Bible in 365 Days

Genesis 43-45

Genesis 43

All the old characteristics of Jacob are manifest in this account of his proposed method of dealing with the governor of Egypt with whom his sons had had to do. If things were against him, he did not lose confidence in his own ability to manipulate them to his own advantage. He would send a present and so appease the man.

In this action Jacob unconsciously revealed himself. It was his perpetual method of attempting to deal with other men. Always he seems to have thought that the great end of all men was to gain something, and so he imagined that the Egyptian ruler might be bribed into complacency. It is often so that we reveal ourselves in our estimates of others.

The picture of Joseph here is full of beauty. In the sense of worldly power he was now a great man. His position was one of national and even international power and influence. Notwithstanding this, the springs of true life were not dried up. His emotional nature was still quick and active. This is another evidence that he was living in fellowship with God? In some senses the perils of powerful position are subtler and graver than those of slavery and prison. Too often advancement and the ease and luxurious circumstances attendant on it serve to deaden the finer emotions of the soul. Even in such circumstances, however, a man is safe if Jehovah is with him. The rush of emotion which drove Joseph into secrecy for weeping is as sure an evidence of his true greatness as the statesmanlike qualities which had served him in the administration of the affairs of Egypt.

Genesis 44

Occasionally, criticism of Joseph's action in placing the money and his cup in the sacks of his brethren has been made. To put the matter in the mildest form, surely such criticism reveals a lack of humor. The story is really most natural and beautiful. Such methods are best tested by their ultimate meaning and results. Joseph was preparing for a dramatic ending. One can imagine his quiet enjoyment of the difficulties of his brethren as he played this trick on them. It was a trick which could have been suggested only to a man who still had the heart of a boy. He was arranging for the moment when he would reveal himself and be able to pour out on them all the pent-up love of his heart.

Nobleness and beauty mark Judah's attitude and plea on behalf of his father. Evidently, back of his moving appeal was a keen consciousness of the sin of the past, and, so far as possible, a desire to atone or at least to prevent any further darkening of the last days of the old man. With splendid devotion to this high purpose, Judah asked to be allowed to take the place of Benjamin in the mouth of whose sack the governor's cup had been found.

Genesis 45

In the account of Joseph's revelation of himself to his brethren, the chief value is in his recognition of the fact that his destiny had been in the hand of God: "It was not you that sent me hither, but God." This capacity for ignoring secondary causes is one of the surest signs of greatness. So it was that Joseph was able to forget and to forgive his brethren for selling him into slavery. It is a consciousness possible only to the life of habitual communion with God.

The important position Joseph occupied in Egypt is clearly seen in Pharaoh's attitude toward Joseph's father and his brothers.

When Jacob heard that his son was alive, his heart was touched to its depth: "It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die." Thus he was beginning to find out that under the government of his covenant-keeping God the things he had declared to be against him were really for him. How good it is that when our faith wavers, God does not change His mind or purpose for us. He moves right on in infinite love toward the final good. How much feverish unrest we would be spared if only we would learn from these stories of the past to repose our confidence in God rather than in circumstance and quietly await His time.