Sent by God

January 15, 2012

Lesson: Genesis 45:1–15

Key Verse: Genesis 45:8

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Introduction

There was a great famine in the whole of the land. Nations began to send representatives to Egypt; for Joseph had kept his word: he had stored more than enough grain during the seven years of plenty to see the people through the seven years of famine. The Lord God Almighty had kept His word, the word that was spoken to Joseph and the Pharaoh. Joseph’s brothers came to Egypt to buy food for their people. They returned to their father, Jacob, with the food. However, they returned without Simeon. They told Jacob that they had to return to Egypt with their younger brother, Benjamin. Jacob’s heart was once again torn apart, for it brought back memories of Joseph, the son he had lost.

It may seem cruel to see Joseph play a sort of game with them. Yet, all of this is of the will of the Lord, to bring about repentance and forgiveness and hope. The brothers show repentant hearts. Judah is shown to be a profitable leader, revealing qualities of compassion and self-sacrifice. Judah speaks to his father of the warning he received from the ruler of Egypt. Joseph had said, “You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.” Judah speaks to his father: “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require of him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.”

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Joseph and his Brothers—Genesis 45:1–8

Joseph looked upon his brothers and “could not refrain himself,” so that he cried, “Cause every man to go out from me.” His brothers remained and Joseph “made himself known unto his brethren.” As he did so, he wept aloud; “and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. The depth of his love for his family could not be contained. Joseph declared to his brothers, “I am Joseph; doth my father yet live?” The brothers “could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.” Joseph then spoke: “Come near to me, I pray you.” They came near to Joseph, and “he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

It is the will of God that is being accomplished, both in the life of Joseph and in the lives of his brothers. Matthew Henry wrote: “Joseph could never have been the shepherd and stone of Israel if his brethren had not shot at him, and hated him; even those that had wickedly sold Joseph into Egypt yet themselves reaped the benefit of the good God brought out of it; as those that put Christ to death were many of them saved by his death. God must have all the glory of the seasonable preservations of his people, by what way so ever they are affected. It was not you that sent me hither, but God. As, on the one hand, they must not fret at it, because it ended so well, so on the other hand they must not be proud of it, because it was God’s doing, and not theirs. They designed, by selling him into Egypt, to defeat his dreams, but God thereby designed to accomplish them.”

Discussion: What reason did Joseph give for his being in Egypt?

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Nourishment During the Famine—Genesis 45:9–15

Joseph continued to speak to his brothers: “Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not; and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: and there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.” Joseph loved his father Jacob and would have him know that it was in his son that he and his family will be taken care of during time of famine. Joseph promised both a place to stay and food for their home and animals. Through his years in Egypt, Joseph had not forgotten his family. His patience was made firm in the promise of his Lord that his sojourn into Egypt was of the Lord for the blessings that he could give to his father and his household.

Joseph continued to speak to his brothers, “And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.” Joseph’s heart cannot contain his love for his brothers: “And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck. Moreover, he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that, his brethren talked with him.”

When Joseph cried out, saying, “I am Joseph,” he was not only being revealed as the brother who they thought was dead, but was alive; but that he would be their deliverer from the burden of a famine. We must see Christ in the life of Joseph. For the incarnate Son came to save His people from their sins; we hear the words, “I am Joshua (Jesus)!” He is the Savior who claims, “I am the resurrection and the life!”—“I am the Bread of life!” As Joseph stood alive before his brothers, so Christ stands alive before us today. He is our life; there is no other Name under heaven by which we are saved!

Discussion: How did Joshua show his love for his family?

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Lessons are based on the International Sunday School Lessons for Christian Teaching, copyright © 2012 by the Committee on the Uniform Series.