Sunday, February 26, 2012

26 Feb. 2012 - Genesis 42:1-26

Genesis 42:1-26
"Joseph's Brothers in Egypt"

And now, the first [not-quite-so-happy] reunion. Joseph's brothers (the 10 older ones) are sent to buy grain from Egypt (and, unbeknownst to them, Joseph). Joseph recognizes them, but it's not reciprocated, so Joseph takes this opportunity to test and see if his brothers have changes during the years he'd been gone.

Joseph accuses them of being spies and requests the presence of the youngest brother (Benjamin, Rachel's other son). He asks for Ben as he knows that Ben would be the new favorite of his father and he is testing the other brothers to see if they feel remorse for what they did to him and what they did to their father.

Notice, though, that Joseph showed a fair degree of mercy towards his brothers. He allowed all but one to go back (conditions of the test) and he slipped the brothers' money into their grain bags.

What we see here is some possible mistrust and we see how the brothers have been affected by their rash actions. God had this all planned, though, to bring Joseph to provide for his family and eventually do something even more drastic for them.

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