Gen 42:1-2 | KingComments | STEP | After the wisdom that Joseph shows toward Pharaoh in the previous chapter, we see in this chapter and the following chapters his wisdom toward his brothers. Throughout the whole event with Joseph we are not told anything about the fate of Jacob and his sons. It is as if the Spirit of God thus says: “After their crime, and now that Joseph is no longer among them, I have nothing more to say about them.” It is the history of Israel after the rejection of the Lord Jesus. Israel is now “Lo-Ammi”, which means “not My people” ( ). That is not to say that God has forgotten them and His promises to them. He waits until the favorable moment has come to take up the thread with them again. And all this happens in connection with the true Joseph, the Lord Jesus. There is a great difference in the way Joseph deals with the Egyptians who are hungry and how he deals with his brothers. The brothers are to blame for the rejection of their brother. Therefore a deep work of repentance must take place in them before they can receive the blessing. This also applies to the Jews in the future, just before the coming of the Lord Jesus. That repentance will be worked through what they experience in great tribulation. For the brothers, repentance is worked through the way Joseph treats them. Just as the prodigal son is driven home by hunger ( ), so the hunger drives the brothers to Joseph. They no longer have a special place among the peoples, for they are “among those who were coming” to buy grain. Yet the Spirit of God keeps their separate place they have for faith by speaking of “the sons of Israel” and not “the sons of Jacob”, which we would have understood. In our lives too, God sometimes allows periods of ‘hunger’, trials, by which He wants to lead us to resort to the Lord Jesus or to return to Him. He wants Christ, the true Joseph, to have His true place in our lives. Jacob doesn’t let Benjamin go with the brothers. He knows his sons. He may still have doubts about their story about Joseph. Maybe they will also sacrifice Benjamin to safeguard their own interests. Benjamin became his favorite son instead of Joseph, the remaining son of his favorite wife Rachel. More than twenty years have passed since the brothers appeared before Joseph and bowed down before him, without recognizing him. The circumstances have changed completely. Joseph is the second most powerful man in Egypt after Pharaoh. The whole world depends on him for food.

‏ Genesis 42:1-2

Introduction

After the wisdom that Joseph shows toward Pharaoh in the previous chapter, we see in this chapter and the following chapters his wisdom toward his brothers. Throughout the whole event with Joseph we are not told anything about the fate of Jacob and his sons. It is as if the Spirit of God thus says: “After their crime, and now that Joseph is no longer among them, I have nothing more to say about them.”

It is the history of Israel after the rejection of the Lord Jesus. Israel is now “Lo-Ammi”, which means “not My people” (Hos 1:9). That is not to say that God has forgotten them and His promises to them. He waits until the favorable moment has come to take up the thread with them again. And all this happens in connection with the true Joseph, the Lord Jesus.

Ten Brothers Are Going to Buy Grain

There is a great difference in the way Joseph deals with the Egyptians who are hungry and how he deals with his brothers. The brothers are to blame for the rejection of their brother. Therefore a deep work of repentance must take place in them before they can receive the blessing. This also applies to the Jews in the future, just before the coming of the Lord Jesus. That repentance will be worked through what they experience in great tribulation.

For the brothers, repentance is worked through the way Joseph treats them. Just as the prodigal son is driven home by hunger (Lk 15:17-18), so the hunger drives the brothers to Joseph. They no longer have a special place among the peoples, for they are “among those who were coming” to buy grain. Yet the Spirit of God keeps their separate place they have for faith by speaking of “the sons of Israel” and not “the sons of Jacob”, which we would have understood.

In our lives too, God sometimes allows periods of ‘hunger’, trials, by which He wants to lead us to resort to the Lord Jesus or to return to Him. He wants Christ, the true Joseph, to have His true place in our lives.

Jacob doesn’t let Benjamin go with the brothers. He knows his sons. He may still have doubts about their story about Joseph. Maybe they will also sacrifice Benjamin to safeguard their own interests. Benjamin became his favorite son instead of Joseph, the remaining son of his favorite wife Rachel.

More than twenty years have passed since the brothers appeared before Joseph and bowed down before him, without recognizing him. The circumstances have changed completely. Joseph is the second most powerful man in Egypt after Pharaoh. The whole world depends on him for food.