Joseph Reunited with His Brothers, Part 2

If you have your Bible, I would invite you to turn with me to Genesis chapter 42 as we continue our study.

At the time that Joseph is reunited with his brothers, as you recall, we open the curtain in Genesis chapter 42, and instead of being in Egypt, we find ourselves in Hebron. We find ourselves in Joseph's old stomping ground. We find ourselves looking at Joseph's family and realizing that they are in dire need of some food, and Jacob tells his boys that they need to stop looking at one another and go down to Egypt, and they need to get down there because they need to get some food. Their stomachs are growling, and thus the scene opens up, and we see at the very outset the reason behind the reunion, and the reunion deals with two major aspects, the famine in the land and the fordnation of our Lord.

The famine in the land was severe. People were starving. People were dying, and Jacob says very clearly in there in the opening verses of Genesis chapter 42, listen, if you don't go to Egypt, we're going to die, but God was doing the work in the lives of these boys, and they needed to come to grips with their God. They needed to get to a point of repentance, and so God would do whatever it would take to move these brothers from Hebron to Egypt some 250 miles, and God caused the famine, but God will do whatever it takes to get His people to turn from their sin, to trust Him, and to follow Him.

It's important for us to know that, isn't it? We forget that. God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. God has not willed that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's the desire of God's heart, but on the other hand, God will do whatever it takes to bring His people to a point of need where they recognize their sin and recognize the fact that they need a Savior, and we look at the tragedies in our world today, and we got to realize that they are signposts.

They are warning signs, whereas God says, unless you repent, you too will likewise perish, and these brothers way back in Genesis chapter 42 needed to realize their need of God and realize that they need to be reconciled to their brother, and God was longsuffering.

God was patient. It had been over 20 years, but now it was time for God to take severe measures to bring these boys to a point of repentance because they needed to be the representatives of who God was and His wonderful love. They were the children of Israel, and so that would lead us to point number two, the four nation of the Lord.

It was all about God, wasn't it? Sure, there was a famine, but God caused the famine, and God had prearranged all the events of Joseph's life, prearranged his trip to Egypt, prearranged his position in Potiphar's home and prearranged his prison and prearranged his prominence in the palace. He had prearranged it all. God was at work. God was pushing all the right buttons because we need to understand that God controls it all, not just some of it, but all of it, and maybe you're here today, and you're away from the Lord.

Maybe you're here today, and you don't know the Lord. God has been patient with you, hasn't He? He's been long-suffering, merciful, kind. He wants to bring you to a point of repentance. You're here today because in God's sovereign plan, He wanted you here today. He wanted you to hear this message so you might grow when you walk with Him. That's all introduction. That's from last time. Verse six is where we pick it up. Let's read it, and then we'll make some few comments about the record of the reunion.

That's point number two. Verse number six, now Joseph was a ruler over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land, and Joseph's brother came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. When Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, where have you come from? And they said, from the land of Canaan, to buy food. But Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them and said to them, you are spies. You have come to look at the undefended parts of our land.

Then they said to him, no, my Lord, but your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies. Yet he said to them, no, but you have come to look at the undefended parts of our land.

But they said, your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more. And Joseph said to them, it is as I said to you, you are spies. By this you will be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you that he may get your brother while you remain confined, that your words may be tested whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.

So he put them all together in prison for three days. Now Joseph said to them on the third day, do this and live, for I fear God.

If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison. But as for the rest of you, go carry grain for the famine of your households and bring your youngest brother to me so your words may be verified and you will not die. And they did so. And they said to one another, truly we are guilty concerning our brother. Because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen.

Therefore this distress has come upon us. And Reuben answered them saying, did I not tell you? Do not sin against the boy and you would not listen? Now comes the reckoning for his blood. They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. He turned away from them and wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man's money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey.

And thus it was done for them. So they loaded their donkeys in the grain and departed from there. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money. And behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. Then he said to his brothers, my money has been returned and behold, it is even in my sack. And their hearts sank and they turned trembling to one another saying, what is this that God has done to us? Isn't that great? What an amazing narrative. God was at work.

I want to give to you this morning the record of their reunion. We'll give you just eight words, eight words that will help you understand what took place, what God was doing in their life, what God wants to do in your life as a result of our study this morning. The first word you need to see is prostration.

They came and they fell down before Joseph. Wow. Can you imagine the scene? People from all over the world are coming to Egypt. They're coming to see Joseph because Pharaoh said, when you get here, see Joseph. He's got the plan. He's in charge. He knows what he's doing. You go see Joseph. And they came and bowed down before him, divinely appointed deja vu. Can you imagine? Here is Joseph. They don't recognize him. Why is it they don't recognize him? Well, he's clean shaven. The Hebrew people were people with hair all over their face.

But Joseph was clean, clean shaven. He spoke in another dialect. He spoke in another language. That's why the Bible tells us that he used an interpreter. You see, he spoke the Egyptian language, not the Hebrew language. And the brothers, they didn't imagine to see Joseph. That was the last thing on their mind. They came for food. And so they came and they bowed down before the prime minister of Egypt. The second word I want you to see is recognition.

Joseph recognized them, but they did not recognize him. Can you imagine? In his mind counting, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. I wonder where number 11 is. I wonder if number 11 is even still alive. I wonder if these brothers of mine have changed. I wonder if there's sorrow in their heart over what they did to me. I wonder if there's sorrow in their heart as to what they told my father. I wonder even if my father is alive. It's been over 20 years. And the Bible says that he spoke harshly to them.

And there were some people who say, well, Joseph was kind of vindictive. What are you doing here? You're spies. You've come to search out our undefended land, haven't you? They say, well, Joseph should have been kind and gentle and sweet. Uh-uh. No, no. These brothers are brothers who have cold, hard hearts. The last thing they need is to be treated with kick gloves. What they need is to be dealt with harshly. And Joseph will do that. Joseph will deal with them in a way that honors and glorifies the Lord.

You see, these are the boys that brutally went into Shechem and circumcised all the males in that village and then slaughtered them all three days later. These are the boys who would conspire together to sell him into slavery. One of these boys would defile his father's handmaid, Bilhah. That would, of course, be Reuben. And then, of course, there was Judah, who got his daughter-in-law pregnant. See, these were not just the run-of-the-mill kind of brothers. These were hardened, cold, insensitive, brutal boys.

And so Joseph would deal with them harshly. He would speak to them in a way that would get their attention. I read this, and I, you know, because there are so many parables between Joseph and our Lord Jesus Christ, and I told you before that when we get to the end of Genesis chapter 50, we will go back and review these last 14 chapters and show you the parallel, how Joseph was the Savior of the world, and compare him to how Jesus is the Savior of the world. But isn't it true that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father?

That every knee will bow, will prostrate themselves before the throne of grace and realize that Jesus is King? And will it not be true that when Jesus returns, everybody will recognize Him? Not only will He know them, they will know Him, unlike the brothers who did not recognize Joseph. When the Lord Jesus Christ returns, the whole world will recognize Him, the Bible says in Revelation chapter 1, verse number 7, that when He appears, every eye will see Him, everybody will see Him.

How will the whole world see Jesus? Simply this. Remember that when Jesus returns, half the world is gone, it's all destroyed. Everybody's in the Middle East. Everybody's gathered together to fight against Israel. Everybody's followed the Antichrist, and Christ will return in a blaze of glory, and everybody will see Him, and the Jewish people will look on Him, the one they have pierced and mourned for Him as an only child. And it says the rest of the world will mourn too, but they will mourn because they hate Him.

He's coming back. In fact, Revelation 11, verse number 18, says the whole earth is enraged when they recognize Him because they refuse to bow before Him as King. Have you bowed before Him as King? Have you prostrated yourself before the God of the universe and subjected yourself to His Lordship? It's important to do that. If you haven't done it today, you will. You will, because the Bible says so.

Just like the Bible said that His brothers would bow before Him, His parents would bow before Him, just like God said it would happen, it happened, because God is true to His Word. The third word I want you to see is accusation.

Joseph accuses Him of being spies, three times. Now why would he accuse Him of that? Think back to Genesis chapter 37. Think back to the time when we first open up the narrative on Joseph.

He brings back a bad report to his father about his brothers, and they hate him because of it. Then later on, in Genesis chapter 37, his dad sends him out to find out what's going on with his brothers, and Joseph goes out and he finds them, and they see him coming. Ah, behold, the dreamer! Could it be that they accused him of spying, you little snitch? You're going to go back and tell daddy on us again? You're always spying on us, you always want to know what's going on, leave us alone! So what does Joseph do?

You're spies. Ha, Joseph is so smart, he's so, so wise. You're spies! No, no! No, we're not spies! Not us! We're, we're honest men, it says. I read that, evidently you guys didn't think that was funny. I did. We're honest men! I wanted to gag when I read that. Honest men! Anything but honest. Oh, no, no, no. We're not spying. Not us! Think about it. And think about Joseph, in Genesis 37, when he went to his brothers and they ripped off his coat. What, what are you doing? You're a spy, Joseph! You've come to spy, no, no, I haven't, no, not me, I'm just doing what dad said.

No, no, you're a spy! They take him, and they throw him in a pit! No, no! Please! I'm just doing what dad said! Simeon, are you up there? Reuben! Dan! Dad! Asher! Anybody up there? They probably said, oh, yeah, we're up here, and he probably said, is there anybody else up there to get me out of here? You're spies. Oh, God, it was broken on their hearts. He was doing the work in their lives, and remember, Joseph was, was a man of God. He was acting under the power of God. Joseph was not a vindictive man.

We'll see that here at the end of the story, in this part of our story today. He was not a vengeful person, so he would accuse them of being spies, and they would outright deny it. They said, your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more! Now he knows! Now he knows that dad's alive! Now he knows that Benjamin's alive! And they're at home in Hebron, and they think he's dead! Now we know exactly what's going on in their heads.

Which leads us to our fourth word, and that's examination. He's going to give them an exam. He said, in verse number 14, it is as I said to you, you are spies. By this you will be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you that he may get your brother while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies. He's going to give them a test.

Who knows about tests better than Joseph? Who knows that tests prove one's character better than Joseph? So now he's going to give them a test. Get them to examine their lives in light of what they have done, in light of what they have just said. So important. The events that happen in our life are designed to cause us to fear God and to trust Him. And Joseph was concerned that his brothers fear God and trust Him. Remember the words of Solomon over in Ecclesiastes chapter 3? Let me read them to you.

Verse number 14, he says, I know that everything God does will remain forever. In other words, God's plan is a permanent plan. It remains forever. You can't change it. The counsel of the Lord stands forever. Nothing can change the permanent plans of God. And Solomon said it very clearly. I know that everything God does will remain forever. He says, there is nothing to add to it. And there is nothing to take away from it. God's plan is not only a permanent plan. God's plan is a perfect plan. You can't add to it.

You can't take away from it. Why? Because God does everything right. He never does anything wrong. It's always right. You can't add to it to make it better. You can't take away from it to make it better. It's always the perfect plan. God's plan is perfect. God's plan is permanent. And God's plan is purposeful. He says this, for God has so worked that men should fear Him. When God tests you, He tests you that you might learn to fear Him. God does what He does because men need to fear Him. And these brothers needed to fear God as Joseph himself feared God.

He said in the text that he feared God. Do this and live for I fear God, verse number 18. I fear God. You men need to fear God. So he gives them an examination. And that examination would lead to incarceration. That's our next one. It says in verse number 17, so he put them all together in prison for three days. He was in prison for three years. They were in prison for three days. Joseph knew the effects of the prison. Joseph knew what those three days in confinement would do to them. And so he would incarcerate them.

He would put them into prison that he himself might carefully plan his next move as well as they themselves might learn to look at their lives.

Joseph knew that once isolated, they'd have to really think. They'd have to really examine their hearts, take out the everyday occurrences, take out the regular schedule, take out the calendar of events that are taking place that day and isolate yourself in confinement. They didn't know how long they were going to be there. He'd assume into prison. As far as they knew, that was it. They were going to be in prison. They were going to die because they were accused of spies. And if you were accused of being a spy, the sentence was death in Egypt.

Oh, he had them right where he wanted them to be. God had them right where he wanted them to be. So God was going to do a fabulous, fabulous work. Next word, confession. Confession. Verse number 18. Now Joseph said to them on the third day, do this and live for I fear God.

If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison. But as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households and bring your youngest brother to me so your words may be verified and you will not die. And they did so. And then listen to what it says. Then they said to one another, truly we are guilty. Those are the words God wants to hear. We are guilty. In the Hebrew, it's emphatic. We and we alone. It's not Joseph's fault. It wasn't because Joseph was doing what dad said.

Oh, so easily. We want to shift blame. Well, if they wouldn't have been there, then I wouldn't have acted that way. If they wouldn't have said that to me, then I wouldn't have done this to them. It's their fault. No, no, no. We are guilty concerning their brother because we saw the distress of a soul when he pleaded with us. You see, they would plead with Joseph. Guess who now cries? We didn't do anything. Three days in prison made them realize, look what we did. It took over 20 years to bring about their repentance.

Long time. But God would stop at nothing to bring them to this point. We are guilty. H.C. Leupold in his exposition of Genesis says this, whatever they may have said in prison, now at least they speak in terms of their guilt in the matter of Joseph. Their conscience has awakened mightily during these three days. They feel that a just retribution has come upon them and are apparently all of one mind in regard to this matter. They admit guilt. The only acknowledgment of sin in the book of Genesis, can you imagine that?

Unless there's the acknowledgment of my sin, there will never be the acknowledgment of God in my life. That's why they say in verse number 28, what is this that God has done to us? They had never mentioned God's name up to that point because God had to bring them to a place of repentance and to bring them there, he had to show them the ugliness of their sin. And when they see the ugliness of their sin, they see the greatness of their God. Oh, we are guilty. We ignored our brother when he cried out for us.

It is our fault. Nobody else's. It wasn't dad's fault. It wasn't Joseph's fault. It was our fault. We are at stake. And now we see what we have done. It says in verse number 23, they did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them, and he turned away from them and wept on Joseph. He says, it's working. Oh, he wept because he had compassion for his brothers. He wept because he wanted to be reconciled to his brothers. He wept because he had joy in his heart over the plan of God and how now all the pieces of the puzzle were coming together.

Now he can see it. Now he can see why he was sold into slavery. Now he can see what happened in Potiphar's house. Now he can see what happened in the prison. Now he can see why he is where he is. It's all coming together for him. He sees it. He weeps because the perfect plan of God is being revealed to him at this moment. And he weeps because he wants his brothers not just to bow before him, but that they might come to a place of knowing their God as he knows the God of the universe. That's where it is.

And so it says, verse number 24, but he returned to them and spoke to them. He took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. Joseph gathers himself together, realizes that the end is soon to happen, but it's not yet to happen. There still needs to be a revelation of himself to his brothers, but now is not the time. He needs to see Benjamin. He needs to see his father. And so instead of keeping them all, like he said, and sending one back, he's now going to send them all back, but he binds Simeon right in front of them to remind them of how he was bound by all of them at one time and thrown into a pit and sold as slavery.

All awakening their conscience as to what took place some 20 years ago in the land of Israel. Wow. What an amazing story, but it's not done. It gets even better. The next word I want you to see is provision. Look what it says in verse number 25. Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man's money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them. Joseph loved his brother. See, Joseph wasn't vindictive. Give them their money back.

They've already paid for their, for the grain. Give them the money back, put it in the sacks, give them the provisions, let them be on their way. First Corinthians 13, five says what?

Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. He wasn't vindictive. He loved his brothers. He wasn't vengeful. Again, the perfect picture of our, of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. He gives us what we do not deserve. It was an act of grace. Why? Because it wasn't about Joseph. It was about how his brothers would come to see and know God. That's what the story is about. It's not about Joseph. It's not about his brothers. It's not about his father. It's not about Israel going to Egypt. It's about God and the brothers needed to see God.

And when you walk with God, you act like God and Joseph act like God, didn't he? First John 2, six, John says, well, if you say that you abide in him, then you ought to walk in the same manner in which our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ walked.

You say you're a believer, you need to act like God. Joseph acted like his God, which leads us to our last word, the realization. Verse number 26, so they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money and behold, it was in the mouth of a sack. Then he said to his brothers, my money has been returned and behold, it is even in my sack and their hearts sank and they trembled. Same word used over in 1 Samuel 14 to speak of an earthquake.

And what was their response? Look what God has done. They're getting to the point of seeing the hand of God. The hand of God is gripping their hearts and lives. God is doing a mighty work in the lives of these boys. What a tremendous, tremendous story. Look what God has done to us. You see, God's not going to reveal himself to the unrepentant sinner, only to the repentant sinner. And all of a sudden, the scales begin to fall off their eyes and they are seeing something happen which they had never seen before.

And so God has done a marvelous work. I wonder where you are today. I wonder if you are able to say, look what God has done to me. Look what God has done. Has Joseph provided for and gave him back the money, put the food in sacks. It's God. It's God's provision. And is it not true that as a child of God, all we can say is look what God has done for us. Look what God has done to us. Look how God has orchestrated the events in our lives to bring us to this point. See, that's what the book of Genesis is all about.

It's all about God and what he does to bring about his purposes in the lives of his people. Have you seen that? Have you recognized that? Oh, I trust you have. Let's pray together.