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1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, "Go back, buy us a little food." 3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.' 4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.'" 6 And Israel said, "Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?" 7 But they said, "The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'" 8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, "Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time." ~ Genesis 43:1-10
Today, we transition into Genesis 43 where Jacob is meeting with his sons regarding the return of their brother Simeon from prison in Egypt. Since Israel's twelve sons were to be used of God to establish the nation of Israel, God had to do some kind of work within them before He would work through them. God is always desirous to do a deep work in us so that He might work powerfully through us. God was preparing them to be the leaders that Israel needed them to be, so, God tested them.
In v.1-2 of today's passage we read, "1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, 'Go back, buy us a little food.'"
With the increase of severity of the famine came more desperation. Desperation is quite uncomfortable but there is good to be found therein because desperate people do desperate things. Like the woman with an issue of blood for twelve years. It was a huge risk for her to squeeze her way through the crowd to get to the Lord Jesus, but she was desperate for deliverance. The good news behind desperation is that it brings us to the end of ourselves. It brings us to the place of honesty and of faith, which is the place of true freedom.
Up to this point Jacob would not consider sending his sons back to Egypt with Benjamin as Joseph had requested in the previous chapter. But, if desperation in God’s people is what it takes for God to move us into His will, then desperation is what He will send. All of his life Jacob strived with and resisted God and he was a picture of modern day Israel, a whole nation of people who do the same with God today. For Israel, there has been exile and punishment for their unbelief, but the future says they will be restored to a personal relationship with their Creator. In order to bring about the anticipated meeting between Jacob and Joseph, the famine had to intensify. It was Chuck Swindoll who once said, "The swift wind of compromise is a lot more devastating than the sudden jolt of misfortune."
As we read in the Scriptures, in order to bring about a meeting between the Lord Jesus and Israel, God will send the time Jeremiah refers to as the time of Jacob’s trouble. Daniel refers to this seven year period of time as the seventieth seven. Jacob is Israel in unbelief and Israel is Jacob as a believer. The New Testament calls this time a time of great tribulation. During this seven year period of time the people of Israel will be ushered into the place of desperation and out of their utter desperation they will cry out to God and He will respond to their cry with grace and mercy. The story of Jacob here follows that same path, foreshadowing the events of the coming seven year Tribulation.
In v.3-5 of today's passage we read, "3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, 'The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.'"
Earlier, in Genesis 42, Reuben tried to convince Jacob that Benjamin needed to return to Egypt with his brothers to retrieve Simeon who was in prison but Jacob had refused. Judah then stepped forward to convince Jacob to allow Benjamin to go. Judah was in line for the birthright because his three older brothers had all committed offenses which disqualified them from that right. Judah reminded Jacob that they had been given by the man in Egypt a solemn warning to return with Benjamin or else. If the brothers had returned to Egypt without Benjamin, the story would not have turned out in the way they desired.
In this narrative, Joseph pictured the Lord Jesus Christ while the brothers pictured all the tribes of Israel. Like Joseph, Benjamin was a picture of the Lord Jesus. If the brothers had returned to Egypt without Benjamin they would have no standing to expect acceptance and favor from Joseph. Pictured here for us is the ardent truth of the Bible that without having believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, we cannot have a right standing before the Lord or enter into His heaven. It is only the Lord Jesus Christ who can save us from the damning result of our sin. It is only the Lord Jesus who can wash our sins away and it is only He who our burdens can relieve.
In v.6 of today's passage we read, "And Israel said, 'Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?'"
Here, Jacob is referred to as Israel by Moses who wrote the book of Genesis. Five times in the previous chapter, the name Jacob was used. The name Israel was used only when speaking of the sons, not the man. In this chapter, Jacob is never used and Israel is used three times. The last time the name Israel was used for Jacob the man was back in Genesis 37 when he sent Joseph up to look for his brothers. In that chapter, Joseph was thought to have died and now Jacob was thinking that he may lose Benjamin as well. There is Jacob and there is Israel. There is reliance on self and there is reliance on God. This is a picture of the option we have every day, that of walking in the Spirit or that of walking in the flesh. We do well to look at this man and decide how we will conduct our own lives.
Judah’s change is one example among many in Scripture of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. His heart had been softened to the point that he was convinced of his sin. His mind had been enlightened in the knowledge of God and his will had been yielded and renewed. He was truly establishing himself as a leader among the sons of Israel, which is characteristic of his kingly tribe.
In v.7 of today's passage we read, "But they said, 'The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'"
The man in Egypt was the second most powerful man in the world and he had asked them specifically about their youngest brother and the sons of Jacob had answered truthfully. It never would have dawned on them that one thing would lead to another. There was no evil intent in their answers, just the facts. The man, Joseph, also asked about their father and they answered accordingly. This was when Joseph specifically asked for their youngest brother to brought down to Egypt.
In v.8-10 of today's passage we read, "8 Then Judah said to Israel his father, 'Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.'"
Interestingly, at that point in time Benjamin was about 30 years old. He was no longer a little boy. Judah expressed his desire to be a sacrifice. Back in Genesis 37, Judah was the one who recommended selling Joseph when he was in the pit. In Genesis 38, Judah was the one who traded his signet ring, cord, and staff for a tryst with a prostitute who turned out to be his daughter-in-law. In both of those incidents, Judah pictured the Jewish people being defined by the flesh. It was that same Judah who offered himself as the pledge for Benjamin. God was clearly at work in the heart of Judah.
The return of the brothers back to Egypt was delayed by an unspecified amount of time. It had to be quite a long period of time because as we are told in v.2 it was enough time for their grain from Egypt to have been eaten. Returning with Benjamin in tow was the key to have a hearing with the Old Testament figure who pictures more than any other the Son of God's right hand, the Savior of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ. At the end of time as we know it, we will all discover that if we had made the decision to believe on the Lord Jesus, the Son of God's Right Hand, then we will learn that we had averted eternal damnation. The judgement wasn't averted for the Lord Jesus because the punishment that He endured on the cross was rightfully ours. As a result of believing on the Lord Jesus as our Savior we will spend eternity in heaven and not in hell.
