Genesis 45:1-10, 14-15
Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, "Send everyone away from me." So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.
Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come closer to me." And they came closer. 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 five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest.
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; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house 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, and you shall settle in the land of Goshen.....
Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.
The long, long story of Joseph and his brothers — Jacob’s twelve sons — sets us up for the greatest study in the Hebrew people’s history, the time when God would intervene for them and lead them out of slavery in Egypt, into their own land. But first, we need to get them into Egypt and today’s story explains that.
Resentful that this one brother seemed to be favored by their father, the other ten sons (Benjamin had not yet been born,) sold him into slavery and told their father that wild animals had killed him. Joseph ended up a slave in Egypt, but by serving both his master and his fellow slaves honorably through a long series of events, he rose, years later, to a position of power second only to Pharaoh.
So when famine struck Canaan, where Jacob and his remaining sons lived, Joseph was the one who was able to offer them a new life, with security, in Egypt. All of this takes a long time to tell in scripture, with all the hows and whys, but eventually the Israelites settled in Egypt — which long years later ended with the Exodus story.
But today’s story is that of Joseph — the once betrayed brother — who is now in a position to decide the fate of his former betrayers. He could have laughed at them and kicked them out to starve. He could have allowed them into Egypt, but as virtual slaves themselves. He could have just ignored them.
But Joseph did none of these things. Joseph was the one in power — the one in a position of choosing his response and instead of revenge, Joseph chose forgiveness. And not just forgiving words, but actual forgiveness from his heart. You see, while Joseph had been going through his times of suffering, God had been working with him. He was no longer the spoiled, conceited child he had once been. He was a man, tempered by the hard knocks he had survived and his knowledge that God had been with him all the way. His faith told him that his suffering times had all been for a reason — that he might be in a position to save his family from famine.
The choices we make when we are in a position to offer help to others, say a lot about us. Are you happy with what they say about you?
Resentful that this one brother seemed to be favored by their father, the other ten sons (Benjamin had not yet been born,) sold him into slavery and told their father that wild animals had killed him. Joseph ended up a slave in Egypt, but by serving both his master and his fellow slaves honorably through a long series of events, he rose, years later, to a position of power second only to Pharaoh.
So when famine struck Canaan, where Jacob and his remaining sons lived, Joseph was the one who was able to offer them a new life, with security, in Egypt. All of this takes a long time to tell in scripture, with all the hows and whys, but eventually the Israelites settled in Egypt — which long years later ended with the Exodus story.
But today’s story is that of Joseph — the once betrayed brother — who is now in a position to decide the fate of his former betrayers. He could have laughed at them and kicked them out to starve. He could have allowed them into Egypt, but as virtual slaves themselves. He could have just ignored them.
But Joseph did none of these things. Joseph was the one in power — the one in a position of choosing his response and instead of revenge, Joseph chose forgiveness. And not just forgiving words, but actual forgiveness from his heart. You see, while Joseph had been going through his times of suffering, God had been working with him. He was no longer the spoiled, conceited child he had once been. He was a man, tempered by the hard knocks he had survived and his knowledge that God had been with him all the way. His faith told him that his suffering times had all been for a reason — that he might be in a position to save his family from famine.
The choices we make when we are in a position to offer help to others, say a lot about us. Are you happy with what they say about you?
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