Today we will read chapter 42-44.
Now the 7 years of famine came after 7 years of abundance, just as Joseph interpreted Pharaoh’s dream. Jacob sent Joseph’s 10 brothers to buy food in Egypt. They went to see Joseph and bowed before him, and realized the dream in his childhood. To meet his brother Benjamin, who was born by the same mother, Joseph managed to take Simeon in custody and sent the rest back home with the grain and to bring Benjamin back to him.
Jacob didn’t want to send Benjamin away to Egypt. The famine was so severe and he had no choice, but to let all of them go. Joseph freed Simeon after he saw them bring back Benjamin and prepared a feast for them. After they left with the grains and had been gone for a while, Joseph set the steward after them to stop them and to confront them about the silver cup in Benjamin’s sack.
In this passage, God uses Joseph as His instrument to draw these men to a place of repentance and restoration. Years before, these men had conspired against Joseph in an effort to get rid of him. They had conspired to Joseph’s harm. Now, the tables were turned and Joseph conspired against them. But, unlike his brothers, Joseph was not conspiring in an effort to harm them. He was conspiring for their good.
We need to remember that there are no accidents in life. If you are a child of God, every event in your life is a product of divine providence, Rom. 8:28. God is working out His will in your life in ways that you and I cannot begin to comprehend, Isa. 55:8-9. This even includes the way God deals with our sins.
Joseph saw his brother’s repentance and their care for their father. They didn’t want their father to go down to Sheol with gray hair in sorrow and willing to substitute their younger brother for the charge against him. Here we see the same principle that God requires of man. He requires our repentant heart. As Scripture says, “A broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise”.