Feb 20
2
Old Testament Reading: Genesis 42
“When Jacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, ‘Why do you look at one another?’ And he said, ‘Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may live and not die.’ So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers, for he feared that harm might happen to him. Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. Now Joseph was governor over the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them. ‘Where do you come from?’ he said. They said, ‘From the land of Canaan, to buy food.’ And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, ‘You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.’ They said to him, ‘No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.’ He said to them, ‘No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see.’ And they said, ‘We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more.’ But Joseph said to them, ‘It is as I said to you. You are spies. By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.’ And he put them all together in custody for three days. On the third day Joseph said to them, ‘Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.’ And they did so. Then they said to one another, ‘In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.’ And Reuben answered them, ‘Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.’ They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them. Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. He said to his brothers, ‘My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!’ At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’ When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ‘The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way. Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land.’’ As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said to them, ‘You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.’ Then Reuben said to his father, ‘Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.’ But he said, ‘My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. If harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’” (Genesis 42, ESV)
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[Please excuse any and all typos and misspellings within this manuscript. It has been published online for the benefit of the saints of Emmaus Reformed Baptist Church, but without the benefit of proofreading.]
Introduction
The scriptures are quite clear that Christians are to forgive others just as they have been forgiven by God in Christ Jesus.
When Jesus taught his disciples how to pray he instructed them to say, among other things, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12, ESV). Receiving daily forgivness from God is linked, therefore, to our willingness to forgive others. Jesus elaborated on this point after he concluded with his model prayer, saying, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14–15, ESV).
Now, please do not misunderstand. The context of the Lord’s prayer makes it clear that Jesus is refering to daily forgiveness, or the restoration of a right relationship with God, and not our initial justification when he teaches us to pray, saying, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors”. It is Christians who are to pray this pray. It is those who have already been forgiven by God’s grace and to all eternity who are to pray it. Certainly, we are justified, forgiven, and set apart as God’s children the moment that we trust in Christ. That forgivness is not contingent upon anything at all in us. It is by God’s free grace alone. But here Jesus teaches his disciples how to pray daily. And just as we are to pray for daily bread, so too are we to pray for daily forgivness. When we sin we are to repent of it. We are to confess ours sin to the Lord, and ask for forgivness, so that we might be restored in our personal walk with Christ. This is the kind of forgiveness that Jesus is talking about here — daily forgivness; restorational forgivness. And it is concerning this kind of forgivness that Jesus warns, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses”.
It is a terrible sin for a Christian to refuse to forgive. Read for yourself that powerful parable of the unforgiving servant found in Matthew 18:21-35. The servant in that parable had been forgiven so much and yet he refused to forgive only a little of the one who was under his authority. “Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’ And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt. So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart’” (Matthew 18:32–35, ESV).
The one who is in Christ has been forgiven so much by God. How then could we possibly withhold forgivness from others? The Christian is to forgive from the heart just as they have been forgiven.
The teaching of scripture is so clear on this point that I doubt any of you will disagree with what has just been said. You might respond saying, but this is hard to do! And I would agree with you about that. Sometimes forgiving others is hard! Our pride can get in the way. Our heart can grow hard like stone and bitter towards others if we are not careful to keep it. But no one can argue against the idea that Christians are called to forgive others from the heart.
However, I have found that great confusion exists concerning the practical application of this clear teaching of scriptures. Christians are to forgive from the heart, but how? When are they to do it? And what is this forgivness to look like when it is transacted?
I am afraid that some have approached this subject in a simplistic manner assuming that the biblical command to forgive others means that forgives must be transacted always, immediately, and with the end result being a fully restored relationship with the other no matter the disposition of the offending part. This, brothers and sisters, is naive. And it is not biblical.
I will state the biblical position very succinctly (in three points) so that we can turn our attention again to Genesis 42 where I see these principles of forgivness played out.
One, the Christian must always keep their heart free from bitterness and un-forgivness so that they stand ready and willing to forgive should true repentance be expressed by the offending party. If and when we transact forgivness — when we come to sy the words, “I forgive you” — we are to do so “from the heart” (Matthew 18:35). The Christian must keep the heart, therefore. We must forgive in the heart, even before there is repentence express by the offender.
Two, forgiveness can only be transacted where there is repentance. Please notice that this is how God himself deals with us. We are not forgiven by him until we turn from our sin and look to Jesus the Christ for the forgivness of our sins. That process of turning from sin and believing upon Christ is called repentance. God stands ready and willing to forgive the sinner, but forgiveness is not transacted until there is true repentence. And so it is with us. Forgivness — though it may have already been prepared in the heart — can only be transacted where there is repentance. The offender must say to the offended, “I’m sorry for what I have done to you. I have sinned against God in this way. Please forgive me.” And it is then that Christian is to take the forgivness that has been prepared in the heart and give it to the other saying, “I forgive you brother or sister, husband or wife, mother or father, son or daughter, friend.”
It was this question from Peter which prompted the parable of the unforgiving servent that I mentioned earlier. “Peter came up [to Jesus] and said to him, ‘Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?’ Jesus said to him, ‘I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (Matthew 18:21–22, ESV). That is of course true. But I am hear pointing out the obvious thing that the forgiveness can only be transacted those “seventy-seven times” if repentance is expressed. You might be thinking, what kind of relationship could possibly require forgivness being transacted seventy-seven times? I’m sure of it — my wife has forgiven me many more times than that in our 20 year of marriage.
Forgiveness can only be transacted where there is repentance. This helps to know when and how we are to forgive when we have been sinned against, and it also helps us to know what we should when we have sinned against another. We should go to the one we have offended and humbly seek their forgivness. We should learn to do a good job at this. We should learn to repent before God first, and afterwards to look the one we have offended in the eye and say, I know that I have sinned against you in this way. I know that it is has hurt you. Please forgive me. And because the offended party is human, and not Divine, it may be necessary to give them a little space to process what you have said, to ask follow questions of you, and then, hopefully say, from the heart I forgive you.
Thirdly, please understand that forgiving from the heart and even transacting forgivness does not always mean that the relationship — whatever kind it is — will go back to what it was before. For example, it is possible for a friend to forgive a friend truly and from the heart, but for the friendship to be less close than it was previously given the damage done to the relationship.
This point is a very important point, but I am a little nervous about it being misused. Some might use what I have just said to justify bitterness and un-forgiveness in the heart, but I have warned against that! Here I am simply saying that in some rather extreme cases where significant damage has been done to a relationship as the result of some heinous sin, it is not required that things go back to what they previously were. It is possible, for example, for a wife to forgive her unfaithful husband from the heart, and even to transact that forgivness upon repentance, but for the marriage bond to be disolved.
These three principles that I have just stated are put on full display in the story of Joseph that runs from chapter 42 through to the end of Genesis. You know the Joseph story well enough that I do not have to worry about spoiling it for you — Jospeh will forgive his brothers for the terrible sins that they committed against him. He will eventually utter these words to them: “‘As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them” (Genesis 50:20–21, ESV).
It is incredible that Joseph was able to say this to them given all of the pain and sorrow that they caused him. But he said it! And he meant it! He proved that he meant it by his actions. He made provision for his family in Egypt. Now, I don’t know that he was the best of friends with his brothers. I tend to doubt it! But he forgave them and he showed them love and kindness.
Today I want for you to notice that it was process for Jospeh to transact this forgivness with his brothers. I do not doubt that Jospeh desired to forgive them — that he had it in his heart to forgive them long before he did so — but it was process to come to the point of transactional forgivness. Jospeh tested his brothers. He watched and waited to see if there was a change of heart in them. The last time that he saw them they were counting coins as the Ishmaelite traders took him away bound to Egypt.
A we begin to observe this process of forgivness and reconciliation, notice three things. One, Joseph was eager to forgive, but guarded. Two, Joseph was wise to test and to watch, wait and see. And three, Jospeh kept his heart free from bitterness and un-forgivness along the way.
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Joseph Was Eager To Forgive, But Guarded
Notice first of all that Joseph was eager to forgive, but guarded.
When Jospeh first saw his brothers he recognized them, but they did not recognize him. It is not difficult to see how this could be. One, Jospeh was the youngest when he was sold into slavery. His appearance would have changed more with the passing of time than his brothers who were older than him. Two, Jospeh would have undoubtably been dressed in the garb of the Egyptians as his brothers stood before him. He was a young Hebrew shepherd boy the last time his brothers saw him. Now he was royalty in Egypt. And three, while Jospeh undoubtably felt free to lock his gaze upon his brothers to examine their appearance closely, his brothers would not have dared to stare at him, for he was a powerful Egyptian official who spoke harshly with them from the outset. Notice that in verse 6 we read, “And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.”
When we read these words we should not forget the dreams that Joseph dreamed that provoked his brothers to envy all those years ago. In those dreams the sun, moon and stars which represented his brothers, his father and mother bowed before Joseph. So too the sheaves of wheat which represented his family bowed before the his sheave. Joseph must have wondered how these dreams would ever come true. He must have especially wondered about the fulfillment of them when was a servant in Potiphar’s house and slave in the prison. But in this moment he knew. His brothers had journeyed to Egypt seeking grain, and when they arrived they bowed before Joseph, though they knew it not.
But what I want for you to notice is that when Joseph recognized his brothers — the ones who had treated him so badly all those years ago, even to the point of stealing his life aways from him — he did not immediately rung to them, reveal his identity and offer them his warm embrace. To the contrary, “Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and spoke roughly to them” (Genesis 42:7, ESV).
Did Joseph sin when he treated his brothers in this way? Did he fail to forgive from the heart? I think not. These men were wicked men in the past. For all Joseph knew, they were wicked men in the present. And given his position, it was right for Jospeh to speak harshly with them, to question them, and to put them to the test.
In verse 8 we read, “And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, ‘You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.’ They said to him, ‘No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.’”
Of the four things that the brothers said of themselves, three were true. One, it was true that they had come to buy food. Two, it was true that they were “all sons of one man.” In fact, there was even more truth to this stamens than the brothers realized. As they spoke these words to Joseph, Joseph was also included in the plural “we”, but they did not know it at the time. Three, it was true that they were not spies. But the third of the four things that they said was not true. They claimed to be honest men. This they were certainly not. They had sold their brother into slavery many years earlier. They had lied to their own father saying that he was dead. And this their father still believed to the present day.
[APPLICATION: Brothers and sisters, don’t you see that this is also how God deals with sinners as he leads them to true repentance? He does not at first speak kindly. He does not at first embrace us with his love. Instead, he speaks harshly to us (if I may use that word). He confronts us with our sin. He applies his law to show us that we have violated it in thought, word and deed. He convinces us that what we deserve is his judgement.
Now, I am not saying that God only speaks harshly to the sinner we he calls him to repentence. He does also speak tenderly. After confronting with the law, he applies the gospel. After the harsh confrontation of our sin, he does also gently summon us to turn from it, to believe upon Christ, and to follow after him. But let us not overlook the fact that if we are to repent truly and believe upon Christ sincerely, we must be confronted with our sin.
Furthermore, don’t you see that sinners often respond to God in the same way that Joseph’s brothers responded to him at first. They underestimate the severity of their sin, and over estimate their own goodness. “We are honest men”, Joseph’s brothers said. Joseph knew otherwise. And those who remain unrepentant before God do the same. “We are honest men”, they say. “We are good and generous men, upstanding citizens”, etc. “Certainly we are not spies”. This is not true repentance, but persistent pride and self-righteous behavior.]
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Joseph Was Wise To Test And To Watch, Wait and See
Secondly, see that Jospeh was wise to test his brothers, and to watch, wait and see if their were indeed honset men — changed men — as they claimed.
Notice that it was the claim that they were honest men that Joseph set his sights on.
In verse 19 Joseph said to them, “if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die” (Genesis 42:19–20, ESV).In verse 31 Joseph’s brothers retell the story to their father back at home and they say, “But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies” (Genesis 42:31, ESV). And in verse 33 they tell their father of the agreement: “Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way.” (Genesis 42:33, ESV). And then again in verse 34 they quote Joseph again, saying“Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall trade in the land’” (Genesis 42:34, ESV).
The word honest appears 5 times in Genesis 42. Once when the brothers claimed to be honest, and four times in regard to Joseph testing to see that if it was really true.
In the Hebrew the word translated as “honest” means to be upright or righteous. These brothers we not only claiming to be men who told the truth, but men upright men of integrity. This is what Jospeh decided to put to the test.
We know that Joseph was testing his brothers, for the text says so. Verse 15: “By this you shall be tested”, Jospeh said. Verse 16: “Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.”
Joseph did not tempt his brothers. His aim was to see if they were true. And it appears that he wanted to find them to be true, and not false. In verse 18 he said to them, ¸“Do this and you will live, for I fear God…” (Genesis 42:18, ESV). His hope was that they would follow through and live. If his desire was that they perish — if his desire was for revenge — then he could have put them in prison or killed them immediately. The testing was in hopes that they would prove to be true and honest men.
[APPLICATION: Brothers and sisters, herein lies the difference between temptation and testing. Temptation has failure as its goal; testing has success. Temptation aims to do harm; testing aims to prove, strengthen and refine. Satan tempts us, friends. God tests us so that our faith might proven true, and so that we might be strengthened and refined.]
I hope that you can see the wisdom in Joseph’s actions. They were not random. Essentially what Joseph did was recreate the senerio with his brothers which lead to his being sold into slavery those many years ago.
Joseph’s desire was to see his younger brother, Benjamin, who was also the son Rachael.
At first Joseph said, “Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you.” After three days in custody his plan was refined. Verse 18: “On the third day Joseph said to them, ‘Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.’”
It was upon hearing this that the brothers began to confess their sin to one another. They spoke in Hebrew and did not know that Joseph could understand them. “Then they said to one another, ‘In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.’ And Reuben answered them, ‘Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood’” (Genesis 42:21–22, ESV).
Notice the language used. They admitted their guilt. Ruben specifically called what they did to their brother “sin”. And they recognized the connection between what was happening to them now and what they did back then.
The situation must have felt strangely familiar. They were leaving one other brothers in bondage in Egypt and preparing to return to the comfort of their own home enriched. And of course that was the point. Joseph had recreated that senerio which led to his being sold into slavery those many years ago. This was a test. Joseph would see if the brothers would again betray and abandon one of their own for personal comfort wealth, or if they would return to rescue him out of the pit at a risk to themselves.
When they uttered those words of confession [verse 23] “They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then [Joseph] turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.” He also “gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them” (Genesis 42:25, ESV).
And so here was the test to see if these brothers of Joseph were changed men. One was imprisoned in Egypt, the other went home with food and money. Would they return for their brother, or would they forget him as they did Joseph that many years earlier.
[APPLICATION: I wonder, brothers and sisters, how is the LORD testing you? God does not tempt, but he does test his people. He tests us so that our faith might be proven true. He tests us to refine us and to strengthen us. How is the LORD testing you right now? My prayer for you is that you would be found to be honest and upright.]
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Joseph Kept His Heart Free From Bitterness And Un-forgiveness
The third and final point of the sermon today is that Joseph kept his heart from bitterness and un-forgiveness.
Now, I am not saying that Joseph was never bitter. Though the Genesis narrative never says so, I would not be surprised to find out that Joseph struggled greatly from time to time while in Potiphar’s house and while in prison. There were probably nights where he cried himself to sleep. He probably felt anger towards his brothers. But it seems clear that Joseph did not allow the bitterness and un-forgivness to take root within his heart. He managed to keep his heart. He tended to the garden of his soul.
This is apparent given the way that he responded to his brother when he saw them. He did not poor out his wrath, did he? He could have! And I suppose that he would have been justified in doing so. Instead he tested them. His desire was that they proved themselves to be upright so that they might live. When they acknowledged their sin, he wept. Joseph’s heart was still soft even after all of those heard years of bondage.
tterness and un-forgivness.
Now, I am not saying that Joseph was never bitter. Though the Genesis narative never says so, I would not be surprised to find out that Joseph struggled greatly from time to time while in Potiphar’s house and while in prison. There were probably nights where he cried himself to sleep. He probably felt anger towards his brothers. But it seems clear that Joseph did not allow the bitterness and un-forgivness to take root within his heart. He managed to keep his heart. He tended to the garden of his soul.
This is apparent given the way that he responded to his brother when he saw them. He did not poor out his wrath, did he? He could have! And I suppose that he would have been justified in doing so. Instead he tested them. His desire was that they proved themselves to be upright so that they might live. When they acknowledged their sin, he wept. Joseph’s heart was still soft even after all of those heard years of bondage.
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Conclusion
Brothers and sisters, may this be true of you and me. May our hearts be ever soft and pliable before the Lord. May our love for God and for one another be always sincere. “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31–32, ESV).
