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6 Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?" And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” 8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!” 10 And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.” 12 But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 13 And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” ~ Genesis 42:6-13
Today, we return to our study of Genesis 42 where the day has arrived for the dreams of Joseph to be realized in their fullest. Joseph's life proves that pain when properly used can be the very means by which we are exalted. The key for Joseph was that he decided to be defined by God rather than his pain or his flesh. At every turn Joseph chose to give in to the leading of the Holy Spirit. This meant that he was quick to forgive and he was quick to resist revenge. Since Joseph feared God, he had the wisdom of God to recognize that even the ill-treatment that he received from others was a tool in the hand of God for his good.
In v.6 of today's passage we read, "Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth."
By this point in time Joseph had been given the title of governor. The Hebrew word translated "governor" is the word from which we get our English word "sultan." Joseph was given this title because he had submitted to the Lord and he had chosen to be defined by Him who exalted him to the second most powerful position in the world. To "bow down before him" would have been the customary greeting of anyone who was coming to him for food at that time. This posture was a sign of the people's submission to Joseph and without Joseph's favor and the sale of the grain, they would not have had food to eat. And so Jospeh's brothers came like all others; humbly submitting for their sake and for the sake of their families.
In v.7 of today's passage we read, "Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, 'Where do you come from?' And they said, 'From the land of Canaan to buy food.'"
It had been at least 20 years since his brothers last saw Joseph. He was 17 when they sold him to the Ishmaelite traders who brought him to Egypt. He was 30 when he stood before Pharaoh. This accounts for Joseph's first 13 years in Egypt. Then there were seven years of abundance before the famine started. That accounts for 20 years. And, then even more than a year had elapsed since then. By the time Joseph revealed himself to his brothers, it would have been two full years into the famine. So, it had been some 21-22 years since Joseph's brothers had last seen him.
When Joseph addressed his brothers he spoke roughly to them. He wasn’t being vindictive because of what they had done, but to see if they were repentant or not. He used a harsh demeanor towards them to find out what was happening in their hearts. It was then that he asked them from where they had come. Their response included from where they had come but also why they had come. It is obvious Joseph's brothers did not recognize him, they did not expect him to be the second most powerful man in the world.
In v.8-9 of today's passage we read, "8 So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, 'You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!'"
It was in that moment that Jospeh remembered the dreams that he had shared with his brothers. Joseph then accused them of being "spies" who came "to see the nakedness of the land." As spies do, Joseph suggested that they were looking for vulnerabilities in Egypt that would aid them at going into battle against them. Joseph knew this not to be the case, but by making his brothers squirm for the moment, he knew that it would serve them in the end. As we will see, Joseph was reeling his brothers in to see if they would pass his series of three tests that were yet to come.
In v.10-11 of today's passage we read, "10 And they said to him, 'No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.'"
In their defense, they made an impossible claim because it would have been unheard of for ten brothers from the same family to spy like this. If one son got caught then all ten would get caught and there would be no one left to execute their supposed plan. It would have been beyond logic for 10 brothers to all be spies working together to undermine Egypt at the same time all together, even if they had other servants who came along with them.
In v.12 of today's passage we read, "But he said to them, 'No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.'"
On display in this response was the wisdom of Joseph. Rather than accepting their explanation, he continued to accuse them. The brothers were 10 born of 3 different mothers. And, in order to get them to offer more information, which he knew would be forthcoming, he once again said they had come to search out the land and its weaknesses.
In v.13 of today's passage we read, "And they said, 'Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.'"
In an attempt to explain their situation, Joseph's brothers claimed that the youngest was with their father. In so doing, they muddied the waters because there were only 10 of them before Joseph. With an inability to state that Joseph was dead, they simply said, "And one is no more." In that moment, unbeknown to his brothers, Joseph pictured the Lord Jesus yet again. It was the Lord Jesus who was believed to be dead, but in fact, He lived.
Only He who created life can resurrect it after death. Only God can reverse the results of sin which is death itself, and only He can remove the sting of death and gain the victory over the grave. In resurrecting, the Lord Jesus rose from the grave to pay the penalty that man's rebellion created in the first place. The Lord Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life," and in that statement He claimed to be the source of both. There is no resurrection apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, and therefore there is no eternal life. As history tells us, when the Lord Jesus came out of the tomb in a physical body, it was God’s definitive stamp of approval on Him and His work on the cross to conquer sin and death on our behalf.
