Read with Me
Genesis 42:8-17 (HCSB)
Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said to them, “You are spies. You have come to see the weakness of the land.”
“No, my lord. Your servants have come to buy food,” they said. “We are all sons of one man. We are honest; your servants are not spies.”
“No,” he said to them. “You have come to see the weakness of the land.”
But they replied, “We, your servants, were 12 brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no longer living.”
Then Joseph said to them, “I have spoken: ‘You are spies!’ This is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one from among you to get your brother. The rest of you will be imprisoned so that your words can be tested to see if they are true. If they are not, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!” So Joseph imprisoned them together for three days.
Listen with Me
When Joseph realized that his brothers didn’t recognize him, he not only realized that he had an advantage over them, but he also decided to use that advantage to determine what had happened to his baby brother, Benjamin, and to his father. He also decided to use that advantage to determine what kind of men his brothers had grown into during the intervening years.
So, he accused them of being spies, of coming into the land to find out where Egypt was vulnerable during the famine. His brothers were struck silent for a moment. This was supposed to be a simple financial transaction. Why would this powerful man suddenly accuse them of being spies? It made no sense!
They protested their innocence loudly, but the man kept insisting that they were spies. And the more he insisted, the more of their back story they told. They were ten out of twelve sons of one man in Canaan. One of the twelve was dead, and the other, the youngest, was with their father back home.
Joseph was relieved to hear that Benjamin was still alive, and that his father was alive as well. But he desperately wanted to see Benjamin, and he needed time to figure out how to get him to Egypt. His first plan, constructed in his mind on the spur of the moment, was to imprison nine of his brothers as hostages and send one brother back to get Benjamin. That plan would change at God’s direction over the three days that he kept them in prison. But Joseph realized that the dreams God had given him all those years before were finally coming true.
Pray with Me
Father, Your plans will always be carried out. But from our standpoint, they often take longer to come to fruition than we expect. It’s notable to me that during his nearly twenty-three-year stay in Egypt, Joseph never let go of the dreams You had given him. He simply lived each day as it came, and held his dreams in his back pocket, trusting that You would bring them all to pass in Your perfect timing. Thank You, Lord, both for the dreams You have given me, and for the calm assurance that You will bring them all to pass in Your perfect timing. Amen.