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Genesis 45b:

Reading #152  The preservation

Now we see even further into the Son of God’s plans for His representative people. Knowing that many problems would occur over the next two hundred years or so in Canaan and the surrounding lands under Satan’s leadership, He desired to move them all to a place of safety, a country of refuge, and, while there, use them to help their neighbours.

Joseph continued with his speech to his brothers.

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Genesis 45:

6 “For these two years has the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8 So now it was not you that sent me here, but God [in a manner of speaking]: and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

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Joseph had three positions in Egypt:  “father” or adviser to Pharaoh; “lord” or guide of the court; and “ruler” or leader of the whole land.

We know that the Son of God did NOT engineer the situation, but merely used what He was given.  The actual sin had been committed by the brothers, but they had repented of it and confessed it, so Jesus their Saviour had freely forgiven them, taken the guilt from them and made their sinful action into a blessing. 1 John 1:9. 

Now Joseph, as a Christian, gave them the same forgiveness, for what is forgiven in heaven is also forgiven on earth as we are told:- 

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Matthew 16:

18 And I say also to you, “That you are Peter [a small stone, representing all Christians], and upon this Rock [His own life as a cornerstone or pattern, Deuteronomy 32:3-4] I will build My church; and the gates of hell [death] shall not prevail against it. [See Revelation 20:6.]

19 And I will give to you the keys [the understanding] of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you shall bind on earth shall [already] be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose on earth shall [already] be loosed in heaven.” [Our Saviour is always ahead of us!] 

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Just a little aside here:

Peter’s old name was literally “Simon”, which means “hearing”, while the new one means a small stone.  Simon’s new nickname, given to him by Jesus, showed him as one of the many building blocks in His living temple.  Mark 3:16.

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2 Corinthians 6:

16 For you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” [See Leviticus 26:11-12; Jeremiah 31:33.]  17 Wherefore [for this reason] “Come out from among them, and be you separate,” says the LORD, “and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 18 and will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters,” says the LORD Almighty. [See Isaiah 52:11.]

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Despite making the change, Jesus always called him Simon.  It is men who have elevated it into “Peter” the rock.

The Son of God said during the exodus from Egypt, “And let [allow] them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them [and so they did as they desired]”.  Exodus 25:8.  Then, through the physical building which they had wanted as a place to meet with Him, He illustrated His desire to live in our hearts, not in a material place.  It was also a faint shadow of the heavenly building in which we will all work with Him.  See Hebrews 8:5; 9:1-9.  

Therefore it is written:

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1 Peter 2:

1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, 2 as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby: 3 if so be you have tasted that the LORD is gracious [a Giver of grace]. 

4 To whom coming, as to a living Stone, disallowed indeed of men [rejected by men], but chosen of God, and precious, 5 you also, as lively [living] stones, are built up [into] a spiritual house [a temple], a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. [This was God’s original intention for the sacrificial system display.] 6 Wherefore [which is the reason] also it is contained in the scripture, “Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner Stone, elect, precious: and he that believes on Him shall not be confounded.” [Isaiah 28:16.]

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Coming back to our story:-

The brothers humbly confessed their sin and rejoiced in Joseph’s forgiveness. They had long suffered anxiety and remorse, and now they were happy that he was still alive. 

And he had no hard feelings as we read in another place:-

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Genesis 50:

18 And his brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we be your servants.” 19 And Joseph said to them, “Fear not: for am I in the place of God?” [“Vengeance belongs to Him alone, and He doesn’t have any!  Neither do I.”  See Deuteronomy 32:35 and John 8:11.]

20 “But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it to good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. 21  Now therefore fear you not: I will nourish you, and your little ones.”

And he comforted them, and spoke kindly to them. 

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Then Joseph’s thoughts turned to his father in Canaan.

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Genesis 45:

9 “Haste you, and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt: come down to me, tarry not [this was received as a call from the Spirit]: 10 and you shall dwell in the land of Goshen [Joseph had already discussed this with the Son of God and Pharaoh], and you shall be near to me, you, and your children, and your children's children, and your flocks, and your herds, and all that you have: 11 and there will I nourish you; for yet there are five years of famine; lest you, and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty’.”

12 “And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 And you shall tell my father of all my glory [position] in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall haste and bring down my father here.” 14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.

15 Moreover he kissed all his brothers, and wept upon them: and after that his brothers talked with him. 16 And the fame [story] thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, “Joseph's brothers are come”: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

17 And Pharaoh [had] said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘This do you; load your beasts, and go, get you to the land of Canaan; 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land. 19 Now you are commanded, this do you; take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. [66 people of Jacob’s descendants came with him, Genesis 46:26]  20 Also, regard not your stuff [don’t fret about that which must be left behind]; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours’.”

21 And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22 To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 23 And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses loaded with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.

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Because of much unrest in the land of Canaan, the Egyptians did not look kindly on the people of that land even though it was nominally part of their empire, but Joseph’s reputation was so great that an exception was made for his family.  However, shepherds could not mix with the general population because of cultural differences so they were relocated in a fertile area to the east of the Nile delta nearer to their homeland.  The grass continued to grow in Goshen under God’s protection.

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Genesis 45:

24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed: and he said to them, “See that you fall not out by the way.” [They were to have no recriminations among themselves, all were forgiven equally.]

25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father, 26 and told him, saying, “Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.”

And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not. 

27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived: 28 and Israel said, “It is enough [my cup overflows]; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die [a natural

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At first the aged man was overwhelmed; he could not believe what he heard; but when he saw the long train of wagons and loaded animals, and when Benjamin was with him once more, he was convinced.  Jacob decided to go to Egypt.

In the meantime, another act of humiliation remained for the ten brothers.

They now confessed to their father (and the rest of the family) the deceit and cruelty that for so many years had embittered his life and theirs. Jacob had not suspected them of so base a sin, but he saw that all had been overruled for good, and he also forgave and blessed his erring children, as any good Christian would do.  In doing this, the brothers were fulfilling a definite prerequisite that God requires of us.   Although freely forgiven by God when they first repented and confessed to Him, now they had an opportunity to make amends to the humans they had sinned against, and so they did.  Centuries later, Jesus told His disciples:-

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Matthew 5:

23 Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother [or sister] has ought against you; 24 leave there your gift before the altar, and go your way; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. 

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Christ was reiterating the word He had given to Moses so long before regarding a special type of sin called a “trespass”. (All sins are NOT the same in God’s sight, therefore specific confession and action is required in each case. This is because WE need to know (God already does) the depths of what we have done, and confess and make restitution “in that thing.”  Leviticus 5:5.)

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Leviticus 6:

1 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 If a soul sin, and commit a trespass against the LORD, and lie to his [her] neighbour in that which was delivered him [her] to keep, or in fellowship, or in a thing taken away by violence, or has deceived his neighbour; 3 or have found that which was lost, and lies concerning it, and swears falsely; 

in any of all these that a man [or woman] does, sinning therein [if there is any kind of a problem involving a material substance between two people]:

4 then it shall be, because he has sinned, and is guilty [pricked by conscience], that he shall restore that which he took violently away, or the thing which he has deceitfully gotten, or that which was delivered him to keep, or the lost thing which he found, 5 or all that about which he has sworn falsely;

he shall even restore it in the principal, and shall add the fifth part more thereto [20% repayment for loss of use], and give it to him to whom it appertains, in the day [as soon as practicable] of his trespass offering [before bringing the offering to God.  When he/she does this they should be forgiven by the one who was wronged.]

6 And [then] he shall bring his trespass offering to the LORD, a ram [an expensive item] without blemish out of the flock, with your estimation [a fine imposed by the priest under the guidance of the Spirit because God has also lost some use of the cause of the problem], for a trespass offering, to the priest: 7 and the priest shall make an atonement for him before the LORD: and it shall be forgiven him for any thing of all that he has done in trespassing therein.

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In similar conditions Zaccheus (the IRS man) offered to repay 400%!   Luke 19:8-9.

And finally,

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James 5:

16 Confess your faults one to another [man to man and man to God, keeping the confessions separate and private], and pray [and work] one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual [backed up by works] fervent prayer of a righteous man [or woman] avails much. 

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Very sensible laws! 

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Deuteronomy 4:

6 Keep therefore and do them [God’s laws]; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people [because they put people before the state].”

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See you all next week,

RonP

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