Confessional Lutheran Ministerium

Genesis 43:17-34 NKJV

¹⁷ Then the man did as Joseph ordered, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ Now the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money, which was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may make a case against us and seize us, to take us as slaves with our donkeys.”

¹⁹ When they drew near to the steward of Joseph’s house, they talked with him at the door of the house, ²⁰ and said, “O sir, we indeed came down the first time to buy food; ²¹ but it happened, when we came to the encampment, that we opened our sacks, and there, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; so we have brought it back in our hand. ²² And we have brought down other money in our hands to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

²³ But he said, “Peace be with you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ So the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. ²⁵ Then they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would eat bread there.

²⁶ And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed down before him to the earth. ²⁷ Then he asked them about their well-being, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads down and prostrated themselves.

²⁹ Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Now his heart yearned for his brother; so Joseph made haste and sought somewhere to weep. And he went into his chamber and wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself, and said, “Serve the bread.”

³² So they set him a place by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat food with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked in astonishment at one another. ³⁴ Then he took servings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s serving was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

Psalm 32, verses 3-4, proclaims:

“When I kept silent, my bones grew old

      Through my groaning all the day long.

For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me;

      My vitality was turned into the drought of summer.”

This is what it’s like to know that you have sinned and attempt to try to live with it, rather than repent of it; confess it and be rid of it by receiving Holy Absolution. This is what was happening to Joseph’s brothers as they were asked to come to Joseph’s house. The terrors of their conscience plagued them.

To show why such self-justification can take place and what is needed flush it out, Luther writes on this text:

“But why do they not take hold of the Word, which can buoy them up and strengthen them, so that they can be without fear of death and dangers? So great is their bewilderment that they are unable to recall the promises and the sermons of their father which they had long since neglected. Because they despise the Word, let them have the lie, be afraid of themselves, and imagine tyranny and punishments of every kind for themselves… But how long will this evil be lulled to sleep? Until the Law comes.” (LW 7, 330-331, CPH)

Valerius Herberger writes about the latter part of this text: “Joseph’s heart burned for his brother Benjamin. O Lord Jesus, Your heart burns with love for all Your faithful brothers, for all Your elect, the believing Benjaminites, who are upright in heart. When You see them come to church, when You see them pray in trouble, when You see them confess in humbleness, when You see them come to the supper with repentant hearts, Your heart burns for them. You cannot leave them unconsoled. Oh, how Your heart will burn on the Last Day when You see Your believing Christian Benjaminites and set them on Your right hand! — for Benjamin means “Son of the right hand.” (The Great Works of God, trans. Matthew Carver, 420, CPH)

Let us pray: Lord, keep me ever aware of my sin by Your Law, then rescue me by the burning love of Your Gospel. Amen.

Genesis 43:1-16 NKJV

43 Now the famine was severe in the land. ² And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”

³ But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”

⁶ And Israel said, “Why did you deal so wrongfully with me as to tell the man whether you had still another brother?”

⁷ But they said, “The man asked us pointedly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ And we told him according to these words. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸ Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹ I myself will be surety for him; from my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ For if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.”

¹¹ And their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and carry down a present for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Take double money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³ Take your brother also, and arise, go back to the man. ¹⁴ And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved, I am bereaved!”

¹⁵ So the men took that present and Benjamin, and they took double money in their hand, and arose and went down to Egypt; and they stood before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my home, and slaughter an animal and make ready; for these men will dine with me at noon.”

God ever remains true! A no-brainer, right? But in our flesh resides that old Adam — that old unbelieving nature — who is not only always filled with doubt but will always be at enmity with God; not fearing, loving or trusting God! No matter the trial — no matter the suffering — no matter the diagnosis, the ailment, the frustration — God, however, ever remains true!

As is displayed on many accounts within God’s Word, believers can be duped by their fleshly reason to second guess God — and then rely on that same reason to think that they can help God along in what is needed (or wanted). For Jacob, however, this is not the case! Jacob was given promises of great future blessings from God. So as opposed to going by his reason — that God had changed HIs mind and was going to let Jacob and his family suffer and die from a famine — no, he trusts in the Lord to supply that which is needed, even if hardship will come of it.

Jacob doesn’t tempt God with an attitude of “We will just sit here and wait for the Lord to give us food.” No, he sends his sons once more to get grain. Based on this text, Valerius Herberger has an interesting way of emphasizing this providence of God — and the trust all believers should have:

“Joseph’s brothers had to make a second journey to get grain from Joseph. Whenever we pray, whenever we go to confession, whenever we receive the Holy Supper, we are going to our heavenly Joseph, Jesus Christ, to beg for grain, that is, for solid, pithy comfort. We brothers of the heavenly Joseph, then, are not to get grain just once, not go to church just once for teaching and comfort, not to pray just once, nor go to confession just once, nor partake of the most blessed Supper just once, but many times.” (The Great Works of God, translation Matthew Carver, pgs. 417-418, CPH)

Let us pray: Gracious Lord, ever overcome our unbelieving flesh and brings us to continually return to You over and over as the only true fount and source of our sustenance.  Amen.

Psalm 49:1-20 NKJV

49 Hear this, all peoples;
Give ear, all inhabitants of the world,
² Both low and high,
Rich and poor together.
³ My mouth shall speak wisdom,
And the meditation of my heart shall give understanding.
⁴ I will incline my ear to a proverb;
I will disclose my dark saying on the harp.

⁵ Why should I fear in the days of evil,
When the iniquity at my heels surrounds me?
⁶ Those who trust in their wealth
And boast in the multitude of their riches,
⁷ None of them can by any means redeem his brother,
Nor give to God a ransom for him—
⁸ For the redemption of their souls is costly,
And it shall cease forever—
⁹ That he should continue to live eternally,
And not see the Pit.

¹⁰ For he sees wise men die;
Likewise the fool and the senseless person perish,
And leave their wealth to others.
¹¹ Their inner thought is that their houses will last forever,
Their dwelling places to all generations;
They call their lands after their own names.
¹² Nevertheless man, though in honor, does not remain;
He is like the beasts that perish.

¹³ This is the way of those who are foolish,
And of their posterity who approve their sayings. Selah
¹⁴ Like sheep they are laid in the grave;
Death shall feed on them;
The upright shall have dominion over them in the morning;
And their beauty shall be consumed in the grave, far from their dwelling.
¹⁵ But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave,
For He shall receive me. Selah

¹⁶ Do not be afraid when one becomes rich,
When the glory of his house is increased;
¹⁷ For when he dies he shall carry nothing away;
His glory shall not descend after him.
¹⁸ Though while he lives he blesses himself
(For men will praise you when you do well for yourself),
¹⁹ He shall go to the generation of his fathers;
They shall never see light.
²⁰ A man who is in honor, yet does not understand,
Is like the beasts that perish.

In his Summary of the Psalms, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther writes this about Psalm 49: “This is a Psalm that instructs us unto faith, and teaches us to trust in God against that great god of this world, who is called Mammon. David here gives a long and striking introduction to the Psalm, that he may excite and wholly arrest our attention. He here sharply rebukes all who trust in the riches and wealth of this world; concerning whom Christ also severely says, “Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation.” Luke 6:24

“All things give way to money, money is the first thing to be sought after; virtue is a secondary consideration. But all such admirers of, and slaves to riches are pointed at and exposed in this Psalm; as are also all those who trust in their wealth, nothing of which they can take with them when they die. And here also true faith is highly extolled; by which we trust in God, who can deliver us from death, and give us eternal life and salvation. And death is the time when not only gold, but all creatures put together, cannot save and deliver a man!” (pages 148-149 of Summary of the Psalms)

Oh, how our unbelieving, doubt-filled, flesh gets revealed when it comes to trust. By our very nature we were conceived and born in sin with one nature bent in on itself — and within that same flesh we continue not fearing, loving or trusting in God. Then once believing and baptized we were given a second nature, born from above — and inner battle begins. Within this fallen flesh we remain at enmity with God — wrestling with Him, straining to live by our will!

Sinful flesh is attracted to the wealth and honor that the world gives, but death will make it all come to nothing. This is no basis for a wise life. What makes for godly wisdom is what Psalm 49 is making clear — a plain, straightforward summons to godly fear! As the psalmist say elsewhere: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”

Let us pray: O Lord, continually overcome our flesh and bring us to have a right fear, love and trust in You. Amen.

Psalm 44:15-26 NKJV

¹⁵ My dishonor is continually before me,
And the shame of my face has covered me,
¹⁶ Because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles,
Because of the enemy and the avenger.

¹⁷ All this has come upon us;
But we have not forgotten You,
Nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant.
¹⁸ Our heart has not turned back,
Nor have our steps departed from Your way;
¹⁹ But You have severely broken us in the place of jackals,
And covered us with the shadow of death.

²⁰ If we had forgotten the name of our God,
Or stretched out our hands to a foreign god,
²¹ Would not God search this out?
For He knows the secrets of the heart.
²² Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long;
We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.

²³ Awake! Why do You sleep, O Lord?
Arise! Do not cast us off forever.
²⁴ Why do You hide Your face,
And forget our affliction and our oppression?
²⁵ For our soul is bowed down to the dust;
Our body clings to the ground.
²⁶ Arise for our help,
And redeem us for Your mercies’ sake.

God allows suffering to come upon His people for two reasons. The first is punishment for sin. When we sin, God often punishes us with the consequences of our sin so that we acknowledge our sin and return to Him in repentance. The second reason God allows His people to suffer is to exercise their faith in His goodness, mercy, and promises of deliverance.

The Psalmist laments because Israel suffers despite her faithfulness to God. “All this has come upon us; but we have not forgotten You, nor have we dealt falsely with Your covenant. Our heart has not turned back, nor have our steps departed from Your way” (17-18). God’s people suffered, not because of their sins but because of their faithfulness to the Lord. “Yet for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (22). By comparing Israel to sheep accounted to be slaughtered, the psalmist recalls that all who believe in the Lord “arethe people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand” (Ps 95:7). As such, he can cry out to the Shepherd of Israel, “Arise for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake” (26).

St. Paul cites verse 22 in Romans 8:36. Christians suffer persecution in the world because of their faithfulness to God. They seek to live according to God’s ways rather than following the course of this world. This earns them the world’s ire and indignation. But the world can only deprive us of earthly things by bringing us “tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword” (Rom 8:35). Because Christians are the sheep of the Lord’s pasture, with Christ as their Good Shepherd, we can respond with Paul, “Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us” (Rom 8:37). When we suffer and bear the cross for Jesus’ sake, we know that He will arise for our help and redeem us for His mercies’ sake. That may be deliverance in this life. However, it may mean that He delivers us by bringing us into everlasting life by means of suffering and persecution. Whether God’s deliverance means our faith is strengthened or we arrive safely in eternal blessedness, we are more than conquerors.

Let us pray: When it is Your will that we suffer for Your sake, O Lord, grant us deliverance and victory by faith. Amen.

Genesis 42:25-38 NKJV

²⁵ Then Joseph gave a command to fill their sacks with grain, to restore every man’s money to his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. Thus he did for them. ²⁶ So they loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there. ²⁷ But as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the encampment, he saw his money; and there it was, in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been restored, and there it is, in my sack!” Then their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ Then they went to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying: ³⁰ “The man who is lord of the land spoke roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father this day in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. ³⁴ And bring your youngest brother to me; so I shall know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. I will grant your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵ Then it happened as they emptied their sacks, that surprisingly each man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.”

³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸ But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If any calamity should befall him along the way in which you go, then you would bring down my gray hair with sorrow to the grave.”

Joseph’s brothers return to Canaan with grain, but without their brother Simeon. They must face their father and recount the Egyptian governor’s demand that they return with their younger brother, Benjamin. To drive their guilt deeper into the hearts, Joseph commands his servants to put each brothers’ money—which they had used to pay for the grain—back into their sack along with the grain. Stopping on the return trip to Canaan to feed their donkeys, one of them opens his sack and sees his money. “Then their hearts failed them and they were afraid, saying to one another, ‘What is this that God has done to us?’” (28). They see this as God’s judgment for their sins against their brother Joseph and their father decades ago.

Arriving home, they recount most of the experience to their father. But when each of the nine brothers’ sacks contains their money, fear grasps them, even their father. He rebukes them, “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.” The brothers now see how they not only sinned against Joseph but their father as well, depriving him of two of his sons and endangering the only remaining child of his beloved Rachel. Reuben offers his two sons as payment, but the death of two grandsons cannot amend for their sin.

See how masterfully God has ordered all things to bring these men to see their guilt, lament it, and desire to make amends! Then recall the Lord’s word, “I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal” (Deut 32:39). Like Joseph’s brothers, He leads us to contrition and sorrow over our sins, not so that we may despair and die in our sins, but so that He might forgive our sins, give our consciences peace, and bestow His Holy Spirit on us so that we work to amend our sinful lives. When He wounds and kills us with His judgment for our sins, He desires our contrition and that we turn to Him in faith, trusting His promise: “I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘Therefore turn and live!” (Ezekiel 18:32).

Let us pray: Discipline us not in wrath, O Father, but in love, so that worthily lamenting our sins we flee to Jesus and find peace and forgiveness according to Your promise. Amen.

Genesis 42:1-24 NKJV

42 When Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ² And he said, “Indeed I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down to that place and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.”

³ So Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest some calamity befall him.” ⁵ And the sons of Israel went to buy grain among those who journeyed, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Now Joseph was governor over the land; and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. ⁷ Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted as a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. Then he said to them, “Where do you come from?”

And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ So Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Then Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed about them, and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

¹⁰ And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”

¹² But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.”

¹³ And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

¹⁴ But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You are spies!’ ¹⁵ In this manner you shall be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him bring your brother; and you shall be kept in prison, that your words may be tested to see whether there is any truth in you; or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies!” ¹⁷ So he put them all together in prison three days.

¹⁸ Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God: ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses. ²⁰ And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be verified, and you shall not die.”

And they did so. ²¹ Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

²² And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us.” ²³ But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter. ²⁴ And he turned himself away from them and wept. Then he returned to them again, and talked with them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

When Jacob hears there is grain in Egypt, he sends ten of his eleven remaining sons to purchase grain and save their lives. In Egypt, they must do business with Joseph, although they do not recognize him in his Egyptian clothing, speech, and authority. Nor do they recognize that as they bow before the Egyptian governor, God fulfills Joseph’s dream in which their sheaves of wheat stood all around and bowed down to his sheaf (Gen 37:7).

Joseph could have immediately revealed himself to his brothers. But true reunion with his brothers could only occur if there was repentance. Everything Joseph says and does to his brothers is with this goal in mind. As they had surely rejected Joseph’s pleas while he languished in the pit, now Joseph rejects their pleas. As Joseph’s hopes for freedom were slim before his brothers sold him, Joseph diminishes their chances of freedom. As Joseph was imprisoned, Joseph imprisoned his brothers for three days. All this was to awaken their consciences to their sin and bring them to true sorrow over what they had done to Joseph decades earlier. Hearing that Reuben attempted to spare Joseph, he chooses the next oldest brother, Simeon, to remain imprisoned as they go back to Canaan. This too is to test them. Will they forsake another of their brothers to save themselves?

Joseph deals with his brothers as God deals with us when He works to bring us to repentance. If we have sinned and tried to cover up our sin, God often providentially arranges things to arouse our conscience from its slumber. He tells Israel in Numbers 32:23, “Be sure your sin will find you out.” God works repentance in us because He wants to be reconciled to us and reunited with us. But as Joseph’s treatment of his brothers reminds us, true reunion and reconciliation can only come about when there is repentance and its fruits. This is true for our relationship with God. It is also true for our relationships with others. May God grant us His Holy Spirit that we do not sin, and if we do sin, to rise immediately in repentance so that we may be reconciled to God and those whom we may sin against.

Let us pray: We give you thanks, O God, for providentially working all things in our lives to reconcile us and keep us reconciled to You through repentance and faith in Christ. Amen.

Genesis 41:38-57 NKJV

³⁸ And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?”

³⁹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you. ⁴⁰ You shall be over my house, and all my people shall be ruled according to your word; only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.”

⁴² Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ And he had him ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried out before him, “Bow the knee!” So he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath-Paaneah. And he gave him as a wife Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ Now in the seven plentiful years the ground brought forth abundantly. ⁴⁸ So he gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities; he laid up in every city the food of the fields which surrounded them. ⁴⁹ Joseph gathered very much grain, as the sand of the sea, until he stopped counting, for it was immeasurable.

⁵⁰ And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ⁵¹ Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” ⁵² And the name of the second he called Ephraim: “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³ Then the seven years of plenty which were in the land of Egypt ended, ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. The famine was in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Then Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, do.” ⁵⁶ The famine was over all the face of the earth, and Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians. And the famine became severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ So all countries came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all lands.

Recognizing that Joseph’s discernment and wisdom come from the Spirit of God, Pharaoh raises him to the position of ruler of all his house. Only regarding the throne is Pharaoh greater than Joseph. Pharaoh decorates Joseph in the symbols of his office and commands the Egyptians to bow the knee to him. With a new name and a bride, Joseph begins gathering the harvest in Pharaoh’s storehouses. He gathers as much grain as the sand of the sea. He and his bride are fruitful as well, bearing sons who serve as testimonies of God’s goodness and provision to Joseph. When the seven years of famine begin, Pharaoh directs his subjects to Joseph: “What he says to you, do” (55).

Joseph’s exaltation is a picture of the exaltation of our Lord Jesus Christ. After humbling Himself to the point of death, even the death of the cross, God the Father exalted Him to His right hand and gave Him the name which is above every name, “that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Phil 2:10-11). Having ascended to the Father’s right hand—which is the power of God—Christ rules all things in heaven and earth. Through His servants, the apostles, He gathers in the harvest of believers, who are, to us, as many as the sand of the sea (or the dust of the earth and stars of the sky, as God promised Abraham). This body of believers is also His bride, whom He loves, leads, and protects. His bride is fruitful, giving birth to children of God through the preaching of the gospel and baptism. As Pharaoh directed His people to Joseph for life, so God the Father directs all people to His Son for life, even saying, “Hear Him!” (Matt 17:5).

The Holy Spirit gives us this picture of Christ’s humiliation and exaltation so that we, like the Egyptians, might flee to Him as the greater Joseph. Exalted to the right hand of God, Christ gives us the bread of life—Himself and all His blessings—so that we may not die but live with Him both now and forever. Let us pray: Grant, dear Father, that in all our needs we flee to Your exalted Son for the spiritual provisions He has earned for us in His humiliation. Amen.

Genesis 41:17-37 NKJV

Joseph’s interpretation, by itself, is not the answer of peace Joseph had promised God would give Pharaoh. The interpretation is quite dreadful. The seven years of plenty will be followed by seven years of famine. The famine will be so severe that “all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and the famine will deplete the land” (30). Not only this, but God repeated the dream to Pharaoh twice to communicate to him that He has established it. It will most certainly come to pass.

Only once the severity and certainty of the coming famine are understood does Joseph give Pharaoh the answer of peace from God. God has revealed this to Pharaoh so that he might prepare and endure it. He should appoint officers who will collect twenty percent of the land’s produce during the seven bountiful years. The bounty will be so much that twenty percent of it will be enough for Egypt—and the surrounding lands—to survive the seven years of severe famine. God sends the hardship, but also provides wisdom to know how to endure the hardship He sends.

Pharaoh could have dismissed Joseph’s counsel based on his interpretation of the dreams. He could have puffed himself up with pride and resolved to weather the coming storm using his own ingenuity and intellect. He could have also rejected Joseph’s interpretation and counsel as nonsensical and not prepared at all. He wisely accepts Joseph’s interpretation and counsel, recognizing them as God’s favorable answer.

God our heavenly Father allows hardship to come upon us. He does this to disciple us as children. He doesn’t leave us to our own devices to endure these hardships. He prepares us for them in His word, teaching His faithfulness so that we trust Him to strengthen us for the hardship and remove the hardship when it is best for us and our neighbors. With God’s bountiful mercy and the strength provided by the Holy Spirit, we may be joyful, cheerful, and undaunted in our trials, no matter how severe. Let us pray: Increase our faith in Your bountiful promises, O Lord, that we might endure all trials with joy, waiting on You to remove them in your good time, in this life or the next. Amen.

Genesis 41:1-16 NKJV

41 Then it came to pass, at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh had a dream; and behold, he stood by the river. ² Suddenly there came up out of the river seven cows, fine looking and fat; and they fed in the meadow. ³ Then behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river, ugly and gaunt, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the river. ⁴ And the ugly and gaunt cows ate up the seven fine looking and fat cows. So Pharaoh awoke. ⁵ He slept and dreamed a second time; and suddenly seven heads of grain came up on one stalk, plump and good. ⁶ Then behold, seven thin heads, blighted by the east wind, sprang up after them. ⁷ And the seven thin heads devoured the seven plump and full heads. So Pharaoh awoke, and indeed, it was a dream. ⁸ Now it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

⁹ Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying: “I remember my faults this day. ¹⁰ When Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, both me and the chief baker, ¹¹ we each had a dream in one night, he and I. Each of us dreamed according to the interpretation of his own dream. ¹² Now there was a young Hebrew man with us there, a servant of the captain of the guard. And we told him, and he interpreted our dreams for us; to each man he interpreted according to his own dream. ¹³ And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened. He restored me to my office, and he hanged him.”

¹⁴ Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. ¹⁵ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.”

¹⁶ So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”

Pharaoh’s butler forgot Joseph, leaving him to languish in prison. Days turn into weeks, weeks turn into months, and months turn into two years. One morning, Pharaoh awakes from two troubling dreams. When his magicians are unable to interpret the dreams and console Pharaoh, the butler remembers Joseph and tells Pharaoh about a young Hebrew man in prison who interpreted his dream and the dream of the Pharaoh’s baker. “And it came to pass, just as he interpreted for us, so it happened” (13). Pharaoh calls for Joseph. The butler had forgotten Joseph for two years. The Lord had not. God brought Joseph to this moment to exalt Joseph and glorify His name.

When Pharaoh invites Joseph to interpret his dreams, Joseph shows that he has not forgotten the Lord, either. Not claiming any sufficiency or glory for himself, he answers, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace” (16).

Two years of waiting in prison did not diminish Joseph’s humility. He freely admits that he is not sufficient in himself to think of anything as being from himself. He knows that his sufficiency is from God (2 Cor 3:5). Nor has his time of waiting dampened the ardor of his trust in God. He knew that his affliction, which was but for a moment, was working for him a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory (2 Cor 4:17). He trusted God to deliver him. God, “who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3:20), not only delivers him but exalts him in Pharaoh’s presence.

In situations that are beyond our control, we, too, are to wait on the Lord for deliverance. We may be tempted by bitterness or resentment toward God. We may be tempted to make our own outcome. God’s dealing with Joseph, however, teaches us to wait patiently upon Him in faith and humility, trusting that He will bring about an outcome that results in our exaltation (if not in this life, then in eternal life) and His glory. Knowing this, we can wait days, months, even years for the Lord’s deliverance.

Let us pray: Grant us Your Holy Spirit, O God, that we may wait patiently upon you in every trouble, trusting You will give us a favorable outcome according to Your gracious will. Amen.

Psalm 44:1-14 NKJV

44 We have heard with our ears, O God,
Our fathers have told us,
The deeds You did in their days,
In days of old:
² You drove out the nations with Your hand,
But them You planted;
You afflicted the peoples, and cast them out.
³ For they did not gain possession of the land by their own sword,
Nor did their own arm save them;
But it was Your right hand, Your arm, and the light of Your countenance,
Because You favored them.

⁴ You are my King, O God;
Command victories for Jacob.
⁵ Through You we will push down our enemies;
Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us.
⁶ For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor shall my sword save me.
⁷ But You have saved us from our enemies,
And have put to shame those who hated us.
⁸ In God we boast all day long,
And praise Your name forever. Selah

⁹ But You have cast us off and put us to shame,
And You do not go out with our armies.
¹⁰ You make us turn back from the enemy,
And those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves.
¹¹ You have given us up like sheep intended for food,
And have scattered us among the nations.
¹² You sell Your people for next to nothing,
And are not enriched by selling them.

¹³ You make us a reproach to our neighbors,
A scorn and a derision to those all around us.
¹⁴ You make us a byword among the nations,
A shaking of the head among the peoples.

The Lord did mighty wonders for the church of old. Joshua led the Israelites into Canaan, but it was the Lord who drove out the inhabitants of the land and planted Israel there. God acted mightily and miraculously on the church’s behalf against her enemies. Because God had acted thus in the past, the psalmist trusts that God would act thus in his day. The psalmist says confidently, “Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us” (5).

But that isn’t what happened. It seems to the psalmist that the Lord had cast them off so that He no longer goes out with their armies. It appears as if the Lord has given them up like sheep intended for food and that He has scattered them among the nations. God’s people—once bold and victorious—are now weak and suffering because God did not go with them into battle. Since the psalmist does not say this was punishment for any sin of Israel, we may assume the Lord allowed this to happen as an exercise of the Old Testament church’s faith.

The same holds true for the church in the New Testament era. Like the psalmist, we trust that God will give us victory and prosperity. While we prefer the church to be strong and victorious in the eyes of the world, that is not always God’s will. Our sinful flesh expects God to bless the church with full pews and offering plates. The Old Adam within us opines that the church should be renowned and influential in the world.

But God’s thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways. God often blesses His church with hardship and weakness. He does this to remind His people not to think they are sufficient in themselves but that their sufficiency and strength come from God. We are not to “despise the day of small things” (Zech 4:10). We can “take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake” (2 Cor 12:10). For when He makes us weak, He shows us His mighty strength, and we see it by faith.

Let us pray: Teach us to evaluate all our circumstances according to Your Word, O Lord, that in our weakness we may rejoice in Your sufficiency and strength. Amen.