Genesis 43

The correction of the Lord continues for the brothers.  They still do not know true forgiveness, nor do they have a hunger for righteousness.  Consider the main characters in the chapter.

·        Judah (v3-5,8-10).  He had influence with the brothers (37:26-27).  God is working in his life (38:26).  He is able to help clarify the situation for his father (43:3-5).  Shunning Reuben’s ridiculous offer, Judah takes responsibility for Benjamin and will bear the blame if anything happens.  That is really all the assurance he can give.  The facts are: they must go to Egypt for food, and they cannot go without Benjamin.  Perhaps Judah’s words give Jacob the assurance he needs to allow Benjamin to go.

·        Israel (Jacob, v11-14).  Is this the same old Jacob trying in the flesh to do what God said He would do?  I don’t think so.  Two things demonstrate Jacob’s faith, both in v14.  First is his God.  Jacob calls upon “God Almighty” to bless the journey.  This is El Shaddai, the title God gave to Abraham (Gen. 17:1). Isaac had used that Name to bless Jacob (Gen. 28:3).  Jacob had grown from simply believing in the God of his fathers to knowing God by that Name himself (Gen. 35:11).  This is huge, that he now blesses Judah by the name El Shaddai.  In our lives God must come to be greater and more personal through our trials.  Second is the nature of Jacob’s faith.  It is seen in the words, “if I am bereaved, I am bereaved”.  He has come to lay the matter before the Lord, realizing he cannot do anything to save Benjamin.  Consider this yielding of oneself to God in Job (Job 1:21; 2:10), Eli (1 Sam. 3:18), Esther (Esther 4:16), Paul (Acts 20:24), and our Lord Himself (Matt. 26:39,42).  We cannot live to glorify God without that abandonment to Him and His purposes.

·        Joseph (v15-17, 26-31).  We again see that Joseph is a grand picture to us of Christ.  To the brothers he is their Lord, the one before whom they must appear (v15).  He is their Judge, the rightful cause of fear (v18).  And he is their Savior, the cause of their enjoyment (v34).

·        The brothers (42:11,21,28; 43:18-25, 32-34).  These “honest men” who know they are “truly guilty” and that God is working will, by the end of the chapter. be feasting with Joseph.  But their journey will not be complete.  At best they are saying, “We will never do that again.  If we could relive the past we would treat Joseph better.”  But God’s plan for us is not simply to bring us to good intentions.  He desires righteousness.  The brothers, and we, must be tested so that the “genuineness of (our) faith, being much more precious than gold that perishes, though it is tested by fire, may be found to praise, honor, and glory at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 1:7).

Let us not run from trials, but rather let us run with endurance the race set before us (Heb. 12:1-2) that we might say in the end, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7).  Let us not be satisfied with good intentions but with His likeness (Ps. 17:15).