BOOK
BY BOOK BIBLE STUDY
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BIBLE
STUDY LESSON
For
the week beginning Sunday May 5, 2019
JOSEPH
REVEALS HIS IDENTITY
Genesis
45:1-15
After Judah’s heartfelt plea for Benjamin and his brothers’ freedom
(Genesis 44:18-34), Joseph could not bear to test them any further. Judah’s
earnest petition had finally convinced him that he and his brothers were no
longer the evil men that they once were, when they sold him into chattel
slavery, some twenty years earlier. Suddenly he shouted out to his attendants
to clear the room so that he could be alone with his siblings. He was now ready
to expose to them his true identity.
When the room was clear, for the third
time, we see Joseph weep for his brothers, and this time, he wept louder than
ever, and in fact, his wailing was so loud it could be heard throughout the
palace. Then he paused from his weeping and told them, “I am Joseph!”. “Is my
father still alive?” His brothers all stood there speechless and stunned as
they realized that their long lost brother, Joseph, was alive and standing
right in front of them.
At that point Joseph beckoned his brothers
to come closer, and again he said to them, “I am Joseph, your brother whom you
sold into slavery in Egypt. He told the men not to be angry with themselves
that they did that to him, because it was really the LORD WHO did it. HE sent
me here ahead of time to preserve your lives (Vs.4-5).
The spiritual person is always capable of
seeing beyond their circumstances, and perceiving the hand of GOD at work in
any event. In Joseph’s situation, he was able to forgive his brothers because
he embodied a deep spiritually and relationship with GOD, that could override
any feeling of vengefulness that we might find in people less trusting of GOD’s
sovereignty over all matters in life, good and bad.
Joseph went on to explain to his brothers
that they were only two years into what would be a seven-year famine, during
which time there would be no planting or harvest in the land. GOD sent him to
Egypt to position him so that he would be able to keep their family alive, so
that they could eventually multiply and grow into a great nation. And so it was
GOD, Joseph said, not them, who set him up for this great task of salvation
overseeing, for his family.
Then Joseph urged his brothers to return to
Canaan and tell Jacob the good news that GOD had made him ruler over all of
Egypt, and then, invite him to come to see him right away. He had already made
plans for them to live in Goshen, a place of isolation, where their purity
would be protected, and they would be able to multiply and grow without losing
their identity to the Egyptians, by becoming unequally yoked.
And so we see here the very origins of “the
concept of the Christian Church” and how it should relate to world around it.
The entire nation of Israel had now come into existence through the births of
the progenitors of the twelve tribes of Israel, and now GOD would “set them
apart” from the world (Egypt), and, at one and the same time, have them live in
the world, separated unto Goshen (the community of GOD’s people). And now the
burden of guilt had been lifted from his brothers, and Joseph embraced and
kissed each of them, weeping in joy, and talking freely among each other,
perhaps, for the very first time.
PHARAOH
INVITES JACOB TO EGYPT
Genesis
45:16-28
In Genesis 15:13-16 GOD told Abram that his descendants would be
strangers in a foreign land, and that, they would be oppressed as slaves for
400 years. HE also told him that HE would punish the nation that enslaves them,
and in the end, they would come away with great wealth. After promising Abram
that he himself would die in peace at a ripe old age, HE told him also, that,
after four generations, his descendants would return to the land of Canaan.
Here in Genesis 45, taking up at verse 16,
we see the descendants of Abram (Jacob’s family), now unwittingly standing on
the brink of the beginnings of the fulfillment of GOD’s promise to Abram. It
begins with a joyous invite being extended to the family of Jacob by the
Pharaoh of Egypt himself. Here he instructs Joseph to tell his brothers to make
haste and go and bring Jacob and their whole family back to Egypt to live as
special quests in the fertile district of Egypt called Goshen.
And so the brothers accepted the invitation,
knowing that Jacob would most likely agree, since it meant that he would be
able to re-unite his favorite son, Joseph, once again. And they were given
healthy provisions, clothing (to Benjamin Joseph gave five changes of clothing),
transportation, and 300 pieces of silver, and then, they were sent on their
way.
In verses 26-28 we see the revival of an aging
patriarch, Jacob, who had been near the end of his hope. When he heard the news
that Joseph was still alive, he was given a new lease on life. All he could
think about was going to Egypt to see his precious first son by Rachel. Joseph
was truly alive, and he was truly spiritually revived, and now he could die in
peace, something that he had lost all hope of doing, before this good news.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
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