Now last time, Friends, we left off at a very dramatic moment here in the 42nd Chapter of the Book of Genesis.  And if you have your Bible, you’d want to turn there.  We are going to put in at Verse 15 today.  

You will recall that brethren of Joseph now have come down to the land of Egypt to get grain because of the famine.  They have an audience with Joseph.  They do not recognize Joseph.  They haven’t the slightest idea that this man they bowed down before was Joseph.  But Joseph knew them, and he’s being rather rough with them.  He is doing it in order to get as much information as he can.  And this is the way that he does it—he accuses them of being spies.

JACOB ACCUSES BROTHERS AGAIN

Now he says for the third time, in Verse 14, “Ye are spies.”  Verse 15:

 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.

You see, they mentioned the fact that they are 12 brethren and only 10 are there, so they explained.  They said, “One of them, our youngest brother, well, he’s not here with us.  He’s with his father.  And our other brother, well, he’s not.”  That is, he’s dead.  That’s what they think about Joseph; they think really he’s dead.  And Joseph now is attempting to make contact with his youngest brother because these brethren are really half brothers of his, and the boy Benjamin—he’s now a young man—he’s his full brother, and he wants to see him.  And the way he does it, he said:  “…ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither.”

Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies.   And he put them all together into ward three days.  (Genesis 42:16-17)

He locked them up in the town bastilles  These brethren, I tell you, it looks bad for them now.  And they wonder.  Verse 18:

And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do, and live; for I fear God.

Now if there was anything that would have given any inkling of an idea of who he was, this was it.  He says, “I fear God.”  Now there were people in that day, and I couldn’t prove this if my life depended on it, but there were many people in that day that apparently knew God.  That they knew the weight of God by sacrifice.  That probably might not have excited the interest of these brethren or cast maybe a little suspicion about this man, but he at least gives a testimony for God.  And I’d have you note that Joseph never misses an opportunity to give a testimony for God.  And believe me he’s giving a testimony here, because he’s going to give God the glory as the One who is directing his life.  I would have thought this might have caused the brothers to suspect who he might be.  It might also have encouraged them in believing that they’d be treated justly at his hand.  And, apparently, this made no impression on them.  It doesn’t look as if it did.

Now he says to them, though, Verse 19.

If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: But bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so.  (Genesis 42:19-20)

Now the thing is that these men, and that’s what they are—some of them I suppose 50-some-odd years old.  These men now find themselves in a real predicament, but they are being dealt with by one that fears God, but they are afraid because they don’t know what he’s going to do.  So he has put down this sort of a proposition; he said, and it’s on the pretext that he’s testing them to see whether they be true men.  He says, “Now you leave one of your brethren here and then you bring your younger brother next time, or just don’t come back.”  That’s all.  He said, “That is the way I’m going to verify whether you’re telling me the truth or not.”  Now will you notice?

And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.  (Genesis 42:21)

So that what’s taking place here is quite interesting.  They’re speaking in Hebrew, and Joseph, he understands them.  But Joseph has been speaking to them through an interpreter.  He didn’t have to, but he did it because he is keeping up before them the fact that he’s an Egyptian.  And they do not think he understands, and when they are talking this over, Joseph hears them actually, which is really a confession almost.  

Verse 22 now; I’m reading.

And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required.

Now they feel like what’s happening to them is revenge or the vengeance of God upon them for the way they treated Joseph.  

SIMEON LEFT AS HOSTAGE

And Verse 23:

And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.  And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.  (Genesis 42:23-24)

Now the thing that happened was this.  Joseph heard them, and he heard them how they now are repentant.  They really are!  They say this thing is coming upon us because of the evil that we did to our brother Joseph.  Now Joseph hears every bit of it, and Joseph is moved toward them now.  Really, he’d loved to have walked up to them and thrown his arm around each one of them and welcomed them and called them “My Brother,” but dareth not do it because he’d never get Benjamin down there now, and he wants to test them further.  We’re going to see that a real test is coming up.

Now they are going to leave one.  They left Simeon.  Joseph, when he was so moved he had to go aside and wept, and then he washed his face and got rid of the tears, and he came in as if nothing had happened you see.  But he just couldn’t refrain from weeping.  So emotionally charged was he at this time.  

Now they leave Simeon.  And you ask me, “Why?”  I want to let you in on something.  Don’t tell anybody.  I don’t know.  I don’t know why they left Simeon.  Why they didn’t leave some other one.  And, frankly, if they’d left any one of the ten, I’d still have to say I don’t know why they left him.  But this was the one that was chosen.  I take it while Joseph was gone they made a choice.  And Joseph accepted it.

JOSEPH SENDS NINE BROTHERS HOME

Now will you notice Verse 25.

Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man’s money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them.

He just couldn’t refrain from not taking money from them at all.  They filled their sacks and the money they’d given him he just put it back in the sacks.  “And thus did he unto them.”

And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence.  And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he espied his money; for, behold, it was in his sack’s mouth.

And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored; and, lo, it is even in my sack: and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?  (Genesis 42:26-28)

And they recognized, you see, the hand of God in their lives, and they feel like it’s a judgment from God upon them.  Now who listening in is going to say this is not a judgment of God upon them.  The thing that would ordinarily have been good news and would have been a wonderful thing—would you mind going down to your—whatever your supermarket is?  I was going to call one by name, but it might be just here in Southern California, and you wouldn’t know what I was talking about.  

Well, whatever your supermarket is in the place where you live, suppose you went down there and got your weekend groceries in; that you filled up two of these great big carts—and I saw a woman the other day buy that many groceries, and she had about three children with her.  And I found out in, you know, I remarked about the groceries.  She had more groceries in those two carts than were left in the supermarket.  And I commented on it.  She said, “Well, I’ve got three more at home.”  She had three with her and then her husband and herself; that was a lot to feed, of course.  Suppose you went down and spent $50 at the supermarket and the bag boy got it altogether for you, put it in the cart, and you went out and got in your car, and you found your $50 there at the top of one of the sacks.  Would that be bad news to you?  Especially when you found out from the grocer it was just a little gift from him to you?  Well, may I say to you, ordinarily that’d be good news.  In fact, that would be something that would be very encouraging!  

But it wasn’t for these boys.  They already feel like they’re in hot water with this hard-boil ruler down there in Egypt that’s made it so difficult for them.  

And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them… (Genesis 42:29)

You might ask the question of why didn’t they go back.  What would you have done under the circumstances?  I think they recognized they would have been in really hot water had they gone back—at least they thought they would have been—that this man would have then accused them of stealing the money.  They’re not taking any chances.  They’re going on home.  And they intend to bring it back when they come back again because they felt like they would be returning if the famine continued, and it was to continue.  Now we read in Verse 29.

And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them; saying, The man, who is the lord of the land, spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.  And we said unto him, We are true men; we are no spies: We be twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.  And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men; leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone:  And bring your youngest brother unto me: then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men: so will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffick in the land.  (Genesis 42:29-34)

Now remember, they’ve left Simeon down there in that land.

And it came to pass as they emptied their sacks that, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack: and when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.  (Genesis 42:35)

And rightly so!  They felt like that this was a trick, of course.

And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children: Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away: all these things are against me.  (Genesis 42:36)

Poor old Jacob!  He’s not the cocky individual we once knew.  He’s not quite yet the man of faith we’ll see a little later, but he’s growing.  And he’s not bragging now, but he’s very pessimistic.  “All these things are against me.”  His son Joseph would not have said this.  But this man did.  

Paul’s going to say it even in a different way too.  Paul’s going to say, “All things work together for good to them that love God.”  (Romans 8:28)  He’s going to say, “Being confident of this very thing, that He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.”  (Philippines 1:6)

And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee: deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again.  And he said, My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he is left alone: if mischief befall him by the way in the which ye go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.  (Genesis 42:37-38)

Now this man Jacob’s life was wrapped up in the life of this boy Benjamin.  You see, Joseph was his favorite.  He was the first-born of his lovely Rachel, and now Joseph is gone.  That was a heart break to him.  And now here is the chance that he may lose this other son of Rachel.  And he says if this takes place, “I’ll die.”  And, very candidly, he would have.  His life was absolutely tied up in the life of this boy Benjamin.  He’s the “son of my right hand”.  He’s “my walking stick; I lean on him.”  That’s what he’d been doing.  “And now he’s to be taken from me.”  Well, Jacob says, “I’m not going to let him go down.”  Well, poor Simeon is down there, cooling his heels in jail.  That’s what he’s doing.  And Jacob says, “I’m not going to let Benjamin go.”  

CHAPTER 43

THE FAMINE CONTINUES

But wait just a minute…that brings us now to Chapter 43.  And we come now to what I consider the most dramatic section of the Word of God!  Well, maybe I ought not to put it quite like that…let me say “of the Book of Genesis.”  But I know of nothing that is quite as moving as the appearance of Benjamin now before Joseph!  And the thing that brings them down in the land again is the seriousness of the famine.  If the famine had lifted, I think Simeon would have spent the rest of his life in jail down in the land of Egypt or at least until his brother released him.  

But the famine, Verse 1 of Chapter 43 of Genesis now:

And the famine was sore in the land.  And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.  (Genesis 43:1-2)

“We’ll starve to death if you don’t go down to Egypt.”  Now listen to Judah!

And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us…

Who is “the man”?  Well the man here is Joseph, their brother, but they don’t know it.

The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.  4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:  But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down: for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you.  (Genesis 43:3-5)

Well, it was just a cut-and-dried proposition, Friends.  Either they take his brother or else they don’t go.  And it’s just as simple as that.  “And Israel said”—Verse 6 now.

And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?

Now poor old Jacob, he’s really frustrated.  He says, “Why in the world did you tell the man in the first place that you even had another brother?”  Well, of course, he would have known it anyway.  So we find here poor old Jacob wishes they’d kept their mouths shut.  Verse 7:

And they said, The man asked us straightly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye another brother? and we told him according to the tenor of these words: could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

They’re very reasonable about it.  They said, “We were not going to tell everything, but he kept probing us.”  Fact of the matter is he was going to get the information out of them, you can be sure of that.  Now will you notice Verse 8.

And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go; that we may live, and not die, both we, and thou, and also our little ones.  I will be surety for him (I’ll stand for him); of my hand shalt thou require him: if I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame for ever….  (Genesis 43:8-9)

You and I have a surety today, Friends, and he came from the tribe of Judah!  The Lord Jesus, He took my place and became my surety!  He took my place and paid my penalty.  I wasn’t able to deliver to God; I wasn’t able to meet His standards.  I wasn’t able to come up to His level.  But the Lord Jesus stepped in and became my surety.  He gave his life for me!  May I say what a picture we have here.

…then let me bear the blame forever; for except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time.  (Genesis 43:9-10)

“We could have been back by now,” Judah said, “you’d just let us go at the first.”

And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this; take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds:  (Genesis 43:11)

You see the thing they lacked was grain.  They lacked bread, the staff of life.  They had, apparently, honey and spices.  So old Jacob now says, “Let’s send the man down a gift.  Let’s get on the sweet side of him.”

And take double money in your hand; and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight: Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man: And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother, (that is, Simeon) and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.  And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin; and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.  (Genesis 43:12-15)

And, Friends, I can’t wait until next time!  But we’re going to have to stop right there today, because I want to see this most dramatic moment in the Book of Genesis; maybe in the Bible…for it’s a picture of another scene!