God had told Abraham that his family would spend
four generations in Egypt (Genesis 15:13-14). In these chapters we are reading
how God brought that prophecy to pass.
God had it in His mind to get the family of Israel into Egypt where He
would nurse them into becoming a nation. He had a number of chess moves to put
together in order to make it happen. And, indeed He was very busy. Think of all
of the conditions and people who were affected by the providential manipulation
of events that was used in bringing it all to pass. Literally, the whole world
went through 7 years of famine so that God could motivate Jacob to pluck up his
roots and move to the northeast corner of Africa.
The 7 years of agricultural prosperity must have
been spectacularly productive. Not only did the population of Egypt live by
eating of the revenue that came from those years, but grain was sold to
foreigners for food and to the Egyptians as seed for their fields (Genesis
47:19 & 23). God had surely provided plenty from the period of prosperity
for the days of difficulty.
Well, Jacob found out that he could get food from
Egypt, so he sent his 10 older sons there to buy grain. Of course, none of them
had any idea that they would be buying their grain from Joseph. But, there they
were, bowing ignorantly before their little brother (Genesis 42:6) in exact
fulfillment of Joseph's dream… which they had despised (Genesis 37:7). With
wisdom and (I believe) inspiration, Joseph accused his brothers of espionage in
order to discover their hearts and ultimately to bring his dreams to pass.
Joseph detained his brothers for 3 days and then
demanded that they bring their other brother back with them upon their return.
As they stood and confessed among themselves their guilt concerning Joseph, he
had to leave the room because of his own tears as he saw their anguish. He had
been through similar distress himself (Genesis 42:21). He knew well how they
were feeling. Yet, he kept his identity secret and forced them to leave Simeon
behind as insurance of their eventual return to Egypt. Then he sent them back
to Canaan with grain... and with the price of the grain hidden in their grain
sacks. Of course, rather than being
grateful for the refund, their guilty consciences drove them to fear.
When the 9 brothers returned to Israel with their
grain, their stories, and the demand concerning Benjamin...and without Simeon,
Jacob was devastated. "Benjamin will not go to Egypt!" he insisted
indignantly. But, he didn't realize who he was up against. God and Joseph would
get their way, despite Jacob's resistance.
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