Genesis 44:16

Joseph’s brothers had traveled to Egypt in order to find food for the rest of their family back in Canaan. However, unknown to the brothers, they appeared before Joseph who had become the second-most powerful person in Egypt, second only to Pharaoh. And upon the brothers return to Canaan, Joseph had placed his own golden cup in the grain sack of Benjamin, the youngest son of Israel. Of course, this was done to see how the brothers would react. The Bible says in Genesis 44:16-34, “And Judah said, What shall we say unto my lord? what shall we speak? or how shall we clear ourselves? God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants: behold, we are my lord's servants, both we, and he also with whom the cup is found. And he said, God forbid that I should do so: but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for you, get you up in peace unto your father. Then Judah came near unto him, and said, Oh my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant: for thou art even as Pharaoh. My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loveth him. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die. And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. And our father said, Go again, and buy us a little food. And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man's face, except our youngest brother be with us. And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I saw him not since: And if ye take this also from me, and mischief befall him, ye shall bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad be not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad's life; It shall come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants shall bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to the grave. For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then I shall bear the blame to my father for ever. Now therefore, I pray thee, let thy servant abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.”

Notice what Judah said in Genesis 44:16. Judah said, “God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants.” He was talking about himself and his brothers. Once again it shows the guilty conscience under which he was living with his brothers. He was constantly aware of their great sin of having sold Joseph into slavery many years before. By mentioning God in this way, Judah demonstrated how negatively his relationship with God had been affected all these years. When Judah said, “God hath found out the iniquity of thy servants,” Judah was thinking that God was punishing them for their sins against Joseph so long ago. In spite of the fact that they had sinned, God was blessing them because God was providing a way for them to escape the famine. God could strike everyone down with a lightening bolt of judgment as soon as each person sins, but God does not do that. Everyone sins, but there is a very important response that everyone must make regarding his or her sins: they must repent.

Sin is a terrible thing. Sin has such great negative consequences to it. Avoid any sin at all cost because of how much damage sin can do to you and to those around you. Run from sin. Study the Bible, learn, and do everything you can about how to avoid sin. It says in Psalms 119:11 “Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.” Ask God to lead you out of temptation just like Jesus taught us to pray, “Lead us not into temptation.” Once a person has sinned, it is very important to find forgiveness from Jesus Christ. Those who do not find forgiveness will suffer from a guilty conscience. Those who do not find forgiveness will have their relationship with God impaired, and nothing is more important than one’s personal relationship with God.

It is a terrible thing to have to look deep into your past, and know that sins are there that have never been confessed. Do not make the mistake that Joseph’s brothers made. Do not try to hide your sins. Say the truth about them to the Lord. The Apostle John wrote in First John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all righteousness.”

When we examine the words of Judah in Genesis chapter 44, we see one bad thing that the brothers were still doing, and we also see one good thing that they were doing. The bad thing was that they still had not yet come to the truth about what really happened to Joseph and what they did to him all those years ago. They were still lying about it. Concerning Benjamin, Judah said, “his brother is dead.” That was a lie. Judah and the others knew that Joseph was not killed, but that is what they told Jacob. And they had been sticking with that lie throughout all those years. You cannot serve God who is True, if you keep lying about your sins. Blessed are those who confess and forsake their sins. To “confess” means to “say the same thing that God says” about one’s sins: which is to tell the truth about them. To confess is to admit the truth that you have sinned, and to acknowledge that the sins should not have been done, with the desire to not commit them again.

Evidently Judah and his brothers learned about the bad consequences to their sins, and they wanted to avoid making the same mistake again. When they sold Joseph into slavery, they caused great sorrow for their father, Jacob. Sin always has bad consequences in this life. That is one of the reasons to avoid sin. “The wages of sin is death.” “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” Sin not only hurts the one committing the sin, it also hurts others. All of us are still suffering from Adam and Eve’s sin. For every person sitting in a prison, somewhere there is a victim, a parent, a grandparent, a wife, a child, a brother, a sister, or someone else crying themselves to sleep at night. Judah and his brothers saw how much their father, Jacob, had grieved over the years because of losing Joseph. They knew that they had caused the grieving by what they had done. But they did not want to see Jacob suffer even more by losing Benjamin. Judah said in Genesis 44:34, “For how shall I go up to my father, and the lad be not with me? lest peradventure I see the evil that shall come on my father.”

The Bible says in Genesis 45:1-8, “Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren. And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.”

When Joseph first revealed himself to his brothers, they were probably fearful of what he might do to them. It says in Genesis 45:3, “And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.” In such a situation many human beings would have used their power to get revenge, but Joseph did not want revenge. Because of his merciful attitude, Joseph was used of the Lord. Jesus said in Matthew 5:4, “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” He said in Matthew 5:7, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” And Jesus said in Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.” Joseph was meek and merciful, and Joseph was a peacemaker. It is no wonder that the situation between Joseph and his brothers had such a happy ending.

Joseph looked at his life through the eyes of faith. Joseph believed that God was guiding his life in all things that happened. This is demonstrated by the fact that Joseph mentioned God three times in this passage. He said in Genesis 45:5, “God did send me before you to preserve life.” Joseph said in Genesis 45:7, “God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.” And Joseph said in Genesis 45:8, “So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God.” If you are going to live by faith, then you must believe that God is involved in all aspects of your life. The word of God reminds those who walk with the Lord day after day that Jesus is involved in every detail of their lives: in the good things that happen and in the bad things that happen. They are reminded that God is so powerful that He even takes the “bad” things and makes them turn out for good in the lives of those who trust in Him. That is why it says in Romans 8:28, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God: to them that are the called according to his purposes.”

Joseph was sold into slavery as a young man, but God allowed it to happen for a good reason. The only reason that more disasters do not happen is because God keeps them from happening. The Bible says in Second Thessalonians 2:7, “He that now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” In thinking about all those years that Jacob grieved for his lost son, Joseph: from a human standpoint we can understand some of his grieving. But from a spiritual standpoint, perhaps Jacob grieved too much. There comes a time for every believer stop grieving and get on with his or her life. Every believer must believe that God in His infinite wisdom has a good purpose for everything that He allows. It says in Revelation 21:4, “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” When a parent brings a child into the world, that child belongs to God. God has the right to decide what happens to the child. Everyone is going to die some day. Adam and Eve’s sin brought this consequence. No person will change that. And God decides who dies and when they die. “It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.” At least every young child who dies ends up in the eternal happiness of heaven. The Lord wants us to stop grieving and to be comforted by the fact that He is in control. God knows what is best. He knows the end from the beginning, and we do not.

Perhaps Jacob partly blamed himself for what happened to Joseph. Joseph was Jacob’s favorite son. And it was obvious that Jacob did not treat his sons equally. The favoritism that Jacob showed to Joseph was emphasized by the coat of many colors that Jacob gave to Joseph. This favoritism had a great deal to do with why Joseph’s brothers were so jealous of him, and why they sold him into slavery. Even so, Jacob was not to blame for Joseph being sold into slavery. It was all part of God’s plan. In reading the story of Jacob and Joseph, we can now see how well God’s plan worked in their lives. It is often after the fact or down the road; that believers come to see the wisdom of God’s plans. Therefore, even though we do not always understand our present sufferings or circumstances, we can rest assured that God is doing what’s best: just like He did for Jacob, Joseph, and His brethren. At the judgment we will finally see how everything turned out so well for each believer: just the way that God planned it all. So do not grieve the way that Jacob did, do not blame yourself year after year after year. Instead, get on with living your life. Accept Christ’s forgiveness. Trust in God who is merciful and who loves you, and who will always love you.

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