There are times when he just overloads us with goodness. In fact, chapter 43, the last part, these brothers have been brought to repentance, as we'll discover even more specifically in the next chapter, not by Joseph throwing them in prison, not for three days, but for the rest of their lives, and then sending them a note. They get it in prison. It says, by the way, I happen to be Joseph, your brother, and as soon as you repent, I'll let you out. Like Christ.
He sets a table. He offers Fellowship. Today on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen Davey continues his series on the life of Joseph called. God meant it for good. Joseph's brothers sold him into slavery, And through a long series of events, God raised Joseph to power.
Now, after many years, the brothers will come face to face with Joseph. the father of all these men? A man named Jacob? is also a key player in today's section of God's Word. You may know how the story ends, but stay with us as we look at it again today with a fresh perspective.
If you're able. Open your Bible to Genesis 42. as we get started with today's Bible message. Genesis chapter 42. Let's pick up where we left off.
Verse 29. When they came to their father, that is, when Joseph let the nine brothers go and kept Simeon. When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, The man, the Lord of the land, spoke harshly with us and took us for spies of the country, but we said to him, We are honest men. We are not spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father.
One is no more. The youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan. And the man, the Lord of the land, said to us, By this I shall know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go but bring your youngest brother to me, that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men, and I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.
Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks that behold every man's bundle of money was in the sack, and when they and their father saw their bundles of money they were dismayed. And their father Jacob said to them, And the first thing that I want to relate to you, what I am calling the Jacob temperament, is his fourfold wrong conclusion. He says, first of all, you have bereaved me of my children. Joseph is dead. That's the first wrong conclusion.
Joseph is dead. The second wrong conclusion, Simeon is dead. No, he's not. He's just jumping to the conclusion that the Pharaoh has put him to death. And you would take Benjamin, that is, Benjamin will die.
And his last one, we could rephrase, everything's going wrong. That is, all these things are against me. As I studied this passage of Scripture and re-read This chapter, it was interesting how much we are seen in the response of Jacob, how much we are like this man in the flesh, whenever the Spirit of God does not control us. And we so often, like Jacob, jump to wrong conclusions based on circumstances, based on the facts that we think we have. We come to some conclusions, and so often they're wrong.
He says Joseph is dead. He doesn't know it, of course. He doesn't read with us chapter 43. But he is also stating that Simeon is dead, and he isn't. Benjamin will die if you take him back there, and then he some totals it up.
All these things are against me. Poor me. Woe is me. You must understand that by now Jacob is an old And I think Bitter man. He has had flashes of faith.
He has had elements of true trust in Elohim, but. We see him here in this chapter finally exercising in his flesh the statement that could characterize his entire life. God has dealt me a bad hand. He's fed me sour grapes. This kind of attitude crops up, perhaps, in your life or in mine, when we make statements like.
Why does God always bless that other person? Why is it that other family, it just seems that their kids just obey better than mine? Why is it that they make better grades? Why is it that he's promoted and I'm not? And we go on and on and on.
Ultimately we are saying God is really. messed my life up. F. B. Meyer, whom I often quote from the pulpit, a tremendous expositor.
of Scripture wrote Why is it that God's hand is always on the other man? You know, I've read, and it's true, it's clinically proven, not that clinics are that impressive, but I think the interesting thing is that secularists now agree that one of the chief causes of depression is self-pity. It is the attitude that Jacob expresses here, life is terrible, and look at all of these things that are happening to me. Woe is me! And they put a banner out that reads, Pity Party here.
Anybody want to join me? And you will find people. They'll collect. That only helps our misery. Ladies and gentlemen, I really believe that one of the mistakes We see in Jacob we make in our own lives, and that is misinterpreting the events in our life.
A part from the grace of God. I want you to notice what happens in chapter 43, and you'll see his response.
Now the famine was severe in the land. Between verse 38 at the end, you want to just put in parentheses a period of time. Just write in the words, a period of time. Because between that time and verse 1 of chapter 43, their food runs out.
Now the famine was severe in the land, so it came about, when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, Go back and buy us a little food.
Now the first element here is initial denial. Jacob has been told Dad, we cannot go back to Egypt unless we bring Benjamin with us. Jacob refuses to respond. He clams up. He goes into hiding.
And finally, they get hungry. The food's gone. And he comes back and he, denying what he knows to be true, says, Go back to Egypt and buy us more food. His sons.
Now we'll counsel him. Judas spoke verse 3. Saying, the man solemnly warned us, 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 food. But if you do 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.
Now, isn't it interesting how the son is counseling dad? The son is pulling the patriarch aside and saying, Dad? Did you forget? That we can't go back until we have Benjamin with us? Open your ears.
Listen. To me. The second phase of his response we could call suggestive deceit. Look at verse 6. Then Israel said, Here's his response.
Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother? In other words, here's the great man of God, the patriarch, the man of faith, saying to his boy, It would have been better to have lied. Why don't you lie? Why'd you tell him you had a brother? And he said, in answering that question, verse 7, the man questioned particularly or literally specifically about us and our relatives saying, is your father still alive?
Have you another brother?
So we answered truthfully. Could we possibly know that he would say, bring your brother down? And Judah said to his father, Send the lad with me and we will arise and go that we may live and not die we as well as you and our little ones I myself I'll be surety for Benjamin in other words if Joseph does something to Benjamin it'll be guilt on my life I'll take the responsibility. We're really not going to focus too much on this, but don't overlook as we go through this chapter the development in the lives of the brothers. They have already admitted guilt, and that's most of the cure is confession.
Now you see Judah taking responsibility, where earlier, 25 years ago, they would have thrown their brother away, but now. It's a different story. Verse 10. For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice. Jacob still.
is not broken. Notice the next phrase. We could call this attempted manipulation. And this is classic Jacob's stuff here. Then their father Israel said to them: if it must be so, then here's the plan.
Take some of the best products of the land in your bags and carry down to this man as a present. You know, just like I did to Esau. Let's butter him up. Let's manipulate him. Let's get on his good side.
bring with him things that they don't have much in Egypt, such as balm, Honey, aromatic gum, and myrrh, and pistachio nuts, and almonds. And take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. In other words, let's not trust God yet. Let's come up with our own plan.
I've got a good one because as far as I can remember, half a century ago, I think it worked on my brother Esau. Because you remember, if you study with us, he took the ewes and the rams and the camels and he sent them ahead to meet Esau before Esau would come to him, hoping to butter them up and get them all melted down. Here's old Jacob. Old, manipulating, deceptive Jacob. Taking the place of God.
Imagine his sons right now. and what they see in him. Still, not much of a change, but I think there is. In fact, I really believe that in the process of these verses, there's really time involved because of the great change. And I think the change occurs in verse 14, which we could call final trust.
Note verse 14. And may God Almighty, El Shaddai, the great provider, may God Almighty grant you compassion. In other words, it is ultimately up to God. compassion in the sight of the man that he may release to you your other brother And Benjamin And as for me, note this phrase, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved. Trust.
In other words, when all of the smoke settled, and I think Jacob perhaps was reminded of the sovereign God that had in fact been part of his life, he finally came to the conclusion where he said, If my children die, then they die. In other words, El Shaddai is one I will trust. We really can't understand his heart. Because we've probably never been there. But some of you perhaps have faced great trial.
Perhaps some of you have lost. loved ones in death. You can understand better than we. the anguish of his heart, thinking that when he said goodbye to his sons, he was saying goodbye forever. What a difficult place to trust God in.
One of The men that I respect highly who used to pastor a hundred or so years ago is George Matheson. His hymns are rather antiquated and we don't sing them much anymore. But George Matheson was a blind man. He lived with his two sisters. His two sisters learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew.
And they would study for him. And they would give him the results. They would look up words and they would read the text. And George Matheson would, in his blind state, formulate all of the facts, and he would come up with a sermon, and he would preach. He was known as the Beloved Pastor.
And pastor Interestingly enough, in that day, a rather large church of 2,000 people. One by one his two sisters eventually married. And with their marriage came great loss. Because when they married, they moved away and George Matheson was finally alone. Completely alone, able to care for himself, but yet now struggling with all that he had learned.
He was older. In fact, his sisters married at an older age. And there, in the struggle of trusting a God who seemingly no longer would provide. George Matheson wrote this. It's not even in our hymnal.
I had to go back. to find it. He wrote these words O love that will not let me go He writes this after his second sister. Left. I rest my weary soul in thee, I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow may richer, Fuller D.
Now he'll refer to his eyesight in reference to light. He says, O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to thee. My heart restores its borrowed ray, That in thy sunshine's blaze its day May brighter, fairer be. O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee. I trace the rainbow through the rain and feel the promise is not vain.
That morning shall tearless be I cannot understand what he went through, but I stand in awe, and I stand in awe of you. For what God is doing in your life. through difficulty. He is making. And through this, he is making.
Jacob.
So verse 15, the men took this present, and they took double the money and Benjamin, and then they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
Now it swings back to Egypt and Joseph will now bring his brothers. I think finally to the end of their test. And I think he gives them a threefold test. You'll notice that the first one is a test of honor. And that was really studied where he is wondering in his mind: do my brothers really care about one another?
Will they let Simeon rot in this prison and never come back? And I imagine he had his doubts. And I wonder if they had not gotten hungry, if they would have come back, But they did. I imagine Joseph is watching. How do they treat one another?
How do they speak? He's constantly asking about their father. How is your father? wondering if they would respond, Oh, That old man, why... We leave him alone.
He's so wrapped up in Benjamin. We never see him. You see, that would have been their response 25 years ago. But now every time they respond, they respond with politeness and respect. I think that was the test of honor and they passed it.
It was a test of family identity. The second test you should jot in is the test of honesty. And I think this had to do with the money. Because these men were very dishonest, at least when Joseph remembered living with them.
So the man did, as Joseph said, back to verse 16. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his house steward, Bring the men into the house and slay an animal and make ready for the men who are to dine with me at noon.
Now, Hebrew people didn't dine with Egyptians. Later on, it even makes that almost comical statement, and you'll note that it's never changed. Still, Egyptians don't eat meals of peace with the Jews. And even back then, it was a loathsome thing. And so, this steward probably scratched his head and he said, I wonder why the prime minister is having dinner with Jews.
Ten Jews. But he obeyed. And so the men, when they got the invitation, were not overjoyed. They were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house. And they said, Ah, it's because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time that we were being brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.
So they came near to Joseph's house steward. This is hilarious. Here they are talking to the slave. Verse 20. Oh my Lord, Note, O my Lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, and it came about when we came in the lodging place that we opened our sacks, and behold, each man's money was in the mouth of the sack, our money in full.
So we brought it back.
Now, note, they're walking to Joseph's house, and they're giving it to this poor slave. They said, we indeed intended to buy food. Let's look at the last part of verse 21.
So we brought it back in our hand. We've also brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We don't know who put our money in the sacks. They are really nervous. They're thinking Joseph's called them into the house to call them into account.
and they're explaining to the steward, who has nothing to do with the solution or the problem. But he evidently had been instructed by Joseph, and I love his response. Here's an unbelieving Egyptian who's been trained how to respond. Joseph said, by the way, if they say this, you say that. But do you notice what he says, verse 23?
Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. In other words, I've been told that your God is Elohim. That's the word used here. Elohim's done this for you. And I can't help but put myself in the place of those brothers.
Have you ever been taken into account by an unbeliever? Have you ever been pulled in on the carpet and somebody says something about trusting God?
Well, we'll just have to trust God, and you've been biting your nails. They come before a slave who doesn't care about their God and they're frantic. And they're explaining, look, we're not dishonest, and here's the plan. This is what we did. And the steward says, relax.
You've got a God. He must be in control. Tell me what happens next. Verse 24. Then the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their donkeys food or fodder.
So they prepared the present for Joseph's coming. They got the pistachio and that's all ready to go. For Joseph's coming at noon. for they had heard that they were to eat a meal there. When Joseph came home, the They brought into the house the present which was in their hand, and they bowed to the ground before him.
And then he asked them again about their welfare, which is really interesting because here they think he's the prime minister, but he says, How was your trip, man? How are you feeling? And they probably wondered, is he setting us up for the acts? He asked, how they do? And they said, well, we're fine.
And he said, is your old father well of whom you spoke? And they said, yeah, he is. We'd love to see him again. Is he still alive? And they are probably so confused at what he's doing, and then they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he's alive, and they bowed down in homage.
These guys just keep bowing down to the carpet. And he lifted his eyes, Joseph did, and he saw his brother Benjamin. Man, what a sight. This is his kid brother. This is his little brother.
He hadn't seen him for 25 years. Because he's got to act ignorant. He said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me? They probably said yeah, and I just imagine Joseph going over to him. May Elohim be gracious to you, my son.
And about that time, I think I would have lost it if I'd been a bug on a wall watching this whole thing. And Joseph did exactly that. The next phrase, and Joseph hurried out. He literally ran out of the room. He said, Oh, God bless you, my son.
Elohim bless you. And his brothers are really looking now. And he takes off and runs out. What's he looking for? Verse 30, he's looking for a place to weep.
And he entered his bedchamber. He threw himself across the bed and he wept. Why was he weeping? It doesn't tell us why, but I would assume that when he saw his brother, he was overwhelmed. with 25 years of loss.
Verse thirty-one, then he washed his face And he came out and he controlled himself and he said, serve the meal.
So they served him by himself, and this is kind of funny. Them by themselves. In other words, they got a little table over here, and he's got a little table over here. And the Egyptians who ate with him. By themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that's a loathsome thing to the Egyptians.
Tell Note this, they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth. In other words, they didn't say anything, but Joseph comes along and he says, Okay, you sit right here, and Simeon, you sit right here, and Judah, you sit right here, and he seats them all according to their age, and Benjamin, you're right here, at the head. and these brothers now have lost it. I'm sure they're nudging each other, thinking, how do you figure this out? He's not finished.
They were seated before him, the youngest, according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. And I think this is the third test, if you're taking notes. It's the test of humility. And he took portions to them from his own table. But Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs.
Now if you come to my house You came last night. You would have literally gotten, if you were Benjamin, five You know what I had for supper? Sure you do that. My wife's a great cook. You would have had five plates of tuna casserole.
You would have had five rolls, you would have had five glasses of sweetened iced tea. If you come to our house, it's sweet. We don't put sweetener in it, it's already sweetened. It wouldn't be for you to eat. This is what they would give the Pharaoh every time he sat to eat.
It was a symbol of honor. It was a symbol of great respect.
Now catch this. Before Joseph was The favored son. He was the one who wore the tunic to his wrists and to his ankles. And what did the brothers do? They hated him.
And now he puts before Benjamin, his only real-blooded brother, and he puts before him five portions. And then he probably watches. How do they respond? He's not only favored back home, but he's gonna get the best deal here. I think that there wasn't even a sliver.
of jealousy. Because it says, they feasted and they drank freely. with him. Let me try to tie this up here for you by application, by giving you a couple of thoughts, because we're really dealing with two different people.
So, if you're taking notes, get your pen ready. Let me give you a couple of things. The first thing deals with Jacob, and that is what we're calling tonight the Jacob temperament. Let me characterize that for you with two thoughts. And I want us to look in the mirror of Scripture tonight, all right?
First of all. The Jacob temperament is seen in a person who constantly reiterates Life's Disappointments.
Now, don't get me wrong. It isn't wrong to share with your brothers and sisters in Christ. Pain and trial. That's what we're here for. But I'm talking about an individual who's like a broken record, and you bump them and they spill it all.
And they constantly do it. They're not looking for a solution. They're not asking for prayer. They're not even seeking encouragement. They just want to dump.
I think we all Do that from time to time, don't we?
Next time you Your wife or husband or child does that. We call them Jacob.
Okay. Little exercise. It'll be convicting. Secondly. The Jacob temperament is seen in a person who stubbornly refuses.
Divine perspective. Chuck Swindahl preaches a message from this text, and he basically preaches it around that thought, and I like that thought. He talks about an individual who refuses until the last moment to finally look up. And that's where Jacob was, because he tried everything possible, but he never caught on until the very end, like you and me, struggling. We don't think that God's involved, that God's putting this together.
Jacob says, All these things are against me, and if only he had chapter 43, he'd know. God was designing, it had to be this way to get them all back to Egypt. I think of the brothers. And how God worked in their lives, and I want to give you two ways to recognize the hand of God upon you. First.
Repentance is often brought about By God's goodness. The goodness of God. Please. to repentance. There are times when he just overloads us with goodness.
In fact, chapter 43, the last part, these brothers have been brought to repentance, as we'll discover even more specifically in the next chapter, not by Joseph throwing them in prison, not for three days, but for the rest of their lives, and then sending them a note. They get it in prison. It says, by the way, I happen to be Joseph, your brother, and as soon as you repent, I'll let you out. Like Christ. He sets a table.
He offers Fellowship. God does the same in our lives. Second. behind the harshness of discipline, is God's heart of love. They didn't know that Joseph was running to his bedroom to weep.
They didn't know in the earlier chapter that he couldn't control himself, that he had to turn away and weep. I think he wanted to embrace them. That is the way that God so often deals with us. In fact, I think obviously we could say He always does, even though discipline may be harsh. Behind it is a heart.
of incredible love. The question is, will we throw in the towel, will we say, I'm starving in Canaan and I'll starve and die? Or do we persist and ultimately trust? George Matheson, who I referred to earlier, wrote these words, and with these I close. My God I have never thanked thee for my thorns.
I have thanked thee a thousand times for my roses, but not once for my thorns. I have been looking forward to a world where I shall get compensation for my cross, but I've never thought of my cross as itself, a present glory. Teach me the glory of my cross. Teach me the value of my thorn. Show me that I have climbed to thee by the path of pain.
Show me that my tears hath made a rainbow. With that, we bring today's message to a close. You're listening to Wisdom for the Heart, the Bible teaching ministry of Stephen Davy. Stephen called today's message the Jacob temperament, and it comes from the series God Meant It for Good. A series on the life of Joseph.
As we wrap up today's broadcast, I want to take a moment to personally invite you to connect with us. One of the greatest joys of this ministry is hearing from people like you. people who are listening. growing, and being encouraged through the teaching of God's Word. You can email us at info at wisdomonline.org.
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