Written by: Andii Bowsher
Genesis 41 v 44-49
The king said to him, “I am the king, and I say that no one in all the land
of Egypt may lift a hand or a foot without your permission.” The king gave Joseph
the name Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath, who was
the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. So Joseph travelled through all the
land of Egypt.
Joseph was 30 years old when he began serving the king of Egypt. And he left
the king’s court and travelled through all the land of Egypt. During the seven
good years, the crops in the land grew well. And Joseph gathered all the food
which was produced in Egypt during those seven years of good crops and stored
the food in the cities. In every city he stored grain that had been grown in
the fields around that city. Joseph stored much grain, as much as the sand of
the seashore—so much that he could not measure it.
Notes
If you ever wanted a good biblical example of stewardship then this may well
be it: the God-inspired use of plenty to offset famine later on. It may not
be through dreams, but we can make a reasonable prediction that if we don't
act now many years of difficulties with food supply, refugees and disease will
follow our current binge on fossil fuels which is causing global warming.
As Christians, we find in this story a prod to act now in such a way as to make a future disaster more bearable. So while we may not be in a position to put grain in storehouses, we are all in a position to discourage the use of fossil fuels and encourage the use of alternatives. Changing your electricity supplier to one who will invest the money in renewables, turning down the thermostat, walking or using public transport instead of the car ... all of this will help for starters.
So will helping to change the climate of opinion. We may not have the power given to Joseph, but we do have the influence in our families and friendship groups.
Prayer
Let us not become complacent in our plenty; rather give us the wisdom to use
our resources now in a way that honours the needs of our future neighbours.
Amen
Genesis 41 v 50-57
Joseph’s wife was Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On. Before
the years of hunger came, Joseph and Asenath had two sons. Joseph named the
first son Manasseh and said, “God has made me forget all the troubles I have
had and all my father’s family.” Joseph named the second son Ephraim and said,
“God has given me children in the land of my troubles.”
The seven years of good crops came to an end in the land of Egypt. Then the
seven years of hunger began, just as Joseph had said. In all the lands people
had nothing to eat, but in Egypt there was food. The time of hunger became terrible
in all of Egypt, and the people cried to the king for food. He said to all the
Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”
The hunger was everywhere in that part of the world. And Joseph opened the storehouses
and sold grain to the people of Egypt, because the time of hunger became terrible
in Egypt. And all the people in that part of the world came to Joseph in Egypt
to buy grain because the hunger was terrible everywhere in that part of the
world.
Notes
In this passage we get the first hint of how Joseph was perhaps beginning to
see God as a redemptive God: bringing blessing out of the cursing actions or
intentions of others. And of course, for us, there is a reminder in this of
the cross and of the theology in the book of Revelation where God's rule is
seen as a redemptive sovereignty. John saw this personally in the gift of two
sons, and on a wider scale in the way that he had been involved in making good
a natural disaster. Redemptive events can sometimes happen to us or sometimes
be something we are called to be part of making happen for others (or even ourselves).
Is there a situation that you are being called to act redemptively in by helping turn a curse-full situation into a blessing? Sometimes this can involve something as simple as giving time and a listening ear to someone else and helping them to feel that they have been heard and understood. Whatever the resources or power you have, it can be used (remember the lad who brought just a bit of bread and a few fishes to Jesus?). God mainly looks for a willingness to be part of what he's doing in the life of people and the life of the world.
Take a few moments to think about the people whose lives your life touches; how can you be an instrument of redemptive blessing for them?
Prayer
Make me an instrument of your wholeness. Where there is curse, let me bring
blessing. Where there is disease, let me bring healing. Where there is sadness,
let me bring joy. Amen
Genesis 42 v 1-5
Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, so he said to his sons,
“Why are you just sitting here looking at one another? I have heard that there
is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us to eat, so that we will
live and not die.”
So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. But Jacob did
not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with them, because he was afraid that something
terrible might happen to him. Along with many other people, the sons of Israel
went to Egypt to buy grain, because the people in the land of Canaan were also
hungry.
Notes
A natural disaster rarely recognises human boundaries, so it's no surprise to
find Canaan suffering famine also. It's hardly surprising either that the situation
produced refugees and economic migrants - even if, at this stage, they had no
intention of staying (like many migrants). Many of the migrants in the UK are
here because some kind of difficulty has befallen them and they hope for a better
life. Historically, many immigrant communities consist of people who never intended
to stay here but rather wanted to return to their homes, having made enough
money to change their family fortunes. In fact, in this situation it was going
to take quite a lot to get Jacob and all the rest down to Egypt, as Jacob was
clearly counting on staying in the promised land as shown by holding on to Benjamin
in Canaan.
Sometimes, as with Jacob, circumstances (though maybe not a famine for us in the west) force our decisions and we have little sense of God being in it. In fact, it can seem that circumstances are pulling us away from our promised lands. Yet this whole chunk of story is framed by God's purposes working out, even through decisions made out of necessity. Is there a way of looking at your own “plan B” circumstances and beginning to be open to the possibility that God may bring something good out of them? What are our own attitudes and assumptions that get in the way to being open to God's action and keep us locked into a fatalistic view of things?
Prayer
O God, when we have to make hard choices, help us to remember that our lives
are framed by your providence and that you are determined to work good into
the grain of our lives. Amen
Genesis 42 v 6-9
Now Joseph was governor over Egypt. He was the one who sold the grain to people
who came to buy it. So Joseph’s brothers came to him and bowed face down on
the ground before him. When Joseph saw his brothers, he knew who they were,
but he acted as if he didn’t know them. He asked unkindly, “Where do you come
from?”
They answered, “We have come from the land of Canaan to buy food.”
Joseph knew they were his brothers, but they did not know who he was. And Joseph
remembered his dreams about his brothers bowing to him. He said to them, “You
are spies! You came to learn where the nation is weak!”
Notes
It may seem surprising that Joseph acted like this, but he was probably concerned
to find out how his brothers had grown or not since they sold him into slavery,
and he wanted to find news of his family. Or it was possible that Joseph enjoyed
the reversal of fortunes. The vital clue is his remembering the dreams, which
included all of his family bowing to him, not just the ten he had before him.
He presumably recognised that there was more that God wanted to bring to pass.
Despite having been badly treated by his family, Joseph was able to put aside
any feelings for payback. He clearly desired to bring them all together and
took this opportunity to try.
God "is working in you to help you want to do and be able to do what pleases him" (Philippians 2 v 13). Sometimes our own feelings do line up with God's will and may even indicate the right direction to us because God has been at work in our inner lives. If our motives are free of revenge or other negative feelings, and our overall desire is to be in God's will, then we can pay attention to our feelings as things that can help us discern God's will. We see this in Joseph. His feelings did indicate the broad direction that he should be looking to go - to bring his family to be with him. His motives had been purified so that he was able to see the prophecy, not as something that promoted himself, but as a statement of how things would be for the blessing of all.
Take stock of all the ways you may have seen your own emotions line up with God's will. Give thanks for God's work in your inner being.
Prayer
God, help me to be aware of my feelings and motives so that I can be more aware
of your influence in changing my inner landscape and see your will.
Genesis 42 v 10-17
But his brothers said to him, “No, my master. We come as your servants just
to buy food. We are all sons of the same father. We are honest men, not spies.”
Then Joseph said to them, “No! You have come to learn where this nation is weak!”
And they said, “We are ten of twelve brothers, sons of the same father, and
we live in the land of Canaan. Our youngest brother is there with our father
right now, and our other brother is gone.”
But Joseph said to them, “I can see I was right! You are spies! But I will give
you a way to prove you are telling the truth. As surely as the king lives, you
will not leave this place until your youngest brother comes here. One of you
must go and get your brother. The rest of you will stay here in prison. We will
see if you are telling the truth. If not, as surely as the king lives, you are
spies.” Then Joseph put them all in prison for three days.
Notes
There are all sorts of things about Joseph's behaviour that wouldn't win our
approval now: deceiving his brothers; treating them as guilty until proven innocent;
imprisonment without trial. He was not exactly a role model in those things.
But that's something we encounter a lot in the stories of the patriarchs in
Genesis. God's choice to work in and through Abraham, Jacob or Joseph doesn't
mean that God endorses all their decisions or ways of going about things. Having
a broad sense of the right direction he should go doesn't mean that Joseph necessarily
chooses the right means to go about things. (I'm still reflecting about what
I think about the rights and wrongs in this story.)
And while we're about it, let's notice that it applies to us too. The positive flip-side of this is that we don't have to be perfect for God to have something to do with us or through us. That's not to condone sin - as Paul wrote: "So do you think we should continue sinning so that God will give us even more grace? No!" (Romans 6 v 1-2). God's grace reaches out to us in order to rescue us from patterns of sin and to transform us, not to confirm us, in our un-Christlikenesses.
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for reaching out to us while we are still sinners. May
we not take our fresh starts for granted. May we cut others the same slack we
want for ourselves. Amen
Genesis 42 v 18-22
On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man. Do this and I
will let you live: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here
in prison while the rest of you go and carry grain back to feed your hungry
families. Then bring your youngest brother back here to me. If you do this,
I will know you are telling the truth, and you will not die.”
The brothers agreed to this. They said to each other, “We are being punished
for what we did to our brother. We saw his trouble, and he begged us to save
him, but we refused to listen. That is why we are in this trouble now.”
Then Reuben said to them, “I told you not to harm the boy, but you refused to
listen to me. So now we are being punished for what we did to him.”
Notes
Perhaps this reaction is what Joseph was looking for: a sense of recognition
that what they had done to Joseph was wrong. They had done the reflecting and
growing that perhaps Joseph was looking for, and there was a sense of remorse
and as well as recognition of the wrong done to Joseph.
Also, it's "On the third day" that this episode took place - which has some suggestive echoes for those of us who say the Apostle's Creed, at least from time to time. Certainly, it was a kind of symbolic resurrection - they'd been imprisoned and then set free on day three. It's also interesting that one of the brothers remained on behalf of (almost a sacrifice for) the rest. So we have in the midst of this story of how God redeems human ill, cameo-pictures of the “mechanism” of redemption which was still to be accomplished on the cross.
Prayer
Your sacrificial love has been, and is being, spoken into the very fabric of
existence. Help us first to see it in life all around us and to be able to make
others aware of it as we try to bear witness to Christ. Amen
Genesis 42 v 23-28
When Joseph talked to his brothers, he used an interpreter, so they did not
know that Joseph understood what they were saying. Then Joseph left them and
cried. After a short time he went back and spoke to them. He took Simeon and
tied him up while the other brothers watched. Joseph told his servants to fill
his brothers’ bags with grain and to put the money the brothers had paid for
the grain back in their bags. The servants were also to give them what they
would need for their trip back home. And the servants did this.
So the brothers put the grain on their donkeys and left. When they stopped for
the night, one of the brothers opened his sack to get food for his donkey. Then
he saw his money in the top of the sack. He said to the other brothers, “The
money I paid for the grain has been put back. Here it is in my sack!”
The brothers were very frightened. They said to each other, “What has God done
to us?”
Notes
You may have been wondering how the brothers failed to recognise Joseph all
this time. We should remember that the brothers would be following Semitic custom
with beards and hair probably fairly long, and also wearing robes, whereas Joseph
would likely follow Egyptian culture and wear only a loincloth and some indication
of rank, with head and face clean-shaven. Then he hyped up the “foreign-ness”
by not indicating that he spoke Hebrew. It clearly was not easy for Joseph to
do this, as his going out to weep shows.
Whatever we think of Joseph's deception, it is certain that he still loved and forgave his brothers. Perhaps in this episode we can see the toughness that love sometimes requires. Toughness is needed to overcome the sentimentality that often passes for love, in order to work for the longer-term good of those we love. Our culture seems to equate being loving with being nice, when the reality is that being nice can sometimes be more about avoiding hard stuff. It would have been hard for Joseph to put his brothers through this, but the longer-term aim he had in mind was for the good of the whole family in line with God's purposes. (Note that I keep both those things together; presuming we know what is best for others can be a risky thing outside a sense of God's leading.)
Prayer
Sometimes we have confused being loving with being nice or with taking pleasure
in other people. Teach us to do what is sometimes hard work: learning what would
be a blessing for others and giving our effort for their blessing. Amen
word-on-the-web uses the Scripture text taken
from the Youth Bible, New Century Version (Anglicised Edition) copyright 1993
by Word Publishing Milton Keynes