Genesis 45 - Joseph Reveals Himself and Provides - The Mysteries of God's Word

Joseph reveals his true identity to his brothers in an emotional moment of reconciliation, demonstrating how God transformed their betrayal into salvation for their family during the devastating seven-year famine.

• Joseph weeps loudly before revealing himself to his shocked and terrified brothers
• He reframes their betrayal as part of God's providence: "It was not you who sent me here, but God"
• Joseph has become "father to Pharaoh" and ruler over Egypt at age 39
• He invites his entire family to relocate to Goshen where he can provide for them during the remaining five years of famine
• Pharaoh providentially supports the plan, offering wagons and the best land in Egypt
• Joseph gives his brothers provisions, clothing, and special gifts for Benjamin
• Jacob initially disbelieves the news but his spirit revives when seeing proof of Joseph's survival

Join me next week as Joseph brings his family down to Egypt.

Chapters

• 0:28 Joseph Reveals His Identity
• 2:53 God's Purpose in Joseph's Journey
• 5:18 Joseph's Invitation to Egypt
• 9:32 Pharaoh's Generous Gift
• 13:07 Jacob's Revival and Decision

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:15

Grace and peace to you from God, our Father and our Lord and Savior, jesus Christ. Today we're in Genesis, chapter 45, where Joseph provides for his brothers and his family, beginning at verse 1,. Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood before him and he cried Make everyone go out from me. So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers and he wept aloud. So the Egyptians heard it and the household of Pharaoh heard it. And Joseph said to his brothers I am Joseph, is my father still alive? But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers Come near to me please. And they came near. And he said and they came near. And he said I am your brother, joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God has sent me before you to preserve life, for the famine has been in these land these two years and there are five years in which there will neither be plowing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant on earth and to keep alive for you many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to the Pharaoh. He has made me a father to the Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Speaker 1: 2:15

In our opening eight verses of chapter 45, we find Joseph, the very disciplined, wise and powerful governor he has become after having tested his brothers and heard Judah's sacrificial plea, that he'd even lay down his own life as a slave in place of his brother Benjamin. And he can't control the emotions that are overcoming him and he begins to weep. Joseph commands all of his attendants to leave him so that he can be alone with his brothers in private. Despite the private nature of their meeting, joseph was so overcome with emotion that his Egyptian attendants, as well as all of the Pharaoh's family, heard him crying. After uncontrollable weeping, joseph gains enough composure to speak and he says I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?

Speaker 1: 3:03

When Joseph finally reveals himself and asks about his fathers, the 11 brothers are gripped by fear. The Hebrew word for fear here is also translated terrified, troubled or even panicked. Translated terrified, troubled or even panicked. The brothers here are speechless. They don't know what to say. Could this really be Joseph? Perhaps this governor is just using a ruse or strange divinations to pretend to be Joseph. Maybe this is just more of his elaborate trap to make them slaves. What are they going to say Then? Seeing that his brothers are afraid and still confused, joseph invites them to come close to him and see for themselves, and as they came closer, he explains how he is in fact their brother, joseph, whom they sold into slavery.

Speaker 1: 4:00

Joseph acknowledges the hand of God in all things, that even when they were committing acts of violence contrary to the goodness of God's nature, god had a preordained plan in all of this to preserve the life of their family through this ongoing famine that has now consumed the land. Joseph is now 39 years old. He's been governor for nine years. If we were to count from the generations of Adam, we know that the earth is 2,298 years from creation, or more commonly known as 1706 BC. Joseph says that God has made him a father to the Pharaoh. Being a father to the Pharaoh or a father to a king is a common title associated with heads of state who advised kings in ancient culture. Joseph says that God has made him the Lord of all of Egypt and he is the advisor to the Pharaoh, picking up in verse 9, joseph says Hurry and go up to my father and say to him. Thus says your son Joseph. God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me, do not tarry. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have there. I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty. And now your eyes see the eyes of my brother Benjamin. See that it is my mouth that speaks to you. You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here. Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept. And Benjamin wept upon his neck and he kissed all of his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

Speaker 1: 6:28

In verses 9 through 15, joseph begins to instruct his brothers that they need to go quickly, go without delay to their father and inform their father that he's still alive, that God has indeed made him the Lord of all of Egypt. Additionally, joseph instructs them to tell their father to come down to Egypt with all that he has and dwell here in the land of Goshen so that Joseph can provide for the family, because there's still five more years of famine to come. Now, this land of Goshen that Joseph is talking about is a very fertile region in the northeast area of Egypt. It's actually the delta of the Nile River. It's very suitable ground for raising and grazing herds of animals, and Israel will remain in Goshen until the time of Exodus.

Speaker 1: 7:27

After Joseph reveals himself to them and speaks intimately with them about his father and his plans for his family, the brothers can now see, indeed, this is Joseph. And Joseph tells his brothers again. And Joseph tells his brothers again tell Jacob all the honor that I've received here in Egypt and all of the power that I have received over the land of Egypt. I am like a father to the Pharaoh himself. Then, as Joseph begins to hurry them along and get them prepared to go, he embraces Benjamin for the first time in over 22 years. As he embraces Benjamin, they weep upon one another. Then Joseph kisses all of his other brothers and they talk as they begin to prepare to leave back to the land of Canaan, verse 16. And take your father and your households and come to me and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land. And you, joseph, are commanded to say Do this. Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all of the land of Egypt is yours.

Speaker 1: 9:10

In these verses, when the Pharaoh was told that Joseph's brothers had come down to Egypt, he, as well as his servants, were happy to hear such news and, with the Pharaoh's approval upon the family of Joseph, it gives a final seal for his family to travel here to Egypt. And then we see that Pharaoh commands Joseph to have his family come down here, and he commands Joseph to have them get wagons and come down Now. Considering the fact that the 11 brothers hadn't left, even while we had previously read that Joseph was hurrying them along to do so, the news of Joseph's brothers must have reached Pharaoh fairly quickly. We can assume that Joseph's weeping earlier that was heard throughout the household of Pharaoh, triggered some concern, and the news of Joseph's brothers quickly traveled to the Pharaoh's ears. In an act of divine providence, the Pharaoh himself restates the very words of Joseph, inviting Joseph's entire family to come down to Egypt and to have the best of the land. Pharaoh then commands Joseph to give his brothers wagons so they can bring everything they have the women, the children and their father back down to Egypt and enjoy the very best that Egypt has Verse 21. And five changes of clothes To his father. He sent as follows ten donkeys loaded with good things from Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread and provision for his father on the journey. Then he sent his brothers away and they departed. And as they departed he said to them Do not quarrel on the way.

Speaker 1: 11:25

In verses 21 through 24, we are again reminded of the name that God gave Jacob at Peniel when he called him Israel. This verse looks forward to the nation of Israel coming from Jacob's sons. Here we see that the sons of Israel are doing what the Pharaoh commanded. Joseph generously gives his other 11 brothers the wagons and provisions for the journey, along with a change of clothes, according to the command of the Pharaoh. An interesting cultural note here is that it was, and it still is, customary for prominent men in the East to give a gift of fine clothing and distinction to their friends. However, to Benjamin, joseph continued to show great generosity, giving him 300 shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. This great gift of favoritism also showed how Benjamin was very trusted by Joseph and considered to be the ambassador of Joseph to his father.

Speaker 1: 12:37

Joseph then sends Israel his father a great bounty from Egypt with the good things. Finally, joseph's last remark to his brothers before they leave is counsel not to argue on their way home, knowing that they're going to have a great deal to think about. Their wickedness is soon going to come to the light and they're going to have to consider how they're going to talk to their father or tell their father this lie that they've been contriving for years, how they claimed that Joseph died to a wild beast. They're going to have to confess somehow, perhaps even tell their father they sold him into slavery On the way home. It would be very likely they would start to accuse and blame one another Verse 25. So they went up out of Egypt and they came to the land of Canaan, to their father, jacob Verse 25,. But when they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived and Israel said it is enough, joseph, my son is still alive, I will go and see him before I die.

Speaker 1: 14:20

In our final verses, when everything finally got prepared, the wagons are now loaded, the eleven brothers leave Egypt and they come back to the land of Canaan and their father Jacob. It's not a surprise. When the brothers first tell their father Jacob that Joseph is alive and he's ruler over Egypt, jacob could not believe them. This would have been the perfect opportunity for them to confess their sin, to bring to light before their father the wrong they had committed and come clean before God. However, there's no scriptural evidence that they did. For years these brothers lied to their father about the death of Joseph and spun many tall tales. Certainly, jacob was well aware of their ability to spin tales.

Speaker 1: 15:14

Jacob, now hearing yet another unbelievable story coming from these brothers' mouths about his long-lost, beloved son Joseph, closes his heart to what his sons are saying. But then the brothers speak the very words of Joseph. And when the words of Joseph are spoken, Jacob begins to recognize the wisdom of his son and the words of his son and hope springs forth in his heart and in his mind. That hope is enough for Jacob to get up out of his depression and go out, and he sees the wagons, and when he does so, his spirit is renewed and he now believes his son is indeed alive, convinced that Joseph is alive and having received the warning about the famine lasting yet another five years.

Speaker 1: 16:13

Jacob, this decision by Jacob, under the protection and provision of his son, joseph, is a key turning point in the lives of Israel, all as a continued fulfillment of God's prophecy to Abraham in Genesis, chapter 15, verses 13 through 16. What an amazing story of waiting upon the Lord's timing and having our hearts renewed in faith, in hope and in love. God is faithful to his people. God is faithful to his people. Join me next week as Joseph brings his family down to Egypt. God bless you this week.