July
15th, 2018 “Brothers” Rev. Heather Jepsen
Summer
Sermon Series: Dreaming with Joseph
Genesis
42
This summer we have been following the
story of Joseph throughout the book of Genesis.
We began with a study of his family, one mired in jealousy and
hatred. In a jealous rage his brothers
threw him in a pit and left him for dead.
Joseph was pulled out of the pit and sold into slavery in Egypt. Unjustly accused of wrongdoing in his
master’s house, Joseph was put into prison.
After more than a dozen years in captivity, Joseph got the chance to use
his God given gift of dream interpretation along with his people skills to
impress Pharaoh the king of Egypt. Joseph
was then put in charge of a complex grain operation, saving and storing grain
all over the land of Egypt during seven years of abundance and then handing it
out during a period of great famine. God
has been a deep part of Joseph’s story, blessing him in the midst of harsh circumstances. But this week, we will find that God once
again disappears from the page as Joseph’s family drama again takes center
stage.
(Read Genesis 42:1-5)
Suddenly our narrative turns back to
where it began, Jacob’s family, the budding nation of Israel, within the land
of Canaan. The famine has reached their
home town and Jacob has heard that there is grain to be had in Egypt. His sons can’t seem to get it together yet
“Why do you keep looking at one another?” so Jacob himself comes up with a
plan. He sends 10 of the brothers into
Egypt to buy grain for the entire house of Israel there. Benjamin, who is the youngest and probably
Jacob’s new favorite, is kept behind.
Remember it has been over 20 years since Joseph was sold into slavery,
and now the 10 brothers who threw him in the pit are suddenly in line with
everyone else to buy grain.
(Read Genesis 42:6-17)
As soon as the brothers appear Joseph
recognizes who they are, and as they bow down before him Joseph remembers the
dreams he had so many years ago. Dreams
of a harvest, where their sheaves of wheat would all bow down to his have now
come to fruition. The brothers though,
have no idea at all who Joseph is.
Having assumed him dead over 20 years ago, there is no space in their
minds to recognize this brother from the past.
Even though Joseph knows who they are,
or perhaps especially because he knows who they are, Joseph does not treat the
brothers with leniency. Instead, he
speaks harshly to them, accusing them of being spies. He speaks of the nakedness of the land which
means the borders or the defenses.
Remember the brothers have come from the land of Canaan so Joseph is
accusing them of being spies in the land of Egypt.
The brothers insist that they are not
spies and they offer defensives that might hold up if they weren’t speaking to Joseph. First they claim they cannot be spies since
they are all of the same family. It
would not make sense for an opposing force to send all of one family into a
hostile situation. But this defense
relies on the value placed on the family, and with Joseph knowing that his very
flesh and blood left him for dead, he knows that family ties are of little
value to these brothers.
The other defense the brothers offer is
that they are honest men. This defense
too, falls flat in front of Joseph. He
knows that these brothers are capable of concocting great lies, like the one
they told his father about him being eaten by wild animals when the truth was
that he nearly suffered death at their very hands.
No, these brothers do not value family
and they are not honest men. Joseph
knows in his heart that they are probably not spies but he also knows they are
not people he can trust. And so Joseph concocts
a plan. He asks them all to stay behind
and send one brother away to get the last brother. Joseph really has a desire to see Benjamin,
as they share the same mother, Rachel.
Benjamin is Joseph’s full little brother and he asks the others to bring
Benjamin to him.
As they ponder their decision of who
should go get Benjamin, Joseph puts them all in prison. Not only does this echo the brothers’
treatment of Joseph, it also gives them some time to think.
(Read Genesis 42:18-25)
After three days of holding the
brothers captive, Joseph comes up with a more lenient option. Instead of holding all brothers in Egypt and
sending one brother home, Joseph offers to hold one brother in Egypt and send
the others home to fetch Benjamin. It is
a test of character, will the brothers return for the one left behind, or will
this brother too, be forgotten and left for dead?
The brothers agree to the plan, and
after spending some time in captivity they have begun to reflect on their past
actions. Suddenly the brother they
forgot, the brother they left for dead, has once again arisen in their
minds. “Alas, we are paying the penalty
for what we did to our brother.” Reuben
says “I told you so!” reminding them that he had warned that whatever harm they
did to their own blood would come back upon them in the end. Joseph seems to overhear this conversation,
as the brothers assume he cannot speak Hebrew since he has only spoken Egyptian
to them. At hearing his brothers
acknowledge the pain they caused him so many years ago, Joseph is moved to
tears, but he hides his emotion from them.
Joseph has Simeon, the second oldest,
tied and bound in front of the other brothers, forcing them to watch his
suffering. Then he sends them on their
way with full bags of grain as well as with provisions for their journey, which
is a sign of compassion and grace.
(Read Genesis 42:26-28)
On the journey home, the brothers
discover that they still have the money they brought to buy grain. Joseph had deliberately put the money back in
the sacks, but the brothers have no knowledge of this. Now they are totally dismayed. For if they return with Benjamin in tow, to
bring Simeon home, as they have been ordered, they will now be accused of being
thieves.
(Read Genesis 42:29-38)
Upon returning to Canaan and Jacob’s
house, the brothers share the story of what happened in Egypt. Yes, they have the grain, but they have lost
Simeon. They have also returned with all
the money in their bags, marking them now as thieves in the land.
Jacob is dismayed. Joseph is gone, Simeon is gone, and now he
cannot bear the thought of losing Benjamin.
Even though Reuben offers up the lives of two of his sons as collateral
(how is this a good thing?!?) Jacob refuses to let them take Benjamin into
Egypt. And so again we are at a
stalemate. Joseph remains in power in
Egypt and once again the brothers have abandoned one of their own to death, as
Simeon is left behind in the Egyptian prison.
Again in our narrative we find that God
has moved behind the scenes. There is no
mention of God’s blessing Joseph, or of Joseph looking to God for guidance,
although Joseph does declare that he is a God fearing man. The most significant mention of God in this chapter
is in verse 28 when the brothers discover the money in their sacks “What is
this that God has done to us?” It is
clear that they believe God will pay them back for the wrongdoing the carried
out so many years before.
We have spoken a lot about Joseph’s
integrity and character in this sermon series and the events of this chapter at
first seem to bring those things into question.
Joseph appears mean to the brothers, speaking to them harshly and
accusing them of being spies. He throws
them in prison for several days and he places demands upon the family. He orders that the money be put back in their
sacks, setting them up to be accused as thieves. At first glance these actions appear
dishonest.
But throughout this series we have also
discussed Joseph’s people skills and in this chapter his skills are on full
display. It’s been over 20 years since
his brothers have forgotten him and basically got away with murder. What good would it do to simply reward them
now for bad behavior? Joseph knows that
if he is going to work to heal this family rift, he needs to go about things
carefully and offer the brothers the chance to move into a space of
reconciliation. I am guessing that his
own heart needs that time as well.
The time in prison gives the brothers a
chance to stew in their juices, so to speak.
It is only after their imprisonment that they begin to discuss the sins
of their past and the wrong they caused Joseph.
The test of leaving Simeon behind asks the brothers to consider whether
or not they are willing to stand for the lives of one another. If Simeon is left in Egypt permanently then
the brothers have learned nothing and are not in a place of
reconciliation. The money is a test of
integrity. Will the brothers simply take
the money and run as they did so many years ago when they sold Joseph into
slavery for a meager profit? Or will the
brothers return, offering back the money as a step toward honesty?
All of these tests and nudgings are
ways that Joseph is using his people skills to gain knowledge of the family
situation. In keeping his identity
hidden, Joseph is able to observe the family as an outsider. Are the brothers in a place where
reconciliation is possible, or are they still the young men of years before,
capable of inflicting great pain in their own jealous wrath?
Joseph truly desires to see Benjamin
and his hope is that the brothers would return with this youngest, his true and
full brother. But his father, Jacob will
not hear of it. And so we leave our
story for today. Joseph remains dead to
his family but firmly in power and authority in Egypt. Simeon languishes alone in an Egyptian
prison, another son abandoned by his brothers and father. And Jacob and his remaining 10 sons remain in
the land of Canaan. Is there any chance
for family reconciliation? Come back
next week to see what happens next as we continue “Dreaming with Joseph”. Amen.
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