Genesis 43 -- Just When It Seems Things Are Going Right ...

Simeon had remained in custody in Egypt while Jacob’s family lived off the grain they’d brought back from Egypt.  He likely wondered if he’d been forgotten!  No one seemed willing to confront Jacob about it.  My commentary said, “Jacob’s blindness to his unhealthy relationship with Benjamin and his selfish nurturing of grief over Joseph, plus his hidden suspicions about his sons, all combined to make him a man difficult to deal with.”

But when the grain ran out and the famine showed no signs of letting up, they had to have a conversation about going back.  Judah finally offered himself as a guaranty for Benjamin’s safe return, knowing that without him they’d get no more grain.  My commentary said this indicates “Judah had experienced a change of heart since the sale of Joseph.”

One of my favorite “get it done” Bible verses appears here!  Judah finally told his dad, “If we hadn’t wasted all this time, we could have already made TWO trips!”

My commentary also noted how Jacob’s faith appears to have almost been extinguished, as seen in his statements:  “If it must be so … If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”  Where was his strong faith that God would provide for him?

The brothers returned to Egypt to find themselves being ushered straight to Joseph’s house.  Thinking they were about to be arrested and enslaved because of the money they’d found in their sacks on the way home, they asked Joseph’s chief servant to intercede.  He assured them he’d received payment for the grain, and hinted that their God had been responsible.

Simeon’s quick release probably surprised them, since the Egyptians would have had no way of verifying whether the eleventh man was Benjamin or a ringer, but Joseph knew.  Another clue that something was up came when they were seated at the banquet in birth order, which the Egyptians would have no way of knowing!

My commentary spoke of what was on the horizon:  “The brothers had not yet dealt with their sins.  It’s one things to be relieved and quite something else to be forgiven and reconciled.  They needed to ask Joseph’s forgiveness for the way they had abused him, and they owed their father an apology for deceiving him and grieving his heart … To think that we’re right with God because life is easier and problems less threatening is to court disaster.”  The story is getting so good that I hated to quit reading!

Father, thank You for helping me to see the problems that unresolved conflicts bring to a family.  Show me how to wisely deal with them the way Joseph did.  Place Your hand over my family and help us not to have secrets and not to hesitate to both ask for and give forgiveness to one another.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford