Genesis 43

The Return of the Brothers

The first meeting between Joseph and his brothers has been recounted for us in chapter 42. The famine that has ravaged Egypt has been felt in Canaan too, and Jacob has sent his sons to Egypt for food. Unknown to them, they have come face to face with the brother they regarded as long dead. Yet everything is going to hinge now on Joseph's treatment of them. His heart is moved at the very sight of them; yet Joseph knows that the hearts of his brothers need to be emptied and brought to repentance before they will have any blessing or peace.

So Joseph has Simeon kept in prison, and demands that Benjamin be brought to him. Jacob feels this keenly: Joseph and Benjamin were the sons of his beloved Rachel. He is reluctant to lose Benjamin, but the pressure of the famine is such that he has to let him go. God is testing Jacob too, and chapter 43 brings the story forward.

There are several strands that run through the events that unfold in this chapter.

The Pressures of Providence

Jacob felt that he could take no more. At the end of chapter 42 he gives expression to his grief at the prospect of losing Benjamin as well as Joseph. He feels that he is about to cave in, and refuses to let Benjamin go. His trials and sadnesses have already been multiplied, and he has no intention to go to his grave mourning (42:38).

However, there is this matter of the famine, of which we read in 43:1 that it was "severe" in the land. That is more than a statement of setting, although it is not less than that. The backdrop of the story has been one of provision and famine; and that is part of the contrasting narrative of Genesis, which opens with Adam and Eve surrounded by the splendid provision of Eden, and comes to a close with these accounts of the children of Jacob seeking provision in Egypt.

But the words are more than a marker of setting and time -- they are also a reminder to us of how God employs the events of his Providence to teach us the supreme lessons of his grace. You see, whatever Jacob felt in his heart, the severity of the famine forced him to do what he said he would never do. Empty stomachs led to an empty home. Although the story is going to focus on Egypt, let's not forget Jacob, sitting alone in Canaan, thinking that he will see none of his children again. How God is emptying him! Using the very needs of life -- the famine and the need for bread -- to bring him to repentance and to bring him closer to himself.

Each of us has a different path to walk and a different cross to bear and a different burden to carry through life. There are times when we feel we can take no more, and suddenly the way becomes even more difficult, beyond our imagining. We could scarcely have appreciated that things could get worse, when that is exactly what happens. Yet the events in our lives all serve the design and the plan of God for our lives. That knowledge belongs to those who do not look on the things that are seen, but on the things that are unseen and eternal (2 Corinthians 4:17).

The Losses of Life

For Jacob, the most difficult lesson was learned in the loss of the son of his right hand, Benjamin. The food could not be obtained, and the blessing would not be obtained, apart from this. Just as Abraham obtained God's blessing just at the point when he was willing to part with Isaac, so Jacob obtained it when he was willing to part with the dearest life in his home, and said to Judah "Take your brother also, and arise, return to the man: and may God Almighty grant you compassion in the sight of the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin" (43:13-14).

It was the greatest test of all. God put it in Judah's heart to promise that he would take responsibility for Benjamin (v9), and Jacob acted on that promise. In terms of the unfolding revelation of God's covenant salvation in the Bible, that was a remarkable promise, since it was in Judah's line that blessing would come to the world through Jesus Christ. He was the promised Messiah of Judah's line, the one who alone can guarantee us security and assurance when we need it most, for he is the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah" (Revelation 5:5).

I doubt that Jacob heard that in Judah's words, but he certainly knew that only by trusting in God Almighty, the God of the covenant, could he let Benjamin go. How his heart must have torn in two! "If I am bereaved of my children," he cries, "I am bereaved" (v14).

Little did Jacob know what God was preparing for him. Both Benjamin and Joseph would be restored to him; these times of tears and weeping, when he was emptied of everything he held dear, became times through which God would restore to him covenant blessings and covenant promises. It is a hard lesson to learn, yet learn it God's children must. Sometimes the greatest prizes come at the end of the most difficult and trying circumstances, and in the wake of the greatest losses.

The Awakenings of Conscience

For Joseph's brothers, walking into the governor's presence was not easy. The Word of God tells us that "they were afraid" (v18). There was the matter of the money, of course (42:35ff) -- would Joseph accuse them of being common thieves? There was the fact that their brother was already in prison and they were all guilty by association. Their living and their dying were both in the grant of Joseph.

But their feelings of fear ran deeper than their immediate circumstances. Indeed, they were carried on a stream of an accusing conscience which flowed from the events in their lives when they had been willing to leave Joseph for dead and sold him as a slave. That issue had never been dealt with. They had never repented of it.

Their fear was an indication of deep trouble in their spirits. We will always be robbed of our peace until we deal with our sins. We can hide them away, and ignore them -- we can even pretend that they never happened. But until we confess them before God and seek his forgiveness for them, we will never know real peace in our souls.

Christ promised that when the Holy Spirit would come he would convict men of their sin (John 16:8-9). That is part of his work -- to give peace by way of opening our consciences so that we will see our sin for what it is and come with it to the only place where pardon is secured and debts are paid. Have we come to Calvary? That is the place of redemption, salvation and peace.

The Gifts of Love

When Joseph saw Benjamin, "he was deeply stirred ... and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and wept there" (v30). His brothers could never have guessed what was going on in Joseph's heart over them. But the tokens of his favour were all around -- a meal was prepared, they were seated in order around the table and fed from Joseph's provision, with Benjamin's portion five times as great as anyone else. So the chapter that began with the severe famine ends with these astonishing words: "So they feasted and drank freely with him" (v34).

What love was this? Love so remarkable that they looked at one another in wonder. Behind them was famine, and around them was famine, yet they were seated at the table of the governor, feasting with him!

And if that was the case at Joseph's table, how much more is it the case at Christ's? In this empty, meaningless, vain world of ours, what a blessing there is that there is one who feeds us from his own provision and his own table! There is peace, provision and fulness nowhere else! And, good as this was, the best was yet to come!