56 EGYPT AGAIN

Because the famine continued; and the corn the nine brothers had brought back to Canaan was all spent, Jacob now urges his sons to go and buy more corn in Egypt. It was, after all, the kind of food that perishes, not the spiritual food that endures and can be bought (sought) without money. “Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, ‘Go back and buy us a little more food’” (1 & 2). Jacob, as a good master of a family, is responsible to provide the food they need for those of his own house. David not only had not seen, but neither had he read about God’s children begging for bread. Jacob could and would buy it. Jacob tells them to go again and buy a little food. Why “a little”? Because now, in time of scarcity, a little must suffice, for nature is content with a little. At this, Judah urges him to allow Benjamin to go down with them, even though he knew it would go against Jacob’s feelings and previous determination. It is not at all inconsistent with the honor and duty which children owe their parents to humbly and politely advise them, and, as occasion is, to reason with them. It is possible to “honor (your) father and mother” and at the same time plead with them if it is necessary to bring a morally correct attitude or behavior in them. Hosea uses the word “plead” in the King James translation which is rendered “rebuke’ in the NIV in Hosea 2:2: “Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.” A moral and spiritual sin was being addressed in figurative speech and the implication is that at certain times it would be correct and necessary to confront parents who were doing or were about to do wrong. Judah insists on the absolute necessity they were under to bring Benjamin with them. Judah was a witness to all that had passed in Egypt and therefore was a more competent judge than Jacob could be. Joseph’s stated condition for them being able to see him again, mentioned in verse 3, can also be used to show the terms humankind must meet in order to draw near to God. Unless we bring Christ along with us in the arms of our faith, we cannot see the face of God.

Judah promises to take all possible care of him, and to do his utmost for his safety, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life” (8 & 9). Judah’s conscience had lately smitten him for what he had done many years before against Joseph “. . . we saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen . . .” (42:21). As an evidence of true repentance, he is ready to guarantee Benjamin’s safety as far as any man could,. He will not only not wrong him, but will do all he can to protect him. This is restitution, as far as the circumstances will allow; when he knew not how he could restore Joseph, he would make some amends for the irreparable injury he had done him by doubling his care concerning Benjamin.

In spite of his emotional attachment to Benjamin and other various feelings he probably could not explain, Jacob was reasonable. He would be persuaded, though his sons who urged it were his inferiors. He saw the need in the situation and, since there was no other remedy, he consented to yield to the necessity saying, “If it must be, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds.” If no corn can be had but upon those terms, we may as well expose him to the perils of the journey rather than suffer starvation ourselves. There is no death so dreadful as that by famine according to Jeremiah in Lamentation 4:9 which says, “Those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of famine racked with hunger, they waste away for lack of food from the field.”

Jacob had said in Genesis 42:28, “My son will not go down there with you;” but now he is persuaded to change his mind. It is sometimes wise to change our minds. It is no fault, but rather our wisdom and duty, to change our purposes and resolutions when there is a good reason for it. Constancy is a virtue, but obstinacy is not. It is God’s prerogative not to repent, and to make unchangeable resolves; but for humans who are fallible and can easily be mistaken, it is wise to be willing to change our minds at times.

Jacob shows his prudence and justice in three ways 1) He returned the money they had found in the sacks with this discreet comment, “Perhaps it was a mistake.” Honesty obligates us to make restitution, not only of what comes to us by our own fault, but also of what comes to us by the mistakes of others. Though we get it by an error, if we keep it when the mistake is discovered, it is kept by deceit. In the stating of accounts, errors must be excepted, even those in our favor as well as those that go against us. Jacob’s words furnish us a very useful statement which we may repeat in various situations: “Perhaps it was a mistake.” Once when I exchanged dollars for the local currency. I discovered that a bank had made a mistake and given me far too much money. I told them about it and returned it. That bank treated me very well for many months after that. 2) Jacob returned double money, sending as much again as they took the time before. Maybe it was to pay for the previous purchase plus the present purchase if it had been a mistake or supposing that the price of corn might have risen, or in case they must pay a ransom for Simeon, or to show a generous spirit hoping for a generous response.  3) Jacob sent a present of the kinds of things his own land produced which may have been scarce in Egypt.

Curiously, this might have moved Joseph since he may not have tasted these familiar treats since he left Canaan. Anyway, who would not enjoy “a little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds” whether they had enjoyed them previously or not?  God seems to have spread out over many nations and geographical areas different commodities. It may be a way He has through international trade to help people learn to get along with and appreciate people of other cultures and customs. God through nature dispenses His gifts variously. Some countries produce one commodity, others another, that commerce may be preserved. Honey and spice will never make up the need for bread-corn. The famine was sore in Canaan, and yet they had balm and myrrh, etc. We may live well enough on plain food without dainties; but we cannot live on dainties without plain food. Let us thank God that what is most needful and useful is generally the least expensive.

Jacob may have just simply been a wise man when it comes to interpersonal relationships. Remember that he sent gifts ahead of him to Esau at an earlier time. Proverbs 21:14 says, “A gift given in secret soothes anger, and a bribe concealed in the cloak pacifies great wrath.” On the first trip to Egypt Jacob’s sons were unjustly accused as spies, yet Jacob was willing to invest some money in a gift to pacify the accuser. Sometimes we must not think it too much to buy peace. If we cannot demand it even if it is our due, it is better to purchase it than to fail in our attempt to insist on it as our right.

Once again Jacob demonstrates his dependance on God as a man of prayer. Jacob’s godly attitude appears in his prayer: “And may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin come back with you” (14). Jacob had earlier turned an angry brother into a kind one with a present and a prayer; and here he again uses the same tried method, and it served him well. Anyone who wants to find mercy with men must first seek it from God Who has all hearts in His hands and turns them as He pleases.

Jacob displays his patience and willingness to commit his case to God as he says at the end of verse 14 “. . . if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” If I must part with my sons like this one after another, I must yield, and say, The will of the Lord be done.” It is our wisdom to reconcile ourselves to the sorest afflictions, and make the best of them; for there is nothing to be gained by striving with our Maker. As David fled from Absalom and Jerusalem, Scripture records in 2 Samuel 15: 25 & 26, “Then the king said to Zadok, ‘Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the Lord’s eyes, he will bring me back and let me see it and his dwelling place again. But if he says, “I am not pleased with you,” then I am ready; let him do to me whatever seems good to him.’”

Jacob’s sons, having received permission to take Benjamin with them, were obeying the instructions of their father and went down the second time to Egypt to buy corn. If we should ever know what a famine of the Word of God means, let us not think it too much to travel far for spiritual food as Jacob’s sons did for physical food.

Next we can listen in to the conversation between the ten brothers and Joseph’s steward. It appears that the steward MAY have been aware of the secret that the brothers were actually Joseph’s brothers. If so, he played along with the drama and seems to have generally kept the secret while allowing a few hints of his knowledge of it to slip out to the brothers. Joseph’s steward has orders from his master who was busy selling corn, and receiving money, to take them to his house, and make ready for a meal together. Though Joseph saw Benjamin there, he did not yet leave his work. He had responsibilities and we already know him to be a faithful and persistent worker. Business sometimes takes the place of social or familial matters. God can give us wisdom to know the specific instances when our employment responsibilities must not be neglected even for friends or family.

The treatment of the steward frightened them. Verse 18 says, “They were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph’s house.” The correct challenges of their own consciences, and Joseph’s violent suspicions of them, hindered them from expecting any favor, and suggested to them that the treatment they were receiving was done with a bad design. Those that are guilty of something are apt to make the worst of every thing. Now they thought they would be justly dealt with about the money in the sacks, and would be charged as cheats who had earlier taken advantage of the hurry of the market to carry off their corn without paying for it, not fair minded traders. Consequently they laid the case before the steward, that he, being made aware of it in advance, might stand between them and danger. They may have thought that as proof of their honesty, before they were charged with taking back their money, they should produce it and offer it to the steward. It is good to show our integrity and uprightness for they will preserve us and will clear themselves as the light of the morning in time.

The steward encouraged them. Here in verse 23 I think I see evidence that the steward knew who they really were. “‘It’s all right,’ he said. ‘Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver.’ Then he brought Simeon out to them.” Though the steward may not have known what his master drove at, yet he was aware these were men to whom he meant no harm. He directs them to look at the divine intervention in the return of their money: “Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver”” (23). With this he shows that he had no suspicion at all of dishonesty in them. After all, what we get by deceit we cannot say, “God has given it to us.” With this remark, he silences their further enquiry about it as though to say, “Don’t ask how it came to be in your bags. God allowed it so let that satisfy you.” It appears by what he said, that by Joseph’s example and/or influence he was brought to the knowledge of the true God, the God of the Hebrews. Whatever one’s position, servant or lord of the house, we who have faith in God can and should share it with others from day to day. The steward directs them to look up to God, and acknowledge His involvement in the good bargain they had. This shows that he, himself, knew God. We must acknowledge ourselves to be indebted to God for all our successes, advantages, and the kindnesses of our friends. Every creature is to us what God makes them to be.

The steward encouraged them, not only in words but in deeds; for he made over them with some considerable attention to their needs until his master came. Verse 24 says, “The steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys.” I cannot help but think of God’s hospitality when we get home to His house. What attention will He give to us. Will angels act as God’s stewards and show us to our new custom-built apartments? The welcome Joseph’s eleven brothers were about to receive far surpassed any of their expectations. God’s welcome to us to His heaven will certainly surpass our expectations too. Christian leaders take note.