June 5 Sermon: Joseph's Deception
Think on these questions as you listen to this week’s message from Genesis 42:1-38:
1. How does the passage illustrate the concept of a "conscience" and the role it plays in the lives of the characters, especially Joseph's brothers? How does their conscience evolve over time?
2. In the story, Joseph's brothers experience a deep sense of guilt and conviction for their past actions. How does this relate to the broader theme of redemption and forgiveness in the biblical narrative, and what lessons can we draw from it in our own lives?
3. The passage highlights the idea that God's plans often involve suffering and unexpected twists. How does Joseph's journey, from being sold into slavery to becoming a powerful figure in Egypt, reflect the concept of a "theology of the cross" versus a "theology of glory"? How might this apply to our understanding of God's work in our lives today?
Transcript:
The conscience is an interesting thing. Sometimes it is a mere whisper in your mind and at other moments it is voice that rings through over all the other noise in your head. It is that voice that we try to silence but it can’t be avoided or ignored. It is something that we can’t quantify or maybe even explain but we know it exists because we have all felt the pangs that it creates within in us. One thing that is amazing about our conscience is that often it causes us to remember things that we have done in the past and we feel this unbelievable sense of guilt. Now, maybe the we are able to push it back when it comes back to mind or maybe like the story of the Telltale Heart it becomes something that we can’t ignore. Regardless, the conscience is a very powerful thing and our feelings of guilt and conviction can continue even beyond the moment.
And as we have been working through the story of Joseph, perhaps you’ve wondered what was going on in the minds of his brothers over the years. How often did they remember the day that day they threw him into the pit and sold him into slavery and feel a sinking feel in their gut? How often did their conscience wake them up in the middle of the night scared that one day the truth would come out? How often did they have private meetings and confirm that the strength in their collusion was strong and that none of them was going to tell their father the truth? In our passage for today we clearly see that this event 17 years ago is still fresh in their minds and they feel as though they deserve to be punished for their actions.
As we come to this passage we aren’t going to break it down into points but instead work through the story considering the different perspectives and take in the drama of the story.
As we drop in to chapter 42 we are reminded of what I mentioned last week.
Genesis 42:1–5
ESV
When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.” So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.
I mentioned that if we think about the story being told in Genesis it doesn’t make much sense to have so much time spent on Joseph and on Egypt. Joseph is not in the covenant line to the Messiah and the Egyptians most certainly are not. While the book of Genesis has had some stories that were asides that don’t concern the covenant line they have been relatively short. We broke off and heard about the family line of Cain and we followed Ishmael into the wilderness when he was sent away from the covenant people of God. These are two examples of the story going a little of the main plot but they are so short you might not even really recall either of my examples unless you really took the time to think about it.
As I mentioned last week here at the end of Genesis we have had our focus taken away from the family of Jacob and we have zoomed in on Joseph and Egypt. We don’t really see that as all that strange because, well, we know it’s coming due to these stories being Sunday School classics and because, truly, the story is so good. This is fantastic drama and so we don’t think much of the fact that we aren’t following the promise right now.
And last week as we finished up chapter 41 we were told that this famine was affecting more than just Egypt. It didn’t stop at the borders of the Egyptian territory. It went into the whole world and I mentioned that our story had zoomed in on Joseph and Egypt but now it was pulling out so that we could get back to the bigger story of the people of God. God is using Pharaoh and the people of Egypt for his good purposes but those good purposes are not for the purposes of saving the Egyptians in this famine but about saving people all around this part of the world and specifically as we going from zooming in on Joseph and Egypt and pull out to see the world we are going to zoom back in on the family of Jacob and their circumstances. Other than the story of Judah a few chapters back about not being faithful to give his widowed daughter-in-law offspring and the sexual sin that contrasted with the purity of Joseph we haven’t really thought to much about Jacob and his family because we are so invested in Joseph’s plight but now we see that name of Jacob again and we see that, yes, the famine is affecting the whole world because Jacob is concerned about the fact that grain is for sale in Egypt.
And you have to love the way the interaction with the sons of Jacob goes here. It just feels so authentic, doesn’t it? Why do you look at one another? It sounds like any parent from any time who has every said “don’t just stand there, get to work”. And you get the sense here that there is a bit of desperation in the family of Jacob. The famine has hit home and they don’t have food. Remember, the little kingdom that we have seen Abraham and then Isaac and now Jacob acquire. This is more than just sending your adult children off to get some food for their wife and kids and then you’ll stop on over to their houses during the week to get food yourself. This is about caring for their little kingdom and providing for them. This is serious business. When you think back to all that they’ve acquired over the generations it is quite a bit and now this famine threatens not only their way of life but the lives of all of those in their community.
And so ten of the brothers take off for Egypt and we see that not much has changed in 17 years. Jacob is still playing favorites. Benjamin stays behind. Remember that Jacob favored Rachel. She was the one he labored those many years to have her hand in marriage and then he favored her oldest son in Joseph and now he is doing the same with Benjamin. And you can understand this. Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin and he’s lost both her and Joseph he wants to protect him. While it comes off as favoritism again I don’t there is probably a one of us sitting here today who blames the guy but it is going to come back as a major plot point here in this story.
Genesis 42:6–11
ESV
Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.”
And so as the story has the ten brothers traveling to Egypt we are reminded of the authority that Joseph has in Egypt. He is the guy and so all the people come to him for grain. Seems like Joseph would have been a little smarter than this right? Any management and productivity expert would have advised Joseph to delegate this task of people inquiring for grain to someone a little further down the ladder so he could be freed up to do more important work but I’m guessing at this time with the circumstances what they are, there is no more important work that wisely dispensing the grain to the people who come.
And this is what leads to the amazing drama here. The brothers end up in front of their brother that they sold into slavery. What an unbelievable turn of events. In fact, it’s so unbelievable that I think we can totally understand why the brothers don’t recognize him. Not only has it been 17 long years since they’ve seen the guy but they never would have expected him to be in this position of authority.
I think we’ve all experienced this to some degree. You run into someone you haven’t seen in a really long time at a place that is unlikely and when they recognize you and tell you who they are you see it but between the person looking different and your not expecting to see them in that location it takes a little minute for your brain to kick in and recall their face and your relationship to them.
That really would have been the case here and I love how Moses tells us the story. Notice the detail of the story that he gives right away as they end up in the room together. Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him. The text is going to draw out the significance of this a little later but Moses gives us the opportunity to have a moment of recall here before he spells it out for us clearly. The dreams that basically got Joseph into this circumstance with his brother has come to pass. Remember what the brothers called Joseph when he approached the day they threw him into the pit and sold him into slavery. Here comes that dreamer is what they said and now the brothers are bowing before the dreamer. What a reminder that God was at work in the life of Joseph from the beginning and it was not for the purpose of glorifying Joseph like the brothers or maybe even Joseph would have thought. Our human minds hear that dream and we think that the bowing before him was about his being a ruler over them in their family but when God put that dream into the mind of Joseph that night he knew the path. It was a difficult one. It wasn’t an easy path to glory but a path of suffering that lead to saving the people of God.
You’ve heard me talk many times about a theology of glory and a theology of the cross. These were categories the Reformer Martin Luther lined out. The idea is that humans have an idea of glory and it is human conquering and achievement. It is about us saving ourselves and reaching God on our own. In contrast Luther talked about the theology of the cross. Salvation comes through suffering and through the work of God on behalf of his people and that is how God is most glorified, in the salvation of his people.
We can see this idea here in the life of Joseph. The human idea of glory was that Joseph would get his robe of many colors and he would receive the power to rule from his father and they would all bow down to him because of his position of human achievement over them. When we start the story of Joseph that is how it feels and you know that is how the brothers and even Joseph perceived it. But now, through the path of suffering Joseph’s dream has come to pass and it is not to the glory of Joseph but to the glory of almighty God who in his sovereign will has caused all of this to come to pass that he might be glorified for saving his people. I mean seriously, how amazing is this? And best of all, the story here truly points us to Christ and how in his suffering he made us a people for his own possession.
And so, we can see here the bigger story beyond the exciting moment of Joseph being right after all these years of suffering. It’s about more than him and it’s even about more than their family. It’s about the whole family of God who will be saved through the covenant line that comes from the line of Jacob when Jesus suffers, dies, and rises again for the people of God.
But we come back to the story directly in front of us and we see that Joseph not being recognized gives him the opportunity to do pretty much anything he wants with his brothers. We are told that he remembers his dreams like you and I have already done and in the midst of all this you have to think his mind must have been racing with options for getting back at them and where he lands is to accuse them of being spies. He says that they have come to assess the situation and see that Egypt is unable to grow crops during this famine as well.
And the rough way he is speaking and the accusations obviously create panic and defensiveness in the brothers. They just want food and they but the sons of one man.
Genesis 42:12–17
ESV
He said to them, “No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see.” And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.” But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you. You are spies. By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” And he put them all together in custody for three days.
And the drama of the story continues to pick up as Joseph continues to accuse them of being spies and they tell their story and interestingly enough they tell the whole truth. They were twelve but one of them is no more.
And Joseph keeps pushing them and demands that they prove the veracity of their story by bringing Benjamin to him and then he keeps them in custody for three days and you have to wonder where Joseph’s heart was in all this. Joseph is one of the most upright and moral people in all of scripture but you have to think he might have enjoyed this a little, right? Wouldn’t you? In fact, I think most of us, if honest, would have to say we would have been way harsher on our siblings if we were in the position Joseph is in.
Genesis 42:18–25
ESV
On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.
And after the three days Joseph changes his demands a little. Instead of one brother going to get Benjamin he agrees to only have one brother stay behind. And this is where the drama a the story really builds up. If you imagine it in your mind you can probably pretty easily hear the emotional music of the movie soundtrack swelling as you start to tear up a little bit.
At this request the brothers actually start to talk about the brother they said was no more but was actually in the room with them. We see that their consciences are convicting them and likely they have all been dealing with their guilt for many years. They believe that they are being punished for what they did to Joseph and Reuben really drives this home when he tells them that he warned them and now they are getting a reckoning for his blood. Notice that statement. Clearly, they assume that Joseph is dead if they are talking about a reckoning for his blood.
But the part that really gets me and causes it to feel like a dramatic moment in a movie where I may or may not shed a tear or two is when we are told about the way these interactions look. Joseph has not been speaking with them without an interpreter. Because this is all in one language for us we kind of forget the language barrier that would have been assumed in all these people coming from all over the world to ask for food. Joseph knows everything they are saying and understands them and he turns away and weeps. That’s got to tug at your heart strings and make you some salty discharge well up in your eyes when you read that. What a journey this family has been on and it isn’t over because Joseph is going to continue with the deception of thinking they are spies and that he doesn’t know who they are. And he has Simeon bound and the rest are sent on their way but he has their bags filled with grain and he gives their money back and they have provisions for the journey.
The sons of Jacob had to have been wondering what this governor of Egypt was playing at and when they realize what has happened they make an interesting statement.
Genesis 42:26–28
ESV
Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”
When one brother discovers the money we see their first mention of God. They don’t see any of this as random happenstance but instead they believe that God is doing something as punishment for what they did to Jacob. And ultimately the interesting thing is that God is at work but it is to save them and not to punish them.
And as we close up the story you know that this had to not only have been frightening for Jacob to hear but also heart breaking.
Genesis 42:29–34
ESV
When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, “The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.’ ”
They recount the story with Jacob and let him know that they have been asked to bring Benjamin to prove their story and to get Simeon out of custody.
And it is at this point that they discover that all their money is in their sacks and it isn’t hard to imagine how distressed this must have made Jacob.
Genesis 42:35–38
ESV
As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
And the feeling that we get here is that Jacob is old and he has had a difficult life. He lost Joseph and now Simeon is as good as dead and there is no way he is giving up Benjamin too. Reuben again is the brother who tries to work things out and he has a disturbing suggestion. He so badly does not want the guilt he has for Joseph to be expanded to what has happened to Simeon that he offers his own two sons if he isn’t successful in going to Egypt with Benjamin and returning with Simeon. Now, I don’t think this is a serious offer. Jacob was never going to slaughter Reuben’s sons if Simeon didn’t come back but the idea we are meant to feel is the gravity of the offer. Remember, family succession was huge in their culture and Reuben is offering to give all that up to not have his father feel the loss of another son.
But Jacob doesn’t trust Reuben to accomplish this mission. He tells them that he only has one son of Rachel left and if something were to happen to him the sorrow would be so great it would bring him down to Sheol. In other words, he believes this would be it for him. In his old age he could not handle the grief of losing another son and he would be brought down to the grave.
And so, with that strong statement we end the story of chapter 42. Joseph’s deception of his brothers has left a brother stranded in Egypt and the people of God are left in a precarious situation and we have to wait for the resolution to come like a TV show that leaves you with a cliffhanger, we’ll pick up next week.
But what is the application for us as we depart from here today.
I want to quickly consider the work that was done in the brothers in this chapter today. We have seen the terrible thing that the sons of Jacob did to Joseph. We have had intimate knowledge of what this led to in the life of Jacob and it is easy to see what despicable people they were, even without considering the pain and suffering that Joseph went through but we see in this passage some movement, don’t we. Not only in our feelings toward the brothers as they clearly aren’t as hard hearted as we imagined and movement in them. They realize that they have done a terrible thing and they even think that somehow what they had done to Joseph is now rebounding on them.
My point is that our growth in faith and character is a quick and easy thing. We have struggles with sin and we may even have sin in our life where we have pushed the voice of our conscience aside and we don’t even think about it much anymore. This is not a good place to be in but we can see here in this text that it is never too late. Seventeen years later the brothers felt conviction for their sin. And so, may we hear the word of God and when the Holy Spirit convicts us of may we respond in repentance and faith and may we turn from our sin, knowing that it is God at work in our lives to make us holy.
It is a difficult place to be at but it is a place that God brings his people to because he loves us and desires for us to conform our lives to his will. Amen.
