[Linux4christians] Wednesday Genesis 42:21-38

Tue Jul 20 22:24:27 EDT 2010

    Wednesday

      Genesis 42:21-38

42:21 They said to one other, "Surely we're being punished because of 
our brother, because we saw how distressed he was when he cried to us 
for mercy, but we refused to listen. That is why this distress has come 
on us!" 42:22 Reuben said to them, "Didn't I say to you, 'Don't sin 
against the boy,' but you wouldn't listen? So now we must pay for 
shedding his blood!" 42:23 (Now they did not know that Joseph could 
understand them, for he was speaking through an interpreter.) 42:24 He 
turned away from them and wept. When he turned around and spoke to them 
again, he had Simeon taken from them and tied up before their eyes.

42:25 Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return 
each man's money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the 
journey. His orders were carried out. 42:26 So they loaded their grain 
on their donkeys and left.

42:27 When one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey at 
their resting place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. 42:28 He 
said to his brothers, "My money was returned! Here it is in my sack!" 
They were dismayed; they turned trembling one to another and said, "What 
in the world has God done to us?"

42:29 They returned to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told 
him all the things that had happened to them, saying, 42:30 "The man, 
the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and treated us as if we were 
spying on the land. 42:31 But we said to him, 'We are honest men; we are 
not spies! 42:32 We are from a family of twelve brothers; we are the 
sons of one father. One is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our 
father at this time in the land of Canaan.'

42:33 "Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'This is how I 
will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, 
and take grain for your hungry households and go. 42:34 But bring your 
youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are honest men and 
not spies. Then I will give your brother back to you and you may move 
about freely in the land.'"

42:35 When they were emptying their sacks, there was each man's bag of 
money in his sack! When they and their father saw the bags of money, 
they were afraid. 42:36 Their father Jacob said to them, "You are making 
me childless! Joseph is gone. Simeon is gone. And now you want to take 
Benjamin! Everything is against me."

42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, "You may put my two sons to death 
if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my care and I will bring 
him back to you." 42:38 But Jacob replied, "My son will not go down 
there with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left. If an 
accident happens to him on the journey you have to make, then you will 
bring down my gray hair in sorrow to the grave."

      Prayer

Lord, Numbers 32:23, John 3:20 remind us that our sins will find us out, 
and 1 John 1:10 says that if we claim to be without sin we make Jesus a 
liar (He said all have sinned) and therefore the Word does not live in 
us (we are unsaved). So please accept my confession that I may be wiped 
clean and not have to look over my shoulder every day in fear of the 
retribution of God or of man.

      Commentary

Joseph's brothers had carried the burden of their merciless mistreatment 
for many years, now they believed that their predicament in Egypt was 
punishment for that.

Joseph, yet to be recognized and communicating through an interpreter, 
was driven to tears and turned away.

Joseph had their bags filled and the money secretly returned to them in 
their bags. When they found the money they were frightened that the 
Egyptians might accuse them of theft, but as an evidence of their 
spiritual immaturity, they blamed God.

They told their story to Jacob/Israel but he refused to allow Benjamin 
to go, even after Reuben offered his own sons' lives as assurance of 
Benjamin's safe return. And so they waited as the famine worsened.

      Interaction

Consider this:

Joseph's testing of his brothers continued and their tortured souls from 
their mistreatment of him (though they though him dead, or lost forever 
in slavery) made them cooperative rather than rebellious.

        Discuss this:

Simeon is in prison in Egypt, the people are hungry due to the famine, 
yet Jacob/Israel's fear of losing Benjamin causes him to refuse to allow 
the only thing that will make it possible to buy more grain. Is this 
wisdom an absence of trust in the Lord God?

        Reflect on this:

Had Joseph/Israel been a more pious man, one who properly discipled his 
sons in the importance of a healthy relationship with God, they might 
have made many better decisions.

        Share this:

When have you been faced with a difficult decision, one that places 
someone or something you value greatly in harms-way, but one which is 
plainly unavoidable? How did you manage your decision making process? 
Was the Lord God intentionally invited into that process? How did things 
work out?

      Faith in Action

        Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a place of decision making where 
He'd like to be invited but one where you have so far made decisions 
without inviting His input.

        Action:

I will intentionally invite the Holy Spirit to direct my decision making 
in the area(s) that He reveals to me where I have to-date been making 
decisions in the flesh. If I have difficulty being certain what He is 
saying I will ask one who is qualified as a Biblical "elder" to ask God 
to reveal it to him.

        Be Specific ____________________________________________________

    Thursday's text will be: Genesis 43:1-14

-- 

Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!  Pastor David
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Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
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