Notes: Genesis 44-45

Bob Feather February 14th, 2008

Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and shows how God has used their hatred to save His people.

 

I. Joseph, a second time, sends his brothers home with money in their grain sacks (1-5)

1-2: Not only was all of the brothers’ money returned, Joseph also planted his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack.

4: Evil for good. Nobody likes ingratitude.

5: His servant is told to announce that Joseph’s "divining" cup is missing

 

II. When faced with the accusation of stealing, his brothers confidently submit to a search (6-12)

7-8: The brothers cannot imagine why anyone would accuse them of stealing from Joseph.

9: They propose death for the one who has stolen and slavery for the rest if any of Joseph’s good be found amongst them.

11. Speedily the search is begun.

12: Benjamin has been framed.

 

III. "Take all of us." "No, just one." (13-17)

16: "How shall we clear ourselves?" God has found us out.  With such evidence against them, they do not deny being in possession of stolen property.

17: Joseph declares his intent to punish only Benjamin

 

IV. "Take me." "No, none." (18-34)

18: Judah asks permission to speak again; and he provides Joseph details of their full adventure.

29: Jacob’s love for Benjamin is presented.

33: To save his father from grief that would kill him, Judah offers to die in Benjamin’s stead.

 

V. God’s purpose in Joseph’s slavery (Genesis 45:1-14)

1-2: If it had been a practical joke, everyone would have had a good laugh; instead Joseph cries.

3-4: He proves that he is their brother whom they sold into slavery.

5-8: Though the brothers had willed to destroy Joseph, God’s intention was to save him and his family.

9-14: With five more years of famine before them, Joseph invites his brothers to bring their families to Egypt to live, where he can care for them.

 

Meditation Points:

  1. Would you have checked your sack before departing from Egypt the second time?
  2. Quickly the brothers denounced the accusations against them, and quickly they submitted to the search of their stuff, and quickly they returned to Egypt to accept punishment for a crime that they did not commit. Perhaps guilt for the crime against Joseph 20 years earlier lay heavy upon their conscience.
  3. A loving son will do almost anything to keep his father from grief.
  4. Joseph’s explanation of the events: God sent me here; God intended to preserve life; God is saving you a posterity; God is saving your lives; God is effecting a great deliverance; God elevated me to authority in Egypt.   You meant it for evil; but God worked it for good (Acts 3:14-18).
  5. Had God foretold Abraham that his descendants would be 400 years in a foreign land and oppressed (Genesis 15:13-14)? This is the beginning.

 

 

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Genesis 45:1-14
1Then 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.
2And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3And 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.
4And 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.
5Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.
6For 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.
7And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8So 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.
9Haste 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:
10And 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:
11And 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.
12And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.
13And 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.
14And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
Acts 3:14-18
14But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you;
15And killed the Prince of life, whom God hath raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses.
16And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
17And now, brethren, I wot that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers.
18But those things, which God before had shewed by the mouth of all his prophets, that Christ should suffer, he hath so fulfilled.
Genesis 15:13-14
13And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;
14And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

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