Genesis 43:1-44:34

it's uh wonderful to see the lehman family up here and to see them testify to god's grace

in their lives um we're going to talk a lot about families today uh i don't know about you

but uh i grew up uh in a family that didn't really have family reunions closest thing was my

grandfather's 90th birthday uh but um so we didn't have that sort of culture and i don't know if you've

had that culture or not but i want you to imagine with me for a minute the worst family reunion ever

imagine a gathering of a family where two brothers won't speak to each other because one slept with

the other's wife imagine a bitter grandma masking the sadness of the loss of relationship with her

daughters in bitterness endlessly attacking with criticism and out being outspoken about their

failures as daughters imagine uncle joe nursing his second six-pack in the corner wondering why his

family has never engaged him about his depression attempted suicide let alone his drinking habits

and to top it off at the end of the time a father and son have a fist fight in the front yard about

who's going to pay for the damage for the car that got wrecked last weekend that would be a pretty

unpleasant family reunion wouldn't it it would speak to a fractured and broken family wouldn't it walking

on eggshells hiding dark secrets full of grief and regret but you know this may be not far off for some

of you from what your family may actually be like and we wouldn't be surprised would we by that for as we

look at the bible and as we look at the first family as we look at adam and eve and their sin their rebellion

against god as that rippled out into their family what do we see strife envy murder bloodshed

brokenness fragmentation over and over again there's a concept in the bible in the old testament it's a

word you've heard a lot of shalom shalom means peace and flourishing and well-being and togetherness

in the garden of eden shalom was shattered

and today we're going to start to look at god's work of shalom in genesis chapter 43 you can turn

Genesis 43 · chapter mention

there in your bible and uh page 36 as we go ahead and the reason why we're looking at this is because

jacob's family if you remember your history of the old testament uh the promise to abraham abraham and his

son isaac the son of the promise was jacob and we're looking at jacob's family and jacob's family

is as bad if not worse than that worst family reunion that i told you about before he rose he he uh was

raised in a family full of jealousy deception and favoritism he managed to repeat that quite effectively

uh he had two wives he loved one and hated the other uh he had 12 sons he loved two and hated the

others uh his marriages were full of strife and sadness uh his children kept coming from the wrong

women that he was sleeping with and he was increasingly frustrated by that and by the end you see that not

only that but his three oldest sons have gone off and create committed egregious sins against him and

against the family to such an extent that they have lost their place as a firstborn reuben simeon levi

have all been dispossessed from their favored role as firstborn and as we started this series if you've been

here for a while you remember in chapter 37 greg described it one big hot mess of a family

a family torn apart by envy by lies by cruelty as joseph's brothers joseph the favored one was sold

into slavery and sent away by his brothers because of their envy and jealousy because of their father's

favoritism for this beloved son and they go back and they lie to their brother to their father and say

jacob is dead here's his bloody robe and jacob is filled with grief and we think what can god do

what can god do in this mess what is god going to do in the face of such fragmentation

where shalom is completely gone from this family

maybe you feel like that in your life too maybe it is your family relationships that make you think

what can god do to repair what is so shattered maybe you feel like it in your life what can god do to fix

the brokenness the brokenness in my heart and in my life we ask god what are you up to where are you what are you doing

god is at work and that's what we're going to look at this morning god is at work restoring

shalom restoring broken shattered lives

in his people forever how does god do this we're going to look at genesis 43 and 44 this morning let

me pray and then we're going to dive in and we'll look at it together god we ask for your help this

morning as we look at this passage we pray for your spirit to awaken our minds and stir our hearts

so that we would understand your truth god we pray you would help us today to understand your word

and as we understand your word will we see the greatness of your grace to us

lord your power to restore and to fix to repair that which is broken for your glory and for our good

we pray in jesus name amen i'm not going to read genesis 43 and 44 we'd be here till 11 30 just reading

the passage so i'm going to read parts of it and we're going to summarize and i'm going to bring you

along in the story um but if you remember uh uh well as we look at over these two chapters there are

three movements of how god is at work doing this restoring work in his family's life three things that

he does he removes idols he overcomes fear and thirdly he repudiates envy in the hearts of the family

so this is what we're going to look at verses 1 through 15 he removes idols let's look at it this

is actually probably worth reading so we're going to read verses 1 through 15 to set the context

uh so you can look with me as we read this now the famine was severe in the land and when they had

eaten the grain that they had brought from egypt the brother said to them go again buy us a little

food but judah said to him the man solemnly warned us saying you shall not see my face unless your

brother is with you if you send if you will send your brother with our brother with us we will go

down and buy you food but if you will not send him we will not go down for the man said to us we you

shall not see my face unless your brother is with you israel said why do you treat me so badly

as to tell the men that you had another brother and they replied the man questioned us carefully

about ourselves and our kindred saying is your father still alive do you have another brother

what we told him is was an answer to those questions could we have in any way known that

he would say bring your brother down and judah said to israel his father send the boy with me and

we will rise and go that we may live and not die both we and you and are also our little ones

i will be a pledge of his safety 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 if we had not delayed we would now have

returned twice then their father israel said to them if it must be so then do this take some of

the choice fruits and the land in your bags and carry a present down to the man a little bomb a little

honey gum myrrh pistachio nuts and almonds take double the money with you carry back with you the

money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks perhaps it was an oversight take also your brother

and arise and go to the man may god almighty grant you mercy before this man and may he send back

your other brother and benjamin and as for me if i'm bereaved of my children i am bereaved

so this is the opening section this is the opening moon if you remember what it is is jacob's family up in

up in israel up in palestine canaan at this point are suffering a famine and the only place in the

world to get grain is egypt so they've already gone down to egypt once and encountered their brother

joseph but they didn't notice him joseph treated them severely initially and then mercifully blessed

them not only with all the food that they could want but repaying their money back by putting it back

in the sacks but he kept simeon uh one of the brothers as a uh as a down payment as a deposit as

a bond so to speak and said you must come back with your brother benjamin and so uh this is where we

start the famine has continued we see it in this scene that there are two pressures going on and

they're in conflict because one of the pressures is the famine they're out of food they have nothing more

to eat what are they going to do there's only one place to go but then there are these conditions

to go back requires them to bring back benjamin and it's the very thing that jacob will not do

because jacob loved rachel not leah and he had 12 sons but only two came from rachel and one was joseph

and he's gone benjamin is the only one left and over and over and over again jacob's favoritism

is shown in this idolatry of loving his one son of his one wife that he would probably call his true

wife and everyone else is just along for the ride he has loved his one wife and therefore his two

their those sons more than anything

and in this scene god is prying jacob's hands off of that idol he brings along judah judah now steps

into the forefront in chapter 42 he was not even mentioned but now he steps into the forefront god

has moved in judah if you remember there's a whole work he did in chapter 38 god is now moving in judah

to be the spokesman to lead the family of jacob in a new direction and he pleads with jacob please

let him go please if you don't let him go we will die we have no food you and we and our little ones

will all die but if we go if we take benjamin with us if you let go of your desperate desire

to try to keep this favored son if you will release your hand from this idol

then we will go and i promise you i'll bring him back i promise you that i will do it

notice that even judah or notice that even as jacob agrees to this even as jacob says all right let's do

it his plans change the first time when he sent them down he said go get grain this time he says

okay if you're going to get grain and you're taking benjamin well here's how we're going to do it here's

the strategy you got to take all this stuff to make sure that you're going to bless them and and make

sure that you have favor with this guy and and oh by the way make sure you take tons of money repay the

money that that was in your bag that that joseph had put back into their sacks take that plus enough

money to buy the new grain so that there's no question about your your intentions you're not

wanting to steal your status do everything you can to position this so that this is going to succeed

so that you may bring back your other brother whatever his name is i don't remember him and

benjamin my beloved one and that's that's what god is doing here god is prying jacob's hands off of this

beloved son i don't even think at the end the blessing is a faith-filled joyful one but even

there you see jacob turn back to god may god almighty meaning may the god of the covenants

the god who made the covenant to abraham and isaac may that god have mercy on you

he is at least resigned to god's plan even though he says yeah maybe if i'm bereaved i'm bereaved you

can just see him old jewish man sitting there being sad uh well but think about it by letting him go

he is letting go all of his family he now has when these guys go out to egypt he has no sons he is alone

in canaan and so let us not be too hard on him but let us recognize how hard it must have been for

him to release all of his sons to do this

not only did he have to let go of all of his sons but he had to let go of all of his control

he had to let go of all of his schemes to save his family

he was driven by the providence of god and by the working of joseph which is also a hand of the

providence of god he's driven by these things to have to take this step of faith this step of

letting go of the idols and it's essential because it's the only way that god can do the work of

actually restoring the shalom of the family he needs to get god is working to get all of the

family together in one place so that shalom can be restored and benjamin's favoritism and his

separation from his other brothers is the barrier to god accomplishing that purpose and so he has to go

friends i wonder if there are things that you cling to in your life

things that like suitcases of gold that you would clutch to even as the ship is sinking around you

the opinion of others the love of a particular person your comfort your plans

maybe it's sin patterns that you return to for comfort over and over and over again

idols that have captured our hearts such that we grasp them so tightly

that only great moves of god's providence and even compulsion can pry our hands off of them

friends what's the one thing that if god said i want you to let go of this

would you want to run and hide instead of willingly saying lord i give to you

do you see that those things that capture our hearts like that

end up becoming then these magnetic centers that warp our relationships with one another

because we're unable to love fully and how these things harden our hearts towards god a loving god

who knows our needs before we ask them

friends just like jacob god is at work in our lives he wants to pry our fingers off of those idols

so that he might do restoring work in our life

so that's the first movement that's what he does in chapter in verses 1 through 14 and then verse 15

is really fun it's kind of like if you've ever been to a theater show it's like when the curtain comes

down and two characters walk across the stage in front there's a scene change going on behind

that's what that's what verse 15 is it's just a reminder that and then they all went the men took

they went all went down and suddenly at the end the curtain comes back and for the first time in

five chapters all of jacob's brothers are in the same place in egypt and in the second one what you

see is that god overcomes the fear that joseph's brothers have as they enter into this they come down

jacob or joseph is looking from afar he sees benjamin with them he tells his servant go out

welcome these men invite them to our house for dinner now remember when joseph's brothers left

he put the money that they had paid for the grain back in their sacks and they got back and jacob

looked at and said what you come back with all this money but not simeon did you do it again it looks

shady it looks really shady and now they have to go back to the same person and ask for more grain

and it looks like they've stolen the grain the first time around and so they are afraid they are

sore afraid look with me verses 18 through 25 just so we can capture this story and the men were afraid

because they were brought to joseph's house and they said it is because of the money which was

replaced in our sacks the first time that we brought that we are brought in so that he may assault us and

fall upon us make us servants and seize our donkeys

you see their fear and they have every good reason to be afraid don't they they have every good reason

to let go of it or to come in and think we could be done he could just kill us all he could put us all

in prison what in the world is going to happen and remember they've already protested in chapter 42

we're honest men so they're trying to protest their honesty they go to the steward they know joseph man

i don't know what he's going to say we're going to try to get in with the steward first so they go to

the steward and they try to explain what's happened and that's what they do in verses 19 through 24

and do you see what happened they come in and say when we came in we we found our money in the sacks and

we don't know where we don't know where it came from but we didn't put it there we didn't steal it we

really didn't pay for it friends look at what god does in the mouth of a pagan egyptian in the mouth

of someone who didn't know god at all look what he says in verse 23

he said peace to you oh by the way that's shalom that's where it shows up the first time in the

passage peace be to you do not be afraid your god and the god of your fathers has put treasure in your

sacks for you i received my money he's saying there's no outstanding debt there's no bill we're not

wondering where the money is that paid for your grain i got that god has provided for you god has

lavished undeserved grace upon you you got all the grain you needed to live and the money to come back

and do it again and all i know is that if i could read into what the servant is thinking all i know is

that i've seen this dude joseph enough to know that god is up to something through him he has blessed

our country he has saved our country and now he god has worked to save you god has lavished undeserved

favor upon you and this is what god does and so then the servant takes them treats them like honored

guests he washes their feet he washes their feet he washes their feet he washes their feet he washes their

donkeys he invites them to a feast and brings them into this feast where joseph interacts with them

about his family and you see the question is your father well is he in shalom is the idea

and when he hears that it's all well he feasts them like honored guests

he lavishes upon them

he lavishes upon them

riches wealth imagine they've been in a famine and suddenly they're at a feast

friends

this is god's restoring work and this is how he does it

sometimes he pries our hands off of our idols but sometimes he just lavishes undeserved grace upon us

it touches the brothers they make glad and marry and have a big party and celebrate

it washes over joseph joseph joseph sees the first dream that he had back in chapter 37 fulfilled

his 11 brothers are now bowing down before him

simeon has been restored to the brothers he's no longer a bond

and he's overcome with

passion

love

for his brothers and he weeps he has to hide it

because his long con isn't done yet

friends i wonder for you how you respond when god

lavishes grace upon you

i wonder if your instinct to be afraid as you approach god is greater

than he

than his grace to you sometimes

i wonder if you ever wonder whether his grace

just seems too good to be true

and it becomes instead for you a burden

if god has been so good to me then i have to do everything i can

to try to repay him

for it

our guilty conscience thinks

i don't deserve this it can't be real

our fallen hearts i think make us grace resistant

and god lavishes

his grace upon us

his goodness his favor

in everything from common grace of everyday blessings

to miraculous healings and provisions

to ultimately

his son in salvation

he lavishes grace on us over

and over and over and over

and over and over again

to free our hearts from our fear

he has made us to receive this gladly

but we often

we often struggle with it

don't we

sometimes we struggle with false guilt

where we think there's no way god could ever love me

sometimes we struggle with true guilt

i've done things that are so bad

is it possible that god could love me

god wants to break us

break us of our self-reliance

and of our self-saving strategies

by showing us grace upon grace upon grace

and when we get to the end of chapter 43

we think maybe this is the time

joseph is going to step forward

and take off his egyptian clothing

and say brothers now we're together

isn't this great we're having this great feast

but god isn't done with his brothers

and the shalom is not perfect yet

god has more to do

and that's what chapter 44 is all about

chapter 44 is the one more step

that god wants to do in their hearts

to restore shalom to the family

and you see it set up at the very end

joseph when he sets them up for the feast

which is great

he sets he seats them in order of birth

how could he know that

they must have been a little freaked out by that

like how did that happen

and then

benjamin

gets five times what the other guys get

in this feast

and if you're one of his brothers

overwhelmed with the goodness

rejoicing this

and then suddenly like

wait a minute

again

are you kidding me

we've lived with this

our whole lives

he's the favored one

we get it

but here

this guy doesn't even know who he is

how could this be

you don't see that in the story

but you might have wanted

they might have

they must have noticed

the storyteller is very clear

to make it

exact

and then

having had a long party

they fall asleep

for a long time

probably

they might have even

hung up

woke up with a hangover

the next day

and

in the meantime

joseph now

activates his last

movement

the last scene

in the act of the long con

that god is working

in these chapters

to try to bring restoration

to this family

he tells his servant

restore

their money

fill their sacks

as full as they could be

and put a cup

in the sack

of the youngest one

so he does this

the brothers wake up

the next morning

they load up their donkeys

they ride off

back to their brother

back to their father

they have everything

they want

they're thinking

hey this was a success

we have Simeon

we have Benjamin

we have food

this is great

and then the servant

comes out after him

and says

how can you treat

this host

with such disdain

how can you be

such a bad guest

you stole

his cup

and they

and they

they think

no no no

you don't understand

verse 8

this cannot be

we would not do this

we came back

we were ready

to pay back money

we are not

going to be

we are not

dishonest men

don't think about

as a matter of fact

we are so sure

of our innocence

that if you find

the guy who stole

the cup

kill him

and that begins

this fascinating

back and forth

about the consequences

of the cup

being found

you see it

in 9 and 10

you see it again

in 16 or 17

the servant says

oh no no no

we don't need to

kill anyone

we just want

the one who stole it

we'll take him back

and make him our servant

because he's broken

the rule

right

and so this then

and so then

again in birth order

from the oldest

to the youngest

they take down

their sacks

they open them

and as they go along

the brothers must be saying

see

we haven't done anything

and then they get

to the end

and Benjamin

and there's the cup

oh no

and for the first time

it seems

the brothers

stand in solidarity

they mourn

they tear their clothes

they pack up their stuff

and with Benjamin

they go back to Egypt

for the first time

they've acted

in solidarity

and then they get

back to Joseph

and they recount

the whole thing again

and again we have

this back and forth

Judas says

hey you know

like we can all

like if

we are guilty

they admit it

in verse 16

God has found out

our guilt

and we have no defense

and it's probably

not talking about

the cup

because they must

still be confused

about how the cup

got in there

it's probably

about their guilt

going all the way

back to chapter 37

God has now

revealed

their guilt

so profoundly

and to the very one

whom they have hurt

by their sin

that they have

confessed it

and Joseph

presses home

how much

have you actually

repented

of that sin

that's what verse

17

is about

just leave

the youngest

one with me

the favored

one

the one

who has caused

you so much

grief

the one

your father

loves

the one

who as Judah

will say later

is the one

who's treated

like the only

real son

and everyone

else is

illegitimate

just leave him

the rest of you

go on back

you can have

all the money

all the grain

just go

just give him

to me

Joseph has

recreated

the very

scene

of chapter 37

to give them

an opportunity

to repent

to repudiate

their envy

their jealousy

their sin

and rather

than working

to destroy

and fragment

their family

to give them

an opportunity

to begin

to act

righteously

in response

to restore

their family

it might have

been tempting

for a moment

for the brothers

to think

we could do

this

but Judah

says no

Judah rises up

again as the

spokesperson

as the representative

of all the

brothers

and he says

no

and he recounts

in painstakingly

Hebrew narrative

detail

over and over

again

what

what the

situation was

and how

for the love

of his father

who will be

heartbroken

if Benjamin

does not return

and for the love

of his brother

who they will

not abandon

like they

abandoned

Joseph

so long

ago

he says

no

we will

not

do

this

and it

comes to

its climax

in verse

30 through

34

let's read

those together

now

therefore

as soon

as I

come

to your

servant

my father

and the

boy

is not

with me

with us

then

his life

is bound

up

in the

boy's

life

that is

Jacob's

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

now he's

talking about

himself

for your

servant

became a

pledge of

safety

for the

boy

to my

father

saying

if I

do 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

for 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

instead

of abandoning

the brother

Judas

says take

me instead

if justice

must be done

even though it

doesn't feel

like justice

I will

bear

the unjust

imprisonment

for we

didn't steal

the cup

but I

will bear

that injustice

for the

sake

of this

brother

for the

sake

of love

for my

father

I will

give myself

to restore

my brother

so that

my family

will have

peace

I cannot

go back

without

Benjamin

my father

would die

envy

rivalry

jealousy

and hatred

are replaced

by self

sacrificial

love

that which

is broken

is restored

I wonder

friends

if you

ever

experience

times

when God

has brought

you back

to the

same

thing

again

to the

same

trial

or the

same

temptation

and you

wonder

why am

I doing

this

is God

punishing

me

am I

a failure

maybe I

can't

maybe

maybe I'll

be stuck

with this

forever

what I want

you to see

is that

just like

here

God

gives us

opportunities

sometimes

to repeat

the same

circumstances

again

so that

we can

show

our repentance

so that

we can

turn from

the sin

that captured

our hearts

before

and see

his gracious

work

in our

lives

bearing

fruit

by living

differently

in those

circumstances

the

restoration

has

begun

love

sacrificial

love

has

replaced

envy

fear

has

been

overcome

by

grace

idolatry

of the

heart

has been

removed

by

sovereign

acts

of God

now

all

the

brothers

eleven

brothers

are

united

in

love

and have

given

themselves

in

love

for one

another

jacob's

heart

has been

turned

back

towards

the lord

as his

hands

have been

pried

off

the

idol

he's

given

up

his

own

scheming

and his

protection

self

protection

and his

self

provision

and we

see the

arcs

the story

lines

of

this

last

section

of

Genesis

beginning

to come

together

chapter

37

we saw

that

Jacob

or

that

Jacob's

sons

Joseph

and

Judah

were the

two

key

people

in

this

and now

we see

Judah

restored

his brothers

restored

Jacob

turning a

corner

and the

only one

left to be

restored now

is Joseph

you have to

come back

next week

because that's

what Greg's

going to

preach about

is the

restoration

of

Joseph

as he

makes himself

known to

his family

but in the

meantime

we see that

the restoration

of the

brothers

and particularly

Judah

Judah

who

for the

love

of his

father

gave

himself

to

redeem

his

brother

and

restore

shalom

to his

family

what a

powerful

story

that is

who

points us

ahead

points us

through

chapter

49

where the

blessing

of Jacob

on Judah

will be

from your

line

will come

the future

king

the scepter

shall not

depart

from your

mouth

and further

on as we

get to the

genealogies

in the

beginning

of Matthew

we see

that through

the line

of Judah

comes

the ultimate

brother

who for

the love

of his

father

gave himself

to bear

the unjust

punishment

upon himself

because he

did no wrong

in order to

redeem his

brothers

and sisters

and to

restore

his family

forever

this is what

Paul points

us to in

Ephesians 2

that we read

earlier

that in

Jesus Christ

God has

broken down

the wall

of hostility

caused by

our sin

that in

Jesus the

forgiveness

that is there

because of his

substitutionary

death for us

restores us

to a relationship

with God

but not only

that it

brings us

into a new

family and a

new household

and God

is building

the household

on the

foundation of

God's grace

so that we

might be his

family

forever

that's a

family reunion

worth looking

forward to

God so

gracious as to

rescue a family

as broken as

Jacob's is at

work to rescue

us from our

broken fragmented

lives from our

broken fragmented

families to bring

us to him and

into his family

what a love we

have what a

savior we have

let's pray

oh Lord we

worship you this

morning as a

God who has

pursued us that

we might know

peace with you

peace to those

who are far

off and peace

to those who

are near

peace to us

who knew

nothing of your

grace and yet

you have revealed

yourself

proclaimed yourself

drawn us to

yourself

turned our

hearts to you

given us faith

to believe and

carried us into

your family

God we

praise you for

that today

in Jesus

name

amen

as the

worship team

comes forward

we're going to

sing a great

hymn

a great hymn

about the

amazing grace

and mercy

that God

has shown

us in

Christ

and can

it be that

I should

gain an

interest in

my savior's

blood

died he

for me

who caused

his pain

for me

to him

who him

to death

pursued

amazing love

how can it

be

that thou

my God

should die

for me

please stand

as we sing

together

as we sing

together

all

plats

I

like

more

than

I

love

to

where

to

Über