The Book of GENESIS
James J. Barker


Lesson 46
RECONCILIATION AFTER REPENTANCE

Text: GENESIS 45:1-28


INTRODUCTION:


  1. In Genesis 42:6, Joseph's brothers came to Egypt, and they bowed down before Joseph with their faces to the earth.
  2. They did not recognize Joseph. They did not think they would ever see him again. They thought he was probably dead (cf. 42:13, 22, 32, 36, 38; 44:20, 28).
  3. Everything from that point up until chapters 45 deals with Joseph’s efforts to get his brothers to repent.
  4. Everything in chapters 42—44 leads up to their eventual repentance and the evidence of it.
  5. Genesis 45 deals with reconciliation. First repentance, then reconciliation.
  6. “Then Joseph could not refrain himself…and he cried…And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph” (45:1-3).
  7. Because his brothers gave evidence of genuine repentance, there was no need of further delay on the part of Joseph in making himself known to his brethren.
  8. “Judah’s touching appeal had shown conclusively that the character of the brethren was entirely altered” (W.H. Griffith Thomas, Genesis).
  9. Joseph’s prolonged tests had been effective.

 

I. JOSEPH’S REVELATION (45:1-16).

  1. The intensity of Joseph’s feelings overcame him as he listened to the earnest pleading of Judah, and he ordered all the Egyptians to go out, leaving him alone with his brothers (45:1, 2).
  2. Joseph wanted privacy for this special occasion (45:1-3).
  3. Joseph wept aloud, “and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard” (45:2b).
  4. For many years, Joseph had been estranged from his family. He had grown accustomed to being a stranger in a strange land, but now his pent-up feelings burst forth, “and he wept aloud” (45:2a).
  5. Joseph had to put on a stern front before his brothers, but now the true man revealed himself – “I am Joseph” (45:3).
  6. Joseph’s first question was about Jacob, whose love he had never forgotten. Genesis 37:3 says, “Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors.”
  7. Joseph remembered that beautiful coat, which his brothers brutally ripped off his back before they threw him into a pit.
  8. But when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, he did not mention his coat or their jealousy or their treachery. There was not the slightest word of reproach or rebuke, only words of encouragement and cheer.
  9. Joseph needed to remind them of what they had done against him – “I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt” (45:4b), but he mentioned their sin only so it could be pardoned.
  10. Joseph urged them not to be grieved or angry with themselves, telling them that in spite of everything God had overruled their sin in order to preserve life (45:3-8; cf. 50:20).
  11. The brothers were “troubled at his presence” (45:3b). Joseph recognized their hesitation and fear, and said to them, “Come near to me, I pray you” (45:4).
  12. Not, “Come near to me, I order you” (45:4).
  13. Joseph was now a much different man from Zaphnathpaaneah, the powerful and stern governor of Egypt who bossed them around and put the fear of God into them.
  14. And this older and wiser Joseph was now different from the young man whom they had cast into the pit.
  15. And as he had done so often before, Joseph bore his testimony to God – “God did send me before you to preserve life” (45:5b).
  16. Joseph informed them that there were still five years of famine (45:6). This should have been a sign to them that Joseph was more than just a powerful governor in Egypt. He was a man in touch with God.
  17. God did send me before you to preserve life…God hath made me lord of all Egypt” (45:5b, 9).
  18. Years before he had said to Potiphar’s wife, “How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” (39:9).
  19. In prison, Joseph assured the chief butler and the chief baker that “interpretations belong to God” (40:8).
  20. And later on, Joseph said to Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (41:16).
  21. And after locking up his brothers in prison for three days, Joseph said to them, “This do, and live; for I fear God” (42:18).
  22. The great doctrine of the providence of God is illustrated in the life of Joseph and his family. The Bible teaches that God moves behind the scenes to accomplish His purpose in our lives (45:5-9 cf. 50:19, 20).
  23. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
  24. The original 1828 Noah Webster Dictionary defines providence as, “the care and superintendence which God exercises over his creatures…a belief in divine providence is a source of great consolation to good men.”
  25. “A source of great consolation to good men.” And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God” (Rom. 8:28).
  26. Shakespeare wrote: “There’s a Divinity that shapes our ends, rough hew them how we will” (Hamlet).
  27. Henry Ward Beecher said: “There seems to be no order in the movements of the bees of a hive, but the honey-comb shows that there was a plan in them all.”
  28. God had a plan for Joseph and his family. Jacob said, “All these things are against me” (Genesis 42:36), but in reality all these things were working for him.
  29. Here is a good definition of Divine Providence from the Westminster Confession of Faith: “God the great Creator of all things doth uphold, direct, dispose, and govern all creatures, actions, and things, from the greatest even to the least by His most wise and holy providence, according to His infallible foreknowledge, and the free and immutable counsel of His own will.”
  30. Joseph urged his brothers to hurry back home (“Haste ye…tarry not” – 45:9, 13) and to tell their father what had happened – “God (not Pharaoh) hath made me lord of all Egypt” (45:9).
  31. They were told to go back home and to bring their father to Egypt, with the promise of a safe and comfortable home, and the assurance that he should be near his son (45:10-13). “And, behold, your eyes see” (45:12).
  32. At this time Joseph did not realize all that God was doing in moving his family into Egypt. He thought of it simply as a preservative against famine (45:5-7, 11), but God had a far greater plan. The providence of God is directed to a specific end.
  33. In Egypt, God’s promise to Abraham and to his seed was to be fulfilled – “And I will make of thee a great nation” (Genesis 12:2). In Egypt, Jacob’s family was transformed into a great nation.
  34. Deuteronomy 26:5 says, “A Syrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous.”
  35. Exodus 1:7 says, “And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them.”
  36. So God’s plan for Joseph and his father and his brothers was more than preservation through the famine. It was in Egypt that Jacob’s family became “a nation, great, mighty, and populous.”
  37. After telling his brothers to go and bring back their father Jacob, Joseph “fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck” (45:14).
  38. “Moreover he kissed all his brethren and wept upon them” (45:15).
  39. “And after that his brethren talked with him” (45:15b). Before they sold Joseph into slavery, the brothers “hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him” (37:4), but now that there was repentance and forgiveness and reconciliation, they “talked with him” (45:15b).
  40. There was genuine reconciliation. Simeon, Reuben, Judah, and the rest of the brothers who were responsible for casting Joseph into the pit and selling him into Egypt were all kissed and wept over by their forgiving brother. “To err is human, but to forgive is divine.”

 

II. JOSEPH’S RESOURCES (45:16-23)

  1. Joseph told his brothers that they were to tell their father of all his glory in Egypt (45:13). Joseph assumed that his father Jacob would be impressed by the report.
  2. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “For not once or twice had Jacob been impressed and influenced by the tangible and visible, as distinct from the purely spiritual and non-material elements of life” (Genesis).
  3. The news of all that was going on soon came to Pharaoh’s house, “and it pleased Pharaoh well, and all his servants” (45:16).
  4. Unlike the Pharaoh of the book of Exodus, there was something very likeable about this Pharaoh. From the moment he is introduced in chapter 41, he is pictured as wise and noble, a man of good character.
  5. In Genesis 41:38, Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?”, and he immediately appointed Joseph second-in-command of all of Egypt.
  6. And now here in chapter 45, we see him encouraging Joseph, and urging him to send a hearty invitation to his father and family to come into Egypt (45:16-19).
  7. Pharaoh told them not to regard their “stuff,” that is, they were not to worry about their tools or utensils or any other property they were leaving behind, since everything in Egypt would be at their disposal (45:20). “The good of all the land of Egypt” was theirs (45:20).
  8. By the way, this is good advice for most Americans today – “regard not your stuff” (45:20).
  9. And Joseph gave them wagons and provision for the way, according to Pharaoh’s command (45:21). It is noteworthy that while he gave each man changes of raiment, to Benjamin were given 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment (45:22).
  10. The Bible does not explain why, but it was probably done to compensate Benjamin in connection with the supposed theft of the silver cup.
  11. Some Bible commentators think Joseph was still testing his brothers (cf. 43:34), but I do not think so. The brothers had been tested enough, and were now reconciled with Joseph.
  12. A very generous present was sent to his father. This was according to the usual marks of courtesy of that day (45:23).
  13. It would also help to assure his father that the message sent by Joseph was real, knowing it would be hard for Jacob to believe (cf. 45:26).

 

III. THE REQUEST OF JOSEPH (45:24-28)

  1. As Joseph’s brethren were leaving, Joseph said to them, “See that ye fall not out by the way” (45:24). The Hebrew word used to warn of a possible “falling out” is a strong word. It often refers to earthquakes.
  2. Though they had been separated for many years, Joseph remembered how quarrelsome his brothers were.
  3. Joseph was concerned that they might go back to their old rough and worldly ways once they left Egypt.
  4. Perhaps their former dispositions would reassert themselves and they would get into trouble.
  5. It must have been a great shock to old Jacob when his sons told him that “Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt” (45:26).
  6. “Jacob’s heart fainted…” (45:26b). “Fainted” means, “grew numb and nearly stopped.” Jacob nearly had a heart attack. He was 130 years old at this time.
  7. “Jacob’s heart fainted and he believed them not” (45:26b).
  8. Though he was saved for many years, Jacob often walked by sight and not by faith. W.H. Griffith Thomas said that all through Jacob’s long life “it was the actual, tangible, material, and visible that impressed him,” and that didn’t change much even after Bethel and Peniel.
  9. “Jacob’s heart fainted and he believed them not” (45:26b). The news sounded too good to be true, and Jacob was not prepared to accept it at first. The world says, “Seeing is believing,” and unfortunately Jacob was rather worldly-minded.
  10. The apostle Thomas was also a little worldly-minded. He skipped church one Sunday night and so he missed seeing Jesus. When the other apostles told him that they had seen the resurrected Christ, Thomas said, “Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe” (John 20:25).
  11. But on the following Sunday, Thomas was careful not to miss church and he saw our Lord. So our Lord said to him, “Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing” (John 20:27).
  12. “And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).
  13. Then Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
  14. There are many people who do not believe the Bible, they don’t believe in Jesus, they don’t believe in heaven and hell, they don’t believe in being born again, etc. “Seeing is believing” is their motto.
  15. But don’t let them discourage you. Jesus said, “Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed” (John 20:29).
  16. The Bible says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (II Cor. 5:7).
  17. Jacob could not see Joseph, and so he wouldn’t believe his sons’ report. That is, until Jacob saw the wagons (45:27).
  18. Seeing the wagons “revived” Jacob. He was downcast, downhearted, discouraged, disappointed, defeated, dejected, disheartened, despairing, dispirited, despondent, disconsolate, demoralized, and depressed. He was “down in the dumps.”
  19. Seeing Benjamin and Simeon return safely must have lifted his spirits a little bit, but Jacob was probably thinking the famine could continue for a few more years and they would have to leave again.
  20. But then Jacob saw the wagons and his spirit revived, and he believed that Joseph really was alive and well (45:27, 28).
  21. It is significant that the Bible says, “The spirit of Jacob their father revived: and Israel said…” (45:27, 28).
  22. Jacob once again became Israel, the Prince of God.
  23. And it is Israel, the Prince of God, who makes this resolve to go down to see his son Joseph – “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die” (45:28).
  24. Soon the family circle would be complete.

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. There are many wonderful lessons in the story of Joseph, who is a beautiful picture and type of Christ.
  2. There is the lesson of Divine Providence (cf. 45:5-8).
  3. There is the lesson of the need for repentance. There could be no reconciliation until Joseph’s brothers repented.
  4. There is the lesson of reconciliation. Reconciliation with God brings peace – peace with God, and peace with others.
  5. Romans 5:10 says sinners were enemies of God, but by faith “we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son.”
  6. And since we have been reconciled, we have the responsibility of going and telling others (cf. 45:9). “Haste ye…tarry not” (45:9).
  7. “And ye shall haste” (45:13).
  8. Second Corinthians 5:20 says, “Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.”
  9. Joseph’s brothers were given a commission. They were not to keep the news to themselves but to go back at once and tell their father three great facts:
  1. that Joseph was alive;
  2. that he was in an exalted position;
  3. that he was willing to receive his father and all of them.
  1. W.H. Griffith Thomas said, “This commission was faithfully carried out, and thus they fulfilled their brother’s will. In the same way the reconciliation of the soul with God involves obedience to what we speak of in the New Testament as the Great Commission. It is for us to go far and near with the same message, that our Lord is indeed alive and risen from the dead; that He is exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour; and that He is willing to receive all that come unto God by Him. This is our bounden duty, and if we have been reconciled to God it will be for us to carry out this commission and fulfil our responsibility” (Genesis).


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