(Gen. 43)
THEY have never found out how it was that, the last time they went to buy corn, their money was all put back into their sacks, nor do they feel quite easy about going again to the man who spoke so “roughly” to them; but they have “eaten up the corn” they bought, and there is no more for them, without going to Egypt for it. So they make up their minds to “go again unto the man.” They take Benjamin with them, though his poor old father can hardly spare him; he is so fond of him, and so afraid he will not come back safe. And they listen to Jacob, who tells them to “carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey,” and so on. The men “took that present” (vs. 15); then, when the time came, they “made ready the present” (vs. 25); and, when they met Joseph, they “brought him the present” (vs. 26). But bringing him a present did not make them feel happy and at home with him—not even when his head servant had said, “Peace be to you,” and had told them not to fear. What they felt towards Joseph, or what his steward might say to them, could not make them comfortable with him. Nothing could put that right but knowing what Joseph felt towards them, that he knew them, and all they had done, yet forgave them and loved them all the same. Until they know this, all he does for them only makes them more and more afraid. Look at them in verse 18. Joseph has told his man to bring them home, to get some meat, and make ready, for that they should have dinner with him at twelve o’clock. And his steward has brought them in, just as Joseph told him; and yet it says they “were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house.” I don’t think they were so frightened even in Pharaoh’s prison as they are now in Joseph’s house! They made sure Joseph was going to take them now, and make slaves of them all, and take their donkeys from them. They cannot forget what they once did with a younger brother of theirs, and they think they know all about what is now going to come upon them. Of course it was just because they did not know Joseph that they thought and talked as they did―he did not want to do them harm, or take anything from them. He would do them only good, and when the best time came, instead of taking their asses, he would “give them wagons” (ch. 45:21), that they might be near him―not as slaves, but as gentlemen, living on the best of the land, and having it for their own (45:20).
Well, they were now brought into the house of this great man, who had all the corn of Egypt under his care; and when he came home they were to have dinner with him. But as they had come such a long journey (and they do not in those countries wear shoes, like we do), and were going to dine with “the lord of all the land,” they must, of course, have their feet quite clean: so this man gave them water, and they washed them. And then, when Joseph came, he had his dinner at one table, and all of them at another, because people of their sort were never allowed to eat with the Egyptians, and Joseph was not going to let them know yet but that he was an Egyptian.
No doubt, some of you remember that, when the Lord Jesus was here, there were some people, called Samaritans, that the Jews would have nothing at all to do with. One day He was tired, and sitting by the side of a well, when a poor woman, who was one of these Samaritans, came with her pitcher for some water, and never thought that Jesus, “being a Jew,” would take any notice of her. She may have thought He would be more like Joseph, when he sat at a table “by himself” (vs. 32), but, instead of that, He not only spoke to her, but even asked her to give Him something―a drink of water! He asked a favor of her, which is the last thing any like to do with people they wish to keep away from them.
And then, one evening, not long before Jesus went back to His Father, when He was about to take supper with His disciples, He did not do like Joseph’s man, give them some water and let them wash their own feet; but He actually poured the water into a basin Himself, taking off a part of His clothes, and tying round Him a long towel! Then He washed their feet Himself, and wiped them with the cloth He had round Him! Let me leave you now to think of that wonderful scene where the same Lord who “made the thick darkness to be a swaddling-band” for the sea (Job 38:99When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddlingband for it, (Job 38:9); Col. 1:1616For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (Colossians 1:16); Heb. 1:22Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; (Hebrews 1:2)) “took a towel and girded Himself,” and washed and wiped the feet of His disciples. Could anything be more wonderful; unless, when He had gone from the supper table to the cross, to give His “precious blood,” a “ransom for many”―to pour out His soul unto death?
W. TY.