Lesson 37 - Genesis 42 & 43

[Music] the end of our last lesson the seven years of abundant crops and livestock had passed and the great seven-year famine a Pharaoh's dream had begun Joseph was now in charge of Egypt and his food program what the food program was his and he was second in command of the nation with only Pharaoh above him Joseph was one of the most powerful men on earth at this time in history now the famine of Genesis 41 that we read about last week was called caused by low rainfall a drought this drought that apparently affected northern Africa where Egypt lay also affected much of the Middle East I want to talk a little bit about the geography because it helps us to understand the overall situation of this section of the Torah explains why many things happened in the way they did first of all the regional designations of Egypt are virtually backwards from what we would think normally Egypt is always spoken of as Upper Egypt and Lower Egypt interestingly though Upper Egypt is to the south and Lower Egypt is to the north this is because the Nile River flows from south to north it flows from upper egypt to lower egypt and this helps explain just why egypt's called why southern egypt is called upper now obviously water flows downhill do you know otherwise I'd like to know about it and as it turns out the southern end of Egypt is a slightly higher elevation than the northern end therefore as anyone knows that a river flows from up to down the southern end of the river is called Upper and the northern end lower now the southern end of the Nile Upper Egypt is where the Nile begins and there are two enormous geographical basins where the rainfall flows and where the water from that rainfall naturally funnels into the Nile to fill it from one basin flows what is called the White Nile from the other basin the Blue Nile and around the city of Khartoum the White Nile and the Blue Nile come together and it forms the great nile river which we typically just call the nile river now the great nile then flows up to our way of thinking up north towards the mediterranean sea and as it approaches the land of goshen in lower egypt which is up it encounters what is called the delta region and the river dissipates into a number of natural fingers that all eventually find their way to the sea and even though the delta region as is most of the lower egypt a virtually rainless desert due to the abundant waters of the Nile and the marshlands that are created by all those fingers spreading out in the land of a Goshen area allowing the water to flow across lands a lot like the Florida Everglades the area's fertile it's great for growing crops and for grazing animals the bottom line here is that the only thing that makes Egypt inhabitable is the Nile and if you've ever been there ever been there and I have I you learned that pretty quickly and the only thing that creates the Nile is rainfall from those two great basins far to the south in what's called Upper Egypt now even though the Egyptians very early on began digging canals to channel water from the Nile to water the crops it was the annual rising and falling of the water levels of the Nile that determined whether there would be feast or famine it's crucial that the Nile overflows its banks during the three summer months an overflow caused by monsoon type rains that occur far to the south in the two southern river basins that formed the headwaters of the Nile the overflow not only waters the land but it brings silt rich in nutrients necessary to grow crops all but it takes only a few inches of rainfall deficit in but one of the two great southern basins to destroy this delicate balance and prevent sufficient water flow to cause the necessary downstream flooding so as pertains to our story it's not that the Nile dried up in Joseph's time nor that people didn't have sufficient water to drink it's simply that for a several year period the Nile did not overflow and the marshlands of the delta receded and therefore sufficient crops were not produced to feed all the citizens of Egypt to be clear all food production did not cease but it was dramatically reduced and there simply was not enough to sustain the people just so we understand though the supernatural nature of this widespread famine the weather systems that govern rainfall in southern Egypt and those that govern rainfall in the Middle East are totally separate that very low rainfall occurred for several years in southern Egypt during the same time there was a drought for several years over in Canaan was a god thing that does not normally occur now one of the reasons that Egypt and the people of Canaan knew each other so well and had since time immemorial established trade was because usually when there was a crop failure in Egypt due to low levels of the Nile Egypt could count on going up to Canaan to get extra food and vice versa but this time is different had God not given Pharaoh this prophetic dream and then given him Joseph to interpret it there would have been widespread death in both Egypt and Canaan because of low food supplies in both lands but God warned Egypt and Egypt prepared because they were able to prepare God first gave them supernatural abundance so that they could have a hefty surplus for seven straight years Joseph's planned he used this so that he could build up enormous stores of grain for the coming seven years the bad years later upon the on-site onset of the drought Egypt partly from a sense of compassion but primarily from a sense of self-interest made food available from its warehouses to people of other nations this was not welfare the price for those stored grains was very high we see from the upcoming story of Genesis 42 and 43 that several bags of silver was required to buy food from Egypt for the clan of Jacob food would not normally have required to sum a sum of money that would be spoken of in terms of bags of silver rather Egypt was going to make a huge profit on its adept handling of this extended and extensive food crisis but make no mistake these high prices were not only for foreigners Egyptian citizens also root were required to purchase their food from Pharaoh or better from Joseph a supplement to be sure usually not their sole source of food but for those who were poorer and did not have access to other more commercially available food sources this famine wound up costing hundreds of thousands of Egyptians possibly a million or more their Liberty because as these lower-class Egyptians ran out of money to buy food they had no choice but to sell themselves and their families into bond servitude to the government to Pharaoh in exchange for food grain but from their standpoint it was this semi foreigner Joseph he was to blame for this travesty in humiliation because Joseph was the front man wouldn't he he was the visible symbol for the entire food program it was hid that Samaritan that Pharaoh was pretty smart so Joseph would get both credit and blame this was not something a gypped was soon gonna forget after Joseph's death after a long period of social upheaval the Egyptians eventually would blame Joseph's skin the tribes of Israel for their condition now this would eventually lead to the Egyptians turning the tables on Israel the peasant Egyptians who had lost their Liberty would now enslave the more well-to-do and free Israelites beginning a cycle of persecution of the Hebrew people in foreign lands that we read up throughout the Bible and we've witnessed ourselves in the last century and we're gonna continue to witness it until Messiah comes so open your Bibles to Genesis chapter 42 Genesis chapter 42 if you have a complete Jewish Bible that is going to be on page 47 Genesis chapter 242 rather 42 now Yaakov its Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt so Jacob said to his sons why are you just staring at each other look he said I've heard there's grain in Egypt go down there and buy some some for us so that we can stay alive and not die thus Joseph's 10 brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt except for Binyamina Benjamin Joseph's brother yea Kolff did not send him with his brothers because he was afraid something might happen to him now the sons of Israel came to buy along with the others that came since the famine extended to the land of Canaan Joseph was governor over the land it was he who sold to all the people in the land now when Joseph's brothers came and prostrated themselves before him on the ground Joseph saw his brothers and recognized him but he acted towards them as if he were a stranger and he spoke harshly with them and he asked them where are you from the answer from the land of Canaan to buy food so Joseph recognized his brothers but they didn't recognize him now remembering the dreams he had had about them Joseph said to them your spies you've come to spot our country's weaknesses no my lord they replied your servants have come just to buy food we're all the sons of one man were upright men your servants aren't spies no he said to them you've come out to spy out our country's weaknesses they said we your servants are twelve brothers the sons of one man in the land of Canaan the youngest stayed with our father and another one is gone just as I said replied Joseph your spies and here's how you can prove you're not lying as Pharaoh lives you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here send one of you let him bring your brother meanwhile you will be kept in custody this will prove where there's any truth in what you say otherwise as Pharaoh lives you are certainly spies then he put all of them together in prison for three days along the third day Joseph said to them do what I say and stay alive for I fear God if you are upright men let one of your brothers remain incarcerated in the prison you're being kept in while you go and carry grain back to relieve the famine in your homes but bring your youngest brother to me in this way your statements will be verified and you won't die so they did it they said to each other we are in fact guilty concerning our brother he was in distress and he pleaded with us we saw we wouldn't listen that's why this distress has come upon us now and Reuben answered them didn't I tell you don't wrong the boy you and hear of it now comes the reckoning for his blood they had no idea what Yosef I had no idea that Yosef understood them since interpreter was translating for them Joseph turned away from them and he wept and then he returned and spoke to them he took Shimon from among them and put him in prison before their eyes and next he ordered that the containers be filled with grain that every man's money be put back into his pack and that they be given provisions for their journey when these things had been done for them they loaded their grain on their donkeys and departed but a camp that night as one of them opened his pack to give fodder to his donkey he noticed his money there it was just inside his pack and he said to his brothers my money has been restored it's right there and right in my pack and at that their heart sank and they turned trembling to one another what is this that God has done to us they returned to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them the man the Lord of the land spoke harshly with us he took us for spies in his country and we said to him know we're upright men we're not spies we're twelve brothers sons of one fall of our father one is gone and the youngest stayed with our father in the land of Canaan but the man the Lord of the land said to us here's how I'll know that you were upright men leave one of your brothers with me take grain to relieve the famine in your homes and go on your way but bring your youngest brother to me by this all know you aren't spies but are upright men and then I'll return your brother to you and you will do business in the land next as they entered their packs there was each man's bag of money in his pack and when they and their father saw their bags of money they became afraid yaakov their father said to them you have robbed me of my children Joseph is gone shamone is gone now you're taking Binyamina way it all falls on me and Reuben said to his father if I don't bring him back to you you can kill my own two sons put him in my care I will return him to you but he replied my son will not go down with you his brother is dead and he alone has left if anything were to happen to him while traveling with you you would bring my gray hair down to Sheol with grief you know if we can but grasp that Israel was the tool that God would use to bring about his divine purposes from this point forward in history until time comes to an end sometime I think in the near future then perhaps we can begin to comprehend the significance of what's about to happen in this biblical narrative we have now moved from Egypt and Joseph back up to Canaan and Jacob the great famine having now effected an enormous area Jacob's clans in a bad way and the first verse of this chapter we see Jacob Israel in a pretty sarcastic mood because he looks at his sons and says why are you staring at each other in other words you know we're in dire straits you know there's grain available in Egypt so why are you all sitting here waiting for somebody else to do something let's remember he wasn't speaking to children these men are all middle-aged and beyond most of them with their own families and children by now now while I wish I could find some good and lovely things to say about Jacob's sons the 12 tribes of Israel Bible didn't offer much about their character that's admirable at this point God didn't choose Israel because they were great men he chose them because he's a great God and he uses ordinary people to carry out as well and by the way we're not told to stand with Israel because they're an especially good or an extraordinary or a sympathetic race which they're not we're to stand with them because that's what God has instructed all the people of this planet to do with dire consequences for those who don't eat him so brace yourselves America our president has put his desire for a legacy of peace in the Middle East regardless of the cost ahead of his God commanded concern for Israel we're gonna pay an awful price everybody that hears my voice and more we're gonna pay an awful price for this eventually so Jacob unable to wait any longer for these sons to do on their own volition what is right and what's necessary orders all of them except for Benjamin to go down to Egypt to buy grain was Benjamin not old enough to go sure he was but Benjamin had taken the place of Joseph and Jacob's heart because Benjamin and Joseph were his two sons through the wife Jacob loved the most Rochelle Rachel now deceased he simply wasn't gonna risk Benjamin after he's lost Joseph and as the sons of Israel arrived in Egypt they join in with many more tribes and people from other nations all in need of being saved from starvation and who is it they must go to for their salvation their brother Joseph now verse 6 makes it clear that it was common knowledge that it was this great vizier of Egypt who was now going by not going by the name Joseph but by his Egyptian named the Pharaoh had given him zaphenath-paneah that everyone must go to to buy grain and Joseph must certainly have had this immense organization to deal with the millions who needed food certainly it would have been rare for Joseph himself to deal directly with people who sought to buy grain but of course Joseph's brothers didn't recognize him it's not just that twenty years had passed since they had last seen their little brother and his boyish features had become manly it's that he now looked very Egyptian he was clean-shaven he bruised by tradition always wore beards he wore his hair in Egyptian fashion and would have used certain cosmetics that Egyptian royalty typically applied to their faces he also spoke Egyptian and the mannerisms of that former tent dwelling boy with all of his teenage gawk eNOS had been exchanged for their refined and the confident regal bearing that was now Joseph's but he recognized them immediately and we can only imagine what what must have flashed through his mind when he saw his brothers deep pain deep pain from being so long ago torn away from his family at the hands of these same men but in a nanosecond it says in verse 9 that he remembered those dreams of his youth of the eleven sheaves of grain bowing down to his of the eleven stars and the moon and the Sun paying homage to him must have been at that moment with all this preparation so carefully guided by the invisible God the doze dreams that his brothers and his own father Jacob had chastised him for they were true Joseph realized for the first time the divine providence had been working all along he now knew a certainty that God had allowed to happen what happened for a greater good yet some testing was needed now to see if his brothers had also been prepared now Joseph knowing otherwise accuses them of being spies and the brothers are utterly taken aback by this because this accusation doesn't even make any sense it borders the irrational but they're afraid because they know that they are totally at this rulers arbitrary mercy truth and justice didn't matter at this point they knew it for a ruler of Joseph's stature he can decide matters Samara Lee he can order whatever punishment he deems appropriate they're helpless they're powerless to control their own fate just as Joseph found himself helpless so long ago lying at the bottom of a dry well begging crying for mercy that wasn't gonna come from the same pitiless brothers now standing before him hat in hand he questions them he finds out his father still alive as is his little brother Benjamin so he orders that one brother is to go back and bring the youngest brother Benjamin to prove their assertion they're not spies that they were being truthful but this wouldn't happen until all ten of them were put into prison for three days now of course the reason behind Joseph's decision to jail them is he wants to separate his brothers from the Myriad's of Egyptian citizens and foreigners who come daily hoping to buy from Egypt Egypt reserved grain supplies he wanted he needed to deal with his family separately not under the gaze of everybody else at the end of three days he gave a different order nine brothers are to return with the grain they needed to feed their clan one Simeon shamone was to remain in custody as surety for all the rest of them and if they didn't bring Benjamin back Simeon would forfeit his life or at least that was the implication the brothers discussed their plight among themselves in front of Joseph assuming he was an Egyptian and he wouldn't understand what they were speaking to each other in Hebrew and Joseph kept up this ruse by using an interpreter as a go-between during his dealings with his brothers and when he what he heard well made him weep the guilt of over two decades overcame them and they knew that this was their day of reckoning for what they had wrongly done to their little brother Joseph but he also heard Reuben trying to absolve himself with apparently no disagreement as to his position of innocence and Joseph must have believed him because rather than keeping the all-important firstborn Reuben as his prisoner Joseph ordered Simeon the second son of Jacob he was to be held hostage well now Joseph really messes with their heads he orders that the money that the brothers paid for the grain be hidden in the necks of their grain sacks that very first night on their way back home one of them went to get some grain for his donkey and there was the money oh my gosh what is going on here and they quickly decided that God was giving them their just desserts and one wonders what must have gone through their minds on that mini day journey back to face their father who would be the spokesman among them to tell their fragile father that not only had they come back one short in their number but that now they were to take Benjamin Jacob's most beloved child back to Egypt with him or sim would die along with the rest of them when Pharaoh's men finally caught up with him Jacobs reply is obvious you've taken two of my children away from me and now you want to take 1/3 Rubin then gives Jacob the guarantee he will bring Benjamin back but if he fails he says Jacob his father can kill Rubens two sons as punishment though we're not given Jacobs reply to this offer one can only imagine the unbelieving look on Jacobs face I mean I I really think his stunned reply would have gone something like brilliant only you could figure out that after I've lost three sons I should now kill my own grandchildren in retribution are you insane more and more we see the wisdom in Reuben being denied his firstborn birthright Reubens a politician he's just a windbag he's always making these grandiose unwise statements and promises that are worthless when they're designed to do little but elicit an emotional response to get his way in fact we won't even hear from Reuben anymore he is now set aside and we will hear Judah's voice more than any other brother from this point forward for the time being though Jacob is simply paralyzed he can't fathom what he should do all he knows is that should Benjamin be taken from him he just couldn't survive it he doesn't really trust these sons of his anymore so he's not about to entrust Benjamin to them yet how are they gonna survive without more grain how are they gonna get shimon back you know let's find out in Genesis chapter 43 turn your Bibles to Genesis chapter 43 begins on page 48 if you have a complete Jewish Bible but the famine was severe in the land so when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt their father said to them go again buy us a little food Judah Judah said to him but the man expressly warned us you will not see my face and tell you unless your brother's with you if you will send our brother with us we will go down and buy you food but if you will not send him we will not go down for the man said to us you will not see my face unless your brother's with you Israel its Jacob said why did you bring such trouble my way by telling the man you had another brother they answered the man kept questioning us about ourselves and about our kinsmen and he asked is your father still alive do you have another brother we answered according to the literal meaning of his questions how were we to know he'd say bring your brother down and Judah said to his father Israel send the boy with me and we will make preparations and leaves so that we may stay alive and not die both we and you also our little ones I myself will guarantee his safety you hold me responsible if I fail to bring him to you and present him to your face let me bear the blame forever except for our lengthy delay we would have been there again by now and their father Israel answered them well that's how it is do this taking your container some of the islands best products and bring the man a gift some healing resin a little honey aromatic gum opium pistachio nuts and almonds take twice the amount of money with you and return the money that came back with you in your packs it could have been an oversight yes and take your brother too and get ready and go again to the man miel should I give you favor in the man's sight so that he will release to you and your other release to you your other brother as well as Benjamin as for me if I must lose my children them I will the men took that gift and they took twice the money with them and Benjamin Ben you mean then they prepared and went down to Egypt and stood before Yosef now when Yosef saw benjamine with them he said to his household manager taped them in inside the house kill the animals and prepare the meat these men will dine with me at noon the man did is Yosef ordered and brought the men into Joseph's house upon being ushered inside Joseph's house the men became fearful and they said it's because of the money that was returned in our packs the first time that we've been brought inside so that he can use it as an excuse to attack us and take us as slaves and probably seize our donkeys too so they approached the manager of Joseph's household and spoke to him at the entrance of the house please my lord the first time we indeed came down to buy food but when we got to camp we opened our packs in there inside our packs was each man's money the full amount we've brought it back with us moreover we had brought down other money to buy food we have no idea who put money in our packs stop worrying he replied don't be afraid your God and the god of your father put treasure in your packs as for your money I was the one who received it then he brought Shimon out to them the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water and they washed their feet and he provided fodder for their donkeys and then they got their gift ready for Joseph's arrival at noon for they had heard that they were going to eat a meal there and when Joseph arrived home they went in the house and presented him with the gift they had brought with him then prostrated themselves on the ground before him he asked them how they were and inquired is your father well the old man of whom you spoke is he still alive and he answered your servant our Father as well yes he is still alive as they bowed in respect he looked up and saw Benjamin his brother his mother's son and said is this your youngest brother of whom you spoke to me and he added may God be good to you my son then Joseph hurried out because his feelings towards his brothers were so strong he wanted to cry he went into his bedroom and there he wept and then he washed his face and came out but he controlled himself as he gave the order to serve the miel they served him by himself the brothers by themselves and the Egyptians included at the meal by themselves Egyptians don't eat with Hebrews because that is aberrant to them so they sat there facing him the firstborn in the place of honor the youngest in last place and the men expressed their amazement to each other each was given his serving there in front of him but Benjamin's portion was five times as large as any of theirs so they drank and enjoyed themselves with him well little time passes famine hasn't led up yet the grains supply supply purchased and brought back from Egypt is now exhausted apparently the nine sons of jacob remember simeon is still back in egypt being held hostage who had earlier sat in a depressed state and did nothing to try to save their clan from starvation are once again completely passive so jacob tells him go back to egypt and get more grain of course jacob is reminded by his sons they can't go without benjamin and jacob is still unconvinced to hand over benjamin to these treacherous sons of his then judah speaks judah humbled by life humiliated by his daughter-in-law to mars bold act when judah failed to respond to her plight appropriately he now offers himself as the surety bond for benjamin now one might ask just exactly what penalty could jacob extract from judah should he fail on his mission to take Benjamin to Egypt and return him safely home well as we discussed a while back Judah almost certainly saw himself as the likely inheritor of the wealth and authority of the clan of Israel he apparently knew Reuben was no longer gonna receive the firstborn blessing because he defiled his father's bed and of course Jacob's second and third sons were the ones who led the rate of revenge upon hem killing every male and then leading the plundering of the remaining inhabitants this disqualified them so with Joseph formerly Jacobs favorite now thought to be dead Judah fourth in line must have seen himself as that person who would soon become the leader of the tribes of Israel Judah by agreeing to accept all blame if something were to happen to Benjamin had much to lose he too could have been disinherited Jacob knew that to and must have felt that if it were at all possible for Benjamin to be spared Judah would do all that could be humanely done to see to it finally here was a son who could be trusted Jacob could trust Judah in this manner but even more Jacob would trust God if he was to lose all of his sons and so be it it's in God's hands so taking the money that had mysteriously found its way back into their grain bags upon their return from their first trip and an equal amount now to buy new grain the brothers including Benjamin journey back down to Egypt Joseph sees that his brothers in return with them is Benjamin so he orders a banquet to be prepared and served at noon he orders his servants to bring his brothers inside his house for this banquet but the brothers think this is a trap they're going to be taken as slaves as they had a range to happen to Joseph in retribution for the incident with this money that was found in their packs Joseph's house manager assures him that is not the case Joseph so arrives at his home his brothers are present rather his brothers are present and then they present him with these gifts they had brought with him from Canaan Joseph inquires about his father's well-being they don't understand this about his father they think it's about their father and they tell him he's fine but then Joseph spots Benjamin he's just so overwhelmed with motion he has to leave them for a few moments to weep bittersweet tears in private now compose jasa joseph returns the meal served and what we see in these verses is a completely accurate account of the way that a meal of this sort would have been served in Egypt Joseph eats alone the brothers eat together as a group and the Egyptian house servants eat separately from both the brothers and from Joseph it's a well-documented Egyptian custom that the head of the house never eats with the servants but why didn't the servants eat with the Israelite brothers well we're told in verse 32 that it was aberrant to Egyptians to eat with Hebrews that's why this is interesting stuff the Hebrews as were many Semite tribes and people groups in this era shepherds the Egyptians saw shepherds as the lowest class of people P and their mere presence was offensive to them and Egyptian would never eat with a shepherd Egyptians valued cattle not cheap that's one of the reasons that Egyptian that the Egyptians highest deity Isis was represented by a bowl but soon another aspect of this Egyptian tradition was going to come into play the Israelites were going to be given the land of goshen to live in a land where they would be away from the bulk of Egyptian society so they grow their sheep and Shepherd them and not offend Egyptian sensibilities and as the brothers sat down to eat each carefully seated by a servant in a place reserved specifically for each brother they were stunned to see that they had been arranged from oldest to youngest in perfect order of their birth what could this mean even more Benjamin was given a food portion five times everyone else's scholars have debated the meeting of this bifold blessing of food upon Benjamin and the general consensus consensus is that in Egypt a prince or a ruler was given five times as much as everyone else as a sign of royalty of course that also raises the question what was Joseph signifying with this my personal opinion is that Joseph was honoring the brother he had the most affinity to because they cared a common mother and the one who of the eleven brothers was completely innocent was Benjamin he was innocent of any wrongdoing in connection with Joseph being sold into slavery but we also should not overlook this the first king of Israel would be a descendant of Benjamin's we'll continue with our story of Joseph in Egypt next week [Music] you see [Music] you

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Keywords: Torah, Genesis, Old Testament, Noah, Kingdom, Abraham, Seed of Abraham, Creation, Israel, Tom Bradford, Jacob, Torah Class, Bible Study

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Length: 42min 41sec (2561 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 21 2019