Trinity Baptist Church July 16, 2006
Series: Character on Display
When Integrity Encounters the Guilty
Genesis 42
Most people love “rags to riches” stories -- especially if the people who suddenly come into wealth are the “good people“ in the story.
One of my favorite “rags to riches” accounts is The Count of Monte Christo. I’m not fascinated just by the illustration of a poor prisoner who suddenly gains freedom and wealth. What grabs me is how he’s transformed -- from a man who could -- most would say should -- take revenge on his enemies -- into a man who realizes that vengeance is completely unsatisfying. As a matter of fact, he discovers that vengeance weakens the character of the one who takes it.
Today’s chapter from Joseph’s life begins a period, lasting at least a few months, when he could have had amazing revenge. But, when revenge was his for the taking, the man of character chose a very different course.
We’ve looked at several episodes in Joseph’s life. We saw him separated from his father who favored him over all his brothers. In reality, God rescued Joseph from a lifetime of dysfunctional relationships. His brothers had hated him and they plotted his death, then decided to sell him instead, to traders on their way to Egypt. In Egypt, Joseph became a slave who rose to authority and responsibility. In that role, he was repeatedly tempted by the woman of the house. Because he refused her, he was falsely accused and incarcerated. There in prison, he again rose to responsibility.
Genesis has repeatedly said, God never abandoned him. And Joseph never budged from faithfulness to God. Out of faithfulness to God, he served his different masters faithfully. No grumbling and complaining about where God had him for the time. No bitterness toward his brothers or others is evident. No gossiping or whining about unjust treatment -- all because Joseph recognized God’s hand and he knew God’s heart. We’ve learned that all Joseph endured was, in reality, God’s character-building curriculum.
God took a man who’d been a prime candidate to become a selfish prig, like his father -- and He transformed him into a man of character and integrity. He’s a guy, about whom the OT says practically nothing negative. But let’s not forget: God did His good work on Joseph’s character -- not with an air brush -- but with a hammer and chisel, with intense heat and horrible darkness -- and with lots of time.
There was abuse, affliction, accusation and abandonment. But God was with him. God provided him the gift of His nearness and God revealed to him His character. So Joseph learned in long dark days to trust God alone, when nothing and no person was trustworthy. Like the Psalms teach us, he threw himself on God alone, and he found that God was enough.
The remainder of Joseph’s life is associated with power, privilege and possessions. God tested him with affliction, now He trusts him with great resources and authority. The one-time slave, one-time prisoner is now Prime Minister of Egypt. We studied that sudden move last time.
Now comes a whole brand of temptation. God places into his hands the very people who “did him dirty”. His own brothers.
I don’t know about you, but at different times in my life, I’ve had a list of people, written in the back of mind and guarded closely. It was a list of people who had hurt me. There was an abuser on my list. And hateful people. Accusers. Christians who were uncaring or harsh. Gossips, people who treated me shabbily.
You have a list like that? Joseph is going to teach us what to do those lists.
We’ve watched events unfold in Joseph’s experience down in Egypt. Suddenly Genesis takes us back to his homeland and to his family. Twenty years or so have passed since his departure. We’ll see in the account that he’s not been forgotten, though his guild-ridden brothers have tried to put out of their memories the pain they caused him.
This famine God revealed to Pharaoh in dreams Joseph interpreted has come. It’s hit full force. There is no food growing anywhere. Chapter 41 describes the famine as worldwide. There is universal suffering, except in one place. Down in Egypt a capable and faithful administrator has consistently stored up grain enough, that now, there is food. All the grain stored during the years of plenty is now available and being distributed.
Chapter 42, verse 1. “Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons,‘Why are you staring at one another.’” In other words,“don’t just stand there helpless.”
“I’ve heard there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us...so that we may live and not die.“
Notice then his instructions. You ten go. Not Benjamin, who‘s taken Joseph‘s place as dad’s favorite. Why not? Jacob simply says, “some harm may come to him“. It’s been two decades since the ten of you brought me bad news about Joseph and that’s not going to happen again. Notice he seems unconcerned that some harm may come on the other ten sons. Just Benjamin is his concern.
They travel to Egypt. Foreigners who “came to buy food apparently were taken directly to the administrator of famine relief.” Verse 6. “Joseph was the ruler over the land. He sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.“
Twice, one time in verse 7 and again in verse 8, we read "Joseph recognized his brothers". He’s got the advantage. They don’t know him. Plus, we read, he disguised himself -- he spoke roughly to them -- maybe in case they might recognize his voice. And, they speak his mother tongue, through a translator, and of course, he heard and knew every word they spoke.
And then verse 9 takes us all the way back to Joseph’s early life at home. We read, “Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them.”
Three observations about this amazing encounter with his brothers.
First, 1. The encounter reminds Joseph of his dreams. (42:1-9)
He had dreamed of his family bowing to him. In two different dreams God had revealed that future to him, when he was just 17 or so. Now he’s somewhere near 40. He’s clean-shaven, dressed like an Egyptian; he’s fluent in the language and he speaks through an interpreter. All these years have passed and he’s grown from a boy to a man.
We read, although he recognized him, they didn’t know him. Again, verse 7 told us, he spoke harshly with them.
Here’s the classic opportunity, but it‘s also a test. A man with absolute power faces brothers who had done what they did to him. He probably looked down the row -- from face to face. He recognized each one. He heard the voices and the language he would have rarely spoken for the last 20 plus years.
He speaks demandingly. “Where are you from, why are you here?” They say respectfully that they’re “from Canaan and have come to buy food“. And those dreams came over and over to Joseph’s memory. The dream of the sheaves, each bowing to his. The dream of the stars, all also bowing to him.
But Joseph knew there was much more going on in all of this -- it‘s not a simple matter of his dreams. So he bought himself some time. “You aren’t telling the truth! You’re spies, you’ve come to find our weak spots so you can attack us.” Back when Joseph was his father’s favorite, he’d go out to check on them, sent by his father. Chapter 37 says, he often would bring back a bad report. They had thought of him as dad’s spy. Now he accuses them of being spies.
He levels the accusation three times. They protest; they are merely 10 brothers, of an original 12, they tell him. One is no more, but one brother is still at home. When Joseph hears that, he lands on his plan. I’ll give you an opportunity to demonstrate you speak the truth.
One of you go get that brother you’ve described and you bring him here. His first threat is to lock the other nine in prison and let one go for the younger brother. That brother’s appearance will confirm whether all their words are true.
Verse 17: after that pronouncement Joseph locks them all in prison for three days.
You can imagine the reactions and the conversations that went on in that cell for the three days. When the three days are up, Joseph meets with them one more time. In verse 18, he says, ”do this and live, for I fear God. If you are honest men, let one brother be confined here, and the rest of you go, take the grain to feed the household, then return here with your younger brother.”
It’s at that point that they start talking among themselves. Assuming of course, that no one can understand them. Look at verse 21: “Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul, when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen, therefore this distress has come upon us! Reuben answers: did I not tell you, ‘do not sin against the boy!?’“
A second observation:
2. The encounter stirs the brothers’ guilt. (42:9-24)
Their seared consciences have been activated. They link their bad treatment now with how they treated their brother 20 earlier. 20 years is a long time to carry something. And, time might callous things over, but it doesn’t erase guilt or lift the guilty conscience it produces.
In Hebrew there’s an repetitive emphasis on the pronoun "we". Literally it says, we are guilty, we saw the distress of his soul, we would not listen.
They’re no longer playing the blame game; they’re beginning to realize and own the depth of their sin against Joseph. There’s also a repetition with the term distress. First it was Joseph’s distress, now it’s their distress.
Imagine Joseph’s emotional reaction as he listens to their words, hearing them admitting their guilt over how they treated him. The text says, he couldn’t handle it. He had to leave to the room and go somewhere private so he could cry. Tears of relief, joy, sadness over all the lost time and relationship.
He knew they were starting to break, just like God had broken him, in Potiphar’s house, in slavery, in prison, in God’s waiting room.
Someone wrote, “God does not pay at the end of every day, but at the end, He pays.” The bills have come due and the brothers realize they are guilty; right now they assume the worst is about to happen because of that guilt.
Still Joseph will not speak to them. He doesn’t reveal himself. He weeps in private, then he returns and still He communicates through a translator. The plan will go forward. One will stay his prisoner, the others will go home and bring the 11th son to him.
Why does Joseph test them?
For one reason, to press their claim of honesty. Remember what they professed in verse 11: Joseph pressed them with the idea that they were spies, and they responded with,
"We are all sons of one man; we are honest men, your servants are not spies." Part of the need of a guilty soul is to begin to be honest about everything.
Remember, these are his deceiving siblings, the ones who’d sold him off, who had then dipped his coat in animal blood and gave it to his father giving him the impression his son was dead.
They’ve lived with the guilt of that act and that deception for two decades. And to the face of what they think is a harsh Egyptian ruler, they’ve glibly made the claim of being honest men. So Joseph will press that claim all the way.
Joseph also is thinking about the fulfillment of his dreams. If he declares himself to them now, they may never bring the rest of the family to Egypt. He has no confidence that they will every return without pressure.
He’s testing them in order to bring the whole family to him. That will not just accomplish the fulfillment of the dream; it will rescue Jacob’s family from starvation. It will provide them a place where a family can grow into a nation. Their physical future is at stake, and from God’s perspective their spiritual welfare is as well. The Egyptian territory of Goshen will become a safe haven for their growth for several generations. Later, when he finally declares himself to them, he says, God sent me ahead of you, to preserve life….to keep you alive by a great deliverance (45:5f) We’ll see the end of Joseph’s plan in the next couple of weeks.
A third observation:
3. The encounter initiates grace for the undeserving. (42:25-38)
In verse 19, when Joseph appears to change his mind, and let 9 of the 10 return, he says, carry grain for the famine of your households.
He’s graciously giving them the
Provision they needed.
He won’t send them away empty handed; obviously, there’s no malice and vindictiveness about his encounter with them.
Then Joseph does one more thing. The money they have brought to pay for the food, he has his men put back into their grain sacks.
He graciously gives them
Money they didn’t deserve.
That too might be an honesty test. If it is, he’s going to find out if they would not only return with Benjamin, but also bring back the money that was “accidentally” returned to them. But I think, given the context of Joseph’s character at this point, he’s simply being generous and gracious in providing their food without cost.
The intriguing thing at this point is how the brothers respond to the money, and how both the brothers and Jacob respond to the whole encounter.
Reactions to the encounter
For His Brothers: the pessimism of a guilty conscience.
Guilty people assume the worst. In verse 28, after they stop for the first night at a lodging place, one opens up a sack to give his donkey some food for the night. And there’s his money in the mouth of the sack. The others discover after they all get home that their money was in their sacks as well! Look at their response. It says, their hearts sank. They tremble.
Trembling, they ask one another: What is this that God has done to us?!!
That’s the first time God has been used in their vocabulary. At least they recognize that He’s involved.
Jacob isn’t much different. The Patriarch, the spiritual head of the household, the one who should have heard their story and understood that God’s hand was involved. They arrive home, in verse 29; they tell the story of the man they met, how he spoke harshly to them accused them, kept Simeon a prisoner and sent them home telling them to return with their brother Benjamin. And Jacob responds: You have bereaved me of my children. (My children!) Joseph is no more; Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin. All these things are against me!
His father: a self centered view of life.
Look at the whole situation as it now stands: Here’s grain to keep the whole family alive. Money has somehow been returned.
"All we have to do is take Benjie back and prove that we were telling the truth." It’s a two week trip. But no. "God’s out to get us." All this is stacked against me. At least the brothers assumed God was involved in the transaction. But from father Jacob there’s no word about God, only bad luck and personal disaster for himself.
Guilty and self-centered people can‘t discern grace.
Steps I need to take
In the Count of Monte Christo movie, there’s a scene when Edmund’s servant offers to simply go and kill all of Edmund’s enemies. The new “Count” replies, “No! They must suffer as I have suffered!”
Let me ask you the question I asked earlier. Do you keep a list -- a list of people who’ve hurt you?
Keeping a list of offenders may not just be remembering the hurts. It can also be the desire to get back at them. To somehow make them experience the pain they caused us.
Someone said, character means “doing what’s right, no matter the cost and on matter the consequences”. Let me tell you this morning – there’s one thing that character will cost you -- it will cost you your list. It will mean giving up that urge to get back.
God presses us to Himself. Why? So we will trust Him, to do what’s right -- what’s right toward us, and toward others. Will you turn your list over to Him today?
