Genesis 42 - Part C

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Now let's get into today's teaching from Pastor Skip Heitzig.

Just go back, just remember: it was the brothers of Joseph, the sons of Jacob, who killed, slaughtered all the Shechemites.

Remember that story?

It was Judah, one of the brothers.

Who went looking for a prostitute and slept with his daughter-in-law?

These are scoundrels.

So He's treating them as scoundrels.

Now, notice it says, by the life of Pharaoh, this is an oath he's taking in Pharaoh's name.

Why would he do that?

Well, it would once again mask his identity to them further.

What if you were to say, I swear by your God.

The only true and living God.

They would go, you're Egyptian?

So he's taking a very common oath.

By the name of Pharaoh, by the life of Pharaoh.

Verse 16, send one of you and bring your brother and bring your brother.

You shall be kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you, or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.

Shall we put them all together?

In prison, For three days.

Now, the word prison literally means custody.

They didn't necessarily have to be behind bars.

They were just kept sequestered, alone, no freedom, for three days.

A lot of time to think.

A lot of time to process.

All the while, Joseph must have been thinking, I wonder how they're going to take this.

I wonder what they're going to come up with.

I wonder what they're going to say in the midst of this test.

It's absolutely fascinating.

Then Joseph said to them the third day, Do this and live, for I fear God.

Okay, that's a red light.

That should have been he's dropping a hint now I fear God.

It seems to just go.

Right over there, it's If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house.

But you go carry grain.

For the famine of your houses, and bring your youngest brother to me.

I'm sure he couldn't wait to see Benjamin, his flesh brother, his blood brother.

So, your words will be verified, and you shall not die.

And they.

And they did so.

Then they said to one another, They said to one another, now listen, they're going to have a little conversation.

It's like they rally, they get together and they talk.

They're talking out loud.

Not knowing Joseph understands Hebrew, even though he's speaking to them, you'll see it.

He's speaking in Egyptian with an interpreter.

But now they're just sort of processing this in Hebrew, not knowing Joseph hears and understands every word they're saying.

They said to one another, We are truly guilty concerning our brother.

For we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us.

And we would not hear.

Therefore, this distress has come upon us.

They're referring back twenty one years prior to what happened with Joseph.

And Reuben answered them, saying, Did I not speak to you, saying, Do not sin against the boy?

And you would not listen?

Therefore, behold, his blood is now required.

of us.

Starting to work.

They're processing their treatment of Joseph.

They're going, oh man, 20 plus years ago, do you remember that?

God's getting us back for that.

They're distressed over it.

Now, you see the repetition of the word we and us, it's emphatic.

I read in the Hebrew, it's emphatic.

We and we alone.

It's like we're getting busted by God.

He's singling us out here.

It's an admission of their guilt.

Now I say it's working.

Yeah.

Because to admit your guilt is always the first step.

You'd be surprised how long a person can go.

And and not be able to say It's my fault.

Or, I'm sorry.

I'm the one.

They just have all well, you know, if she wouldn't have.

done that then Of course, what I said probably was improper.

However, There's always an excuse.

But to admit you're wrong.

Is always the first step in healing and reconciliation and forgiveness.

Proverbs chapter 28, verse 13.

Some of you know it.

He who covers his sin will not prosper.

But whoever confesses and forsakes them.

will find mercy.

Confess.

Now, confess means more than just admit, it means to agree.

And when you make a confession to God, you are agreeing with God.

And saying, what you say about my sin, I also say the same thing.

I'm agreeing with what you're calling this, Lord.

Instead of just saying, it was just Um a mistake.

It was just a slip-up.

It was just No, Lord, it was sinful.

It was wrong.

That's what you say about it.

I'm agreeing with you.

And so they're admitting their guilt.

Verse 21: We are truly guilty concerning our brother.

Now, some people will say, Now, why do I need to confess anything to God since God is all-knowing?

He knows it anyway.

Why would I ever inform God about what He already knows?

Because he wants to hear you say it.

He wants to hear you admit it.

That's what confession is all about.

Now something else.

It's been 20 years.

Plus 21 years.

And their conscience, they've been burying it, they've been hiding it, they've not processed it until now.

But now that wound is opened up again.

And it shows they're still guilty.

There's still remorse they've never dealt with.

You've ever heard the saying, time heals all wounds?

That's a lie.

Sometimes you can stuff behavior and feelings down so far and never deal with it.

But you should deal with it, and you should deal with it the right way.

Sin causes you to hold on to that load of guilt.

It's not healthy.

Verse twenty-three.

But they did not know, now they're talking it out loud, they did not know that Joseph understood them.

For he spoke to them through an interpreter.

He's speaking fluent Egyptian.

To an Egyptian interpreter, he'd speak in Egyptian, the interpreter would say something to the Hebrews and their language then the Brothers would speak, and then he would interpret it back in Hebrew.

So they're totally faked out.

Verse 24, and he turned himself away.

from them.

and wept.

And then he returned to them again and talked with them.

And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

Okay.

This is the first of six.

Emotional Statements like this.

Six times in this story in Genesis.

Joseph will weep.

He weeps here.

When he sees Benjamin, he's going to weep again.

When he reveals himself to his brother, he's going to weep again.

When he sees his father's, Brothers, he'll weep.

When he sees his father, he'll weep.

When he sees his father's death, he'll weep.

And when he assures his brothers of forgiveness toward the very end.

He'll weep again six times.

He'll weep.

Wow.

After all he's gone through.

After all the emotional scarring.

After all of the years of neglect.

And then sudden prosperity, you would think that those are enough experiences to sort of kind of toughen one's skin.

and not be moved by much.

I'm impressed that he was emotionally moved.

And I like it.

I honestly, I see a man.

Weeping.

Maybe I say that because I found myself the last few years.

Becoming weepier.

And it bothered me at first.

Little things.

Somebody would tell me something that was sad, I'd just start crying, and they go, something in your eye?

Yeah, tears.

I'm actually crying.

Oh.

When I helped my grandson the first day.

Jess.

Blubbered my way through.

When I picked him up the second day.

Same effect.

I'm getting better, but

Now it says that he took Simeon, verse 24, from them and bound him before their eyes.

By the way, What makes you weep is a test of your character.

When you weep for yourself or

You know, I I have a friend who's a preacher back in Chicago.

He tells an interesting story.

James McDonald, Dr. James McDonald, great guy.

He was having a conversation with another buddy, Alistair Begg.

And uh They were talking about hell.

Hell came up.

And he said to Alistair, he goes, You know what?

There's people tonight, today, right now in hell.

And Alastair Begg, in his Scottish broke, said, Aye, but can yer say it without a tear in your eye?

Can you say it without a tear in your eye?

It's a test of character what makes you weep.

He sees his brothers.

He can't contain it.

He steals himself away.

He weeps.

He.

Puts his Egyptian makeup goatee back on, goes in, looks really cool.

And why does he make Simeon the The hostage?

You see, logically you would think he would take the oldest, Reuben, and tie him up.

But he doesn't tie up the eldest.

Who's the head of the family at this point, representatively?

He ties up Simeon, number two.

Couple of reasons.

Number one, it was Reuben.

Who 21 years prior told his brothers, don't do this, don't do this, let him go, this is not good form.

Stop it.

They didn't listen to him.

He left.

And when he left and came back, Reuben came back.

Joseph had already been sold to the Midianites.

Simeon was number two, which means he was in charge.

He was probably the one that arranged it.

So now Joseph gets to watch Simeon.

Writh a little bit.

Squirm a little bit.

as he's tied up.

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Now let's get back to today's teaching with Pastor Skip.

There's a Scripture in the book of Romans chapter 11 verse 22.

Just, I want you to think of this, maybe even look at it later.

Paul said in Romans 11, now consider.

The goodness and the severity

Interesting combination.

the goodness and severity.

Here's Joseph being good to his brothers.

He's going to give them grain, give them their money back, reveal himself, take care of them eventually.

He's going to do good.

But he's being severe.

He's being severe because the result of the goodness and severity will be.

Reconciliation.

and restoration.

That'll be the result.

Goodness and severity.

Restoration, reconciliation.

Remember that next time God allows something to come in your life that you particularly don't like, it's severe.

Consider the severity and the goodness of the Lord.

and why he might be doing it, and how all things can work together.

synergize together for your good.

Verse 25.

We'll make it.

Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man's money to his sack, to give them provisions for the journey.

Thus he did for them.

So they loaded their donkeys with grain and departed from there.

But As one of them opened his sack, To give his donkey feed at the encampment, He saw his money.

It was in the mouth of the sack.

You see that word encampment?

Can I just throw something out to you that I think might be helpful when you get to the New Testament?

It's sometimes translated in.

Encampment in.

Remember when Jesus was.

In the womb of Mary, and Joseph and Mary were on the way to Bethlehem, and there was no room in the inn.

Same idea, encampment.

It was a caravansary where caravans would.

Stop.

Animals would feed in the middle of a courtyard, and people would just stay around their animals in little lean twos.

That's all it was.

It wasn't a nice hotel, didn't have a pool, didn't have a jacuzzi, wasn't a holiday inn.

It was a caravantry, it was an encampment.

There wasn't even room at the animal encampment.

That's where they sought a cave.

a manger where animals were kept.

Well, they open up the sacks and they notice that.

The money's still in the mouth of the sack.

Huh.

had given their money back.

He gave it back.

Here's probably what happened.

Joseph paid for it himself.

Out of his own money.

Put their money back in the sack.

Now, why would he do that?

They're gonna get all paranoid.

Why would he do that?

'Cause Joseph knows they're gonna need it for the next trip.

They'll be back.

He wants them back.

He doesn't know how much money they have.

They may have used everything to get there and buy grain.

He's giving them money so they can come back.

making provision for their next journey.

So he said to his brothers after he finds the money, My money has been restored, and there it is in my sack.

Now he's saying it like that.

Because it says, Then their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, What is this that God has done to us?

Okay, this is a bit weird.

It's not typically the right response, you know.

If you went to the grocery store, And you paid out your money and then you got home and unloaded all the grocery and you found like three hundred dollars watted up Put in the sack with a little note.

Would you go God, what have I done?

You might go.

Well, it was either a mistake or praise God.

Guilt Listen, guilt.

Turns Blessings into distress.

They couldn't enjoy.

His brother gave him a blessing.

Pharaoh's secondhand man gave him a blessing.

They can't enjoy the blessing because that's what guilt does.

It ruins blessings from God.

You can't even enjoy them.

It turns blessings into distress.

It robs us of joy.

It turns joy into misery.

It aroused a sense of shame in them.

Now, notice they mention God here.

This is, by the way, the very first time in this whole scenario that these brothers are talking God talk.

They've been really spiritual lately.

But their view of God is warped.

Their view of God is: He's vengeful, he's retributive, he's not blessing, he's not giving, he's not loving.

Their view of God is seen through their view of themselves.

That's how many people see their God is like they are.

That's what idolatry is.

They concoct a god in their own minds and they worship that god.

And what an unfortunate God they've concocted.

So they're all paranoid.

I love it.

One preacher said, love your enemies, it'll drive them nuts.

It will.

They won't know what to do.

Someone at work, someone in your family, giving you a hard time, go out of your way to show.

Lavish love on them.

It will drive them crazy.

And it'll just be so fun to watch.

Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened, saying, The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, poor babies, and took us for spies in the country.

We said to him, We are honest men.

Again, I see dad rolling his old eyes.

We are not spies.

We are twelve brothers, sons of our father.

One is no more, the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.

Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, By this, I will know that you are honest men.

Leave one of your brothers here with us.

Take the food.

for the famine of your households and be gone.

And bring your youngest brother to me.

so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men.

I will grant your brother to you and you may trade in the land.

Then it happened, as they emptied their sacks.

that surprisingly each man's bundle of money was in a sack, and when they and their father saw the bundles of money they were afraid.

And Jacob their father said to them, You?

have bereaved me.

Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin.

All these things are against me.

Okay, this tells me something.

This tells me that people change, but not that much.

People change, but not that much.

Jacob?

is still Jacob.

It's still all about Jacob.

This sounds what like Jacob back in Shechem.

When his brothers kill the Shechemites, he goes, you guys have ruined my reputation.

You're worried about your reputation with dead people all around you?

It's all about him.

He hasn't changed that much.

A crisis doesn't make a man.

It shows what a man is made of.

This is what Jacob is made of.

Would Joseph ever have said this, by the way?

Would Joseph, his son, ever have said this.

All things are against me

No, he would have said, you know, this is hard, and I don't get it, and this really has been a long trial.

But I know God's in control.

Dad is one way.

Joseph his son is another way.

Jacob is still Jacob.

But but Allow me to give you hope.

You don't have to follow in the footsteps of your mother or father if there haven't been a good example.

You don't have to say, well, you know, my dad was always like, that's just why I am that way.

You don't have to be that way.

Not an excuse.

Jacob is one way, Joseph is totally a different way.

Jacob is still Jacob.

It also tells me that Jacob's not over his son's death.

Now, a parent is never over his son or daughter's death, ever.

But There's a healthy way to be.

Moving on.

It seems like he never moved on.

He's bringing this up and holding his brothers responsible.

It seems like maybe he knew something was up.

When my brother died, and my family grieved.

And we Put it behind us.

My mother never did.

For years and years, she would never have a picture or a memento of my brother Bob in the house.

It was as if he didn't exist.

It was too painful for her.

And it was like that for years until one of my aunts came to visit.

and took my mom aside and said, now listen carefully.

I love you.

And I know that you miss your son, Bob.

But you can't.

Treat his memory like this, or do this to your other sons, you need to put his picture up.

You need to get through this.

You need to face this head on and move on.

It was one of the best things she ever did.

It helped her tremendously and it was healing for the family.

I think Jacob is still living with that past deep scar and never moved through it.

Then Reuben.

spoke to his father.

Saying Now listen to this.

I'll just say right off, I think it's stupid.

Reuben said to his father, saying Kill my two sons if I don't bring him back to you.

Oh yeah, that would really go over well.

With your wife and your sons.

And I will bring him back to you.

But he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone.

If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my grey hair with sorrow.

to the grave.

That's a stupid.

Foolhardy suggestion.

Okay, I'm sure he's sure of himself.

Don't worry, I'll take care of it.

In fact, here.

Oftentimes in ancient times, they would make These wild oaths.

I swear by my head, I swear by my mother's this.

I swear.

They would make these elaborate.

That's why Jesus came along and said, Don't swear at all.

Neither by heaven Nor by earth, for it is God's footstool, heaven is God's throne, nor by the hairs of your head.

But let your yes be yes and your no be null.

Just be honest, just be full of integrity.

So Next week.

Well see the meeting.

the meeting with Benjamin, the second meeting with the brothers, and then the third.

Okay.

None of this would have happened.

Unless there was a famine in the land.

Just keep in mind.

The purpose that God had for Joseph's life.

Why did Joseph Why was he allowed to be sold as a slave by?

Why was he allowed to be a slave in Potiphar's?

Why was he allowed to be falsely accused and put in jail?

Why was he allowed?

Why?

Well, now we we're understanding it.

To save the world from a famine, number one.

Number two, to bring Israel, the children of Israel, down into Egypt and for hundreds of years be nurtured in the land of Goshen where they could grow.

And to preserve, moreover, Most importantly, preserve

The lineage for the Messiah.

Talk about Purpose.

God has a purpose for your life.

Some of you are sweating it out and wondering about that purpose, and it's so difficult.

And you're going to Romans 8:28 and say, Most things work together for good to those that love God and are called upon.

Some things work together for good.

Last time I checked, it still says all.

Let that be a soft pillow.

for your tired heart.

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