Joseph Reunited with His Brothers, Part 3

We've had a wonderful time studying the life of Joseph in the book of Genesis. But one of the things that so many times is overlooked is the fact that Joseph was a great lover of men. That's why he was a great leader. Great leaders are great lovers first.

In order to be an effective leader, you must be an excellent lover. And Joseph was just that. He knew what it meant to love other people. And that would allow him to be able to forgive others. But this man, Joseph, was a lover of men. And so many times I find that we, myself included, are not really focused in on loving others. And that's the way Joseph was. He was a lover of men. And God used him in a tremendous way. That's Joseph. What a tremendous example for us to follow, right? Are you a great leader?

You will be if you're a great lover. And Joseph was a great lover of men. We've been looking at the fact in Genesis chapter 42, where Joseph is reunited with his brothers. God was doing a fabulous work in their life as they, for the very first time, as recorded in the book of Genesis, acknowledge the presence of God in their lives.

And the reason that happened is because they admitted they were guilty before God, that they had sinned before God, that they had sinned with their brother Joseph. That was the record of the reunion. And now we come to our third point in our outline, and we come to the report after the reunion.

And after we look at the report after the reunion, we're going to look at the return to the reunion. Pick up the narrative in chapter 42, verse number 29. When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man, the Lord of the lands, spoke harshly with us and took us for spies of the country. But we said to him, We are honest men, we are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.

And the man, the Lord of the lands, said to us, By this I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households and go. But bring your youngest brother to me, that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land. Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed.

And their father Jacob said to them, You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin. All these things are against me. Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him to you. But Jacob said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to she old sorrow.

Now the famine was severe in the land. So it came about when they had finished eating the grain, which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, Go back, buy us a little food. Judas spoke to him, however, saying, The man solemnly warned us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you send your brother with us, we will go down. Our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you do 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.

Then Israel said, Why did you treat me so badly by telling the men whether you still had another brother? But they said, The men questioned particularly about us, and our relatives saying, Is your father still alive? Have you another brother? So we answered his questions. Could we possibly know that he would say, Bring your brother down? And Judas said to his father, Israel, Send the land with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. I myself will be surety for him.

You may hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame before you forever.

For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice. Then the father Israel said to them, If it must be so, then do this. Take some of the best products of the land in your bags and carry down to the man as a present, a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds, and take double the money in your hand and take back in your hand the money that was returned to the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also and arise, return to the man.

And may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. So the men took this present and they took double the money in their hand and Benjamin. Then they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. We'll stop right there. As we look once again at this marvelous story, we need to be reminded that God was doing the work not only in the lives of the brothers, but in the life of Jacob as well.

Because we don't know what has transpired in the last 20 years, except what takes place in this text. And by understanding what is taking place in this text, we kind of get to the point where we see where Jacob is not exactly where he needs to be. So God is going to bring him along so that he might end up being what he needs to be in order to father these boys, that they might be the fathers of a tremendous nation that God would use in the future. As we pick up our third point, after the reunion, we realize four different things.

Number one, the details in verses 29 to 31. You'll notice that there are two significant details left out of their account as they would relay what happened to them in Egypt back to their father Jacob.

Two things. Number one, they left out the fact that they spent three days in jail. They didn't tell their dad that. Also, they didn't tell him that they had discovered money in one of their sacks. They left that out of the account as they would rehearse back to their father what exactly had happened. These men had to learn to fear God. And they were on their way. Look what God has done to us, they said. And now they're home. And now once again they're all trembling. They're all afraid, even Jacob.

And the Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of true knowledge. They are beginning to understand their God. They are beginning to understand how God is going to work in their lives. And they are realizing for the very first time that God is involved.

He's always been involved, but they are finally realizing it. Then I want you to notice Jacob's response.

And that is the depression. We move from the details to the discovery to the depression. Look what it says in verse number 36. And their father Jacob said to them, You have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin. All these things are against me. Now, now Jacob's jumping to conclusions here. He, he, are all these things really truly against him? Are all things in life against him? You know, you've been there, haven't you? Things aren't going exactly as you planned them to go.

And what is our response? Everything is against me. Nothing's going right for me. My world is crumbling. It's falling apart. I want to let you know something. It's not true that everything is against you. It's not true that all things are against you. Jacob was wrong here. But he is thinking from a horizontal perspective. It's not like, hey fellas, listen, gather around. Man, this is amazing. Look what God has done. Let's pray together. Let's seek the wisdom of God on this matter. Here is this great patriarch, the father of a great nation, having the wonderful opportunity to bring his voice around and say, guys, look, let's seek the heart of God here.

He's not doing that. What's he saying? Oh man, first it was Joe. Now it's Simeon. Now you want to take Ben. It ain't going to happen guys. Everything is against me. But you know what? That's, that's not true. That's not true. There are only three things that are against you. Did you know that? There are only three, not all, just three. Do you know what they are? Number one is the world.

The world's against you. How do I know that? John 15 verse number 18. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Folks, you got to realize the world's against you. I'm not talking about the globe. I'm talking about the system of the world. It goes against everything you stand for, everything you believe. Yes, the world is against you.

The world hates you. That's why the Bible says, love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life.

Why? They're all going to pass away. And the Bible says, and be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds.

You see the world's against us. We got to realize that. Why? Because the world is against God and we stand for God and with God. Not only is the world against you, but your own flesh is against you. Did you know that? You say, no, I didn't know that. Let me read it to you.

First Peter chapter two, verse number 11. Beloved, I urge you as aliens and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Do you know that the fleshly lusts wage war against your soul? Your own flesh is against you. Not the skin that covers your bones. I'm talking about that natural tendency of ours to go away from God. Paul would explain it well in Romans chapter seven, when he said the things that I shouldn't be doing, those are the things I'm doing. And the things I should be doing, I'm not doing.

He knew about the battle. He knew that there was a war going on inside of him. But I want to let you know something. Each and every day, there is a battle going on between what you should do, what God says, and what the world says you should be doing.

It's so easy to get off track and go way out here and do this and do that. There's a battle going on inside of you. There's a war. And it's between the flesh and the spirit. And it continues every day. And your flesh, your own flesh is against you. The world's against you. And you know what? Satan's against you. First Peter five, eight says that he goes about like a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

First John 5, 19 says he's the God of this world. And he does not want you to succeed. Now listen very carefully. Do you believe that Satan knew the Messiah would come through the line of Judah? Answer, no. Never answer out loud. Satan is not omniscient. We don't even know. We know because we read the text. But they didn't know until Genesis 49, right? That's when it's revealed that the line of the Messiah will not come through anybody but Judah, through the line of Judah. Satan didn't know it. You know what Satan thought?

Same thing you and I would think. It's got to come through Joseph. I mean, he's the godly one. He's the one that's amazingly being used of God. I'm going to do all I can, Satan's saying, to get this guy off kilter, to corrupt his soul, to damage his life, to make him damage goods. Satan wanted to destroy that man. Because I believe, Satan believed that the Messiah would come to Joseph. He doesn't know the plan of God, the mind of God. And you know what? He doesn't know what God has planned for you tomorrow either, or the next day.

But if in any way he thinks that you can be used of God in a mighty way, he's going to unleash his fury upon you and get you down, down, down. Because he doesn't want you to be used of God. So important for us to understand. Now those things are against you. The world, your flesh, and Satan. But certainly not everything is against you. Just those three things. And so here is Jacob, everything is against me. My world is falling down around me. The man's depressed. Jacob, he missed it. I guess he forgot, and we easily do that, what God had told him way back in his dream, that vision he received when he went up and saw the angels ascending and descending on the ladder.

Back in Genesis chapter 28, when the Lord God said, I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the land on which you live. I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants shall also be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread out to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south. And in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. And behold, I am with you, and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land.

For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you. Evidently Jacob forgot that. Now that had been sometime earlier, quite a while earlier. But this is not true that sometimes we forget what God has said to us. Lo, I am with you, even to the end of the age. If God before you, who can be against you? That's the good news. From that depression, we go to the discussion. The discussion, verses 37 to 38. Reuben spoke up. He said, Father, you may put my two sons to death if I do not bring them back to you.

Put them in my care, and I will return him to you. Reuben speaks up and says, okay, this is what I'm going to do, Dad. You can have my boys. And if I don't come back, if I don't bring Benjamin back, you can kill my two boys. Yeah, a little out of kilter there. But Reuben's trying to make up for past sins. Listen to what Jacob says. This is unbelievable. My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. You see the separation there? Remember, it's Benjamin and Joseph versus the other brothers, because those two came from who?

Rachel. The other ones came from the handmaids and from land. But these two were from his loved, beloved Rachel. He's not going to let Benjamin go down to Egypt with his brothers. This is what he says. This is so 21st century you and me. He says what? He says these words. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to sorrow. If harm shall befall him, if something happens to him, what if something happens? That's us, man. That's how we live. I can't.

What if this or what if that or what if this goes bad or what if that goes bad? What if you're in a car accident? What if something happens? We live our lives in the what ifs. There's Jacob. That one thing, Benjamin. What if? We live like that all the time, don't we? What if we don't make it? What if the report is bad from the doctor? What if we send our son on this mission trip and something bad happens to him? What if we send our son off to college way over there when he could go right here? What if something bad happens?

What's going to happen to him out there? We live our lives in the what ifs. We don't live our lives saying God's going to protect them. God's going to watch over them. We're going to commit them into God's hand to care for them and love them. We really believe, listen, we really believe that if they are with us in our care, we can do a better job of protecting them than God can. We really do believe that. And so we keep them with us and we value them more than we value our God. That's Jacob. That's where he is.

Oh, things are going to change in a great way. Jacob finally learned. Oh, he finally got the picture that God was a shepherd.

It would take a while for him to get there, but he finally got there. That's where God wants you and me to be. That God is my shepherd. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. If God is your shepherd, if God is your caretaker, if God is your God, your Lord, your Savior, your Master, there is no want for anything else. Which leads us to our last point, the return to the reunion. And that's chapter 43, verses 1 to 15. I want you to notice something very significant.

You will note, and maybe you didn't pick it up as you read it, there's a name change from Jacob to Israel. Did you get that? In chapter 42, it's verse number 29, their father Jacob. Verse number 36, and their father Jacob. Verse number 38, but Jacob said. But when you come to chapter 43, it's different. For it says in verse number 6, then Israel said. Verse number 8, and Judah said to his father Israel. Verse 11, then their father Israel. Why the name change? I'll tell you in a minute. First point is this, Jacob's resistance.

Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 43. Now the famine was severe in the land. The famine wasn't getting any better. It was getting worse. It says this in verse number 2, so it came about when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, go back and buy us a little food. Again, this is classic 21st century parenting to ignore the obvious. They can't go back unless Benjamin goes with him. But Jacob is not dealing with the issue here. He doesn't want to deal with the issue.

He doesn't want to deal with the loss of Benjamin. We don't know how long it took. All I know is that, that Judah says this in verse number 10, for if we had not delayed shortly by now, we could have returned twice. You know, dad, if we, if we'd have gone, you know, a long journey. So it's been a while. Well, the food's gone. They're starting to get hungry again. They got lots of money because they got all the money back. But they're running out of food. And so Jacob says, okay, this is what we're going to do.

Guys, go down to Egypt, buy some more food. I mean, you did it once, go back and do it again. But he ignored one major issue, Benjamin. Benjamin has to go. See, for Jacob, it was business as usual, wasn't it? He wanted to ignore that which he had to do and try to live as if nothing was wrong. Isn't that 21st century parenting? Sure it is. There are issues in our families that we don't want to deal with. So we ignore them. We go on with business as usual. We go to work, same way we always go to work, do what we always do, but not realizing that there's an issue that needs to be resolved.

And until it's resolved, there really is no family oriented relationship going on. There are barriers that are there that need to be broken down and can only be broken down when confronted and dealt with in a biblical manner. And Jacob wasn't about to deal with the issue at hand. That's Jacob's resistance. He's unwilling to deal with the issue. So point number two, Judah's reminder.

Judah says, dad, father, do you remember that we can't go back unless Benjamin goes? That Lord said to us, you will not see my face unless you bring your younger brother with you. We can't go back without Benjamin. So without Benjamin, we are up a crick without a paddle. We're in big trouble, dad. So you move on. And Judah says, listen, I'll tell you what I'm going to do, dad. He says, I will deal with the issues. He says, if you send the lad with me, we'll arise and go that we may live and not die as well as you and your, our little ones.

I myself will be surety for him. Oh, that's good. Judah's starting to come around. Judah's starting to think of other people other than himself. He's starting to think of Benjamin. He's starting to think of his father. Israel has a reaction. Why did you treat me? Verse seven, six so badly by telling the man, whether you still had another brother, why did you have to tell him he had a younger brother guys? Why? Why? You know why? Because God wanted to rip that younger son from Jacob. So Jacob would learn to trust his God and not live solely for Benjamin.

That's why Jacob, Israel had a lot to learn. And so you see his reaction and they told him, he questioned us particularly. Do you have a younger brother? He asked us, what are we going to say? No, we've been down that road, dad too many times. We told him the truth that we are honest men, that we were not spies. And so he would react, but his reaction is different than chapter 42. And that's by the name change. Remember when Abraham's name was changed from Abram to Abraham, it never referred back to Abraham as Abraham ever again.

But for Jacob, when his name was changed in chapter 28 to Israel, it kept going back from Israel to Jacob, to Jacob to Israel, to Israel to Jacob, to Jacob to Israel. Why? Because when Jacob operated in the flesh, he was referred to as Jacob. But when God would strive with him, which the name Israel means, and he'd be dependent upon his God, the name Israel would be used. And there's a change taking place in Israel's life. And the change begins in chapter 43 by refusing to recognize what's before him.

And his son reminded him what he needs to do. Israel begins to change. Think about it. He lost one son. As far as he knows, Joseph's dead. The death of a child is a tremendous, tremendous agonizing experience for the parent. And here is Jacob realizing that Joseph is dead. All he has now is Benjamin from his beloved Rachel. He doesn't want to lose the last one that he has that's so dear to him. You can understand that, can't you? Sure you can. And it's easy for us to come down on Jacob, but the point of the matter is he doesn't know the end of the story like you know the end of the story.

And right when the rubber meets the road, he has to face a difficult situation of letting Benjamin go. He struggles like you and I would struggle, but God's at work. And it comes into play in his resolve in verses 11 to 15. He reacts by saying, why did you guys do that? Why? And he resolves to do the will of the Lord. This is so good. Listen to what it says. Then their father, Israel, there it is again, Israel, said to them, if it must be so, then do this. Oh, this is great. Now, now he's starting to surrender to the will of the Lord.

If this is the way it has to be, then let it be. He says, take some more money. Take a present. Perhaps this was all a mistake. There ain't no mistakes, man. It's no mistake. He says, perhaps it was all a mistake. Oh, Israel, it's no mistake. God's involved in all of that. Listen to what he says. Take your brother also, verse number 13. This is the turning point in Jacob's life where he begins to be called Israel once again, as he trusts his God, as God who strives with him. Take your brother also and arise, return to the man, and may God Almighty, El Shaddai, may the all-powerful God of the universe grant you compassion.

May his mercy be upon you. May he be kind to you. May he watch over you. May he be gracious to you. May his loving kindness overshadow you. Now you have a father fulfilling his biblical responsibility. Now you have the patriarch doing what patriarchs do, leading their family in the ways of God, helping them to understand that God Almighty will be with him. Listen, if God Almighty, if El Shaddai can't protect Benjamin, I can't either. God's in charge. And he says this, in the sight of man that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin, and as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.

That is the classic statement. If I lose everything, I lose it. If it's gone, so be it. That's where God wants you to be, my friends, right there. That's where God wants you to be. It's where Queen Esther was. Remember Queen Esther, when Xerxes was going to wipe out the Jewish population? And he didn't know that the queen was a Jewess. And the queen had one opportunity to go to the king and to make a request. And she would risk her life by going into the presence of the king without being summoned to put before him a petition that if God would will, he would grant.

Listen to what she says to uncle Mordecai in Esther chapter four, verse number 16. Go gather together all the Jews who are in Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, not a day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. Here it is. And if I perish, I perish. That's it. That's it. Job said this way, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Paul said this way, I know in whom I believe and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed to him until that day.

That's where God wants you to be. That's where God wants me to be. That's where God wants his church to be. Right where Christ was in the garden, we said, nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done. That's the story of Joseph being reunited with his brothers. Jacob now was living the life of Israel, letting God strive with him, strive for him in him to do his work. That Israel would be that great nation that God would want it to be. And it wouldn't get there if he held on to that prize possession, Benjamin.

It wouldn't be there if he didn't say, if I be bereaved, I will be bereaved. Whatever God wills, whatever God desires, he is almighty. He is in charge. Are you there yet? That's where God wants you to be. You can be there. You can be there by telling God, Lord, whatever you desire for my life, for my family, let it happen. You're in charge. And I trust you because you are almighty. You are compassionate. You are merciful. You are kind. And you will do what only you can do. And you love me more than I love myself.

And I trust you.