Or, When Joseph’s Brothers Could Ignore Their Sin No More
Scripture: Genesis 42:1-38
Date: March 26, 2017
Speaker: Sean Higgins
There are no statutes of limitations on sin before God. A statute of limitations sets the maximum amount of time that is permitted to pass for the bringing of certain kinds of legal action. In Washington State there are some crimes for which legal action must be taken within one year, others within two years, three years, and up to ten years. For example, lander and libel and assault must be reported within two years, trespassing and property damage and personal injury must be reported within three years. The more time that passes from the offense the more difficult it is to discover and examine the facts.
Some crimes have no statute of limitations. Most states have no limitations for prosecuting kidnapping, arson, or forgery. No state has a limitation for prosecuting murder.
Israel’s family did not live under 21st century American law. Israel’s family did not even live under Mosaic law. But law exists in the universe because the Creator is righteous. God is a certain way and He has made the world, and all men in the world, whether in ancient Egypt or modern America, in such a way that sin requires a reckoning. Every sin must be dealt with before God. Even if it appears that sin goes unnoticed or unproven and so unpunished, it only appears that way to us and for a time. No sin escapes God.
In a spasm of envy and bitterness and anger, Joseph’s brothers sold Joseph to traders heading to Egypt. Joseph was a tattle-tale. Joseph was favored by their father and flaunted a many-colored robe. Joseph was the eleventh of twelve and yet crowed about his dreams of preeminence. One time when Joseph went to check on his brothers they schemed to kill him, but decided to make a little money by disposing him into slavery. Their brother’s blood was still on their hands.
They had maintained this lie to their father for twenty years. Who knows how often they thought about Joseph; they probably tried not to. But while God may harden a man’s conscience, God has not decreed a time restraint on guilt. Even after two decades the brothers recall their sin. There are no statutes of limitations in the conscience.
In chapter 37 Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt. In chapter 39 he was falsely accused by Potiphar’s wife and put in prison. In chapter 40 he interpreted the dreams of the baker and cupbearer and was forgotten again. In chapter 41 he was summoned by Pharaoh to interpret a dream, and then he was appointed by Pharaoh to oversee the collection and distribution of grain during seven years of abundance and seven years of famine respectively. The famine has hit, hit hard, and hit not only in Egypt but “over all the earth” (Genesis 41:57). The stage is set for a family reunion.
The land of Canaan was affected by the famine (as stated in verse 5). In Abram’s day, a famine in Canaan caused him to seek food (food refuge = “refood” maybe?) in Egypt. Though Egypt wasn’t growing grain at this time, Egypt did have grain in the bank.
When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” How he learned that food could be purchased across the border we don’t know, but we do know that he was still recognized as the leader by his grown sons. His question scorns their passivity, as if he said, “Sitting around staring at each other isn’t going to get us any food.”
He urged them, ”Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” There’s no reason to think that Jacob exaggerated. Their situation was desperate and warranted the difficult trip.
Verse 1 identified Jacob’s “sons” but now ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain. Referring to them as brothers is a signal, and that only ten of the eleven depart will also be a major part of the next events. Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s (only other full) brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. Jacob may or may not have suspicions about the older ten, but he is nervous that he would lose his next favorite son. Accidents happen.
Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, is a third description of the men and more associated with their national identity.
Of all the grain barns in all the world, Joseph’s brothers come to the place where Joseph is.
Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. But was he the bottleneck to whom everyone came to buy? “He put in every city the food from the fields around it” (Genesis 41:48), just as he advised Pharaoh (41:35). There must have been more than one clearinghouse, even though all of them were under Joseph’s oversight. How often was Joseph himself behind the counter running the till? How was it that his brothers “just happened” to come into his store?
Joseph was marked out in some special way since his brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Pharaoh made others “Bow the knee!” to Joseph (Genesis 41:43), and the brothers learned the protocol. Immediately Joseph recognized them but, as verse 8 clarifies, Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. Why would they? He was clean shaven like the Egyptians, wearing the royal clothing of Egyptians, talking in Egyptian (see verse 23), and giving order to Egyptians. Plus, more than any of those things, this man wasn’t dead.
Though he knew who they were Joseph treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” He “pretended to be a stranger” (NIV) and he interrogated them like criminals without apparent reason. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” But Joseph doesn’t buy it. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”
This accusation follows Moses giving us a look at Joseph’s thought process. Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said… What was it about the dreams that caused him to accuse them rather than identify himself immediately and say: “Behold, your brother, before whom you have bowed down, fulfilling my dreams!” I think it’s because, while he does connect them bowing before him with his dreams, he recognizes that his dreams aren’t totally fulfilled at this point. There were eleven stars bowing down, plus the sun and the moon (Genesis 37:9). Here there are only ten. Joseph is not being unnecessarily mean or spiteful, he’s setting them up to give him more information.
”No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies. Of their four assertions, one is certain (sons of one man), two are debatable (come to buy food, never been spies), and one is patently false, the one where they say, We are honest men.
Joseph calls them spies a total of three times. He asserts again, it is the nakedness of the land you have come to see. They’ve come to see the weak spots in Egypt, the possible targets for attack.
”We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.” Now Joseph has more information, but still no certainty of seeing this other brother or his father. These same ten sold him for dead, what if they now went and did something worse? One is no more would be an interesting way to hear others talk about you.
Joseph devises a test. ”By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested. Calling on the life of Pharaoh kept up appearances; they have no reason to suspect Joseph’s identity. And he put them all together in custody for three days. They taste imprisonment, though this hardly compares to the thirteen years of enslavement and imprisonment Joseph endured. It does seem to open their eyes.
Perhaps Joseph changed his mind, or perhaps this is what he had in mind all along.
On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die. (Genesis 42:18-20)
Instead of swearing by Pharaoh again, Joseph seems to want to connect with them by saying I fear God. He also recognizes that if only one goes back, that one won’t be able to take enough provisions for the family that remains in Canaan, family that Joseph is concerned about. So instead of sending one, he’s going to keep one, and the others can take food so that they shall not die. Though this is certainly a better deal than the one from three days ago, and a better deal than staying in prison, they can ignore their guilt no more.
Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” (Genesis 42:21–22)
This includes new information to us and to Joseph. By their own admission, they saw the distress of [Joseph’s] soul and did not listen to his cries for mercy. Their consciences connect their hardness of heart twenty years ago to the hardship of their present situation. The oldest brother, Reuben, says in so many words, “I told you not to do it.” He had planned to deliver Joseph but didn’t get the chance. He agrees that this is payback: now there comes a reckoning for his blood. Whether or not Joseph was actually dead, which they assumed him to be, they sold him for dead. Joseph didn’t know Reuben’s motivation until now.
They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. And based on this new to him information, he turned away from them and wept. Old, painful memories were renewed, memories that even his son Manasseh (whose name means “to forget”) couldn’t make him forget completely. Joseph was shrewd but he wasn’t cold.
Joseph took Simeon from them and bound them before their eyes. He didn’t take Reuben, which presumably he would have before hearing Reuben say that it wasn’t his idea. Simeon was next in line, and Joseph leaves a vivid picture in the eyes of the nine.
He also gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. One of the three was why they came (grain), one of the three was extra kind (trip provisions), one of the three may have been kind, but causes all sorts of consternation (putting the money back).
On the first night when the group made camp at the lodging place, one of the brothers
saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another saying, “What is this that God has done to us?” (Genesis 42:27-28)
More stones ripple their consciences. Their hearts failed them could be translated, “their hearts went out” (NASB note).
Upon return to their father they tell him what happened. It is mostly the same story as earlier in the chapter, but there are some strategic differences. They make it sound as if the man, the lord of the land forced them to say that they had a younger brother. They don’t mention the three days they spent in jail. They also make it sound like Simeon was just invited to stay, not that he was bound and taken into custody.
Jacob accepts the report initially. But
as they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me. (Genesis 42:35-36)
Even though the sons appeared to be disturbed, Jacob has too many suspicions raised. Why would their money be back in their sacks? (Why hadn’t all of them looked in their sacks after the first brother found his money?) Had the brothers sold Simeon to get food? Did Jacob wonder about Joseph’s disappearance? Could the loss of sons be coincidence? Jacob said, with characteristic self-absorption, ”All this has come against me”, as if the hunger wasn’t shared and their journey wasn’t difficult and Simeon wasn’t detained in Egypt.
They didn’t come clean and say, “But we won’t kill Benjamin like we did Joseph.” Instead Reuben said, ”Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” Why would the death of two of Jacob’s grandsons make Jacob feel better about losing two sons and possibly a third? Even if it would, Jacob isn’t about to let it happen. Benjamin is the only son left of Rachel. Jacob, still showing favoritism, says “I would die if something happened to Benjamin.” At this point, Simeon will rot in custody and the other sons will die from starvation along with Jacob.
The chapter started with possible death by starvation (verse 2) and ends with possible death by sorrow (verse 38). Jacob not only chooses Benjamin over Simeon, he obstinately chooses certain starvation for the entire family rather than possible fatherly sorrow. It’s a “suicidally defensive posture” (Kidner).
For every sin there comes a reckoning. By God’s grace, after many sins there will come a reconciling. The story of Joseph and his brothers isn’t finished yet.
Would it have been better for Joseph’s brothers never to have sold him? It depends. They certainly committed an evil. Joseph certainly suffered. Twenty years of separation is a long time. But because God is sovereign it wasn’t too late. His exile was not in vain. He grew up. So did his brothers. Now they are going to be better together.
Don’t waste your guilty conscience, repent. Don’t waste your exile, trust and obey. Don’t waste the broken relationships, grow up. Don’t waste what God has given you, He means it for good. Wait on the Lord. He’ll work it out in His timing, the way He wants to.