Genesis 43:1-34

At this point in the story, Joseph continues to guide Egypt through a severe famine affecting Egypt, and all the surrounding regions in the Middle East. Joseph’s brothers had previously traveled to Egypt to buy grain, and now having used up their supply, they face the reality that they must return. However, Jacob is still reluctant to send them back, because he knows that this means sending Benjamin, his youngest son, along with them.

Scripture continues, “Now the famine was severe in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’ But Judah spoke to him, saying, ‘The man solemnly warned us, saying, “You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.” If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, “You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.” And Israel said, ‘Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?’ But they said, ‘The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down?’” (Gen. 43:1-7).

Looking for someone to blame.  Vs. 1-7

A conflict now began between Jacob and his son Judah, because Jacob basically felt cornered. He perceived himself as being forced into a decision that he didn’t want to make. He knew for his sons to go back to Egypt to buy more food, that he must also allow Benjamin to go with them. Jacob simply refused, and stubbornly resisted yielding to this option. He refused to send Benjamin with them to Egypt, even though the only other option was starvation. But he knew that there was no other way. This is what precipitated this conflict with Judah.

What did Jacob do? The text is very clear, he began to blame Judah for letting the information of Benjamin’s existence be revealed. Seeking to blame others is a common reaction when we feel cornered, and must make a decision we just don’t want to make. In addition, in times like this, we usually attack those standing in front of us, and become angry with them. This kind of behavior is a natural human defense mechanism. We know what we should do, but we stubbornly resist what is obviously the only remedy to the problem. Jacob knew he had no choice, yet he struggled to accept it.

In this case, Jacob’s stubbornness reflected something deeper within his heart. He was actually resisting God’s plan, though he didn’t realize it at that moment. If you look back in your own life, I’m sure you will see times when you did the same thing. You know that God has a plan for you, but when you face decisions that you don’t want to make, you fight against deciding anything. Jacob’s options were clear: either send Benjamin to Egypt, or watch his family starve. It’s not much of a choice, but even though he understood this fact, his stubbornness prevented him from yielding to the obvious answer. Eventually, we all must yield to God’s plan, whether we like it or not. The important thing to remember is that, God is not going to change His will to suit us. No! We must yield to His will. The Scripture declares that, “Every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil. 2:10-11). Note that the word should is used twice in these verses. Everyone should bow their knee to Him, but sadly, many will stubbornly resist doing so. The blessing is that God gives to each of us the opportunity to choose to bow. So, when the solution is obvious, choose to surrender, and do what you know is right.  

The most important question that each of us must answer is, will we yield and bow to God’s plan willingly, or will we resist as Jacob did? Remember what Jesus said to Saul when He confronted him on the road to Damascus. Jesus said, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?... It is hard for you to kick against the goads” (Acts 9:4-5). A goad was a sharp instrument used by a farmer to prod their oxen in the right direction while they were plowing. In the same way, God prods us toward His will. But we must choose to yield to God’s wisdom and counsel. These are hard lessons to learn as a believer. Here is Solomon’s wisdom on the subject in Proverbs 19:21 where he declared, “There are many plans in a man’s heart, but the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.” We all have many plans, but God’s counsel will always prevail in the end. Knowing this fact should cause you to yield. In Proverbs 21:30 Solomon also wrote, “There is no wisdom or understanding or counsel against the Lord.” What was ironic is the fact that Jacob in his stubbornness was fighting against the very blessing that would save him and his entire family, but he just didn’t realize it.

The lesson we must learn.

One of the important lessons from what happened to Jacob and his family in this chapter, is one that sometimes baffles us as believers. What I’m referring to is the fact that God calls us to pray when we don’t know what to do in the midst of difficult circumstances. God’s promise is “Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” (Jer. 33:3). I believe we could be reasonably sure that Jacob and his family were probably praying for the end to the famine, but to no avail. Haven’t you ever asked God, “Why haven’t you answered my prayer over this serious issue?” So, why didn’t God answer their prayer for an immediate end to that devastating famine? This question is exactly what we struggle with so many times throughout our lives. The answer is, that God has another plan that He is working out. He was going to end the famine, but He wasn’t going to end it until He accomplished His will and purpose through it. So, when your prayers go unanswered, you need to ask yourself, “Am I praying for something that is not in God’s will? Is there an issue where I am resisting God? God, what is some other purpose that you might want to accomplish that I’m not seeing?” You don’t want to be resisting God as Jacob did. Remember God’s promise in 1 John 5:14-15. God assures us, “This is the confidence we have in Him: if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of Him.” He is clear in these verses that He will not answer prayers that are contrary to His will. And thank God for that, because some things I’ve prayed for in the past would have ended up being disastrous, if God had granted them.

Another reason for unanswered prayer.

We know that God’s will is always supreme, but does this mean that man really has no free will? Not at all! God has created each of us in His own image, which means that He has also created us with a sovereign will just like His. It is essential to understand this fact, because God will never violate your free will. Why is this true? Because if He did force you against your will, that would violate the way He created you. He will not violate your free will even if it means that you go to hell. Jesus made this clear to everyone during His ministry when He spoke of the rebellion of the Pharisees. Jesus explained quite simply as to why the Pharisees would not believe in Him. He said in John 5:40, “But you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life.” In other words, they had a sovereign will, and used their sovereign choice to reject Jesus as their Messiah. At the end of His ministry, Jesus again almost begged these men to come to Him when He said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37). It is clear then that Jesus pointed directly to their unwillingness to come to Him as the reason for their demise. This means that every person in this world has a choice and an opportunity to come, or not to come, because they have a sovereign will.

I bring these points up, because another reason for unanswered prayer is that sometimes individuals exercise their will to refuse God’s will. Our prayers may seem to go unanswered sometimes, because what we are asking for is not part of God’s plan, or it may also be because of someone that is resisting His will. Does this mean that God has not heard you, or has failed to work? Not at all! It may be that a person is just stubbornly resisting what God has been speaking to them to do.

In addition, sometimes God may say no to what you are asking from Him, because He is protecting you from greater harm if He gives you what you want. The Lord may have a much better solution that you just can’t see at the moment. Remember, Jacob and his entire family were being led toward the fulfillment of God’s ultimate plan, but they couldn’t see it at that moment. We have to trust in God’s sovereignty. We may not understand why things are happening the way they are, but we have to trust that God’s plan is always for our good. God spoke a powerful truth to the Prophet Habakkuk when he questioned the Lord concerning why He was allowing the Assyrians to destroy the nation, Israel. He told him, “Look among the nations and watch--Be utterly astounded! For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you” (Hab. 1:5). Sometimes, even if God told us what He was doing, we still wouldn’t believe Him. However, maturity is recognizing God’s sovereignty even in the midst of difficult circumstances when we are baffled by what we see. It’s so easy to see God at work in other people’s lives, but it’s much harder to see His hand in your own life.  

Benjaman is allowed to go down into Egypt.  Vs. 8-14

“Then Judah said to Israel his father, ‘Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.’ And their father Israel said to them, ‘If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man--a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!’” (Gen. 43:8-14).

Judah takes responsibility.

Now, isn’t it interesting that Judah is the son who stands up to his father, and takes responsibility for protecting his brother Benjamin. Judah is the only one of the eldest sons that has any credibility with his father at this time. Remember that Ruben, the first born, had disqualified himself because he had sex with his father’s concubine. Simeon was in prison down in Egypt, and Levi had disqualified himself, because he went and killed the men of the city after his sister Dinah had been raped (Gen. 34). So, Judah was really the next in line, as the fourth son of Jacob. Yet little did Jacob know that Judah had been the one who masterminded the plot to get rid of Joseph, and to sell him into slavery. Judah was also the one in Genesis 38 who wanted to burn Tamar for becoming pregnant, when he had also committed sexual immorality. So, Judah was not a good guy. But something had changed inside of Judah. God had dealt with this man’s heart, because he was now saying that he would take responsibility for Benjamin. If anything happened to Benjamin, Judah declared that he would bear the shame forever. This sounded so much like a descendant of Judah who would one day take the punishment for the sins of the world upon Himself. This descendant of Judah was Jesus the Messiah. He said, I will take the blame for all the harm done by every sinful soul in this world. In fact, in the next chapter, we are going to see that it was Judah’s words that brought Joseph to tears, as he stepped forward and said, “Put me in prison, take me. I will take the blame.” It is quite clear that Judah had come to a tremendous change of heart from the man he used to be.

What changed Judah’s heart?

It was God’s humbling process that changed Judah’s heart. Remember what the brothers said to one another when they stood before Joseph the first time? Joseph told them that he was going to hold Simeon in prison until they returned, and they said, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us” (Gen. 42:21). Here is God’s conviction and humbling process taking place in their hearts. Judah, as the ringleader of the plot to get rid of Joseph, must have sensed the weight of the responsibility for what had been done. God used this conviction to bring Judah to a place of humility and self-sacrifice.

So don’t give up praying for that person you think is so hard-hearted that you wonder if they could ever be saved. Remember Paul the Apostle? He was a man that was worse than Judah, and God changed his heart. Paul murdered and imprisoned Christians, and he took pleasure in doing so. If God can change Paul, He can change anyone. But, remember, salvation requires both sides in the relationship to come to an agreement. It requires God’s sovereign will reaching out, and a man to agree with Him over his sin. In fact, that is what the word confess means in Greek. John said, “If we confess our sins (or agree with Him over our sin), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Therefore, I encourage you to pray for those whom you want to see come to faith in Christ. Trust that God is speaking to them whether you see any change or not, knowing that this person must willingly choose to respond. If you have the opportunity, tell them that if they agree that they are sinners, all they must do is ask for God’s forgiveness, and turn away from their sinful lifestyle. God simply wants us all to accept responsibility for what we have done. God spoke through Jeremiah to His backslidden people and said, “‘Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not cause My anger to fall on you. For I am merciful,’ says the LORD; ‘I will not remain angry forever. Only acknowledge your iniquity, that you have transgressed against the LORD your God’” (Jer. 3:12-13). Humility is what causes a person to acknowledge their iniquity, and this is what God is looking for in each heart.

Growth in Jacob.

When you consider Jacob at the moment that he decided to send his sons back to Egypt, I believe you can also see some real growth in him. Why do I say this? Jacob used to be a schemer when it came to getting something he wanted. But at this point in his life, there is no scheming over the money that his sons found in the mouth of their grain sacks. He sends double the money back with them to Egypt to prove the honesty of his sons. Jacob showed himself to be a man of integrity with this decision. This should be an example to each of us in our daily life. For example, has someone at a store or at your bank ever given you incorrect change? They obviously just didn’t count correctly. What did you do at that moment? Did you just walk away with the extra cash, and smile thinking, That person better learn how to count better next time. I’m going to take the extra money and go have some fun! Do you realize that this circumstance would be a test of your integrity? It absolutely would be! When you return the money that was incorrectly given you, and you see the look on that person’s face when you give it back, that is all the reward you need. But in addition to that, you would also feel really good inside as your conscience approved what you did. I hope you’ve had that experience; it is such a witness to the person that has counted incorrectly. I am reminded of Proverbs 11:3 which declares, “The integrity of the upright will guide them, but the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.” Integrity of heart is truly what has guided you at that moment. That integrity will also help you to make all future decisions as well. Solomon also said, “Better is the poor who walks in his integrity than one perverse in his ways, though he be rich.” (Prov. 28:6).

Second, Jacob showed some definite spiritual growth at the end of his conversation with Judah, by committing his sons to the mercy of God. You see this fact when he declared in verse 14, “And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man.” Jacob simply commits his sons into the hands of the merciful God that he knew. This was also an act of faith. When King David was struggling in his personal life because God was seemingly not answering his prayers, he said, “But I have trusted in Your mercy” (Ps. 13:5). If you believe He is a merciful God, then you will commit yourself to His mercy in difficult times. Similarly, when Jeremiah the Prophet, struggled with how God had destroyed the nation Israel, he declared, “This I recall to my mind, therefore I have hope. Through the LORD’S mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. ‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul, therefore I hope in Him!” (Lam. 3:21-24). Note that hope and faith naturally come to the human heart when we look to and focus on His mercy. Trust in His mercy for your own life!

Joseph meets Benjaman.  Vs. 15-34

“So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, ‘Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.’ Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, ‘It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and fall upon us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.’ When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, and said, ‘O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.’ But he said, ‘Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.’ Then he brought Simeon out to them. So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth. Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, ‘Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?’ And they answered, ‘Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.’ And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves. Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, ‘Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?’ And he said, ‘God be gracious to you, my son.’ Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, ‘Serve the bread.’ So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin's serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him” (Gen. 43:15-34).

This meeting is truly a classic moment, which is so powerful and moving. Joseph was deeply touched as he encountered his brothers after more than twenty years. His heart was overwhelmed, because he wanted to reveal himself to them, but Joseph’s test of his brother’s integrity wasn’t complete yet. Joseph had one more test for them.

Before they entered the house, they met with the steward, and it’s significant to note that he attributed the return of their money to the God of their fathers. Note that the Egyptian steward did not credit an Egyptian deity, but instead acknowledged the God of Israel, which meant that he knew something about the God of Joseph. This raises an important question: did the steward believe in the God of Israel? If so, how did he come to know about Him? Most likely, it was through Joseph’s influence and communication, suggesting that Joseph had been evangelizing his household for the God of Israel.

Earlier, we discussed Joseph marrying the daughter of Pharaoh, and many wonder why Joseph would marry an Egyptian rather than a Jewish woman. We don’t know if the Egyptian woman had been converted to faith in the God of Israel or not. These could only be assumptions. But, remember that Rahab, a Canaanite, married into the messianic line, so it’s not about marrying someone from a particular nation, but marrying someone who has the same faith. I would also assume that if a servant in Joseph’s house knew about the God of Israel, I am confident that Joseph had also communicated with his wife concerning his faith.

I also hope that you are communicating your faith to those you love, and those who are in your circle of friends. You need to give the God of our fathers, the Creator of heaven and earth the credit for the miraculous things He has done in your life, and in the lives of those you know. David declared in Psalm 115:1 what I believe should come forth from our lips when he wrote, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us but to Your name give glory, because of Your mercy, because of Your truth.” He has done wonderous things for you! What mercy and truth He has revealed to us!

His brother’s confusion.

At the end of this chapter, Joseph’s brothers are left confused, but aware that something is going on. When Joseph arranged them at the table in their birth order, they look at each other with astonishment, thinking, How does this man know these things about us? They know something is happening, but they can’t figure out what it is. We all see through a glass darkly, when it comes to certain aspects of our lives, but we know God is directing us (1 Cor. 13:12). Do you see God’s sovereign hand that is at work dealing with you, blessing you, providing for you, and directing your steps? I hope so, because He is! And then do you give Him glory when you recognize His hand? That is so important to do, because this keeps the Lord so real to you in your individual life. 

In our next study, we will see the final step in bringing Joseph’s brothers to a place of humility and brokenness, as they once again fall prostrate before him. It’s a crucial moment in their lives.