THE FOUNDATION OF OUR ULTIMATE HOPE

Genesis 44:1-45:15
Bob Bonner
October 7, 2007

Many Christians I speak to tell me of their great hope and assurance of one day being with Jesus; and when they speak of this great hope, they speak of the relief they will experience from living in this world. As I listen to their words, I also hear in between the lines, a hopelessness that they will be able to live with any confidence or joy in their lives today here on earth. And further, there are many different reasons for this: hardships, abuse, injustices, personal failures of various kinds and precious dreams or expectations that have been shattered. This morning, our passage of Scripture speaks to just one of those confidence-and-hope stealers that exist among us. It speaks to the frustration and anxiety that comes when we see little change going on in our lives. The hopelessness that comes when we consistently see personal failure in our own lives, again and again. Failure that is so painful and humiliating that sometimes we wish we didn’t have to wake up again and be here on earth. If you sometimes feel that way, or know someone else who does, Genesis 44-45, as understood in its broader context should bring comfort to you or them, or both!

These two chapters cover about a 24-hour period. By the end of this critical day of testing, 39 years of unresolved conflict between brothers will be resolved and brothers will be reconciled and on their way to restoration. As chapter 44 opens, the twelve brothers have finished feasting with one another, and presumably, all but Joseph have gone to bed. Of the eleven brothers, none have yet to recognize the V. P. of Egypt as Joseph, the brother they sold into slavery twenty-two years before. While they are unaware and presumably asleep, Joseph sets a trap that will lead to two final testings of his brothers, most specifically testings for one brother, Judah. This trap will inevitably force the brothers to return to Joseph, only hours after having left Joseph for their journey home. Having just left after sunup, and making only a few miles into their journey, they are stopped by Joseph’s steward.

Let’s start at the beginning of this unique 24-hour period, with Joseph’s first planned test. “Then he [Joseph] commanded his house steward, saying, ‘Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.’ And he did as Joseph had told him.”

There was no mistaking this cup for an ordinary cup. This was the personalized cup of the second-in-command over all of Egypt. Incidentally, the brothers had access to this cup all during dinner, so if they had wanted to steal it they could have, but they hadn’t.

“As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. They had just gone out of the city, and were not far off, when Joseph said to his house steward, ‘Up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you repaid evil for good? Is not this the one [meaning his cup] from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’”

More than likely, as a faithful follower of Yahweh, Joseph was not involved in divination. Divination is a form of sorcery. In Egypt at that time, they would mix liquids, like water and oil, or wine and other liquids and they would look for patterns to show up in the mixture. Through this process they would try to communicate with their gods as to the future, or whether or not someone was guilty, or the source of trouble, etc. More than likely, this statement by the steward that Joseph used this cup for divination was simply part of the ruse to get the brothers back to Joseph. Joseph had a well-deserved reputation for prophetic insight, and the brothers themselves had noted with wonder how Joseph had been able to have them seated at the table in order of their respective ages.

“So he overtook them and spoke these words to them. They said to him, ‘Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. Behold, the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.’ So he said, ‘Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be innocent.’ Then they hurried, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. Then they tore their clothes, and when each man loaded his donkey, they returned to the city.”

As sack after sack was emptied without disclosing the cup, the brothers must have felt more and more vindicated and resentful toward this steward. But then, in the very last sack, that of Benjamin, there was the missing cup! To read, “Then they tore their clothes...” barely expresses the grief, confusion and fear they felt. Imagine what was happening inside each brother’s heart, including Benjamin’s, as they re-packed their donkeys, turned around and rode back to the city.

Ten years earlier, these same older brothers might have reasoned that there was no cause for them and their families to suffer for Ben’s crime. Besides, here they had an unexpected opportunity to be rid of him just as they had gotten rid of Joseph long ago. No doubt Jacob would take the news with grief, and it might even cause his death. Yet, the Word clearly states that “all...returned.” Each of them had passed the test; they do not abandon their brother.

“When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him. Joseph said to them, ‘What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice divination?’”

At this point, Judah comes to the front and the nobility of this man really stands out now. Remember it is from the tribe of Judah that the Savior is to come. This man makes one of the finest speeches ever recorded. He makes a full confession that it is because of their sin that this has come upon them. “So Judah said, ‘What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; [God has uncovered the sin of your servants.] behold, we are my lord’s slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found.’”

Judah doesn’t get any more specific about their sins at this point, because he doesn’t need to with a supposed stranger. It is enough for him, on behalf of his brothers, to admit to this foreign leader that he and his brothers have, in the past, acted wickedly, and deserve what they are about to receive. It’s amazing that he would do even that. But in so doing, he has passed the first test, a vertical test as to whether or not these brothers had come to that place of repentance where they were interested in and serious about seeing God’s hand in their lives.

Having passed the vertical test, Joseph gives them a horizontal test. In fact, the remainder of the chapter is devoted to this horizontal test. Which would these brothers choose, freedom and safety for themselves or for Benjamin? Had there been any lasting change in their hearts? That’s the question Joseph wants answered. “But he [Joseph] said, ‘Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.’” In other words, Joseph, continuing the charade, speaks justly: “It’s not fair for all of you to become slaves for this one man’s wrongdoing. Only he shall be punished.” Remember, Joseph was sold as a slave and forgotten. Would they forget this brother who was about to be enslaved?

Notice who once again steps up to the plate to speak on behalf of the family. Judah, the ringleader who was responsible for setting in motion the selling of Joseph into slavery. Judah was the same brother who twenty-two years ago had enough of this crazy dysfunctional family, such that he had turned his back on them and the God of their father’s to live with the Canaanites as one of their pagan neighbors. “Then Judah approached him, and said, ‘Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh.’”

In the following verses, Judah reminds Joseph of their previous discussions, emphasizing the importance of this son, Benjamin, to his father. In this extensive speech, the longest one in Genesis, Judah is going to refer to his father twenty times, and to his brother Benjamin, sixteen times, which emphasizes the concern and focus of Judah’s heart. How is it that so suddenly, Judah has become so sensitive to his father’s grief over the loss of his two sons? Well, keep in mind that the events of chapter 38 are chronologically very close to this one in time. If you remember, in chapter 38 Judah had lost in death two of his own sons, and had just recently, within the year, been given two more sons by Tamar. God has touched Judah’s heart through his own loss, so that now he feels for his own father’s loss, a man whom he had previously hated.

Judah’s following speech is probably the climactic moment in the book of Genesis. He speaks these words to Joseph, “My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ We said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’ Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.’ But we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ You said to your servants, however, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. Our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’ But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons; and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’ Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. For your servant [himself] became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then let me bear the blame before my father forever. Now, therefore, please let your servant [me] remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear that I see the evil that would overtake my father?’”

Wow! I’d say that Judah, on behalf of the rest of his brothers, passed the horizontal test of loving his brother! He was not going to forsake or turn his back on Benjamin. He was going to remain faithful to his little brother, even if it cost him his life! What an evidence of a man who has been saved by grace! Because he was now rightly related vertically to God, he would deal faithfully concerning his horizontal relationship with his brother Benjamin and his father, Jacob. 

Although there are aspects of Joseph’s life that call us to remember Jesus’ acts upon our behalf, Judah has clearly become a more beautiful type of Christ, more fully and realistically than even Joseph. Judah, in his willingness to sacrifice himself, the innocent for the guilty, had become the most Christ-like of all his brothers. Judah is the first person in Scripture who willingly offers his own life for another. Although Scripture does not say this in so many words, I believe this is the reason why Judah, rather than Joseph was selected to be the ancestor of the Messiah.

Repentance had done its work in Judah’s life. This is why in chapter 45, I believe that Joseph finally took off his mask and revealed himself. He was convinced that his brothers were the real deal. They had all passed the tests, including their ringleader, Judah. 

In addition, in these past three chapters, the emotional tension has been so great, that if it continued any more, something within the human soul would explode. There must be a release. And obviously, beginning with Chapter 45, Joseph agreed. He had to end the charade. The proof of his brother’s transformation was complete. He could no longer delay the need to be reconciled and to begin the process of restoration. Unable to hold it together any longer, Joseph reveals himself to his brothers, and in the process instructs them. We read, “Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, ‘Have everyone go out from me.’ So there was no man [no Egyptian] with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.”

This is the third time Joseph weeps. Each time he loses more control of his tender emotions toward his brothers. But this is the first time that he weeps in front of them. How long Joseph wept uncontrollably we don’t know. But it must have been a long time, in order for word to travel through the Egyptian grapevine back to “Pharaoh’s household.”

Imagine the confusion of the brothers at the surprise of this great leader’s sudden emotional outburst. What thoughts were going through their minds? Maybe, “What’s he going to do to us? And further, what do the Egyptians think is happening in here? Do they think we are hurting their Vice President?” I picture them frozen. No one moved or said a word. They simply waited and hoped that this great and powerful leader would calm down. “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.”

That word “dismayed” in Hebrew would be better translated “terrified” for it is a term used of paralyzing fear as felt by those involved in war. Their lives are clearly in the hands of the one they thought they killed. Seeing that they were frozen in fear, confused and not believing that he is really their brother, clean shaven and hidden behind Egyptian clothing, Joseph bids his brothers, “Please come closer to me. And they came closer. And he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.’”

The Hebrew verb to “come closer” refers not just to coming closer in a physical spatial sense of proximity, but to an intimate closeness. It is a term occasionally used for coming near for the purpose of embracing or kissing someone. It is not the common Hebrew word used for merely coming near or walking up close. Joseph also wanted his brothers to come closer to observe his face. This would provide final evidence that he was, in fact, one of the twelve—not an Egyptian ruler, but of their own race, their own flesh and blood. According to Dr. Gene Getz, some believe that when Joseph’s brothers came close, Joseph opened his royal robe and revealed to them that he was like them, a circumcised Hebrew, and not an uncircumcised Egyptian.

Further, when Joseph states, “The one you sold into Egypt” there is no rebuke intended in these words. Instead, it is his attempt to prove his identity; only Joseph knows this specific detail of their secret. Moreover, with their secret out, they can be freed from the suppressed shame of their past and move to embrace Joseph and the hope of a better future.

Having accomplished convincing them of who he was and of his genuine desire to show favor toward them, he goes further to put them at ease, to prove that he long ago had forgiven them and held no bitterness toward them. “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” [Note that between verses 5 and 8, Joseph stresses “God sent me” three times.] “For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.” Or better, a supernatural deliverance. Furthermore, this word “Deliverance” literally comes from the word, “survivors.” In other words, supernaturally, during these years of famine, they will survive because of the gracious supernatural hand of God extended toward them.

“Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”’ Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”

After revealing himself to them, and giving them instructions that he has longed to give, “Go get my Dad!” he physically displays his heartfelt desire to restore their relationships. “Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.”

From this point on, all the rest of the day and on into the night, we can easily imagine that Joseph recounted everything that had happened to him in Egypt. He probably even called in his wife and his two sons to introduce them. In turn, freed from their stunned silence, the rift has been bridged and intimacy has been achieved. The brothers respond by doing something they hadn’t done before in their whole lifetime. They sat around and talked together, telling him about their lives these past twenty-two years. There was much to talk about. It was a day to remember. Certainly, a day they never forgot.

At this point, let’s pause to think deeply about what we have witnessed in this text. To be specific, let’s consider what we can learn from Judah’s life. 

A good guess would put Judah about ten years older than his younger brother Joseph. That means that by the time Judah had gotten fed up with Joseph, who was 17, back in chapter 37, Judah was around 27 when he led the charge to getting rid of Joseph. 

At 27, Judah was mean-spirited, an experienced murdering man who took part in slaughtering the innocent Shechemites back in chapter 34. He was filled with hatred toward his brother, Joseph and his father, Jacob who had showed so much favoritism toward Joseph while disregarding Judah and the rest of his older sons. This sense of extreme rejection by father can be cited as a cause for Judah and the rest of his brothers’ rebellion against their father and later Judah’s denial of the God of his father who would have allowed such a thing. Surely, it led to Judah’s proposing to the rest of his brothers, without any sign of remorse, that they murder Joseph and get rid of him. But shortly after that, his murdering heart demonstrated its greediness as well. He went on to recommend to his brothers that they not kill Joseph, but at least get rid of him in a way that would make them some money. He proposed that they sell Joseph into slavery, to which the rest agreed.

After Joseph is gone, thinking that their problem was solved, they went home to tell their father, that his favored son had been killed by a wild animal. They probably knew that he would not be happy about this news, but what they did not expect was that he would grieve for years and never come out of it. Struck by the failure of their plan, and that rather than getting rid of Joseph and his favored status, they discovered that in death, Joseph was favored even more. In turn, Judah, in chapter 38, abandons his family and their God and moves away to live with the Canaanites. He marries one of them. He develops a business partnership with one of them. He basically becomes one with them.

Then God begins to work on Judah’s life. First, God kills two of Judah’s three wicked sons, bringing great grief to Judah’s life. This story ends with the sordid evil relationship with his daughter-in-law, Tamar, that produces twin boys. Providentially, it is through one of those boys that our Savior, Jesus Christ comes. As a result of this evil relationship with Tamar, God convicts Judah’s heart about his sinfulness. He is shamed by Tamar into realizing how pathetic a person he has become. At this time, and at the time of chapter 44, Judah is around 49 years old. That one chapter, chapter 38, is a brief summary of the middle twenty-two years of Judah’s life, and God’s working on his life.

By the time we finish chapter 44, what a miraculous transformation has occurred in this repentant sinner’s life. He has suddenly become sensitive again to the reality of the God of his father and his own sin. In chapters 42-44, we see much evidence of Judah’s repentance and God’s beginning work of transforming his life. Being a father who has lost two of his own sons, he is now sensitive to what his own hated father must be going through, believing he has lost two sons and maybe a third. Added to this sensitivity, he has become open to share with a stranger his own past failures, his wickedness, his lying ways and his desire to tell the truth and be an honest man. He has been transformed from a jealous, cold-blooded killer to one who is willing to die for another of his father’s favored sons. He, who sold another into slavery, is now willing to become another’s slave or die, if need be, to protect his younger brother.

Repentance had done its work...transformation had begun.  And I emphasize, it has only begun, for there is much more for Judah to learn. Which leads me to the first lesson we can take from Judah’s life:

That is that transformation is never immediate, but a process.. The New Testament makes this very clear. In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians he writes, “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (2 Cor. 5:17) In the original Greek language in which this is written, this verse describes that when a person trusts Christ, he is immediately saved and gone from being labeled a sinner to be labeled a saint. But even as saints who are right now a new creation, they still have the flesh and some old things that need to be tossed away so that new things can be grabbed. These new things do not immediately come, but come as a process.

This thought is verified elsewhere in Scripture. One example comes from this same letter, back in chapter 3, where we read, “We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” (2 Cor. 3:18) And that should be no surprise to any of us. Take Judah, 49 years of living in a dysfunctional home, abuse, past hurts, lack of spiritual training or modeling by his father...what would one expect? Instant, presto changeo!? And we are no different. Habit patterns, false beliefs that have crept in to control our lives, deep wounds from other’s abuse...those things don’t instantaneously change. In fact, it is a miracle that they can ever be changed.

And closely related to this lesson is that the process of transformation is different for each of us. But in the end, it is the same, in that the process of transformation takes a lifetime. Because of our past, we all come to Jesus with different baggage different hurts and insecurities that require different attention and time to let go of. I can’t expect you to be transformed at the same rate or in the same ways that I need to be transformed and you can’t expect me to be transformed or mature in areas that you are already mature. We are individuals who Jesus walks with individually to transform. The reality is that none of us will fully arrive as God’s completed project this side of heaven.

Which leads us to the good news, and that is that we will one day be fully transformed. And what’s even better news, is that our transformation is not up to us, but to God. Or to put this third lesson plainly, the beginning and the completion of the transforming work of our lives ultimately depends upon God. In fact, He promises us that this is so. We one day will have arrived. Paul instructs us in this matter when he writes, “For I am confident of this very thing, that He [God] who began a good work in you [your salvation and transformation] will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Phil. 1:6) In other words, in the day of Christ Jesus, when we see Him for the first time, face to face, God will have completed His transforming work of our lives, that He had not finished while we were alive on this earth. Hence, in this truth rests our ultimate hope. That God is responsible for finishing the transforming work He has begun in our lives.

And there is still more good news. When you look at Judah’s age, 49, and Jacob, his father’s age when the greatest spiritual transforming work took place in his life, he was well into his 100's. Hence, God’s transforming work in your life can begin at any age.

One last lesson that should be obvious to all of us. If we expect to live in harmony with one another, as Christians; if we expect to fulfill Christ’s great commission in reaching the lost and encouraging and building up those around us who have been saved, then we need to keep this lesson in mind: Because transformation takes a lifetime, all of us are challenged to suffer long with each other. Because I have not fully arrived and you have not fully arrived, we will step on each other’s toes. Joseph’s brothers, as we will see, did so after this great reunion. However, forgiveness and giving each other some wobble room is absolutely necessary for the health and growth of the family of God.

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