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29 Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: 30 “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’" ~ Genesis 42:29-34
Today, we continue our study of Genesis 42. Today's verses are a restatement of the story that we have already heard. One principle to remember when we are studying the Bible is the principle of repetition which is a key part of our spiritual formation. God repeats Himself for many reasons, one of which to verify the truthfulness of the story. In the court of law, we conclude something to be true when we find the narrative to be consistent each time it is recounted. With the Bible, there is no difference and this is the case in today's passage.
In today's narrative it is made obvious that Joseph's brothers had adopted the "victim's mentality." A victim's mentality is when we see our lives as having been victimized by others. Victimization is seeing things in life as negative, as something we should be given sympathy for having experienced. This way of living causes us to believe that we "deserve" better than what we received. At its heart, a victim's mentality is actually a way to avoid taking any responsibility for oneself. It also is one of the biggest signs that we have a very small view of God and that we have been feeding the flesh quite a bit. People with a victim's mentality never succeed on their own and their dignity has been destroyed.
In v.29-30 of today's passage we read, "29 Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: 30 'The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country.'"
The name "Jacob" is mentioned five times in this chapter. Jacob means deceiver. Even though God had changed his name, he was still Jacob to his sons. When they returned to Canaan and addressed Jacob this was the way they viewed him. For the majority of his life Jacob struggled at being defined by God which is evidenced by our obedience to Him. This is why it is so important for us to be defined by God. As in the case of Joseph, people looked up to him because he was the recipient of the culture of God.
Once Joseph's brothers returned to their father Jacob, they took the time to explain the details of their long trek south to the land of Egypt. In recounting their story, Jacob's sons emphasized their feelings concerning the harsh treatment they received from the man who was lord in Egypt. In their minds they were victims. This was caused by their habit of feeding the flesh. The victim's mentality distorts our view of reality and ourselves. When we adopt this expression of the flesh, we develop the bad habit of viewing life through a negative lens. We magnify the bad things that happen to us, and attribute them exclusively to others and forces outside of our control. It is then that we lose our perspective on reality and our faith in God is exposed to be very little thus our God is found to be quite little. There is no such thing as big faith when we have a puny view of God.
In v.31-32 of today's passage we read, "31 But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are not spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.'"
The significance of Joseph's brothers' inability to satisfy the man of Egypt pictures the way many think they are able to please God through their good behavior. When I ask most people if they are going to heaven, the majority of them reveal to me that they are hoping that they had been good enough. But, this belief is not acceptable to God because perfection is His standard. As a group, the brothers were unable to satisfy Joseph. Once we stand with and acknowledge Christ as our Savior, it is then that we can be pleasing and therefore acceptable to God. Thus, there was the need for Joseph's brothers to return with their brother Benjamin, the Son of God's Right Hand. Without the One who died in our place whom Benjamin pictured here in today's passage, we cannot measure up before God on our own.
In v.33-34 of today's passage we read, "33 Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, 'By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 34 And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.'"
In these two verse Joseph's brothers failed to tell the whole story. They left out what originally happened. When they first arrived in Egypt all of them were to be imprisoned and one was to be allowed to return to Canaan. After three days in prison, only one was left and the rest were allowed to go back to their father in Canaan. And they only said that the brother was left in Egypt, not that he was bound in prison. Instead of giving all of the bad details, they told their dad the truth without giving him all of the information.
Joseph's brothers' story teaches us that we must be careful to not try to bury our sin. Joseph’s brothers buried their sin for 21-22 years but they did not get away with it. They could not run from their sin forever because God knew what they had done. God always works through a number of situations and circumstances in our lives to bring our sin to the fore of our thinking. He uses tests and trials to put pressure on our souls, to bring our sin to the surface. Due to this it is impossible for us to bury our sin especially when God wants to bring it to the surface so that we can deal with it. Unconfessed sin eats away at our souls reducing our ability to relate to others properly.
That is the bad news but the good news is that God Himself has accomplished for us what we could never do for ourselves. God sent His only Beloved Son into the world to pay the penalty created between us and Him by our sin. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to be the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. This means we mustn’t bury our sin. The gospel says that in fact we must bring our sin into the light. We do this by confessing it and choosing to believe that Christ’s shed blood on the cross was and is efficacious enough for us to be forgiven.
Having said all of that, we must not live our lives in captivity to our fear. God knows and is aware of our fears. More than that God knows why we are afraid even if we don’t know why we are afraid. The one who knitted together the intricacies of our souls knows how to heal our fears. This is why He puts pressure on points of fear in our lives at various times. He knows that this will bring about a remedy for our healing only if we look to be defined by Him. When He does this, He is not tormenting us, rather He is teaching us to trust Him and to see Him with our hearts as our Heavenly Father.
