Back to The Future: Genesis 42-45

Back to the Future

Joseph has had things rough, yet here he sits second in command of all Egypt. God had brought him to this place and shown him what he needed to know to save Egypt (and eventually Israel) from the great famine. If Joseph could have looked at his life from back to front, the trials would have been a lot easier to take. If he had known at seventeen years old, when his life was filled with evil brothers and crazy dreams, it might have been easier to sit at the bottom of that well. If he could see that those dreams would come true, saving his family from starvation; If he had known that the cruelty of his brothers selling him into slavery, Potiphar's wife framing him and having him thrown into jail, the ungrateful jail-mate butler forgetting him and leaving him rotting in jail for 2 more years, all were going to lead to this, would he still have developed the character he did?

God doesn't do things that way. We don't get a Delorean time machine and a dog named Einstein. We like Joseph have to rely on God through hardship. We like Joseph get to choose to do what we know is right while we wait. We like Joseph get to develop character and learn trust.

Joseph is reconciled to his estranged brothers, and the people of Israel come to live in Goshen, just outside of Egypt. Joseph is able to look back and say with the confidence of retrospect;

7 But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

8 “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

Genesis 45:7-8

TIDBITS FROM GENESIS 42-45

• Joseph had been away from his brothers for 22 years and was now close to 39 years old
• Benjamin is the  youngest of the brothers and the only other child of Jacob's favored wife Rachel
• The brothers do not recognizing Joseph when they see him. He has lived in Egypt all these years and dresses as one of them. They think that they are being punished by God for what they did to Joseph indicating that they have been feeling the weight of what they did all this time.
• Twice Joseph's boyhood dreams come back to him in these sequence of events verse 9 of Chapter 42 and verse 26 of chapter 43
• In chapter 43 verse 33 we see that the brothers question what is happening as Joseph seats them in order of their birth at the table, "what's going on here, how does he know our birth order?"
• Joseph did not practice divination, we have seen evidence of his reliance on God for the interpretation of dreams in Chapter 41, the Egyptians however would have attributed this to their god's shown by verse 44:15 where he allows his brothers to continue to view him as Egyptian for the sake of the ruse to see if they have repented about the past before revealing himself to them.
• Goshen where the Israelites settled would allow them to continue to be shepherd (a practice despised by Egyptians) and continue to worship God, living separate lives.

DIG DEEPER READ GENESIS 42-45

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+42-45&version=NIV

Verses on God command to LOVE ON ANOTHER;

1. John 13:34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.
2. John 13:35
   By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
   John 13:34-36 (in Context) John 13 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
3. Romans 12:10
   Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves.
4. Romans 13:8
   [ Love Fulfills the Law ] Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love oneanother, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.
5. 2 Corinthians 13:11
   [ Final Greetings ] Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage oneanother, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of love and peace will be with you.
6. Galatians 5:13
   [ Life by the Spirit ] You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.
   Galatians 5:12-14 (in Context) Galatians 5 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
7. Ephesians 4:2
   Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
8. 1 Thessalonians 4:9
   Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
9. 2 Thessalonians 1:3
   [ Thanksgiving and Prayer ] We ought always to thank God for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith is growing more and more, and the love all of you have for one another is increasing.
   2 Thessalonians 1:2-4 (in Context) 2 Thessalonians 1 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
10. Hebrews 10:24
    And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds,
11. 1 Peter 1:22
    Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for each other,love one another deeply, from the heart.
12. 1 Peter 3:8
    [ Suffering for Doing Good ] Finally, all of you, be like-minded, be sympathetic, love one another, be compassionate and humble.
13. 1 Peter 5:14
    Greet one another with a kiss of love. Peace to all of you who are in Christ.
14. 1 John 3:11
    [ More on Love and Hatred ] For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love oneanother.
    1 John 3:10-12 (in Context) 1 John 3 (Whole Chapter) Other Translations
15. 1 John 3:23
    And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
16. 1 John 4:7
    [ God’s Love and Ours ] Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone wholoves has been born of God and knows God.
17. 1 John 4:11
    Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
18. 1 John 4:12
    No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.