What ten brothers did not know: Joseph could understand their foreign language. They could not understand Egyptian so there was an interpreter. They said, we saw the distress of our brother when he pleaded with us, we didn’t listen to him. For this reason we are in deep trouble. Genesis 42:18-23
Joseph went out of the room and wept! His brothers admitted they were guilty concerning Joseph before selling him to a passing Midianite caravan heading to Egypt.
Genesis 42:24
Ten of Joseph’s brothers knew they were in deep trouble in a foreign land, during a severe famine. The Prime Minister of Egypt, Joseph, accused his ten brothers of being spies. They denied this over and over, wanting to buy grain for their families in Canaan.
Finally, Joseph imprisoned one brother, Simeon, and let the rest go home with full grain sacks and their money returned to them.
That night, one brother found the returned money in his sack, and they all knew that God was at work in their lives. “What is this that God has done to us?” Genesis 42:28
When the brothers got home, they told their father, Jacob, the truth about all that occurred in Egypt. They were honest with their dad. As they were emptying their sacks they discovered all their returned money. “They were dismayed.” Genesis 42:35
Jacob was bereaved. He told them you take away from me my sons. Joseph is dead, Simeon is in prison in Egypt, and you want to take Benjamin to Egypt?! No, Benjamin will not go to Egypt.
Genesis 42:36-38
Jacob was affected by the actions of the ten brothers years before.
The ten brothers were “paying the piper” for how they treated Joseph and the lie they told their father that a wild beast had killed Joseph. Genesis 38:31-35
The ten brothers were learning and living by faith in God. They had much to learn, so do we, followers of Christ. God is not mocked. God’s plans involve hardship, hurt and even mourning. Jacob found that out. Yet his faith was in the living God.
God’s Word ~ Alive!
Psalm 100:5
“For the LORD is good;
His lovingkindness is everlasting
And His faithfulness to all generations.”
Is your faith in the living God?
Is your life a witness to God’s faithfulness?