said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where our land is unprotected.” 10 “No, my lord,” they answered. “Your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all the sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.” 12 “No!” he said to them. “You have come to see where our land is unprotected.” 13 But they replied, “Your servants were twelve brothers, the sons of one man, who lives in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.” 14 Joseph said to them, “It is just as I told you: You are spies! 15 And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If you are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” 17 And he put them all in custody for three days.
Lesson one: Joseph played
a role to find out what had happened to his family. The brothers then revealed who they were, why
they had come and what had happened to Joseph’s younger brother. When he
accused them of being spies. They
were then put into prison for three days.
He gave them a little dose of what he went through. Truth is that we will always reap what we
sow, that there are always consequences to what we do. Notice he said as surely as the king
lives. No name was greater in Egypt. Next, Joseph knew that his brothers were
liars so he was testing their honesty.
When you lie everything you say even when you are telling the truth will
be tested. The plan was to send one and
the rest be kept in prison until Benjamin returns. I
would have loved to have been a fly on the wall listening to their conversation
during those three days. Each one
blaming each other, feeling the guilt, remorse, anger, blame, stress,
uncertainty and anxiety. It must have
been three days of internal torture.
Then the question which one would have to tell dad about what had
happen. How long where they to stay in
this condition? Why was this man doing
this? Here they had come to buy food and
now they were facing this? Question
after question and no explanation. This
is a life and death situation as far as they know.
On the third day, Joseph
said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: 19 If you are honest
men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison, while the rest of you go and
take grain back for your starving households. 20 But you must bring your
youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified and that you may not
die.” This they proceeded to do. 21 They
said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We
saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would
not listen; that’s why this distress has come on us.” 22 Reuben replied, “Didn’t I tell you not to
sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting
for his blood.” 23 They did not realize that Joseph could understand them, since
he was using an interpreter. 24 He
turned away from them and began to weep, but then came back and spoke to them
again. He had Simeon taken from them and bound before their eyes.
Lesson two; Joseph then has them brought before Him. Now we do not know if this was originally
part of Joseph’s plan or as they sat in prison he change his mind. He then gives them a hint of who he was. He said, I fear God. Interesting that in a polytheistic society he
said I fear God. Egypt had 40 some main
gods or demon deities. Yet Joseph
mentioned he fear God. The brothers were
monotheistic but they missed this hint because they were so wrapped up in their
fear, pain, own little story. Listen
when you are in a crisis or urgent
situation. Don’t miss that God is
still there. Remember he never leaves or
forsake you. You have all of heaven
standing by working on your behalf.
Remember to pray, read the word, claims his promises and help. Trust Him, walk by faith and remember God is
always working and will always fulfill His promises. He loves you.
Talk about man on roof during flood.
Joseph also said this is gain his brothers trust. Remember this was a society of many god’s so
to here this man fear the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob gained their
trust.
Now Joseph , says if you are honest men, he tells them that one of them
will be kept in prison and the others will go back to Canaan bring the other
brother back to verify what they were saying.
He also said they could take the grain back to their starving
families. Joseph knew the severity of
the situation and I believe His concern for his family over rule any anger,
revenge or thoughts of consequences. The
three days was a cool down time. Just a
quick thought. This is a prophetic
point. Three days is the length of time
Jesus was in the prison of death, hell and the grave. Joseph is a type of Christ so after three
days like Jesus Joseph freed his prisoners.
Jesus rose from the dead and we who were prisoners, to sin, death, hell
and the grave have eternal and abundant life.
The world, the flesh and the devil have been defeated. That is a great shouting point right here.
Now the boys then talk about among themselves about why there were
there. They figured it out and this was
all happening because of what they had done to Joseph. In the ancient world they believed that what
you did eventually came back to haunt you.
They played the blame game. They
spoke to each other in Hebrew not knowing that Joseph understood them because
he had spoken to them through an interpreter.
Remember what you sow you reap.
Only the mercy, love, grace and
forgiveness of God can break the cycle
of consequences of sin.
Joseph understood them and had to turn away, weep then compose
Himself. He then returned and took
Simeon from them and bound before their eyes.
Why Simeon, According to classical rabbinical sources, Joseph chose
Simeon to be the hostage because he was concerned that if Simeon wasn't
separated from Levi, then Levi and Simeon might destroy Egypt together, since
they had already destroyed Shechem.
25 Joseph gave orders to
fill their bags with grain, to put each man’s silver back in his sack, and to
give them provisions for their journey. After this was done for them, 26 they
loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.
27 At the place where they stopped for the night one of them opened his
sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his
sack. 28 “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers. “Here it is in
my sack.” Their hearts sank and they
turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to
us?”
Lesson Three; So Joseph does three things for them. He filled their bags with grain, return their
money and gave them provisions for the journey home. Joseph wasa type of Christ. Jesus Christ will meet our needs, give us
what we need for each day and give us what we need for our journey in
life. God is Jehovah Jireh. He will supply our every need according to
his riches in glory. Now each man loaded
their sack on their donkeys but do not know what was in the sack. In this part of the passage we get a picture
of ancient life. First, the brothers
travelled by donkey. A donkey can carry
up to a hundred pounds. Talk about how I
say a donkey in Nazareth carrying a man. normally they are pack creatures. Next, we see that they stayed in a
place. We do not know if it was an inn,
oasis or canyon for protection. Remember
it could be as long as a week to get home.
It was then one of them found when opening his pack to feed his donkey
that their silver had been returned. He
tells his brothers and right then their heart sink and then fear grips
them. They now recognized a divine
plot. We should be like these men. Fear the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom. Fear is a great motivator for
change. Fear of God refers to fear or a
specific sense of respect, awe, and submission to a deity. As a Christian fear means to have respect and
awe for divine judgment, hell or God's omnipotence. The word Fear is mentioned 300 times. In respect to the Lord it means fearing God
is good because it saves us from caving into our own sinful nature. That's why
hearing someone is God-fearing actually makes us trust that person more. If
they fear God, they are more likely to keep their word and treat others with
kindness.
29 When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that
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