Reconciliation Or Retaliation

Again, take your Bibles and turn back to Genesis chapter 44. We continue in the saga of Joseph and his brothers, his family, and the fulfillment of God's promise. We'll pick it up where we left off, Genesis chapter 44, verse 18, and read the rest of our text. Then Judah went up to him and said, O my Lord, please let your servant speak a word in my Lord's ear, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.

My Lord asked his servant, saying, Have you a father or a brother? And we said to my Lord, We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children. And his father loves him. Then you said to your servants, bring him down to me that I might set my eyes on him. We said to my Lord, the boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.

Then you said to your servants, unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again. When he went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my Lord. And when our father said, go again, buy us a little food, we said, we cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.

Then your servant, my father, said to us, you know that my wife bore me two sons. One left me, and I said, surely he has been torn to pieces, and I have never seen him since. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs and evil to Sheol. Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, then as his life is bound up in the boy's life, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die.

And your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol. For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father saying If I did not bring him back to you then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life Now therefore please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my Lord and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me?

I fear to see the evil that would find my father. Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, make everyone go out from me. So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. And he wept aloud so that the Egyptians heard it and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph.

Is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, please. And they came near and he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to preserve life.

For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to prepare, preserve for you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and Lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, thus says your son Joseph, God has made me Lord over all Egypt. Come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks, your herds and all that you have. There I will provide for you, for there are five years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty.

And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt and of all that you have seen. Hurry, and bring my father down here. Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them.

And after that, his brothers talked with him. Let pray Father now open this text to us Oh it seems Lord oftentimes in these that these are merely stories of history rather than the word of God intended to change us the word of God intended to reveal Jesus to us the word of God intended us to point us to you in all our worship So now we pray that you would accomplish those things as we consider your word today. In Jesus' name, amen.

You know, it's like going down the road and suddenly you see flashing lights behind you and you pull over, right? You pull over as a patrol car comes up behind you. Do you panic because you've been caught? Or are you asking yourself, why is he pulling me over? What's going on? I don't get it.

Imagine the confusion that overtook Jacob's 11 sons. They're heading northeast out of the city. They're loaded with provisions as they head home to Canaan. And all of a sudden they look behind them and they see some chariots approaching. And in the chariot is the prime minister's chief steward, or as we would consider him today, his chief of staff. Now what, they say, what's this all about?

And the chief of staff jumps down from his chariot and says, you've gone as far as you're going to go, boys. You've got the Prime Minister's Cup in your possession. You are the most ungrateful bunch of people I have ever met. Let me see your grain sacks. Not again. You can almost hear them whispering to one another.

Oh man, not again. We've been through this already once before. Well now, before we continue, let's review the previous scenes that occurred in chapters before this. You remember God had promised a seed to Abraham and that that seed would bless all the nations. The seed that was going to bless all the nations was going to come from Abraham's family. But that promise is threatened.

It's threatened by starvation. What's going to happen to the promise of God if they all starve to death? There'll be no seed to bless all the nations. If they starve, the promise will not be fulfilled. So Jacob sends his son to Egypt where unknown to them God has engineered through their lost son his lost son Joseph He's engineered this unbelievable abundance of food.

They don't recognize Joseph when they meet him and he puts them through some tests. You see, Joseph recognizes that life and covenant cannot go on unless the family is reunited. The first test, as we saw in the previous chapter, reveals an awakened conscience. The brothers admit they have sinned against God by selling Joseph into slave slavery. The second test reveals their maturity as they respond with love toward Benjamin, And we're going to look at the story of the new favored son of Jacob.

And he is treated with favor by the prime minister, Joseph. They still treat him well. But one more test remains. And it's the test that we see in our text this morning. As we explore the text, we need to remember that this continues the story of God fulfilling his promise. Can I say to you again, as I've said many times, as you read the book of Genesis, that's the theme.

All the way through with all the crazy things that happen. Emblazoned above the book of Genesis is, watch how God keeps his promise of the seed. That's what you need to think whenever you read through this book. And once more, we come to a place where we see how God keeps his promise. As we explore this text then, we need to see how he does that. Here's the first.

God fulfills that promise by promoting reconciliation. We see that all through 44 up to 45 verse 3. God fulfills that promise by promoting reconciliation. And then God fulfills that promise by preventing retaliation, which we see in chapter 45 verses 4 through 15. First of all, God promoting reconciliation and then God preventing retaliation. All right, so let's look at the first part of our text, 44 verse 1 through 45 verse 1.

3 See God fulfill his promise by promoting reconciliation. Now the curtains open on the scene with Joseph setting up the brothers again by having his chief of staff put their money and his official divination cup into their bags or into Benjamin's grain sack. They don't get very far before the steward catches them and makes the accusation. If they had stolen that cup, if they had stolen that cup, it will not just be a case of thievery, but of unbelievable, incredible ingratitude.

No sooner does he speak and the brothers protest their innocence. How can you possibly accuse us of such a thing? Didn't we bring all the money back that was in our sacks from before? They are so convinced of their innocence that they make a rash vow. Now, if you find the cup, then kill the man who has it and make the rest of us all, make the rest of us your slaves.

The steward raises his hand and he says, look, I'm not a cruel man. I'm not a cruel man at all. The only thing I require is that the guilty one become my slave. The rest of you can go home. I'll only keep that one. Now their hearts, no doubt, sink.

Look, I'm going to step aside from the story for a moment. Put yourself in their place. Too often we read the Bible like the characters are cardboard characters. Right? Put yourself in their place. You are dead to rights guilty.

Right? And you've just said, kill the man who's done this. And they find the cup. And Benjamin said, Can you put yourself there? When I say their hearts sank, my guess is they were in full-blown panic mode, at least inwardly. They're going to take the youngest one.

So in desperation, they tear their clothes, which was a sign of grief, and they all head back to the palace. Please note that. Please note the importance of that action. Benjamin was the only one required to return as a slave and the rest were free to go home Now do you remember what they did last time with the favored son They sold him. They made it look like he was killed.

And they went home. Right? But they don't do it this time. They don't do it this time. They all go back to the palace. They all return with Benjamin to the palace.

Now they appear before Joseph now, and they fall to the ground before this powerful man. Once more, remember, fulfilling the dream that Joseph had had, that all of them would one day be bowing to him. Here is again the fulfillment of that promise. And he accuses them of the crime. And who steps up as the spokesman? Don't miss this.

Who steps up as the spokesman to defend the favored son? Judah, the very one who had engineered the selling of Joseph to slavery. It was Judah who came up with the idea of, let's sell him. Let's sell him. Now in Judah's plea, he recognizes that they have no defense, but he also does something else here. He confesses sin.

Look at verse 16 in chapter 44. Verse 16. And Judas said, What shall we say to my Lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants.

Behold, we are in my Lord's. We are my Lord's servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found. He confesses his sin. And one writer has said that true confession consists of giving God glory by acknowledging sin and God's right to punish it. And Judah is saying it right now. We deserve this because we have sinned greatly.

This is what Judah does. And this is what Joseph hears. Now, again, put yourself back there. Joseph is hearing from Judah. The very one who organized his sale to slavery, right? Joseph is in the pit Joseph is in the pit years ago And he hears his brothers And he hears Judah saying let not kill him Let's sell him.

Now, here's Joseph years later hearing the same voice say what? We sinned against God. You see? And then he adds that if the minister takes Benjamin, they will remain as slaves. Well, Joseph says that only Benjamin's going to remain as a slave, and the rest of the brothers have the freedom to return home to their father. Now again, see what Joseph does here.

He recreates something of the original situation. His brothers are in control of the life or death of Benjamin, the favored son of Rachel. They're once more in control of the life or death of the favored son. Judah again steps forward and makes an impassioned plea for Benjamin. But the heart of his plea is what? The concern for his father.

Now, I don't know if you noticed it, I've highlighted it in my text. I've highlighted this in my text. The term father is used 15 times in the span of 17 verses. Now, you probably can't do it now, and I don't want you to do it now because you'll stop listening. Go home and you underline or highlight every time the word father is used in that section. Beginning in verse 18.

You will see father appears 17 times. And you must also note that Judah highlights his father's favoritism of Benjamin. He keeps talking about this favored son. My father loves him. For if he should leave his father, his father would die. He emphasizes in verses 20, 22, 27, 29, and 30 through 31, He emphasizes that this one is the favored son They know it But notice this that favoritism does not make any difference anymore He can be the favorite son We don want to break our father heart We don't want him to die.

We will remain as slaves. And then his closing argument. I will remain as the slave in the place of Benjamin, and I will also take the place of all my brothers, For I cannot bear to see the misery that will befall my father. Although the text does not say it explicitly, something has happened to this man's heart. Something has happened. God has worked.

There is an entirely different approach to a favorite son than it had been before. There is an entirely different concern for a father that was absent before. Joseph, Joseph cannot help but see that. And he starts weeping. And he sends everyone out of the room except for his brothers. He makes his identity known and his brothers are dismayed.

Certainly retaliation is going to happen for their brutal treatment of their brother. But his weeping so identifies him with these despised shepherding brothers. Remember, the Egyptians held these kind of people. They hated them. And so he identifies with him rather than the sophisticated, proud culture of the palace. And by the way, Pharaoh notices this.

He hears about it. He sees what's going on. The ruse is over. They are now fully aware of the identity of this powerful man. Now, don't miss what happens here. Don't miss what happens in this part of the narrative.

This is a revelation of changed hearts. This is a revelation of changed hearts. You see the solidarity they have with Benjamin as they all return with him to the palace. And they could have gone home without him. They didn't do that with Joseph, did they? They're doing it now.

You must certainly see the brothers' open confession of their sin against God and Joseph. They did not even consider that when they got rid of Joseph. With Benjamin's life in their hands, they stand for him, ready to sacrifice themselves for him. These brothers were once angry and indifferent to the welfare of their father. They hated him for his favoritism of Joseph.

They couldn't care less for the feelings, his feelings, when they returned home with a coat splattered with blood. If you reread that story, they killed a goat, splattered with blood, took the coat home, said to their dad, Joseph got killed. They couldn't care less what their father felt. Now they beg for his well-being. They are concerned for the welfare of dad.

And they feel this way about him, even though he still plays favorites. The two boys of Rachel were his favorites. One's gone. He's still got this one, and he is the favored one. And that doesn't make any difference to them. And notice that even though Judith makes it clear that Benjamin is the obvious favorite, they don't care about that anymore.

Something more is at stake, the well-being of their father. You know, what difference does it make now that he still has a favorite? What difference does it make that he treats Benjamin so well? We care about him. Now, sometimes the question to ask is, what about my family? Has my relationship changed to someone in my family because my parents play favorites?

Just a question. But I think most importantly of all, Judah is transformed from the one who sells his brother as a slave to the one who is willing to be a slave for this brother. Don't miss it. God is on the march, fulfilling his promise by bringing this family back together. But even though they have changed what about Joseph They changed but what about Joseph As far as they can see he moved but they don know what that means Just because someone starts weeping you don know what going to happen next And as far as they're concerned, he may now bring them to the full justice.

There's no one, there is no one who can restrain him from doing what he wants to do. You get that? You know, we live in a culture where we have checks and balances, right? Whoever's in power can't always get away with what they want. Well, back then, he could have done whatever he wanted with them. What was he going to do?

And here you see God fulfill his promise by preventing retaliation. Joseph beckons his brothers to come near and he says once again, I am your brother Joseph. Yeah, I'm the one whom you sold into Egypt. Don't be distressed or angry or afraid because you may have sold me here, but it was God's plan to bring me here. You sold me. Notice the phraseology.

You sold me, but God sent me. Do you see that in the text? You sold me, but God sent me. The good news is that God, through all this misery, intended to save a remnant of people in order to fulfill his promise. One writer put it this way, from a worm's eye view, this narrative reads like a nightmare, a cacophony of outrageous excesses unjustly inflicted upon Joseph.

But from heaven's perspective, God orchestrated a symphony called Rescue. All of it to rescue this people. Then he offers to minister good to them, even though they brought great misery into his life. Notice that as well. Go home and tell dad that's happened and what you've seen. You know, that's a conversation I'd like to hear.

Right? Okay, dad. Okay, you've been thinking something for 20 years. Well, it's not true. So Joseph really isn dead We made that up I would just love to be there for that conversation And then for them to relate everything that happened to Joseph that he told them Unbelievable And then Joseph says to them I will offer to rule over you with grace giving you the best land for your herds and food for the remaining years of the famine.

Now, keep in mind, shepherding people, the nomadic people, the Hebrews, The Jews, or the Semitic peoples at this time, were held in utter disdain by Egyptians. And now the ruler of the Egyptians, or the second most high ruler, is saying to them, I'm going to give you the best land. I'm going to give you Goshen. I'm going to give you the best part of our country for your herds and everything else.

And then he weeps and he kisses each one of his brothers. This is an intimacy and emotion that convinced his brothers of his goodwill and frees them from their stunned silence. And then as if to make the reconciliation complete, they sit down and they converse. I mean, they converse as if they're the best of friends, freely and without hindrance. Now again, I would love to be in that conversation too.

Well, God didn't think it was profitable, so here we are. But whether I love it or not, that's the way it is. Now what you see here is God preventing retaliation and promoting good in order to bring about the completion of his plan. So let's say the family's united, but Joseph is angry. What happens to God's promise now? If he takes his vengeance on his brothers, it's done, but he doesn't.

You see, Joseph's belief in God's providence suppresses, represses any desire for revenge he might have had, right? Who is responsible, by the way, for saving this family? Who's responsible for saving this family? The brothers who sold Joseph? Joseph who plans for the famine? Or God?

They sold him God sent him Right Someone says to me Pastor Tim why did you go to the OSU hospital to get those heart ablations Why not just let God heal it You know what my response to that would be God did heal it right God kept his promise. How? Through the acts of men. It's God who did it through brothers selling their brother into slavery and Joseph being exalted to the highest place and planning for the famine.

The doctrine of God's providence recognizes that men sin and are responsible for that sin. You sold me, right? But God's providence means not that God foresees and reacts, but as Joseph knows, God plans and executes using the actions of men, even if those actions are evil. You sold me, God sent me. That's why, folks. That's why don't ever use that phrase.

When something turns out well and you didn't expect it, it's a God thing. It's all a God thing. Okay? Let's please keep that in mind. And if you say that near me, the top of my head will not blow off. Okay?

But I may look at you crossly. All right? It's all a God thing. God was in all of it. Because God's providence always has a good end in view for his people. Because Joseph believes that there is no necessity for revenge.

Revenge. You sold me, God sent me. Therefore, I don't have to take revenge. I know that God's providence has a good end for me. How do you respond to those who treat you badly? Not even the thought of revenge should occur to you.

You must know that when people misuse you and abuse you, they are God's instrument for your good. God has good ends always. And again, don't look at Joseph as a cardboard character. You think about being in prison for seven years. You think about being wrongly accused. You think about being sold into slavery.

That was a real human being. All those horrible things happened, but he knew the whole time this was God working. And so you must have the same attitude. How do you respond when you've been treated badly? You must know that God's end is always good for you. And you see that Joseph's belief in God's providence fuels the desire to return good to those who misused him.

Since God's providence always works for the benefit of his people, Joseph offers a gracious rule that will bring good into their lives. He can rebuild his relationship with his brothers. Because God works all things for good in his sovereign purposes, It says you can restrain your vengeance and it can fuel your ability to do good to those who misuse you.

Now, often as you read this story, you're going to identify with Joseph. In fact, I've been doing that, haven't I? And so you should You too can be victims of suffering abuse misuse and hatred But you must also remember that you're not just victims. You're also perpetrators. You're also perpetrators. Just like those brothers who sinned against God and others, we have sinned against God.

And we have sinned against others. And justice demands our death. And justice, as it presses its claims, makes us feel defiled and dirty. Who will step forward in our place to be our Judah and reconcile us to one another and to God? Who will do that? Our Judah is even one of Judah's descendants.

This Jesus willingly became a servant in order to free us from our bondage to sin and death and hell. Jesus died to save the lives of his people through a great deliverance to create a harmonious community of brothers and sisters through his suffering as a substitute He took the place of a servant He the one who was killed in our place so that we could be a community of harmonious community of brothers and sisters And how did God accomplish that great task? He did it, right?

Through the acts of wicked men as they nailed Jesus to the cross. In hatred. He too was betrayed and sold. And he suffered because of it. But by those wicked acts, God accomplished the saving of many lives. Lives that glorify him now.

And lives that will live in glory with him forever. Men betrayed and sold him, but God sent him. Father, thank you. We must always give thanks when we look into your word, for it speaks to us in every part of our life and it reveals to us the Lord Jesus Christ who was treated with great wickedness by those who knew him by his own people. He was abused.

And yet, good came from it all. Father, we know that your providence will always be good for us because in the most wicked act of men, you produce the greatest good. Would you help us, Lord, when we face situations of misuse and betrayal, abuse and hatred, that you would cause us to fix our eyes on the cross and to see that the Lord Jesus Christ guaranteed for us a gracious providence that would work for our good.

Thank you for our great Savior. In his name we pray. Amen.