Far away in the land of Canaan there was a starving family, and the message reached them that there was corn in Egypt. Jacob their father then sent his sons down to buy some food, and after a long, tiresome journey they arrived in the land. They went to Joseph, who was then the governor, and bowed down to him with their faces to the earth. They did not, however, know that it was Joseph their brother, for he did not make himself known to them. He talked to them in the Egyptian language and began at once to question them as to where they came from, and about their father, their brother, and other things. We know that in a similar way, when the Lord Jesus returns to Jerusalem to put down His enemies, the Jews will not know Him, and they will ask, “What are these wounds in thine hands?” (Zechariah 13:66And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. (Zechariah 13:6)). He will then reveal Himself to them, as Joseph did to his brothers a little later, and they will mourn in repentance because of their great sin in rejecting and crucifying Him.
Tribulation Before Confession
Joseph was trying on this occasion to bring his brothers to repentance, and he spoke roughly to them, and so we know that the Jews will have to pass through a terrible time of tribulation before they finally confess their sin. The Lord will indeed have to “deal roughly” with them during those seven years of Jacob’s trouble (Jeremiah 30:77Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. (Jeremiah 30:7)).
Joseph accused them of being spies, and said they had come to see the barrenness of the land. They replied saying that they were true men. We know, however, that they were not true men, for they had lied to their father when they sold Joseph. He then put them all in prison for three days. After that he said that he would keep one of them, their brother Simeon, and let the rest go back home to their father with the necessary corn which they had come to buy. The next time they came they were to bring their younger brother Benjamin, and in this way Joseph said he would prove the truth of their story. Since Joseph was speaking to them through an interpreter, they did not know he could understand what they were saying as they talked among themselves about their guilt in having sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites long ago. It is always well to remember that God hears everything we say and knows all about us. Think of the many years during which Joseph’s brothers had carried a bad conscience and how unhappy it made them. A bad conscience is a miserable companion, isn’t it?
Repentance and Blessing
In spite of all their sin, Joseph loved his brothers and wept secretly for them. How this reminds us of the Lord Jesus weeping over Jerusalem (Luke 19:4141And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, (Luke 19:41)). He longed to bless those sinful people, but they would not have Him. If you are unsaved, dear reader, God is grieved over your rejection of Christ and waits to save you. Just as Joseph bound Simeon and kept him in prison to make sure that his brothers would all return, so the Lord often brings sorrow into people’s lives in order to make them turn to Him in true repentance. When Simeon’s brothers did come back, how wonderfully Joseph blessed them, and when a sinner turns to the Lord in repentance, He blesses him abundantly too, both for time and eternity. “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:2323For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 6:23)).
Further Meditation
1. Did Joseph’s brothers recognize him when they came down to Egypt?
2. The Lord doesn’t willingly make the lives of His people difficult. However He does allow pain when He needs to in order to help us grow. How did Job respond to the difficulties in his life at first? How did his response change over the course of the book of Job?
3. You might find extra help on this portion by reading the pamphlet Joseph and His Brethren: How He Won and Why He Wounded Them by F. T. Heath.