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.
Missions Paul 