Missions Paul

Before we get into the next section of the story and a new chapter for Joseph, let’s be reminded of the past.

These men had previously hated their father’s favourite, the one with the special coat and dreams of a future in which he would be promoted above them.  So they hatched a plan which led them to sell their brother and hatched a lie so that their father would think he had been killed by a wild animal.

Today, we will read the section where the other favourite son, Benjamin, is caught with a stolen cup. They have all been tricked by Joseph, of course, and it looks like they are going to have to return again to their father to say another son has been taken from him. Or will they?

“Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. ² Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said. ³ As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. ⁴ They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? ⁵ Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’” ⁶ When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. ⁷ But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! ⁸ We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹ If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.” ¹⁰ “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.” ¹¹ Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹² Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.” (Genesis 44 v 1-13)

The last verse reveals something different from the first story about them selling Joseph. “Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.”— Genesis 44:13

They all went back. That was the test. Benjamin wasn’t as cheap as Joseph had been. They couldn’t return without him. It wasn’t that Benjamin was more important than Joseph. It was because they had changed. They tear their clothes; this is grief, and they decided quickly to return to Egypt with Benjamin.

Maybe Joseph needed to see this. Maybe he had wondered if they had learnt anything from their sin, if they had changed at all. That was perhaps the reason for the cup in the sack. If it was and if this was a lesson of repentance, which is far more than being sorry, then they passed the test this time.

Thank God for the repeated tests in our lives, which help us make better decisions. Real change isn’t usually planned for and declared. It usually just happens.

There were no fanfares and vision-casting moments. They just went back. Sometimes that is exactly the way grace works. The opportunity to go down a road similar to one that has gone before. But this time, you decide to do things differently.

Have you ever had to hold yourself together when everything in you wanted to fall apart? To smile and put a brave face on? Joseph knows that feeling. He is paying the cost, and that is to sit across the table from his brothers, the very men who sold him, pretending not to know them. Then he sees Benjamin.

“The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. ²⁵ They prepared their gifts for Joseph’s arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there. ²⁶ When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house, and they bowed down before him to the ground. ²⁷ He asked them how they were, and then he said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living?” ²⁸ They replied, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him. ²⁹ As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there. ³¹ After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said, “Serve the food.” ³² They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. ³³ The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest; and they looked at each other in astonishment. ³⁴ When portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as anyone else’s. So they feasted and drank freely with him.” (Genesis 43 v 24-34)

The brothers are doing everything right, but they do not know the truth. They do not know that the man asking after their father is their brother. They do not know that this man is barely holding his emotions intact.

Then Joseph sees Benjamin. His own mother’s son, he had longed for this moment, and here he was, standing in front of him. He manages one sentence, “God be gracious to you, my son”, then he has to leave. He finds a private room, and he weeps.

• He hid his emotions. He did not express his grief in public. He kept the plan intact and removed himself before he broke.
• He controlled his emotions. He washed his face. He came back out. He said, simply: serve the food. 
• His actions spoke louder than his emotions. Benjamin received five times as much as anyone else at the table. Not because he earned it but because he was loved.

There is a time for everything. Maybe today God’s plan for your life is pressing on your emotions, and you are not sure how much longer you can hold it together in front of everyone.

Joseph shows us a way through. Keep it secret when you need to. Get alone, away from people, and weep before God.  There is a time for everything. A time to know when to be private and when to hold on to the plans of God above, regardless of how you may be feeling.

Ever walked through a door you were dreading, and it turned out to be better than expected?

The brothers had every reason to be afraid. The last time they stood in Egypt, silver had appeared in their sacks that they had not put there. They had looked like thieves.

“So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal; they are to eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷ The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, “We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they went up to Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. ²⁰ “We beg your pardon, our lord,” they said, “we came down here the first time to buy food. ²¹ But at the place where we stopped for the night, we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver—the exact weight—in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. ²² We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in our sacks.” ²³ “It’s all right,” he said. “Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.” (Genesis 43 v 15-23)

Guilt fills in the silence with the verdict it expects. Grace fills in the silence with a welcome it hasn’t earned.

They confess, before they are accused. They pour out their explanation. Here are men trying to get ahead of a disaster they are certain is coming.

However, the steward says, ” It’s all right.”

Not an accusation. Not arrest. Peace.

Then Simeon walks out to them. The brother they left behind is free.

They arrived with their explanations and their double silver, but the grace they received had been arranged long before they got there.

Perhaps you are walking toward a door right now that you are certain will go badly. You have rehearsed the worst outcome. But God may have already been in that room, arranging something you could not have imagined. Grace that meets you may arrive sooner than you expect.

Some days we need a friend to simply remind us, “It’s all right.”

Do you know that feeling when you have run out of options? When you have tried everything, and there is still no clear way forward? Jacob knew it. He is an old, grief-stricken man by now. He lost Joseph years ago, or believes he has. Famine has now brought him to this place of releasing Benjamin, his last treasured son. This is high-risk. He doesn’t know it all sits in the providence of God.

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother also and go back to the man at once. ¹⁴ And may God Almightygrant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” (Genesis 43 v 11-14)

Egypt is demanding its remaining loved son, Benjamin. He has already lost the other one, Joseph. All that Jacob truly has left, beyond the spices and the gifts, is an appeal for mercy. He does not understand why God is allowing this. He does not know the heart of this man in Egypt or his intention. Nothing is certain anymore.

He has done what he could. He has prayed all the prayers. It is out of his hands now. His surrender comes before he knows that the story does not end in tragedy but in blessing. Faith is faith when we let go in the dark. He prays, and he opens his hands in complete trust.

Perhaps you are at a similar place right now.  You have prayed more times than you can count. And you are still waiting for the answer you need.

This section of the story shows us that surrender will not necessarily feel peaceful. But it is the deepest form of trust.

You do not have to see the whole story to trust the one who is writing it.

Some days, all you have left is mercy.

What have you been delaying because fear has gripped you? In this story we are reading, the food is scarce, and action is needed, but no one is stepping forward, well, no one except Judah.

“Then Judah said to Israel, his father, “Send the boy along with me, and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. ⁹ I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. ¹⁰ As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice.” (Genesis 43 v 8-10)

Judah stepped up when everyone else was looking at the ground.

Jacob’s family was starving. The grain was in Egypt, but Benjamin, the youngest, the beloved, could not go unless Judah vouched for him. So Judah offered himself. There are times in our lives when we don’t need advice; we need someone to step forward and be there.

Judah took responsibility. He accepted blame if things went wrong, “… all my life.” Anyone can step forward when there looks like a guarantee of success. That’s not taking responsibility.

Judah decided there would be no more hesitation, for it was costing them. He knew they had to “go at once”. Sometimes courage is immediate.

Judah was the one who had proposed selling his brother Joseph into slavery (this was at the time, out of greed, but it was mixed with the desire not to kill him). Now, he is willing that harm come to himself if something bad happens to Benjamin. This is an offer of redemption.

There are times when the situation needs someone to say, “I’ll go. And if it goes wrong, it’s on me.”

What is fear keeping you from? Who is waiting on you? Is God asking you to step forward? Is He waiting on you also?

There are moments in life when the way forward is perfectly clear, and yet we cannot bring ourselves to take it. Not because we don’t see it, but because the price it demands feels too high. What do you do when the only forward seems harder than standing still? Another difficult question: Can you still trust God when you cannot see His hand at work? This is exactly where Jacob’s family find themselves.

“Now the famine was still severe in the land. ² So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” ³ But Judah said to him, “The man warned us solemnly, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶ Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?” ⁷ They replied, “The man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. ‘Is your father still living?’ he asked us. ‘Do you have another brother?’ We simply answered his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?” (Genesis 43: 1-7)

The answer is obvious, but there’s a condition that the sons knew but hadn’t revealed to Jacob until now: they would have to take Benjamin.

Do you know that experience when the only way is the way ahead, and it comes at a price you are reluctant to pay?

This is the exact situation for Jacob.

The whole family are at an impasse. Jacob won’t release Benjamin, and the famine isn’t going away. “Why did you bring this trouble on me?” The answer is, of course, they didn’t; in Egypt, they simply told the truth when asked.

The family are stuck between a famine and a condition.

Do you sometimes feel stuck like this? You are in a bleak situation, but the only road out of it seems bleaker.

I choose not to read further than this and to pause here. For there are times when we find ourselves in this exact situation.

The question isn’t whether they will return to Egypt. Your own predicament may mean you have no choice but to follow a certain path.

But the real question is this: will you trust God in that process? Even when the terms seem unfair, the sands are shifting, and no one seems to be thinking about how you may be feeling in this. Necessity will mean you have to follow this path, no matter how you feel about it. But can you answer this: Is God still Lord of your life even when you cannot see Him or His hand in your situation?

We all have something we are holding on to. Something we have decided we will not let go of, no matter what. It might be a plan we refuse to abandon, a relationship we won’t let go of or a fear we have dressed up as wisdom. We hold our ground, but then the difficult season does not end, and we are struggling to hold on. What happens when one morning you wake up, and the sacks are simply empty?

“Now the famine was still severe in the land. ² So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” (Genesis 43 v 1-2)

One morning, there were no more sacks. The grain had been eaten. So Jacob changed his mind. The crisis, which hadn’t ended, made him do so. The famine was still severe, so Jacob instructed his sons to return, but the non-negotiable condition still hung before them. If they ever return, they must bring their youngest brother, Benjamin, with them. That was the warning they were given. Joseph had been eaten by a wild animal, so Jacob had thought. There was no way he would release Benjamin; he couldn’t risk losing him as well. But the famine spoke louder than his decision.

Maybe your situation hasn’t yet lifted. It could still be ‘severe’. It is speaking to you every day.

It was only when the grain was completely gone that Jacob finally relented. Here is a man who has run out of options. Little does he realise right now that Benjamin’s journey to Egypt is the very thing that will reunite the whole family and show Jacob that the son he had mourned for years is very much alive.

Jacob released the thing he was most afraid to lose because hunger finally broke his grip.

Sometimes God just waits for the grain to run out, for then He knows we will move in the direction He wants us to.

God has not forgotten you in your severe season. He may simply be waiting for the grain to run out. Not to punish you, but to help you release everything (even your past hurts and your present Benjamin).  What God has waiting on the other side of your surrender is more than you have dared to hope for.

Do you know those feelings when nothing goes your way, and everything seems stacked against you?

Jacob had already lost so much. Now, some foreign leader was demanding his last remaining son, Benjamin, and this was way too much. But the important thing to note, though he didn’t realise it, is that this would not be a loss on top of another loss (that of Joseph). He was wrong. Nothing could be further from the truth.

“When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them. They said, ³⁰ “The man who is lord over the land spoke harshly to us and treated us as though we were spying on the land. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ³² We were twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in Canaan.’ ³³ “Then the man who is lord over the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, and take food for your starving households and go. ³⁴ But bring your youngest brother to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’” ³⁵ As they were emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his pouch of silver! When they and their father saw the money pouches, they were frightened. ³⁶ Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my children. Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is against me!” ³⁷ Then Reuben said to his father, “You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back.” ³⁸ But Jacob said, “My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in sorrow.” (Genesis 42 v 29-38)

Jacob was mourning the son who was not dead but was the most powerful man in Egypt, second to the Pharaoh. The story could not be more opposite.

Something else was not what it seemed. The silver found in their sacks was not a trap but a grace.

Jacob could not see the whole picture. None of us can.

The door that looks like it is closing on you could well be the only one that’s actually opening. Destiny can sometimes look like an opposition.

The story of your life right now may not feel good, but the book isn’t finished yet; the author is still writing.

What looks like an ending rarely is.

Most of us know what it is to carry something we did that we might regret today. For Joseph’s brothers, that moment had followed them for twenty years. What they do not know is that the very man they wronged is standing in front of them, understanding every word.

“They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” ²² Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood.” ²³ They did not realise that Joseph could understand them, since he was using an interpreter. ²⁴ He turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes. ²⁵ Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, ²⁶ they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left. ²⁷ At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸ “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack.” Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” (Genesis 42:21-28)

V21 wasn’t necessarily the brothers regretting or, even better, repenting. This is more of an acknowledgement that they are in this predicament because of what they did. Fate or God is punishing them.

“Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen.”

Little did they realise that Joseph, using the interpreter, was part of a plot to deceive them; he was hearing their every word.

There’s always someone who says in such a situation, “I told you so.” This is Reuben. “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy?”  Words can be true and useless; these were just that.

And then Joseph turns away. He weeps.

If the Bible is so much more than a collection of stories. If it is a revelation of who God is, then the tears of Joseph are a foreshadowing of the tears of Christ.

Joseph knows his brothers will be restored. And Jesus knew Lazarus was about to walk out of that tomb. Both wept. The grief of both is not ignorance but solidarity. Jesus wept not because death had won, but because the people he loved were broken by it. He entered the pain rather than bypassing it. That is the scandal and the power of the incarnation: God choosing to feel what we feel, even when he holds the resolution in his hands.

Joseph, the man who holds every legal and political power over these men, chooses, quietly, not to use it. He wipes his face and returns with what we can only describe as grace, as he secretly returns every coin they paid.

Did you spot their response when they find such grace? Unresolved guilt makes us unable to receive grace without suspicion.

The brothers were yet to understand that forgiveness had already happened in Joseph’s heart, long before they ever said sorry. A lesson right here for all of us.

Which is, of course, the shape of the gospel itself. We do not repent our way into grace. We encounter grace and are undone by it.

What do you do when the people who ruined your life walk through your door asking for help? Joseph had been in the pit. He had been in the slave market. He had been in prison. And now, after all of that, his brothers are standing before him — bowing, just as his dreams had said they would, with no idea who he is.

“Now Joseph was the governor of the land, the person who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph’s brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷ As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognised them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them. “Where do you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied, “to buy food.” ⁸ Although Joseph recognised his brothers, they did not recognise him. ⁹ Then he remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.” ¹⁰ “No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.” ¹² “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.” ¹³ But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.” ¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies! ¹⁵ And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” ¹⁷ And he put them all in custody for three days. ¹⁸ On the third day, Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and take grain back for your starving households. ²⁰ But you must bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not die.” This they proceeded to do.” (Genesis 42 v 6-20)

Benjamin and Joseph were the only two sons of Rachel, the wife Jacob had loved, who had died in childbirth with the youngest. So we understand why Joseph needs to know if Benjamin is alive. He needs to see Benjamin. He needs to know if his full brother is safe.

But also in v13, though nothing was further from the truth, it was so difficult for Joseph to hear, “one is no more”. They had told their father he was dead. They had carried that lie for years. And here they are, speaking it to his face. He is hearing his own obituary spoken by the men who wrote it.

Joseph shows enormous self-control in the middle of one of the most emotionally charged encounters imaginable. On the third day, something shifts. (It is hard not to think of another third day here.) Joseph has an idea; he will keep just one and send nine back with grain. And then he offers this remarkable reason: “Do this and you will live, for I fear God.”

Joseph works for the world’s most powerful man, yet the restraint on his behaviour is theological. He fears God. That fear shapes how he uses power, even over the very people who wronged him.

Joseph had more reason than almost anyone in Scripture to become hard, bitter, or vindictive; somehow, he remained a man who feared God.

Joseph was shaped by something larger than his own wounds.

Joseph was the living proof that God does not waste suffering.

Joseph’s story does not promise that faithfulness prevents suffering. The question this passage leaves us with is not “why did this happen to Joseph?” It is simply: when the moment came, what kind of person had Joseph become? The answer, by the grace of God, was a man who feared God more than he feared his own pain.

That is the life available to us, too.