Meanwhile, Back In Eygpt

By John Stallings

If you know anything about the life of Joseph you know that his life started in an ancient soap opera.

Joseph’s father Jacob had been caught up in drama trying to wrest his beloved Rachel out of the hands of a conniving father Laban & the drama started all over when Joseph was born to Rachel & became her favorite son. We all know that favoritism is the death-knell to family unity.

I’m going to try to point out some of the “types” in this story, because Joseph’s story is a beautiful type of Christ & His church. Is my imagination running away with me? I don’t think so. It of course isn’t a perfect picture because Joseph wasn’t perfect or perfectly obedient, but Jesus was perfect & always obedient to His Father’s will. Also Joseph didn’t actually die & Jesus did. That said, there are many breathtaking similarities between Joseph & Jesus.

Joseph’s problems began as a wet-behind-the-ears kid when he was sent by his father to check on the safety of his brothers in the field. Jesus’ assignment was to come to the earth to redeem his fallen brethren. Joseph’s dealings with his brothers are a typical picture of the way Christ deals with His erring brothers. Joseph was mocked & despised by his brothers, first put in a pit, then sold to a caravan headed to Egypt. His beautiful coat was taken from him, splotched with animal blood & presented to his father as proof he was dead. Joseph was rejected by his own who were Jewish & ultimately accepted by Gentiles.

Jesus was despised & rejected of men & at His death his only garment was taken away & gambled over. Jesus was also rejected by His people the Jews, but later the Gentiles accepted Him & His Gospel.

In this story, the experience of Joseph’s brothers parallels the experience sinners have when Christ’s saving mercy is revealed to them.

So Joseph ends up in Egypt & Jacob thinks his favorite boy is dead. Eventually Joseph was locked up on a false rape charge without a hearing. Jesus was found guilty of crimes he never committed & was given a sham, mock trail at night which wasn’t the custom of the day.

Joseph was locked up with two convicts, one was released & resorted, the other was hanged. Jesus was crucified between two thieves, one was eternally lost & the other one was saved by simple faith in Christ.

Joseph went from a jail to a palace overnight & was made second in command in all Egypt & people bowed the knee in his presence. Jesus, after being lashed, butchered & slaughtered on a Roman cross, ultimately went back to His Father in heaven & was glorified, exalted & sat down at right hand of the Throne of God where…He ever liveth to make intercession for us.

Just as Joseph was his father’s darling, so is Jesus God’s Beloved Son. With Joseph gone, Benjamin moves up in line & becomes Jacob’s favorite, due to the fact he was born to the now dead but beloved Rachel. Meanwhile back in Egypt, Joseph, thanks to hair-pen curves & 180’s is out of jail & has ended up second in command with full power over the food stored up for famine. The famine is so widespread that it reaches Jacob & the boys in Canaan.

This famine is a picture of the spiritual death which spread all over Adam’s race. Romans 3:23 says, …All have sinned & come short of the glory of God. When the famine came & they were perishing, Joseph’s family heard some good news. Jacob called his sons together & said, “Boys, we don’t have to die. I’ve heard that there is corn in Egypt!

This is the news of the gospel preached to hungry weary dying sinners. In John 6:48-50 Jesus said…I am the bread of life.

Jacob couldn’t be sure what he’d heard was true but we are sure Christ is the answer to our innate hunger because we have the sure Word of God. Jacob couldn’t be sure he could get enough food for all his family. Remember there were 70 in all. But we are assured that God’s grace is abundantly sufficient in Christ to save to the uttermost all that come to Him in faith.

Note that the command was given by Jacob & it was urgent; -- “Do not hesitate. Don’t stand here looking at one another. There is corn in Egypt. Go down & buy some food that we may live & not die.”

So Jacob sends his sons, all but Benjamin to Egypt to buy food & they end up in front of Joseph. They were fully prepared to pay for what they needed & didn’t come with their hands out. Little did they know the man they would deal with was a kinsman who didn’t need their money but wanted their hearts.

The truth is; neither can we buy God’s grace & goodness. People will try to contribute to their salvation with good works but our good works are like a long fly-ball hit to center field, right into the hands of the center-fielder. They look good but mean nothing.

Rev.14:13 says…. Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors & their works do follow them.

Yes our works will be with us in heaven, but they follow us, they don’t lead us there.

Joseph recognizes his road weary brothers but they don’t recognize him or know he recognizes them. Though he had no intention of harming them, Joseph put his brothers in jail for three days. They were locked-up on suspicion of being spies but in truth Joseph wanted them to see the good he would later do for them wasn’t based on their guiltlessness but his mercy.

Joseph still needs to find out what’s happened to his father & his blood brother Benjamin. He also wants to find out if his brothers have been as mean to Benjamin as they were to him because he was daddy’s favorite.

So Joseph tricks the brothers into going back home & getting Benjamin but he holds another brother hostage until they bring Benny boy back. Back in Canaan, at first Jacob refuses to let Benjamin go back with them but eventually they run out of food & Judah provides his personal assurance of Benjamin’s safety. Jacob has no choice but to send Benjamin back to Egypt with the others.

When Joseph sees that Benjamin is still alive he throws a party with Benjamin as the guest of honor. After the party the brothers prepare to go home but Joseph has one more card up his sleeve.

The brothers set off for home thrilled that their trip down to Egypt was successful & they’d recovered their brother Simeon who’d been held hostage by Joseph. They had Benjamin in tow & they had managed to get more food. All is well.

But unbeknownst to them, Joseph had instructed his servant to plant one of his personal items, a silver cup in one of their bags. Then Joseph’s servant catches up with them on the trail & accuses them of stealing his cup; a cup he used for “divination,” --that is to see the future. I guess the Diane Warwick Hotline wasn’t around to find out the future so he says he can do it with a cup. By the way; as I remember it, Diane Warwick didn’t even know the way to San Jose so she couldn’t have helped anyway.

I don’t think this is anything more than a “leg-pulling” exercise because while Joseph was in jail he interpreted dreams without a cup & later interpreted Pharaoh’s dreams without it & made it clear that interpretations belonged to God. So this “cup thing” is just a prop to make the brothers “crime” seem more serious.

The brothers now find themselves under suspicion so they knee-jerk & protest their innocence by making a vow that if the cup is found on any of them the one who stole it could be killed & the rest will be slaves. So the servant searches the donkeys & aha! ---there’s the cup in Benjamin’s bag. These boys had long ago ripped off Joseph’s coat to sell him down the river & now they tore their clothes in what would surely be their entrance into slavery.

Can anyone say— “You reap what you sow?” You reap later & you indeed reap larger.

QUESTION—WHY DID JOSEPH PLANT THIS CUP IN HIS MOST LOVED BROTHER’S SACK?

Why set up Benny boy? If law enforcement set’s anyone up, it’s someone they despise & are eager to convict. Knowing what we know about how Joseph’s brothers had treated him; we could hardly blame him for dispensing a little frontier justice here, but why Benjamin? The brothers are probably thinking to themselves about now; “Those rotten sons of Rachel, they’re no good. We don’t like Joseph & we can’t trust Benjamin.”

How do you think Judah is feeling now, being he’s the one who talked Jacob into letting Benjamin come along? Even if Judah got out of this “Egypt Caper” alive, he still had to go home & face the “firing squad” of his father’s wrath. As if this family hadn’t had enough drama for three lifetimes, now this unfortunate turn of events; all instigated by Joseph.

But still we haven’t answered the question about the cup. Why did Joseph plant the cup on Benjamin? After all, years earlier Benjamin had pleaded with the brothers not to kill Joseph so he can’t figure out why God would be putting him through all this.

Here’s the answer; while Benjamin is in the eye of this storm, he isn’t the object of the testing. Joseph has singled out Benjamin to test his brothers because he wants to know if they’re still as bloodthirsty as they used to be. If, when the cup is found on Benjamin, would they sacrifice him to slavery as they did Joseph all those years ago?

Just as these brothers grief over the way things turned out reveals, sifts & refines their character, so we, as we walk with the Lord will be tested from time to time to reveal what’s in our hearts. James said,--Knowing this that the trial of your faith worketh patience.-1:3. God gives us many tests & we need not worry if we fail; He gives His tests over until we pass.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Joseph doesn’t know if his brothers are repentant for their earlier sins so he replicates the situation to see what the brothers will do this time. Are they still harboring hatred for Rachel’s boys? If they are they’ll cut Benjamin loose & try to save their own skin. They can cut him loose to slavery & go home with food & be none the worse for wear. See the position Joseph has placed them in? If they align themselves with Benjamin, Joseph can reasonably conclude they have changed. Those who’ve failed so ignominiously before, now have a chance to demonstrate growth & Joseph has an opportunity to see if the brothers still hate their father & Rachel’s’ offspring.

One of the delights of God’s heart is to see His children loving & caring one for another. One of the six things God hates is; --- they that sow discord among the brethren.

When they appear back before Joseph he says, “How could you be so stupid? Don’t you know that I don’t practice divination?” At this point, if Judah had been a little sharper he could have said, “Oh yeah, how could you divine that we stole your divining cup if you didn’t have it?

But Judah tries another approach. Judah says, “It is God who has found your servants guilty.” By this I think he means God is behind the mysterious appearance of the cup as delayed retribution for what they did to Joseph years ago. After all Genesis 42:21-23 tells us they thought they were having all this trouble as a result of what they did to Joseph.

What follows is the longest recorded speech in the book of Genesis: Judah’s plea in front of Joseph. It’s interesting that Judah says, “If you keep Benjamin it will kill my father. He already lost his favorite son & if he loses this one he won’t be able to stand it. So out of regard for our father, spare him.” Judah also explains how invested his father is in his son Joseph that disappeared all those years ago.

Judah is showing humility & that’s the only way we can & should come before God. We’re told;--God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.

Remember, this is the first time Joseph is hearing of the heartbreak that Jacob experienced when he got the news of Joseph’s death. That news, while gut-wrenching probably didn’t come as a surprise to Joseph. What must have been surprising to Joseph was the new-found love for their father Jacob & Benjamin. This is what indicates the transformation.

Another striking thing is Judah never questions their guilt. He doesn’t try to quibble with the judge but rather he is asking for mercy from the judge. This is a real mark of transformation. Their hatred for the chosen one of their father now becomes the basis for their plea for mercy; mercy from the offended one.

When Joseph is certain of the change in his brothers, he asks everyone but family to leave & reveals himself to his brothers. First he told them his name, I am Joseph. Then he declared his relationship to them….I am your brother.

He acts quickly to dispel their fears & assures them they are safe & forgiven for all past wrongs done to him. He assures them he is really their brother & tells them not to be afraid. He gives them many promises; “I will sustain you, you shall be near me, I will nourish you, no evil shall befall you, you have my word for it.” Doesn’t this sound like God’s Amazing love for us? He wants us to feel His love & to be secure, fearing nothing.

This revelation to his brothers is at once stunning & frightening. The narrative says they were dismayed. Where did they really stand with this ruler? Can they overcome their foul deeds or are they doomed? What feelings of guilt & remorse must have gone through their minds? They had nothing in their hands to give to make up for the past so all they could do was throw themselves on the mercy of the one they had offended & were now face to face with.

Now we have the wonderful revelation of God’s plan. Their rejection of Joseph had actually been a part of God’s strategy. After twenty-two years God’s plan has snapped into focus & becomes crystal clear. We all knew God was with Joseph but bad things kept happening to him. God worked through the actions of bad boys & worse circumstances to bring about good for all. See how God takes the bad & works his wonder with them & things out so magnificently?

Had Joseph’s brothers not treated him badly, he wouldn’t have been in Egypt but at home starving with them. Through Joseph’s mistreatment the world is saved from starvation. It took 22 years for God’s plan to play out but now it all makes sense. 22 years of hell on earth is a high price to pay but it paid off & now we see the good that comes from it.

Sometimes we can look at a snapshot of things & they make little sense but when we see the whole movie it causes us to celebrate His goodness & marvel at His plan.

But God isn’t through with these people yet. Look what He does. More benefits are coming to these brothers. Joseph tells them the famine won’t be over for five more years so they can stay in Egypt & ride things out where there is food. He tells the brothers to go back & get Jacob & bring him back with them & volunteers to take care of the whole family. The brothers lives are spared & they are reconciled to the one they’d offended.

God’s love is so vast it reaches to all mankind. There’s always plenty of room at God’s table. But that’s still not all. Pharaoh hears the family is coming to Egypt & showers even more blessings on them. He says they can pick from the choicest land & Pharaoh will give it to them. Can anyone say favor??

Pharaoh even sends a Limo. He sends them carts to make their journey easier. Pharaoh told them to leave their stuff because he’ll give them better brands of whatever they need.

They are to go home with the message---
Joseph is alive!
He is Lord of all!
He has all you could ever need!
Come see Joseph.

This provision goes beyond mere salvation. This is…exceeding abundantly above all we could ask or think. Those affiliated with Joseph are blessed for Joseph’s sake. They are blessed with salvation, with provisions for living an extraordinary life & with a choice inheritance.

Beyond all the material blessings Jacob’s joy is the greatest blessing of the whole ordeal because his years of heartache are ended. His son is “back from the dead.” Maybe Jacob is a little puzzled but he exercises faith & travels back to see Joseph & claim the inheritance that awaits him because of the plan through which God has delivered him & his family.

This story is reminiscent of Calvary because God is in His Son, reconciling the whole world to Him. The brothers were to have one message. They didn’t invent a message of their own. And the message is,

....And whosoever will let him take of the water of life freely.

Blessings,

John