man from Egypt.
Go directly to jail!
Do not pass Go!
Do not collect any grain!
Go directly to jail!
Can you think of a time you’ve been on the horns of a dilemma?
Having to choose between two bad options?
Of course we know that both of the options offered to Jacob are not bad,
But he doesn’t know that yet.
And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”
But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
Now Jacob blames them for not lying to the man from Egypt.
Why did they wrong him and tell about their brother?
The brothers all chime back, but he asked us pointedly.
Is you father still alive?
Do you have another brother?
It’s like he knows :-)
We answered his questions.
How could we have known he would tell us to bring him to Egypt?
It’s easy for us to strike out against others when we’re stuck.
Just as Jacob did against his sons.
You know what we don’t see Jacob doing?
Talking to God.
How often, when we are stuck wit a difficult decision, do we do everything to help EXCEPT that one thing that can?
Why do we talk to everyone before we talk to God?
ge 43 8-
Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”
Judah stands up.
Send Benjamin with me.
I will be surety, collateral, for the boy.
If we do not bring him back, I will bear the blame forever.
Again we see the favoritism in Jacob.
He is so focused on saving Benjamin that he is tearing his whole family apart.
And leading them into starvation.
To the point where Judah has to stand up and take charge.
You know dad, if we hadn’t fiddled around here, we would already have been back with Benjamin, Simeon and the food.
And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”
OK, OK, if you must go with Benjamin, then go.
Take some presents,
That was a common thing to do
Take double the money,
Maybe the money in your sacks was an oversight.
Show that you are honest men.
Take your brother and go.
If I loose another favorite some, I loose him.
Quite an encouraging send off Jacob has for his sons.
gen 43 15-17
So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.” Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.
The brothers take Benjamin, the presents, and the money and go down to Egypt.
They get to stand before Joseph.
What does Joseph do?
He tells his steward to make lunch.
Not a simple lunch either.
Slaughter an animal
And the stewards bring the brothers to Joseph’s house.
ge 43 18-
Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.”
Oh Boy! We’re in trouble now.
They know about the money!
He has had us brought here to accuse us and take us as slaves.
Now let me ask you, did Joseph have to send the brothers to his house to accuse them?
Couldn’t he have just said “Thieves! Take them as slaves!”?
But we see what a guilty conscience does to us.
We see people out to get us around every corner.
We assume everything is going to turn out bad because of what we’ve done.
Just as the brothers assume bad things here.
When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”
ge 43
Excuse me sir. We don’t know how this happened, but when we were last here we found the money we had to buy grain back in our sacks.
Honest, we didn’t try to steal anything.
We’ve even brought the money back, plus what we need to buy more grain.
We don’t know who put the money in our sacks.
In other words, please don’t throw us in jail.
But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed.
Calm down boys, you are not in trouble.
God has given you treasure in your sacks.
I had you money, you are just fine.
And see, here is your brother Simeon.
The steward then brings the brothers into Joseph’s house.
He takes care of them and their donkeys.
And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth.
ge 43 26
Then the brothers bring out the gifts for Joseph.
This seems to me a desperate attempt to win favor with Joseph.
They don’t know it’s their brother.
They’ve been feeling guilty for what they did to him.
They think all the bad stuff they’ve been through is because of their guilt.
Maybe they can buy a little good will.
Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”
And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.
How is your father?
Is he alive?
Dad’s fine.
He is alive and well.
And more bowing.
Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.”
ge 43 29
Then Joseph saw Benjamin.
His closest brother.
And Joseph had to leave the room.
The emotions of seeing Benjamin, probably the only brother not out to get him, was to much.
But he didn’t want to cry in front of this brothers.
It would give away who he is.
Once he composed himself and cleaned himself up, he goes back for lunch.
So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
ge 43 32
So they sat down for lunch.
Acting like an Egyptian, Joseph’s place was separate from the brothers.
It was an abomination for an Egyptian to eat with a Hebrew.
Not that much has changed over time, has it?
We still disdain to get to close to those we think are unclean or beneath us.
Even after Jesus’ example of hanging out with tax collectors, harlots, and other sinners.
We still want to keep certain people at arms length.
ge 43
And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.
Per tradition, the brothers sat in birth order.
Reuben first, as the oldest, and Benjamin last as the youngest.
Yet when the brothers were served, Benjamin’s serving was five times what the other brothers got.
Remember as a child how we had to share?
One would cut and the other choose which piece they wanted.
All to make sure everyone got an equal share.
Reuben should have gotten the largest share.
But Joseph made sure Benjamin go a HUGE share.
Not just a little larger, but FIVE TIMES what the other brothers got.
I bet the other brothers thought, “Great, first dad plays favorites now this Egyptian.”
But they said nothing and enjoyed their meal.
Conclusion
Conclusion
What do we see in this part of the story?
The brothers guilt for what they have done clouds everything that happens to them.
Every “bad” thing is because of what the did to Joseph in their minds.
Remember that the next time something “bad” happens.
It may be a result of your actions,
or you may be reading into it more that truly is.
Jacob is still playing favorites.
Better 10 brothers become slaves than his precious Benjamin not come home.
Joseph is still hiding who he is from his brothers.
But he also has a plan for them.
But that is for next time.