Sitting at Joseph's Table

Joseph occupied the office of governor in Egypt, and he sent his brothers back to their father Jacob to get the beloved son, Benjamin. Just another twist and turn in the life of Joseph.

That's next on Renewing Your Mind. Joseph was sold into slavery and sat languishing in an Egyptian prison. But when he interpreted a troubling dream, that elevated him to the highest levels of government.

When Joseph's brothers came to Egypt looking for food, Joseph required that Simeon stay while the other brothers went back for Benjamin. It seemed like a hopeless situation, but of course we know it was not. Here's Dr. R.C.

Sproul. When the legendary Woody Hayes was the head coach of Ohio State University, he had a reputation for developing an offense that basically was a ball control offense featuring the fullback running up the middle. In fact, one of the little expressions that came out of Columbus was, hi diddle diddle, the fullback up the middle. And once a television commentator asked Woody Hayes, why don't you pass more often? And Woody Hayes said, well, the reason we don't have a passing attack is when you pass the football, three things can happen and two of them are bad.

So he didn't like the percentages. The three things that could happen of course were the completed pass, the incomplete pass which is bad, and the interception which is worse. That doesn't even consider the sack, and that's that sort of calamity that also follows it. But every football coach knows that no matter how determined you are to play a conservative style of football, two things can alter that game plan dramatically, and they are simply this, the score and the clock.

If you find yourself in the middle of the fourth quarter, two touchdowns behind, even Woody Hayes will fill the air with football. In other words, the more desperate the situation, the more risks you have to take in order to succeed. And that's what we discover in the decision of Jacob to change his mind about letting his sons make a return journey to Egypt. He had protested vehemently at the suggestion of his sons that they return to the court of Pharaoh and seek the release of their brother Simeon and seek more grain, and Jacob said no until the intensity of the famine became so severe that he was left with no option. And so we pick up the narrative in chapter 43 of Genesis where Jacob relents and says, go back and buy us a little food. In verse 3 of chapter 43 he says, we read, But Judas spoke to him, saying, The man solemnly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.

But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you. Here is Judah, the one who inherits the kingdom from the blessing of Jacob, insisting to his father that it's not good enough simply for him to send them back to Egypt.

They must take Benjamin along. He reminds his father of the terms that had been established by the prime minister of Egypt for any hope of the release of Simeon. And Israel said, Why did you deal so wrongly with me as to tell the man whether you still had another brother? Now Jacob is still fit to be tied, and he's saying to his sons, Why did you even tell him that you left the brother at home?

Why did you let this happen? And you can still sense and feel the anguish of Jacob at the thought of risking the loss of Benjamin. But they said, The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and about our family, saying, Is your father still alive?

Do you have another brother? And we told him according to these words, Could we possibly have known that he would say, Bring your brother down? And then Judah said to Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. And I myself will be surety for him. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.

For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned the second time. Do you see what Judah is saying? He said, Father, we don't have time to argue about this. If we don't go down there and take Benjamin with us, we're all going to die, not only your sons, but your grandchildren as well. So let us go. Send the boy with us. I will be his surety.

I will guarantee his safety with my own life. And so their father Israel said to them, If it must be so, then do this, take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels, carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. I get a kick out of that. If we're going to take chances, let's at least feather the nest a little bit, grease the palm, take the man some presents that might ameliorate some of his wrath. I hear that the Egyptians love our almonds and our pistachio nuts. I think God has a sense of humor here that pistachio nuts become part of the drama here of this development. Take double money in your hand and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks.

Perhaps it was an oversight. Take your brother also and arise, go back to the man and may God Almighty give you mercy before the man that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved. Now we have seen the struggle of the patriarch Jacob as he is faced with this exceedingly great danger and threat to his beloved son Benjamin. We have seen Jacob struggling with his faith, doubting the promises that God had made so many years before to him and to his father and to his grandfather. And now in his old age, all of the promises of God are meet now in this decision.

Everything is at risk. This is the time for truth. And finally, we see Jacob, the man of faith, emerge. He said, all right, go and pray that Almighty God will preserve your brother Simeon and bring Benjamin back to us.

And if I am bereaved, I am bereaved. The die is cast, and it reminds me of the experience of the three youth in the book of Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego when they are threatened with being thrown into the fiery furnace by the king. And they say, we believe that our God can deliver us even from the fire.

But even if He doesn't, we're not going to compromise. That's faith, and that's what Jacob is saying. I'm going to pray that God will bring a happy ending out of this, but if He doesn't, He doesn't.

If I am bereaved, I am bereaved. Now, a lot of people think that the prayer of faith is the prayer that claims the good ending in advance and simply believes that whatever we pray for is going to come to pass as we inquire. But the true prayer of faith is the prayer of faith that puts the request in the hands of God and trusts God for the outcome. And that's what Jacob does. Okay, go on this perilous journey. I pray that God Almighty will do what we want Him to do, but if He doesn't, He doesn't.

And we'll face that when it comes. So the men took that present and Benjamin. And they took double money in their hand, and they arose and went down to Egypt, and they stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, take these men to my home and slaughter an animal and make ready, for these men will dine with me at noon. And the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said it's because of the money which was returned in our sacks the first time that we were brought in so that he may make a case against us and seize us to take us as slaves with our donkeys.

Isn't this incredible? Joseph sees Benjamin. He can't imagine the emotion that's welling up in his soul to see his little brother for the first time in twenty-some years. And he says to the steward, I'm not going to meet with these men in the normal place of the transaction of business in the palace.

I'm going to have them for dinner at my table in my house, which is the highest honor a ruler could give to visiting guests. But when the steward notifies the brothers of Joseph that they have been invited to Joseph's home for dinner, they're terrified. They say, oh, why is he doing this?

They can't imagine that they're going to be the objects of the honor of Joseph. The fact that this is a change from the normal place of transacting business only excites greater disquietude and apprehension in him. Oh, he thinks we stole the money. He's going to capture us there, and he's going to enslave us and our donkeys and everything else. Verse 19 of chapter 43, when they drew near to the steward of Joseph's house, they talked with him at the door of the house and said, oh sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. But it happened when we came back to the encampment that we opened our sacks, and there each man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it back in our hand, and we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks. So just as Jacob had advised them, they told a story. When we were going home the last time, we were astonished to discover that the money we thought we had left behind had been restored to us and placed in our sacks. So we have no idea how that happened.

Here's that money, and here's a second round of the same amount. We want to make it absolutely clear to you that we have no interest in stealing anything from the Egyptians. But the steward said, peace be with you. Do not be afraid.

How often do we hear that injunction in sacred Scripture, usually coming from the lips of an angel or from the lips of Christ himself? But here it is the steward who is the spokesman and the messenger of peace. Peace be with you.

Don't be afraid. Your God and the God of your Father has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money. What?

What are you saying? We've been terrified ever since we found that money, and you're telling us that our God and the God of our Father had arranged for that money to be returned to us? And that we have no occasion to be afraid. Here the steward, who is an Egyptian, has more confidence in the hand of the providence of God than the brothers of Joseph. Then he brought Simeon out to them. Can you imagine how they felt when they saw Simeon in good health, safe, and now being restored to their midst? And so the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their donkeys feed. Then they made the present ready for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house and bowed down before him to the earth. Here again, the fulfillment of the old dream that Joseph had had as the men bowed down before him. And then he asked them about their well-being and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke?

Is he still alive? And they answered, Your servant, our father. Your servant, our father? Remember that the father and the mother had also bowed down to Joseph in the dream. Your servant, our father, is in good health.

He is still alive. And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. And then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me? And he said, God be gracious to you, my son. Now his heart yearned for his brother, so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. And then he washed his face and came out, and he restrained himself and said, Serve the bread. This is the second time that Joseph had to interrupt his interview with his brothers because he was so overcome with emotion that he had to excuse himself to go into another room to allow the floodgate of his tears to flow freely.

These are tears of ecstasy, tears of unbridled joy, tears of relief to see his only full brother safe and sound and to rejoice at the news that his father was not only still alive but that he was in good health. What follows then in verse 32 is this brief account. So they set him a place by himself and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. That's a strange twist, isn't it, that so often in the Old Testament it's the Jews who were prohibited from having table fellowship with pagans and with Gentiles as part of the purification rites of their own religion. In this case, in the Egyptian culture, it was an abomination for the Egyptians to be in this kind of fellowship with Jews.

You remember when Potiphar's wife brought the false charges against Joseph. She said, how could you allow this Hebrew slave to mock me in this manner? Because the Hebrews were considered beneath the dignity of the Egyptians.

And so this segregation of the eating arrangements takes place. And in verse 33 we have a little interesting detail, and they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and men looked in astonishment at one another. Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin's serving was five times as much as any of theirs, so they drank and were merry with him. Why were they astonished at this? Here's what Joseph did. He provided an order of seating for his brothers from the firstborn to the youngest. Now how would the prime minister of Egypt know the respective order in the line of succession of these sons?

They had to assume that he had some magical gift or supernatural insight that he could arrange the table perfectly in the order of the sons. And also in those days, the hospitality in the ancient world in Egypt and in the Mideast was not like it was in Rome or in Greece, where when a king or a prince would throw a feast in Rome or in Greece, there would be a superabundance of food set before the people at table, and then it was kind of a free-for-all. Everybody gorged themselves with as much food as they could possibly take in, and at the end there would always be a lot of waste and so on.

This was not the custom of the Egyptians, and particularly during the famine. Each person was given the exact same portion, and the portion that you were distributed was the portion you were expected to consume at a meal of this sort. But when Joseph had the meal served, each person was given their allotted portion except Benjamin, who was given a fivefold honor, five times as much food is given to this special brother than was given to the rest.

And so they drank, and they were merry with him. And so now we see a new note in the atmosphere of their relationship. Now a note of joy is introduced into this whole association, and I'm sure that the brothers of Joseph are feeling they're on some kind of an emotional roller coaster. But what follows in the rest of the story only heightens the drama that is to come. And we'll hear what happens on the next Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind. We hope you'll make plans to join us.

Each week we return to R.C. Sproul's series on the life of Joseph. It's an amazing story full of intrigue, betrayal, and reconciliation.

But there is a deep meaning behind it all. We get to see the faithfulness of our covenant-keeping God. We'd like to send you this 20-part series. In this time of national crisis and uncertainty, it's good to be reminded of God's goodness. We've bundled the series together with some other teaching series, including the parables of Jesus, Knowing Scripture, Ecclesiastes, Galatians, and Knowing Christ.

There are eight series in the set that we call the R.C. Sproul Teaching Collection, and you can request it with a gift of any amount. You'll find us online at renewingyourmind.org. You can also call us to make your request and give your gift at 800-435-4343. When we study Scripture, when we read narratives like this, we're reminded of where to turn in uncertain times. We know that the Lord never changes and that He's always building His church.

The fundamental need of every soul remains unchanged. That's why we're thankful for your gifts during this difficult time. Through this daily program, online teaching series, DVDs, books, and conferences, your gift of any amount helps people know who God is.

So we're grateful. Well, Jacob understood God's unchanging goodness in times of trial, and with that in mind, let's listen to a final thought from R.C. We read this account of Jacob's struggle with the great danger and peril to which he must subject Benjamin and the rest of his sons with respect to this return trip to Egypt. I love his final statement after he prays for the well-being of the mission. He says, If I am bereaved, I am bereaved. There is a tremendous release that comes in a Christian's life when after struggling through the various fears that face us and paralyze us from taking steps into danger. There is this release that comes from the decision to go ahead and to entrust the future to God, saying if things turn out well, that's terrific, but if not, if we are bereaved, we are bereaved. This captures the teaching of the Apostle Paul in the New Testament, who learned whatever state he was in to be content, and he learned how to be abased, and he learned how to abound, and he learned how to place his life in the hands of God. Will Jacob be bereaved? Join us next Saturday as we continue Dr. R. C. Sproul's series on the life of Joseph. .