Sincere forgiveness Genesis 42:1-23
There was a Presbyterian, a Pentecostal and a Baptist who having coffee at Tim Horton’s when the subject of the conversation turned to the issue of the second coming and one of them said, “I was wondering what denomination Jesus would join when He comes back?” The Presbyterian said, “I’ll think He’ll join our church because we have such a high regard for scholarship and let’s face it, nobody put the scripture in a higher place than Jesus.” The Pentecostal said, “I think He’ll join our church because we really know how to worship and nothing holds us back from expressing who we are and how we feel.” And then the Baptist spoke up and said, “I don’t think He’s going to change.”
“Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, why do ye look one upon another? And he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt: get you down thither, and buy for us from thence; that we may live, and not die. And Joseph’s ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren; for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came: for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land: and Joseph’s brethren came, and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth.
And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them; and he said unto them, whence come ye? And they said, from the land of Canaan to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said unto him, nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man’s sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto them, that is it that I spake unto you, saying, ye are spies: hereby ye shall be proved: by the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. And he put them all together into ward three days.
And Joseph said unto them the third day, this do, and live; for I fear God: if ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison: go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses: but bring your youngest brother unto me; so shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. And they said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, spake I not unto you, saying, do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter.”
Now, as we finish off the study of Joseph’s life, let me just recap where we’ve been very quickly. Joseph had been about seventeen years old when he was sold by his brothers to the Ishmaelites, who then took him to the market in Egypt where they sold him as a slave to Potiphar, who had been the captain of Pharaoh’s bodyguard. And the scripture doesn’t say how long Joseph had been there; but we assume it was at least a year or so because he was there long enough for Potiphar to trust him with everything he owned. And when everything seemed to be going so well, Joseph was accused of attempted rape by Potiphar’s wife and because of this charge he spent the next twelve years in prison. And then, while he was in prison the warden saw what a good worker he was and chose him to be the head trustee or the person who took care of everything and everybody. And while he was there; he interpreted the dreams of the butler and the baker and two years later when the Pharaoh had a dream that couldn’t be interpreted the baker remembered Joseph who interpreted his dream and that resulted in Joseph being released from prison and promoted to the second highest political position in Egypt and he was put in charge of everything in order to prepare for the food crisis that was coming.
So, by now Joseph has been away from home for over 20 years. For the first 13 he had been a slave and then a prisoner and then for the next 7 he was Pharaoh’s main man in terms economic matters and everything else in the kingdom.
Now, as we were reading in chapter 42 it occurred to me that the good times were over, in terms of food production and now, the famine had probably been going on for at least a year or two because there were people coming from as far away as Israel which was about two hundred miles; in order to buy food.
So, here was Joseph and he had this great position and access to all the possessions of Egypt in the middle of a famine and yet; he had never bothered to contact his father or even his younger brother. So, why didn’t he? Well, we aren’t told but maybe even his father seemed to be annoyed when he heard Joseph sharing his dreams and maybe when his brothers sold him into slavery they might have said it was his father’s idea to get rid of him. After all, no one had ever come looking for him; so, he might have assumed that either nobody cared; or nobody really wanted to know what had happened to him.
And don’t forget that the only way Joseph actually found out what really happened; was when his brothers were talking in front of him and they assumed he couldn’t understood what they were saying.
So, in this chapter he meets his brothers for the first time in twenty years and twenty years is a long time. I mean, in the last twenty years, many of us have gained wrinkles, bought and sold houses, changed jobs or retired, had kids or grandkids or we’ve grown into adults and we’ve experienced a lot of changes in who we are and how we appear.
Now, think about how things have changed for Joseph because he had gone from being a favored son to a slave to a prisoner and then to the second in command of Egypt. He also spoke fluent Egyptian and he probably learned this language in Potiphar’s house as well as when he was in the prison. And his face would also have changed as he went from being a 17 year old kid to a 37 year old man. So, nobody from his past would have recognized him.
And here’s the thing we have to understand; since God was working and had been working in his life, Joseph needed to know if his brothers had changed or if they were the same old cut throat crowd he had remembered. After all, if they still were what they were, I doubt he would have anything to do with them.
So, here he was; holding the second highest position in the entire country and it must have felt strange; because he saw his brothers lying prostate before him and that was one of the dreams he had had. And when he first had this dream Joseph had been dressed in a multi-colored robe and now he was wearing the robes of a high Egyptian official.
One writer suggested Joseph might have given the responsibility of selling food to the Egyptians to some of his assistants and that he kept the responsibility of dealing with the foreigners for himself. So, as he was busy with this distribution; he saw a crowd of ten men approaching and he immediately recognized them as his brothers but they didn’t have a clue as to who he was; because as far as they were concerned; he had been sold as a slave and was probably long dead.
So, as he met them he wanted to know if they were any different and when they introduced themselves they referred to themselves as ten honest men who wanted to buy food both for themselves and their father and it must have been hard for Joseph to take them seriously because all he could remember was how hard-hearted they had been because the last time he saw them they were arguing about how they were going to kill him.
So, he was determined to find out if they had really changed and while he thought about what he was going to do; it says; he threw them all in prison for three days. Maybe, he figured this might give them some time to think and it also might strike fear into their hearts and loosen their tongues. I mean, they probably never considered what it would feel like to be a prisoner until Joseph put them where he had spent twelve years.
But; as Joseph thought through his original plan of keeping them all there; he realized that it might be more than his aged father could take. So, he changed his plan and decided to keep only one but the effect of spending three days in jail certainly got their attention because they started to think about their lives from a spiritual perspective and they thought about their sin and the fact that their sin had consequences. And I’m sure that maybe they thought about how Joseph had suffered now that they had a taste of suffering.
Listen, either this was Joseph’s way of getting even or God was using him to bring these men to their senses because I believe it was during these three days in jail that they were learning what it means to repent of their sin and sometimes repentance takes time. It’s not always quick, it’s not always easy, and it’s not something we ever get over if we’re really sincere.
One commentary defined repentance as a change of thought and action to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from someone who was wronged. And it applies to our relationship with God as well as our relationships with one another.
Repentance is said to be one of God’s most difficult commands for any of us because it involves our will. I mean in order to be truly repentant we have to be willing to change.
Now, the word repent is found in various forms in the Bible and it’s actually found more than 100 different times. You see, in every age, God has commanded men and women to repent in order to be accepted by Him. In Hebrews 11:7 it says, “By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.” And where it says ‘he was moved with fear’ this tells us Noah was fearful when he realized what a sinner he was and then he repented as he and his family became obedient to the will of God and this was demonstrated by the fact that they built the ark and were saved from the flood while everybody else who was living on earth drowned.
And then the prophets taught repentance. We have several examples but let me use just one; it found in Isaiah 1:16 where the prophet said, “Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.” In other words, stop doing what you’ve been doing wrong and start doing what’s right. And then I like how the next two verses tell us what happens when we repent because it says, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
And then John the Baptist told the Jews of his day they needed to repent. It says in Matthew 3:1-2, “In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, ‘Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”’ And it’s the same idea; that the people he was preaching to needed to change their behavior in both the sight of God and in the sight of man. And listen, what’s the use of telling God we’re sorry for what we’ve done wrong unless we’re willing to tell those we’ve offended the same? You see, confession to God is easy because people do it all the time but in order for it to mean something we have to be willing to humble ourselves and confess to those we’ve offended.
And then Jesus taught repentance and in Matthew 4:17 it says, “From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” And then He said in Luke 13:3, “I tell you, nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” So, Jesus was saying, if you don’t repent you’ll perish but if you do repent you’re going to live forever.
And listen, there’s nothing that bothers me more than talking to someone who calls themselves a Christian but if you ask them if they’re saved they say, “I hope so.” “I’m doing my best.” “We’ll see in the end.” “I’ve been a member of the church for three generations.” Or, “I certainly don’t live like the rest of the world.” Listen, you’re either saved by the blood of Jesus Christ or you’re not saved at all. I don’t care who you’re parents are or what church you belonged to or for how long. You’re either saved or you’re not and if you’re saved and living according to the word of God you’ll know it and if you aren’t sure then maybe you need to be saved.
So, everyone who is a true believer in Jesus Christ has repented or turned from their sin and then made a public confession of what they’ve done and it’s not enough to just to say it but our confession needs to be backed up by a life that’s lived consistently for Him.
About a month ago a man in Amsterdam felt that he needed to confess, so went to his priest and said: "Forgive me, for I have sinned; during WWII I hid a refugee in my attic." "Well," the priest said, "that certainly wasn’t a sin." "But; the man said, I made him agree to pay me about a months rent for every week he stayed." Well, the priest said, "I admit that wasn’t the best you could have done; but at least you did it for a good cause." "Oh, thank you, the man said that really eases my mind but I have one more question." And the priest asked, "And what’s that?" The man said, "Do you think I should tell him the war is over?" Our confession needs to be backed up by a life that’s consistent.
I believe the devil has many different ways to deceive people and make them feel comfortable while they’re living in sin by confusing them about the issue of repentance.
For instance,
Repentance is not just praying a prayer or feeling bad about your sin because there are a lot of people who’ve prayed for forgiveness but they’ve never turned from their sin. So, it’s not just about making some kind of decision that ends when you run into a problem or two but it’s making a commitment that depends on the faithfulness of God to save and keep you.
I remember when Sally and I moved back from New York and six months later I began at London Baptist; well, during the weekends I was hired as a part time youth pastor in Guelph. We had all kinds of things for the kids and one night we took both our kids and the kids from a neighboring Baptist church to a Word of Life Youth Rally where Jack Wyrtzen was speaking. Well, as we were on the way I had to get after a couple of girls from the other church because they were getting a little too cozy with a few of the guys from our church. I actually made them change seats. And then these girls let me know how much of a jerk they thought I was; but I didn’t care then and I still don’t care.
Now, during the previous year besides going to Word of Life Bible Institute I had also been singing for Jack about two and three times a week; and Sally and I had lived just two doors away from him; so we had got to know both him and his wife very well. At the end of the service Jack gave an altar call and a pile of kids went forward either for salvation or rededication and two of those who went forward were those two girls that I had made change seats on the bus.
Well, at the close of the service with all these kids at the front who had made decisions Jack introduced me and asked me to come up and close the service in prayer. As I got to the front; the two girls who just came forward with everyone else looked at me like they could have killed me. And it made me wonder; why did they come forward? It certainly wasn’t to confess their sinfulness and make wrongs things right; so, they must have come for another reason. You see, I think they just felt bad and then felt better because they came forward and they prayed a prayer but their prayer didn’t make too much of a change in their hearts. You see, repenting from sin is more than just praying a prayer.
Repentance is also not just regret. There are a lot of people who feel sorry for the sins they’ve committed or they’re sorry they were caught in sin and they regretted doing it. I’ve had at least two people tell me over the years that they’ve repented of immorality and then went on to let me know how much they really enjoyed it. Listen, they weren’t sorry for the sin they committed; they were sorry they either got caught or for the guilt they experienced. You see, they knew they needed to repent but they loved the sin too much to forget it and let it go, so, they were living in regret.
I remember another man who told me almost every time we met how he almost committed adultery with his sister-in-law and he told me this story so many times that I’ve come to the conclusion that he wasn’t living in victory over the temptation but he was simply reliving it.
Real repentance means we have to come not only to the point of feeling sorry for the consequences of our sin but to hate the sin itself because we see it as something that could have condemned us to hell and then cost Jesus His life to save us from there.
And do you know what the biggest problem we all have is? There are some private little sins that we think no one else knows about and these are sins we enjoy when we assume no one else is looking and we think we look pretty good too; but God knows and sees everything. God knows what you think before you think it.
Lucy explained to her manager Charlie Brown at the end of a game why she lost sight of the baseball that was coming right towards her and she said, “Sorry I missed that easy fly ball Charlie, I thought I had it, but suddenly I remembered all the others I’ve missed, and the past got in my eyes.” And that’s regret but it’s not repentance.
Repentance is also not just reformation. There are many who have changed their lives in a lot of good ways and yet, they’ve never really repented but somehow they’ve come to the conclusion that the particular sins they committed were youthful lusts and they cleaned up their act as they matured and moved on. They’ve reformed from their evil ways but they haven’t really changed.
Repentance is also not just being afraid of God because being afraid doesn’t actually mean we’re going to be obedient to Him or His word. I remember back home in Cape Breton there were several Roman Catholics in my neighborhood and every four years the Catholic church had what were known as Missions and these Missions were meetings that were led by very dynamic priests and these guys were known as the Missions Brothers. Now, these weren’t what we think of as missions but these particular priests would speak every night for four days and they’d tell these really wild and scary stories that all revolved around going to hell if you weren’t faithful to the church. And a couple of my Catholic friends would tell me about these stories and they believed that every one of them were true because after all; a priest told them and he certainly had no reason to lie.
For instance, one was about a young Catholic girl who went to a dance and she met the most handsome, charming young protestant and she had the time of her life; but, when he was taking her home she was about to kiss him and she looked down at the ground and saw a hoof where his foot should have been. And you know who that was! Why, it was Satan himself.
So, the people would go there and be terrified and then they’d all feel good because they were too afraid to do anything that would displease God. You see, they didn’t repent or turn from sin; all they experienced was fear rather than forgiveness.
In Biblical terms, repentance is changing your mind about sin and changing your mind about God.
So, Joseph wanted to know if his brothers had really repented and changed their minds about what they had done, because their past had been a secret and it looked as though they had brushed everything under the rug and forgot about it for the last twenty years. So, before Joseph was going to risk his position as the assistant to Pharaoh and his mission to save both the nation of Egypt and the world around them from starvation; he wanted to make sure there was a real change in his brother’s lives and he also wanted to make sure they were really sorry for what they had done before they found out who he was.
I was reading where the United States government has something called the Federal Conscience Fund and this fund is for people to send money to because they know they cheated the government in some way. People have sent in money because they took army blankets for souvenirs, for cheating on postage and most commonly on income tax. And yet, everybody’s conscience can be weakened when they practice certain sins for a long time. One man wrote and said, “I cheated on my taxes and I can’t sleep at night. Here is a check for $100 and if I still can’t sleep, I’ll send the rest.”
And when you think about it, it would have been easy for these brothers to move into Egypt and enjoy all the privileges and yet Joseph would always be wondering if they weren’t going to finish what they started if there was no change in their hearts.
And it’s interesting to see how they began their conversation because they told the truth about once being 12 brothers but they weren’t completely honest because they just said “one is no more.” It’s like someone asking about someone’s brother who they were ashamed of and them saying, “We don’t talk about him anymore.”
So, for twenty years, they had all been silent about the fact they had sold their brother into slavery and that he hadn’t actually died. And for twenty years they were lying; to themselves, to their father, to the rest of the family and ultimately to God Himself; because they were living as though nothing had happened.
And even though they were guilty and knew it and even though their father had been mourning all this time, they never said a word. And do you know what happens to people who spend their lives hiding the truth? When bad things happen; they assume they’re being punished for something they’ve done.
So, Joseph does a couple of things to find out if they’ve really changed from the last time he saw them. First, in verse 14-16 he accuses them of being spies and told them they’d have to go get Benjamin and then he threw the whole bunch of them in jail for three days. And then they spilled their guts about what they had done not knowing that Joseph could understand every word they were saying. It’s in verse 21, “And they said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us.”
And then we see the contention among them when Reuben spoke up in verse 22, “And Reuben answered them, saying, spake I not unto you, saying, do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required.” And here it seems like Reuben was the good guy but I think he was just the wishy, washy type; because on one hand he disagreed with what they had done but on the other he never said anything to his father. And Reuben’s attitude shouldn’t surprise us because there is always someone trying to blame someone else for what they were responsible for in the first place. It’s like one writer said, “Most families are like fudge; mostly sweet, with a few nuts.” And that certainly describes Reuben.
We see his attitude today as criminals hire defense lawyers to help them to get away with crimes and then they and their lawyers either try to pin the blame on somebody else or figure out some other way to maintain their innocence.
I remember I had a next door neighbor who was a lawyer when I was living in Toronto and one morning his car wouldn’t start, so, he asked me for a ride downtown. And, as we were driving along I asked him what kind of law he practiced and he said, “It was strictly corporate business law.” And then I asked, if he had ever done criminal law and he said, “I did criminal law for the first five years and I discovered that people who steal for a living will also steal from their lawyer because no matter what you do no one wants to pay you. If they’re found guilty they don’t feel you deserve anything and if they get off they’ll try to find some way to get their money back.” And that was Reuben; he said all the right things but he never followed through.
And then after the three days Joseph let them go but kept Simeon in jail while he also put their money in their sacks and when they got home they were terrified because they didn’t have a clue as to what was going on.
And then over in chapter 43 we see that the famine got worse and of course they ran out of food and they knew they were going to have to do something and the really weird thing is they had left Simeon in jail and they didn’t seem to be all that worried about him or his situation. They just stayed home till all the food was gone and then they thought they had better do something.
So, Judah said to his father, if you don’t let us take Benjamin and go, then we’re all going to stay here and starve. And after a long discussion Jacob finally decided to send Benjamin because it was either send him to Egypt where he might die or keep him at home and everybody would die.
So, on their first trip to Egypt Joseph had accused them of being spies and then on the second trip he set a trap to see if there was any change in their hearts. And as they all went to Egypt everything seemed to be going alright until they were on their way home and they didn’t know it but Joseph had set them up.
In chapter 44:1-3 it says, “And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth. And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, and his corn money. And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.” And when Joseph’s men caught up with them and accused them of stealing his special cup they said in verse 9, “With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die, and we also will be my lord’s bondmen.” And of course they found it in Benjamin’s sack.
And then in 16 we see Judah’s confession where it says, “And Judah said, what shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found.” He said; God has discovered our sin or everything we had ever did wrong has finally caught up with us and God is paying us back.
So what was Joseph trying to do by making them appear like thieves? He was trying to expose them for what they were; not as honest men; but as dishonest liars and he was trying to get them to face their sinfulness.
And let’s face it, if we brush our sins under the rug and hope the years will take care of it, someday God will apply pressure to our lives and our conscience will wake up to things that happened as though it were yesterday.
And, here we come to the forgiveness and reconciliation part, where Joseph loves his enemies and does good to those who have hated him and welcomed those who have abused him.
And it’s a good end and yet many of our stories haven’t ended that well because those who have hurt us have either acted as though it was no big deal or maybe they’ve died and we feel as though we were left holding the bag but, regardless of where they are or what they think; God has commanded us to forgive so we can be free. And ultimately it’s His job to deal with those who are the offenders. You see, forgiving others is what we do for ourselves, so, we don’t end up carrying around a poison that eats away our hearts.
And then in chapter 45 it says, “Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. “
Notice that when Joseph told them who he was, it says, “And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.” Listen, they didn’t know what to say. It probably seemed like all their bad dreams had just come true because the boy they thought they killed was standing right in front of them and he had all the power in the world.
Conclusion
For years, Jacob and his sons had lived without having to think about God and life for them went on as normal. They got up, did their work, came home, and the next day they started all over again. They were content and their needs were met and life went on as usual but when the famine came God got their attention. You see, it’s easy to avoid God when we have everything we need. It is easy to feel we have no need of God when everything’s running smoothly. And these men were comfortable as long as everything remained the same but when God brought about the crisis of the famine they’d either harden their hearts or they’d wake up.
You know, God could have simply washed His hands of this crowd. He could have simply said, “Forget it” but that’s not what He did and that’s not what He does with you and me. God loves us too much to let us go without a fight. So, at times He exercises “tough love” and brings something into our lives to force us to address the hard questions of life. It may be an unexpected diagnosis, a financial emergency, an overwhelming situation, or even a family crisis. And in these situations God is often waking us up out of our spiritual sleepiness.
Are you going through a tough time? Is your life a struggle right now? Is God trying to get your attention? Listen, He loves us so much that He wants us to be His and He will stop at nothing until we turn our hearts toward Him.
