Genesis

THE great detail of the story of Joseph’s relations to his brethren is a noteworthy feature, and sheds not a little light on the fundamental purpose of this section and of the Book of Genesis as a whole. It is history written from a religious standpoint, and in these chapters now to be considered everything seems to be subservient to the Divine testing, revelation, and development of the character of the brothers under the stress of the discipline administered to them. In view of the great particularity of the story it is impossible to do more than touch upon its salient features; but it will repay the closest attention as a striking manifestation of Divine action and of human character.

It was not very long before the need of food was as great as ever in Jacob’s family at Hebron. The famine continued, and Jacob thereupon urged his sons to go again to Egypt to buy food. Judah at once represented to his father the utter impossibility of going without taking Benjamin with them, because of the definite and solemn words of the Governor of Egypt. With perfect plainness he told Jacob that they would not go down unless he was prepared to send Benjamin.

One significant and suggestive touch of the old native shrewdness seems to come out in the reply of Jacob: "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?" (Gen 43:6). That is, Why did you need to say anything about it; why not have kept silent? His sons told him that this was an utter impossibility, for the man asked pointed questions which admitted only of equally pointed answers.

Once again Judah appealed to his father and urged him to yield the point. He promised to be surety for Benjamin, and expressed his willingness to bear the blame for ever if he did not return with him in safety. At length Jacob recovered his spiritual equilibrium, and consented to let Benjamin go. He also told them to take a gift to the great man in Egypt. In the old days he had tried to appease his brother Esau and here again he adopted the same policy. Not only so, they were to take double money in their hand, and the money that was brought again in their sacks. He also commended them to the "God of Power" (El-Shaddai), praying that the Mighty God would give them mercy before the man and send back Simeon and Benjamin. The old man s closing words indicate a fine spirit of acceptance of the Divine will: "If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."

The men soon arrived in Egypt and stood before Joseph, and the sight of Benjamin was more than enough to make Joseph decide to receive them and show them hospitality in his own house. The fear of the brethren immediately on their arrival is very striking, and they at once told the steward of Joseph’s house what had happened about the money found in their sacks. The answer of the man is deeply interesting: Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. Simeon was thereupon restored to them, and we can well imagine the feelings with which they waited for the appearance of their host.

On Joseph’s arrival they once again fulfilled his Again they early dreams "as they bowed themselves to him to the earth." His keen inquiries after their father was yet another opportunity for them to acknowledge his supremacy, and they bowed down their heads, and made obeisance. How simple is the narration, and yet how remarkable is the way in which God s providence had brought about the fulfilment of the dreams!

The sight of Benjamin was too much for Joseph, and the narrative gives a beautiful touch in describing Benjamin as his mother’s son. Joseph’s feelings compelled him to turn aside and weep in private; but recovering himself, he went back to his brethren, and at once the feast commenced. He had not overlooked the order of their seniority, and as they sat, placed according to age, we are not surprised to read that l the men marvelled one at another. It was also a very significant act that Benjamin s mess was five times so much as any of the others, for it gave Joseph an opportunity of discovering their feelings towards Benjamin, and whether there was anything like the same jealousy and towards him as there had been towards the brother with the coat of many colours. The time passed with hilarity and satisfaction, their fears proving groundless, and everything promised well for their journey home as one united company to greet again their aged father.

Joseph’s orders were to provide the men with as much corn as they could carry, to put every man’s money into the mouth of his sack, and to put the silver divining-cup in the mouth of the sack belonging to Benjamin. It is not certain what the process was in which divining-cups were used. Some think that small pieces of gold were thrown in the cup and demons invoked. Others think that the cup full of water was taken out into the sun, and that as the sun played upon the water the figures made were interpreted as omens, good or bad. It would seem clear from the narrative that Joseph was in the habit of using the art of divination.

They started at the break of day; but before they had gone very far they were overtaken by the steward and rebuked for taking away the silver divining-cup that did not belong to them. We can picture the scene. They were returning happy, if not exultant, with Simeon free and Benjamin safe. Suddenly, however, their elation was destroyed, and fear once again possessed them. They protested with all earnestness that they were innocent, and urged in proof of it that they brought again the money which had been found in their sacks mouths on the former journey. They were also perfectly ready - so conscious were they of innocence - that the one with whom the cup was found should die, and the rest would be slaves to the great Egyptian Governor. The steward would not allow this for a moment, only claiming that he with whom the cup should be found must become a slave, the others being free to return home. We can well imagine the consternation when, after examining into every sack, it was found in the last of all, Benjamin’s. Instead of allowing Benjamin to go while they returned to their father, they determined to cast in their lot with him, and so they all returned to Egypt. Once again they found themselves in the house of Joseph, and fell before him on the ground. Joseph asked them solemnly and severely what they had done, and whether they did not know that such a man as he could certainly divine. Judah’s words are very striking: "What shall we say unto my lord? . . . God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also with whom the cup is found." If these words refer to Judah’s belief in the guilt of Benjamin, it is very striking that he speaks of the iniquity of thy servants, as though they were all included in his sin. But it may not be without some allusion to the iniquity of the old days, which they now at length confess that God hath found out.

Joseph, however, would not permit of Judah’s proposal that they should become his slaves. All that he required was that the man in whose sack the cup had been found should be his slave: the res t of them could go up in peace to their father. It would seem as though Joseph’s purpose in this stratagem was to test the brethren in relation to Benjamin, and to see whether they would be prepared to sacrifice him to their own safety. It may also be that he wished to retain Benjamin alone, at least for a time, to gratify his own intense love by having him in Egypt as a companion. But the outcome was soon to prove very different.

Then Judah drew near and interceded on behalf of his brethren, and in the course of these verses we have one of the most exquisite pieces of literature in the whole world. We observe in the first place the deference and humility with which Judah approaches Joseph another striking fact, in view of those early dreams. We also observe the beautiful simplicity with which he tells the story of his father and the child of his old age his youngest one who alone is left of his mother, his brother being dead. The pathos of the recital is also deeply touching and almost perfect as he goes on to show how the old man, bereaved of his two favorite sons, will be brought down to his grave in sorrow. Then the appeal closes with the heroic offer to become a bondman in the place of Benjamin, to sacrifice himself on behalf of his brother. "For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? Lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father."

No further words are necessary in connection with this touching and beautiful story except to call attention to the way in which it reveals the changed character of Judah and the brethren.

Assuming that Benjamin was guilty, his act had brought disgrace upon them all, and if the men had been as they were of old it would have been perfectly easy to settle the question by killing Benjamin on the spot and thereby clearing themselves of all complicity. But this was exactly what they did not and would not do. At once they returned to Egypt, and more marvellous still, there was actually no reproach of Benjamin. They were doubtless conscious of their own greater guilt, and so they returned to suffer together. At last they were a united family; and Judah’s pathetic appeal was the crowning proof that they were now docile and disciplined, and ready for God s further and higher purposes concerning them.

The entire section is filled with striking and suggestive illustrations of human life under the training of Divine discipline.

The way in which Jacob recovers himself is deeply interesting. At first he would not hear of Benjamin going down. Reuben s appeal (Gen 42:37-38) was utterly powerless, and was doubtless due, in some measure at least, to Jacob’s knowledge of his instability of character; but Judah proves more successful, and at last the old man gives his consent. Now, indeed, he is Israel, and not Jacob. Faith is sometimes checked and even defeated as we look on the dark side of things; but as we continue to face the facts, and realize that after all God is Almighty, faith regains strength, courage is restored, and victory becomes ours. Like Jacob, we face the contingency of sorrow, not with mere passive resignation, but with the consciousness that everything that comes is included in the Divine will, and must be among the all things that work together for our good. "This is the victory that overcometh . . . even our faith."

There is scarcely anything more interesting and striking in the story of Joseph’s brethren than the way in which they were impressed and actuated by fear from first to last. Fear possessed them on their first journey; fear actuated them when they found the money in their sacks (Gen 42:28); fear continued to affect them as they once again appeared before Joseph (Gen 43:18); and the crowning fear was seen when the discovery was made of the cup. God uses fear to recall the heart to Himself. Fear probes, searches, warns, purifies, and keeps the heart tender and true, sensitive to God’s will, and ever shrinking from that which is evil. The fear of the Lord has two sides a shrinking from sin and an intense desire to be true to God and it is because of these things that it is the beginning of wisdom. There are few subjects more worthy of careful and prolonged attention and practical meditation than the fear of the Lord as it is revealed in Holy Scripture.

As we read the story of the length of time, from the moment the brethren were first tested to the time when Joseph revealed himself to them, we cannot but be struck with the almost continuous discipline which they experienced, and we naturally ask why it was necessary that so thorough, persistent, and deep a work was attempted. The answer is probably to be found in the need of thoroughness of moral and spiritual training. When a large building is to be erected, it is important that there should be not merely a wide, but also a deep foundation; and it is the same with spiritual building. There are old corruptions to be swept away, there is the power of habit to be removed; and not the least result of God’s work in the sanctification and purification of the soul is to deepen the consciousness of our own nothingness, to arouse and maintain in our souls an increasing sense of His all-sufficiency. This is doubtless the reason why God deals with believers by bringing to their memory old sins and causing them to learn the same painful lessons over and over again. God’s work must be thoroughly done, and it is for us to bow before Him and become malleable to His will.

The brethren little knew that all these ordinary events in their life were proving the occasion of the most searching and thorough examination of their character. It was the most natural thing in the world for them to go down into Egypt to buy corn and to return; and yet all the while, and quite unconsciously to themselves, they were being subjected to the severest scrutiny on the part of Joseph. How true this is to daily experience! We think of the way in which Gideon’s men were tested by the simple way in which they drank from the river. This ordinary act was made use of by God to separate the three hundred from the rest. In like manner the ordinary insignificant events of daily life are the very best test of a man’s true character. It is comparatively easy to shine on great occasions when we are conscious that the eyes of others are upon us; it is not by any means so easy to shine when we are free from the constraint of other people, when we are alone in our room doing the duty of the moment with equal need of faithfulness to God. Still more, we are being tested most thoroughly by those around us in our ordinary life when we are absolutely unconscious of anything of the kind. Some years ago a gentleman expressed his deep indebtedness to the silent influence of another gentleman whom he did not know, but who, lunching each day at the same restaurant, quietly bowed his head to say grace before meat. Miss Havergal, in one of her books, prays that her unconscious influence might be all for Christ. One of Bushnell’s sermons is on the deeply interesting subject of "Unconscious Influence." What a glory all this gives to every-day life! There is nothing trivial nothing which cannot, and perhaps does not, test and reveal character. The Christian is always on duty.

5. The danger of misinterpretation.

We see how true this is as we think of Jacob’s first impression that everything was against him, and that nothing but sorrow and trouble could come of Benjamin’s being allowed to go into Egypt. We see it also in the utter unconsciousness of the brethren that all that was done to them by Joseph was actuated, not by severity, but by sympathy. We are not blaming them for this lack of knowledge, but only calling attention to the simple fact that the same action may be quite easily interpreted from two points of view. This is the case in daily life. God’s providence in our every-day affairs may easily be misinterpreted. What we think is actuated by severity may really be prompted by the truest loving kindness. The believer often mistakes chastisement for punishment, and there is perhaps no lesson that is harder to learn than the fact that our Heavenly Father deals with us, not punitively, but in discipline. How often we are tempted to misinterpret the ways of God with us! "Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself;" and yet, if only we could and would see things in their proper light, we should understand that whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth, and that this is done that we might be partakers of His holiness. Let us not misunderstand and misinterpret God s attitude to us, but let us seek in fellowship with him to understand his ways; for we shall find that the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.

The one requirement in the case of Joseph’s brethren was the proof of their repentance. It was necessary for Joseph to see the reality of their changed life. The long period between the first and second visits might well have been regarded by him as suspicious, and it was therefore essential that they should be subjected to a proper test upon their return to Egypt. Everything was thus leading up to repentance and to the proof of it. Consciousness of sin must always issue in conversion from sin. God cannot act without our repentance. There will always be a barrier to His blessing unless we are prepared to turn from sin with a hearty and true repentance. It is perhaps specially essential to emphasize this need of repentance to-day, for we are naturally too apt to lay stress on believe without preparing for faith by insisting upon repentance. It is not too much to say that no blessing can come unless there is that change of mind which issues in a change of will, and enables us to forsake sin and renounce our evil ways.

While the proofs of great moral change are found connected with all the brethren, they are especially visible in the case of Judah. His name had been given to him at his birth amid circumstances of hope on the part of his mother, for Judah means Praise (Gen 39:35). His early youth did not, however, afford any proof whatever that he was living up to his splendid name. On the contrary, the part that he played in the sale of Joseph (Gen 37:26) and the choice of his wife among the Canaanites (Gen 38:2), together with the subsequent sad events following his association with the Canaanites show that his life was altogether different from what it ought to have been as the son of his father and the bearer of such a name. But when he appears before us in these later chapters it is evident that there had been a remarkable change. He comes to the front in these emergencies with great force of character, and the whole tone of his exquisite appeal on behalf of Benjamin shows that he is now living up to his name. We are not at all surprised to read later on that its meaning is once more emphasized and acknowledged as true to life (Gen 49:8). There is something very striking in the study of Judah as he appears in the Book of Genesis, and in particular in the revelation of his character in the chapters now being considered. God’s Spirit was at work, testing, training, transforming him. There is nothing like the discipline of life to elicit and to deepen character. The pressure of poverty, the stings of conscience, the deepening of family love, the shaking of self-confidence, are a few of the ways in which Judah was brought into the line of true life and enabled to take the lead in these family troubles and sorrows. Let us therefore never shrink from any discipline that God may put upon us, only seeking for grace and wisdom to learn every lesson, to make permanent every impression, and then to manifest His grace in our lives as we endeavour to live to His praise. No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous: "nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them which are exercised thereby. Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down and the feeble knees; and make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed."