Joseph Tests His Brothers

Story:  Joseph Tests His Brothers

Passage: Genesis 44

Characters:  Joseph, Joseph’s brothers, Benjamin, Judah

Summary:  Joseph placed their money back in their sacks.  He also placed his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack.  He sent his servant to accuse them of stealing the cup.  The punishment was that the culprit would become his servant.  Judah petitioned Joseph explaining that their father would die if Benjamin did not return.  Judah offered himself in place of Benjamin. 

Notes:  Joseph’s actions were not cruel, but rather a test of his brothers and a method to bring them to full repentance.  The servant informed the brothers that Joseph used the cup for divination.  While it is possible that Joseph did use the cup like that since there was no command against it yet, it is also possible that his servant just assumed that Joseph’s wisdom came from divination.  The brothers confidently denied the accusations.  They obviously had a lot of trust for each other.  They said if anyone was found with the cup that person would be put to death and the rest of them would become slaves.  This certainly implies to me that they really trusted each other.  Their spirits would have been good too. They had just partied with the second in command in Egypt the night before and became intoxicated according to the last passage.  Now they had their food and were on their way.  Benjamin was safe and they had Simeon back!  Things were looking good; of course they didn’t steal it right?  The drama was intense as the bags were searched in birth order.  When Benjamin was found guilty, the brothers tore their clothes and went back ot Egypt with him.  The same brothers who watched their father’s favorite son be sold into slavery in Egypt are now actively trying to defend their father’s new favorite son as he is being taken to Egypt as a slave.  The brothers have changed!  Even more change is the fact that they offered themselves to serve as slaves with Benjamin.  They were fairly wealthy men resigning themselves to slavery!  Another interesting note from part of the story is that the brothers see this impending slavery in Egypt as punishment for selling Joseph to slavery in Egypt.  Judah then tells Joseph about their father.  He obviously has a lot of conviction about how his father would take the news of Benjamin’s slavery.  This is also totally different than it was when they told Jacob about Joseph.  They were as blunt as they could be then and almost seemed to enjoy telling him that Joseph was no more.  Judah then offers himself as a substitution for the punishment of Benjamin.  For the first time we see Christ like qualities in Judah who would be in the line of Christ.  This willingness to sacrifice is seen throughout scripture and is evidence of a changed life.  It is obvious that these brothers are indeed changed men!

Questions:  How did Joseph react to this reaction by the brothers?  How did his servant?  What did his servant think of the plan to make the brothers think they were guilty?  At what point did the brothers have their change of heart?

Lessons:  Total repentance makes your life look markedly different than it did before.  The brothers were completely different men.  Joseph put them in a carefully crafted situation that mimicked what they had done to him twenty years earlier.  Their response completely different!  Do our lives show this complete turnaround?  Are our lives totally different than they would be if we were not saved?

Joseph's Brothers Go to Egypt

Story: Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

Passage: Genesis 42

Characters: Joseph, Simeon, Reuben, Benjamin, the rest of his brothers, Jacob

Summary: Jacob heard there was food in Egypt so he sent all of his sons except Benjamin to get some. They came to Joseph and bowed before him. They didn’t recognize him but he knew who they were. He treated them harshly and accused them of being spies. When they denied it he said they needed to send one man to fetch their youngest brother. He imprisoned them for three days. Then he said only one had to remain in Egypt. The brothers decided they were being punished for killing Joseph. Joseph understood everything they said. Joseph seized Simeon and sent the others on their way. They returned home and found their money was still in their sacks. They told their father what had happened and Jacob was very upset. He said he had lost Joseph and now Simeon and next would be Benjamin. Reuben stepped up and said that he would give up his own two sons if Benjamin was harmed. But Jacob refused to send Benjamin with them.

Notes: The brother’s literally looked at each other questioningly when they were told to go to Egypt. It is apparent they felt considerable guilt when Egypt was mentioned. It had been almost twenty years and they were still living with the guilt of what they had done! We see this also in their reaction to Joseph’s accusations. Jacob was a depressed and pessimistic man. He was unwilling to let Benjamin out of his sight because Joseph had “died” when he left. Now Jacob was overly protective of his favorite remaining son. The brothers bowed down to this Egyptian official. Instantly Joseph remembered his dreams. In trying to keep his dreams from coming true, Joseph’s brothers had actually enabled them to be fulfilled. God used their wickedness to further His own plan. I find it interesting that the brothers said that one was no more. They knew very well Joseph was most likely living a terrible life of slavery, but they had been living with the lie for so long, it might have become real to them. Joseph was not just messing with them. I think he wanted to know if they had changed. He was about to put their character to the test! We actually see throughout this story that Joseph was just a big softie. For example, he quickly changes his terms from imprisoning nine and sending one home to imprisoning one and sending nine home with the food. Joseph told them that he feared God before he named his terms. He wanted them to trust him and prove they were honest. I find it interesting that they automatically assumed that this trouble was the result of an unrelated sin from twenty years earlier. What they did to Joseph was obviously on their minds a lot! Joseph was overcome with emotion at this point and wept. It is obvious he still loved his brothers. I suspect he wanted to reveal himself to them but knew he wasn’t supposed to yet. He took Simeon. I don’t really know why he chose Simeon. Maybe Simeon volunteered? Maybe he was bad at Rock, Papyrus, Knife? I don’t really know. The brothers found the money in their sack and realized that now they looked like spies and thieves! They panicked. I am impressed by Reuben’s offer to give his sons up if Benjamin is harmed. It is obvious that the brothers have grown some. They blamed the money in their sacks on God. The idea of being punished was always on their minds. That must have been a terrible way to live! Jacob wasn’t much better! He said, “All this has come against me”. Jacob’s mindset was that the world was against him. Contrast that with Joseph, who went through some terrible situations, but never lost his focus. Joseph trusted God through the rough times. Jacob on the other hand appears to have lost much of that trust. Jacob also still shows incredible favoritism. The brothers must have been upset that their father would let Simeon rot in an Egyptian prison to keep their youngest brother safe. This inability to move on actually makes me think of Lord of the Rings. The Steward of Gondor could not move on from Boromirs death and let his family and kingdom go to shambles. Jacob was not a great leader, yet God chose his family out of anyone in the world to be His chosen people! This is so encouraging to me! Also in this story, I love the fact that the brothers spoke freely in Hebrew and had no idea that the guy standing with them understood everything they said!

Questions: How did the brothers react to the accusation of being spies? Was Joseph expecting to see his family? Why did Joseph not just reveal himself? Why was Simeon detained? Why was Jacob so stubborn?

Lessons: God can use a bad situation for good. God can just as easily use a messed up person for his will. We need to take comfort in that. Nothing we can do is so bad that God would refuse to want to use us. The more messed up we are, the more evident God is in our lives when we are changed. Another lesson from this passage is the negative results of guilt and grief. Jacob’s sons were messed up emotionally because of the guilt of what they did to their brother. Jacob himself was basically incapacitated because of his grief and his inability to move on. This was twenty years after he lost Joseph! We need to make sure we don’t focus on ourselves in hard times but rather focus on God!

The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

Story: The Deaths of Rachel and Isaac

Passage: Genesis 35:16-29

Characters: Rachel, Benjamin, Jacob, Reuben

Summary: Rachel went into hard labor. As she was dying, she named her son Ben-oni, but Jacob named him Benjamin. Rachel died and was buried on the way to Bethlehem. Jacob set a pillar over her grave. Reuben slept with his father’s concubine and Jacob found out. Jacob came to his father in Hebron. Isaac dies at 180 years and Jacob and Esau buried him.

Notes: Rachel’s death is tragic. No longer do you sense joy and pride in a son being born. Her name for Benjamin, Ben-oni, means son of sorrow. This was not a victory for Rachel, this was a defeat. I find it interesting that the competition which she seems to have based her life upon ends up costing her her life. How wrong she was when she told Jacob “Give me a son or I’ll die!” I also think her tragic death could be a result of the curse Jacob placed on whoever had stolen Laban’s idols. The pillar over Rachel’s tomb is still there at the time of the writing of Genesis. I find it interesting that this must have been a well known landmark. If Moses indeed wrote Genesis like people think, he never entered the Promised Land. So his knowledge of landmarks came from hearsay. Two sentences describe Reuben’s sin, but it is big enough to forfeit his rights as firstborn. Is it any surprise we see sexual sin from Reuben though? Look at the family he grew up with. We even read he was involved in finding mandrakes for his mother. Reuben was sucked into this struggle his parents were involved in and he never got a good idea of how marriage should look. His actions are not excused, but they are more understandable. Either way, Reuben’s sin and Simeon and Levi’s violent actions from a few chapters ago have made them unfit for God’s redemptive plan. The torch is now passed to Judah. It is interesting that Isaac now dies. If you remember, Jacob stole the blessing from Esau over twenty years before this when they thought Isaac was going to die! Esau and Jacob buried their father together. They were opposed to each other at their birth, but united at their father’s death.

Questions: Did Rachel’s death fulfill the curse Jacob placed on the idol thief? Did Rachel understand the futility of her struggle with Leah before she died? Were they on good terms? Are Jacob and Esau getting along at this point? How messed up were Reuben and his brothers as a result of the struggle between their mothers?

Lessons: It is important as a parent to be a good role model for your children. If they don’t see you following certain morals, they will have no reason to. This is what we saw happen in Reuben’s life. We also can learn a lesson from this passage about the futility of pursuing anything but Christ. Rachel wanted children, and it became the death of her. Anything of this world we pursue will ultimately fade away and be worthless. Only Christ is worth our efforts and passions.