Genesis 42 and 45
Midweek Lent 5
✠ In the name of Jesus ✠
The dreams of Joseph have now come to pass. Remember the brothers’ sheaves of grain all bowing down to his sheaf? Now his brothers themselves bow before him, seeking grain for themselves and their hungry households. But they don’t yet know that it’s him. Joseph speaks roughly to them and doesn’t reveal who he is to them. He hides himself.
Through this behavior of Joseph, God is at work to break the hardened hearts of his brothers. For it is written, “Truly, you are a God who hides himself, O God of Israel, the Savior” (Isaiah 45:15). In order that we might receive His saving mercy, He conceals it and at first appears to be our enemy. As Joseph’s treatment of his brothers drove them to admit their sin, so the harsh words of the Law reveal our sin, so that we might repent and take refuge in the Gospel of Christ alone. Only as the hidden God brings us to fully acknowledge our sin will we fully come to know Him as our Savior, the God of mercy.
Joseph serves as the instrument of this God who kills in order to make alive (1 Sam. 2:6; Hosea 6:1-2). The Law has yet more killing work to do with Joseph’s brothers before mercy and life are revealed to them. Its judgment weighs even heavier as they discover the silver in their sacks. They rightly see the Divine Hand in this, saying, “What has God done?” (v. 28). The Law drives us into the very depths of hell, so that we despair of having any hope in ourselves, and in this way it prepares us for heaven to be opened in the Gospel, where we find our hope in Christ alone. Joseph turned away from his brothers and wept when he heard their acknowledgment of guilt (v.21); he did not truly wish them harm. So also God would have us to trust in His mercy even when we do not see His face and He appears to be harsh with us. Truly He desires all to come to repentance and to be saved (2 Pet. 3:9; 1 Tim. 2:4).
Reuben recognizes that there must be a reckoning for sin (v.22). For God is just. But His justice is satisfied by His mercy in Christ, whose blood was shed for us so that we would be reckoned as righteous through faith in Him (Rom. 4:24). In the end there will be freedom and reconciliation only when Benjamin comes. For his name means literally “son of the right hand.” When the ultimate Son of the Right Hand comes from the Father, namely Jesus, we will finally and fully be released from our sin and death. At His second coming the hidden God will be revealed and all believers will be like Jesus in glory, for we shall see Him as He is (1 John 3:2).
When Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, in many ways it foreshadows the resurrection appearances of Jesus. For just as Joseph had been unrecognized by his brothers, so Jesus walked with the Emmaus disciples on Easter without being recognized until the breaking of the bread (Luke 24:13ff). Likewise, when Joseph made known who he was, his brothers were dismayed at his presence (v. 3), even as the disciples feared at first when the risen Jesus came to them in the upper room (Luke 24:37).
However, both Joseph and Jesus bring a message of peace (Luke 24:36). Joseph was not interested in retribution but reconciliation and reunion with his family. And it is written of Jesus, “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17). God sent Jesus before us to preserve the remnant of His Church, to provide for us from His storehouse of mercy and forgiveness. Though we could rightly be punished for our sins against Him, the Lord bears the punishment on our behalf and restores us to fellowship with the Father. God was at work even through and in spite of the envious scheming of men.
And so the words of Joseph are fittingly spoken also to those who betrayed and arrested and condemned Jesus to the cross, “It was not you who sent me here, but God” (45:8). For Jesus had prayed to His Father, “Not my will, but yours, be done” (Luke 22:42). Even the wicked Jewish leaders and Pontius Pilate were accomplishing the will of God to save the world, though they did not know it. Joseph fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, even as the father fell upon the prodigal son’s neck and kissed him. For our Lord has compassion on us and desires that we be fully restored to communion with Him.
Joseph’s brothers were told to go back to their father, proclaiming that he is lord over all Egypt and telling him, “Come down to me. You shall be near me, and I will provide for you” (vv. 9-11). Still to this day, the brethren of the risen Jesus are given to preach something much greater: that all authority in heaven and earth has been given to Him (Matt. 28:19). To you who are weary and burdened under the curse He says, “Come to Me, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28). Draw near to Me, I will provide mercy and grace to help you in your time of need (Heb. 4:16).
✠ In the name of Jesus ✠