In Genesis 43 the carnal mind was at work again, scheming and planning, doing this, and taking that. Joseph was still in rejection; they knew him not. Famine drove them again to Egypt, for it was "sore in the land." But first there was a little battle between Jacob and his sons as to Benjamin going with them; they argued, "The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you." Jacob reproached them with what seemed to be idle words: "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me, as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?" Now these words could not alter circumstances, but unbelief is always wordy and full of reasoning. Then a scheme was adopted to appease the wrath that unbelief expected, or to remove difficulties, or secure the safe return of Benjamin. It was Cain's line of things over again-doing for that which grace alone can bring, and "double money" taken for that which can only be procured without money and without price. The grace of Joseph is accounted for as an "oversight" and therefore to be returned.
Having arrived in Egypt with their "present" and "double money," they stood before Joseph, whose eyes lit upon Benjamin; and he ordered his course accordingly. Their present, the fruit of their doings, was apparently disregarded. They gave it to him at noon, but his thoughts were otherwise engaged, and all was silent as to his receiving it. Joseph ordered the ruler of his house to bring the men home, to slay cattle and make ready, for they should dine with him at noon. So the man brought them into Joseph's house.
Were they happy in such a favored spot? They were in circumstances that might well have fulfilled the greatest hope of many an Egyptian noble who never lived to see it realized. No; it was the same old story; their feelings always answered to their state. They had not cleared themselves, and the fortune of their circumstances did not remove their fears. "The men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house." And now being afraid, what will they do? Will they quietly wait and say with the Psalmist, "What time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee"? Psalm 56:33What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. (Psalm 56:3). No, they occupied themselves with working out a reason for what they were passing through, and finding no time or inclination to judge themselves, they judged Joseph, saying that he was seeking occasion against them, to fall upon them, and to take them for bondmen, and their asses.
Then they told all the story of the sacks and money to the steward, who, though probably an Egyptian, had evidently learned, perhaps from Joseph, more of God and His goodness than these, the seed of Israel, appeared to know. His language was blessed, and like Joseph when he uttered those three words, "I fear God," so the steward brought them again into the presence of God. The holy God whom Joseph feared, was the God in blessing whom the steward owned and of whom he reminded the sons of Jacob with emphasis as peculiarly theirs. "He said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them."
When Joseph returned at noon, they brought their present to him, "and bowed themselves to him to the earth." Joseph then asked of the welfare of their father; and they bowed down and made "obeisance" to him, according to his dream in chapter 37:7. "And he (Joseph) lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother: and he sought where to weep; and he entered into his chamber, and wept there"; then "they drank, and were merry with him." Yes, they were merry with him; the feast and the wine had for the moment changed their state of fear and humility for that of merriment. How different the merriment in Luke 15. It is the father there who says, "It was meet that we should make merry"-language that Joseph could not utter. In Luke it is lasting, for it is well founded on confession and forgiveness, and ratified in the blood of the calf. Here it is only a covering over, and it soon gave place to fears, and a desire to "clear" themselves.
With God's things, all that is badly done must be undone at some time or other; a rent patched up, a flaw glossed over, will never do. Joseph had not called forth the merriment; things looked smooth, but their shamelessness must be discovered, for Joseph had blessing for them.
Joseph put in practice somewhat sterner measures to effect that which he so much longed to see. He commanded the steward to fill the men's sacks, to put their money in them, and to put his silver cup in the sack of the youngest. As soon as morning was light they were sent away, and their asses.
"And when they were gone out of the city... Joseph said unto his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, Wherefore have ye rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my lord drinketh, and whereby indeed he divineth? ye have done evil in so doing." So he overtook them, and thus spoke. They replied, "Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing." Then they told of their wonderful righteousness in taking back the money-and how should they steal silver or gold in this way? They did not recognize that they still had the same covetous, natural hearts by which they had robbed their father of his son and had sold him for twenty pieces of silver! They were stout in their denunciation of such a charge and offered the life of the one with whom it would be found and the service as bondmen of the rest. When search was made, the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. So they rent their clothes, loaded their asses, returned to the city, and fell before Joseph who was still in the house. He asked them what they had done-"Wot ye not that such a man as I can surely divine?" They knew not what to say nor how to clear themselves. They admitted that God had found out their iniquity, and all offered to be Joseph's servants. This he declined, but said that the one with whom the cup was found should be his servant. Then they repeated the story of what they had said to him on their previous visit to Egypt, what they had said to Jacob, and what he had said to them; and Judah finished by saying, "How shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father."
In chapter 45 we get the touching story of Joseph making himself known to his brethren. He did it in secret, first causing every man to go out. He did not brandish abroad their sin and shame (the revealing of himself was the revelation of all their guilt); he did it in secret. The disciples were not present in John 4 when the Lord revealed the woman's sins, and in chapter 8 the accusers had departed before the Lord charged the woman there to "go, and sin no more." How much suffering would be saved if the love which Joseph and the Lord displayed, which covers a multitude of sins-yet rightly exposes them when needed- were more in practice!
"Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?" The question got no answer. It was the same old story; they were troubled again, "troubled at his presence, too troubled to answer. They were troubled when they got the money back in their sacks. They were troubled when they were taken into Joseph's house. Now they were troubled in their long-lost, loving brother's presence. Each occasion might well have been an occasion of greatest pleasure. There was only one reason for it all-a guilty conscience! Joseph had revealed himself and revealed their darkness and distance from him and from God. But this was not enough; their case would indeed be bad if left like this. "Perfect love casteth out fear," and the service of love is not completed till this is done. It is questionable whether these men were ever "made perfect in love," for long after, this fear again arose in their hearts. But this was not Joseph's fault; not the fault of the reconciler, but the reconciled, though, of course, Joseph was only human after all.
Blessed be God! We have to do with a divine Person and a reconciliation based on a divine foundation. By reason of this the love flows, and fear, where the love is intelligently known, is necessarily dispelled. Law and fear could never be divorced, neither can love and fear be reconciled, except it be that holy, pious fear which is proper to the love, which its presence ever only magnifies, and which is by all means to be cultivated.
The tidings, "I am Joseph," carried terror to their hearts. He spoke again, "Come near to me, I pray you," and confidence took the place of fear and trouble. "They came near"; and in this state and place of nearness he found a fitting opportunity to remind them of how they had sold him, their brother, into Egypt. He assured them of his love, then wounded them to reach their consciences. But, because all was fully out, he healed the wound, bade them not to be grieved, and introduced God into the scene as being over all their cruel ways with him. At the same time-and how grand the divine contact here-he gave them credit for being angry with themselves. He said, "Be not... angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life."
Israel, his brethren, Egypt, and the world were all preserved in life through Joseph, and thus he was pleased to account for all their treatment of him. The Lord said, "Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit." And again, "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me." John 12:24, 3224Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. (John 12:24)
32And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. (John 12:32). It was necessary for Him to die; yet, because of his death the world is convicted of sin. righteousness, and judgment to come by the Holy Ghost (John 16). The very ground of judgment becomes the ground for pardon and blessing, where there is faith. "God meant it unto good." God makes the wrath of man to praise Him. In Joseph's case, the subject of the wrath became the minister of blessing even to those who inflicted the cruel tokens of the wrath.
Nothing brought such praise and glory to Joseph as that which was occasioned by his brethren's wrath. Nothing ever brought such glory to God as that which was occasioned by the sin expressed in the wrath of man against God's beloved Son, "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world."
How complete is the deliverance wrought out by Joseph! It was not only "a great deliverance," as he called it in verse 7, but he spoke in verse 11 of nourishing those he had delivered. It is "forgiveness of sins, and inheritance" (Acts 26:1818To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. (Acts 26:18)). The debt was paid and a fortune was given. But where was this fortune to be enjoyed? He said, "Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen... near unto me." They had been brought near at first (v. 4), and his thought was that they enjoy an abiding nearness, enhancing surely to them the value of the fortune.
The Lord says of His brethren in Jeremiah 32:41, 4241Yea, I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul. 42For thus saith the Lord; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them. (Jeremiah 32:41‑42), "I will rejoice over them to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with My whole heart and with My whole soul. For thus saith the Lord; Like as I have brought all this great evil upon this people, so will I bring upon them all the good that I have promised them." It is Joseph's roughness in order that the good that he had purposed should follow. Our salvation, if only from judgment, would indeed be "great," "a great deliverance"; but how much greater is the infinite gain that is ours in that the One who delivered us by dying now nourishes us in life. Joseph had passed through death in figure, and it had saved them; now their life, safety, and fortune were dependent on him in life. As He lived and prospered, they lived and prospered also. If we have been reconciled by the death of God's Son when enemies, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life (Rom. 5:1010For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. (Romans 5:10)). And we live on account of Him (John 6:5757As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. (John 6:57)). He has delivered us by death, from death; He nourishes us in life by living for us. He has brought us nigh and given us to know that it gratifies Him to have us there. It is His will and pleasure, too, that we should be where He is in very fact; and to this end, did Joseph place "his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses." Gen. 47:1111And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. (Genesis 47:11). So the Lord Himself shall come and take us and place us where He is in the place He has gone before us to prepare. Such is His heart that, like Joseph, nothing but the best suits in His esteem the objects of His love and care.
What a loss it would be if deliverance were all and this great gain were not in prospect for us! Yet how many a soul never seems to get beyond the deliverance! Joseph spoke to his brethren of their deliverance, their nourishment and their prospects. May the Lord give us to hear and love His voice as He speaks to us of all three. The Shepherd who dies to deliver in Psalm 22 nourishes as He leads in green pastures in Psalm 23 and speaks of prospects and future blessing in Psalm 24.