On Wednesday of this week we read as part of the reading from GENESIS 43:26-31; 45:1-16: 

 

“So Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come near to me, I pray you.’ And they came near. And he said, ‘I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.’” 

  

What a moment this must have been for the brothers of Joseph. The ruler of Egypt, the most powerful man in the whole country, save for Pharaoh himself, has turned out to be their own brother, the one that they had betrayed and sold off into slavery. Not only are they reunited with their brother, but he has forgiven them for their sin against him, and he will provide for their safety and welfare during the time of famine that they are facing for the next five years. 

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Joseph’s brothers have come to a point of forgiveness, of salvation, but this was not an easy journey for them, neither literally nor figuratively. The brothers journey from Canaan to Egypt in order to buy grain during a famine, they are brought before Zaphnath-Paaneah, their brother Joseph, whom they do not recognize, the second most powerful man in Egypt. Rather than the straightforward transaction they were expecting, however, one of the most powerful men in the world accuses them of being spies, interrogates them about their family back in Caanan, and orders them to be thrown into prison. Here they stay for three days, until they are released. Joseph orders their bags filled with grain, but one of their number is taken, bound, and remains in the custody of the Egyptians until the brothers return with their youngest brother, Benjamin. Upon arriving back home in Canaan, they find the money bags, which they had exchanged for the grain, returned to their grain sacks. 

Jacob does not wish to put his youngest son Benjamin at risk, and so decides not to have his sons return to Egypt to free their brother. They are, however, forced to return to Egypt by necessity when they run out of food, and must travel there to buy more grain. When they bring their youngest brother Benjamin before Joseph, he invites them all to lunch, where he shows favor to Benjamin over his other brothers, giving him five times the amount of food that he gives the rest of them.  

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Joseph then sends them off with packs full of grain, but has again secreted their money pouches in their grain sacks, this time, however, he also has his steward hide a golden cup in the pack of Benjamin. Ordering his men to overtake the brothers and bring them back to him, Joseph has the packs searched and, finding the cup he planted in Benjamin’s pack, he threatens to keep him as a slave, while sending the rest back to their father. Bejamin’s older brothers intervene and offer to take his place.  

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At this point, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and they are reconciled to each other. Joseph then sends for his father and the rest of their families to live out the rest of the famine in the safety and plenty of Egypt. 

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Reading the story, we know that Joseph is challenging his brothers, and leading them toward this final reconciliation. Their time in the prison cell brought to their mind their betrayal and selling of Joseph, allowing them the opportunity to repent for what they had done. We can see that his manipulation of his brothers by putting their money back in their bag, keeping Simeon a captive, inviting them to dine, favoring Benjamin, and secreting his cup in Benjamin’s pack all lead to one moment, the opportunity for the older brothers to offer themselves in sacrifice for their younger brother, and the ultimate reconciliation and salvation of the family. 

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The brothers, however, almost certainly could not see this, they only saw themselves in a whirlwind of confusing, conflicting, and unintelligible circumstance. It was only in the final revelation by Joseph, that they saw the movement that had led to this final moment. How easy would it have been for the brothers to throw up their hands in frustration, to give up? What would have been the result of this? The brothers, their father, and all their other family would have died of starvation! 

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How well we can recognize ourselves in the persons of the brothers. We require repentance, we require healing, reconciliation, and salvation, and God directs our lives to make this possible. We cannot always see, however, how our the various circumstances of our lives work to help us toward repentance and salvation. Like the brothers, we are often confused and overwhelmed by what occurs in our lives, and it is only in the Revelation that we will see how the bigger picture. It would be easy for us to throw up our hands, to say, “I am finished with the spiritual life.” But what would be the result of that? We would miss our opportunity for repentance, our opportunity for reconciliation, and we will miss out on our salvation, we too will starve in a land of famine, instead of going to the land of plenty. 

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