David Bahn – Reflections

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These devotions are part of the Follow the Word Bible reading program at St. John Lutheran Church in Cypress, Texas.This year we are reading through the Scriptures together, listening for how God speaks through his Word day by day. I hope you will join me on this journey.

Today’s readings are Genesis 44-45; Psalm 40.

Genesis 45:1-8a

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. ³ And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

⁴ So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷ And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸ So it was not you who sent me here, but God. 

I don’t really understand why Joseph goes through all the troubling deception and calculated testing as he sends his brothers back with their sacks filled with grain. What troubles me is not only Joseph’s actions, but the emotional weight of them. Joseph holds immense power. His brothers are vulnerable, hungry, and afraid. He could end the drama at any moment with a word. Instead, he prolongs it. He sends them away full, then calls them back in fear. He gives gifts, then threatens loss. It feels almost cruel – or at least unnecessary – and that discomfort lingers as the story unfolds.

I suppose we must look beyond all this, however, to see Joseph’s ultimate intent. He wants to bring his father down to Egypt. He wants to provide for their needs. He also wants to give witness to God’s providential care and the way in which God’s good purposes were furthered by his time in Egypt and his rise to power there.

But before we can see that unfold, there is more trouble and pain. But perhaps that discomfort is the point. Joseph is not playing games for revenge. He is creating space – albeit a painful space – where truth can finally surface. These brothers once sold a favored son into slavery and covered it with lies. Now they must face another favored son, another sack, another deception – only this time, they choose differently. Judah steps forward. Joseph is undone.

It could well be that the truth of what they had done must have its due before the truth of God’s providential care can be fully appreciated. It is for them an uh oh moment; a moment that if there is no grace there will be no hope. They must face their guilt. Only then will they more fully enjoy grace.

Two things come to my mind: we do not fully appreciate God’s grace if we do not recognize our desperate need for it. And Judah offers to do what Christ will one day do but more fully. He will offer himself as a pledge for the sake of his younger brother. Only Jesus did more than offer himself as a pledge. He offered the sacrifice that redeemed us from Satan’s grip, death’s power, and sin’s condemnation. For that is God’s ultimate purpose to redeem and save us and give us eternal life.