Genesis 43-46
Day 28: Genesis 43-46 Notes & Takeaways
CHAPTER 43
Simeon is still in prison and now Jacob and his sons are running out of grain. Commentators believe that they went to see Joseph in the first year of the famine and did not go back, hoping the famine would be over soon, but Joseph knew it would last 7 years. Now, as they are running out of grain they must go back for more and must take Benjamin with him for Joseph had warned them to not come back unless they had Benjamin with them.
Since they are in dire need Israel (Jacob) agrees and tells them to also take some of the “best products of the land” in their bags as a gift along with other gifts like honey, spice, almonds, and double the silver, to avoid being called thieves.
When Joseph sees his brothers and Benjamin with them, he instructs the steward of his home to prepare a big feast for them. Joseph treats them with kindness and love. This is a great example of how we should treat our enemies (Matthew 5:43-48). This kindness surely will help bring them to full repentance.
Once he speaks with his brother Benjamin and asks about his father, he is overcome with emotion. He leaves to cry and comes back. He probably mourned the relationship he could have had with Benjamin, or maybe all the time he missed out on with his father and brothers. But, once he allowed himself a moment’s grieve, he comes back ready to dine with his siblings.
He seats them in the order of their birth, much to their surprise, and they eat, but Benjamin gets “five times as much as anyone else’s” (Gen 43:34). Note that they eat separately from the Egyptians, for they believed that Hebrews eating with Egyptians was detestable.
The Egyptians would not eat with Joseph, much less the strangers from Canaan. Even with all his status and power, Joseph could still not eat with real Egyptians.
i. “It is known from Herodotus that Egyptians so abhorred things foreign, that priests, at least, ate and drank nothing that was imported, nor would they use utensils for eating that had been used by Greeks.” (Leupold)
ii. Here, we see the wisdom of God. Before Genesis account ends, God brought the entire family of Jacob into Egypt, where they were isolated from the surrounding people for some 400 years. In that time, they multiplied greatly, increasing to the millions. If God had allowed them to remain in Canaan, they would have simply assimilated into the corrupt and godless peoples of Canaan. (Enduring Word Commentary)
CHAPTER 44
As they are preparing to leave Joseph comes up with a scheme of sorts. He instructs his men to hide his silver cup in Benjamin’s sack and then tells his steward to follow, stop them, and find the cup, and bring them back. Perhaps this was a test from Joseph. Perhaps he wanted to know the kind of men they had become. Would they easily give away his brother Benjamin as they had him many years before. Were they still the cruel brothers he knew?
When they come back and answer to Joseph they prove how much they’ve changed. They know that Benjamin is their father’s favorite as Joseph was. They know that he is more beloved than they, yet they “threw themselves on the ground before him” (Gen 44:14). They pleaded for his life. This fulfills the prophecy of the dream for the third time. They showed how much they loved their father and how much pain it would cause him if they came back without Benjamin. So much pain that it would “bring [his]gray head down to the grave in misery” (Gen 44:29).
Judah, is the most surprising change of them all. He was the one who had the idea of selling him into slavery in Gen 37:26 and the one who did not do right by Tamar (his daughter in law) in Genesis 38. Yet, his moving speech rips at the heart of readers everywhere. His emotion-filled plea in Genesis 44 shows the deep change in his character and heart. He did not, could not, bring any more pain to his father, whom for the last 20 years he saw suffer in his mourning of Joseph, and pleads to exchange his life for Benjamins. He was willing to lay his freedom, his life, for that of Benjamins. How rightly so it is that Judah is the ancestor of Jesus, who laid down his life for us?
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. (1 John 3:16)
Judah distinguished himself with this heroic love for his family. He distinguished himself through the sacrifice of his life. 22 years had shown him to be a new man, a man of good character, full of love.
H.C. Leupold wrote, “This is one of the manliest, most straightforward speeches ever delivered by any man. For depth of feeling and sincerity of purpose it stands unexcelled.” Barnhouse called it “the most moving address in all the Word of God.”
CHAPTER 45
At this moving address, Joseph couldn’t control himself anymore and reveals his true identity. “I am Joseph!” (Gen 45:1) His brothers were stunned, terrified, and speechless. He tells them about the famine and then reveals God’s plan. His wisdom and trust in God is truly shown in his words, “God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance” (Gen 45:7)
Every step of the way Joseph trusted God. Not once did he speak badly about God or complain. He took every twist and turn with confidence that God was leading him exactly where he needed to be. He could have easily said, “I give up! I can’t do this. I won’t do this anymore.” But he didn’t. Every position he was put in he rose up to the challenge, trusted God, and God poured favor upon him.
He tells his brothers to bring his father back and all their possessions and family. When Pharaoh hears about his family he sends carts with them and food to help them on their journey. They arrive in the land of Canaan and tell their father that Joseph is alive. His father does not believe them until he hears everything that happened to them and sees all the carts Joseph had sent them back with.
“To return to Canaan with ‘carts from Egypt’ was the cultural equivalent of landing a jumbo jet among a tribe of isolated savages. It would be the stuff legends are made of.” (Boice)
CHAPTER 46
As Israel sets out towards his long lost son Joseph he stops at Beersheba to offer a sacrifice to God. Both Abraham (Genesis 22:19) and Isaac (Genesis 26:23) lived for a time at Beersheba, so it was a memorable spot in the family. It had been more than 40 years since God had last spoken to him in a dream (Genesis 28:12-17) and now as he was living the promised land, God came to him again and confirmed his trip to Egypt.
“I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I will surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand will close your eyes.” (Gen 46:3-4)
What a sense of peace Israel must have felt knowing that the LORD was with him still after all these years and that it was all part of his plan; that the Lord had not forgotten him or his promise, and that his beloved son would be the last person his eyes would ever see on this earth.
In the latter part of chapter 46 we see the descendants of Israel and all the ones he took with him to Egypt. In total, not counting his sons’ wives— sixty six. But with Jacob’s family they numbered seventy in all.
Jacob and Joseph’s reunion must have been like a dream come true to Joseph. His full demeanor changed from depression to joy. He no longer believed the Lord was against him as he had before. Joseph then prepares for them to speak with Pharaoh to request the land of Goshen for his family. God didn’t just bring them to Egypt for them to have no place to lay their head, but he had already prepared the perfect place for them to dwell and multiply, and we will see that happen in the next chapters of our reading.
Tomorrow we will finish Genesis with chapters 47-50. I hope you’re learning a lot and enjoying it all at the same time. I know I am! Make sure to follow RF on Instagram, and join our FB Group to stay up to date for our upcoming weekly zoom sessions!
