by Pastor Chris Wall as printed in the Covenant Home Altar the week of August 27th
GENESIS 45:16-28
Today we continue the emotional climax of the story of Joseph, as he sends his brothers back to Canaan to bring their father, Jacob, and their families to live in Egypt. Jacob’s sons have been living in famine for years now, scrimping and saving just to feed their own. I imagine it would be a constant anxiety, a rip current pulling at their feet. Finally it gets bad enough that they travel to Egypt, where, somehow, there is food to spare. How might those brothers have felt as they traveled? Worn out, wrung out, spent, perhaps ashamed.
Genesis 45:16-28
New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised
16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, ‘Joseph’s brothers have come’, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Say to your brothers, “Do this: load your animals and go back to the land of Canaan. 18 Take your father and your households and come to me, so that I may give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you may enjoy the fat of the land.” 19 You are further charged to say, “Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Give no thought to your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.”’
21 The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons according to the instruction of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each one of them he gave a set of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five sets of garments. 23 To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving he said to them, ‘Do not quarrel[a] along the way.’
25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26 And they told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.’ He was stunned; he could not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 Israel said, ‘Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.’
Image their joy and confusion as their brother Joseph, long gone, is the one who greets them. With tears and hugs, Joseph forgives them and promises not only some food, but an overabundance, and impossible salvation for the next five years of famine to come. Shame turns to glad-ness, lack becomes plenty. This is how our God works. Does your heart stir at the thought of new life coming in the middle of our darkest times?
God, you see us in our anxiety. Help us to trust and accept your peace as we wait for your provision. AMEN.