Thru the Bible

Host: When life feels uncertain, God is often working in ways that we can't yet see. And that's what we hear this time on Thru the Bible. We're in Genesis 42, where famine drives Jacob's sons to Egypt in search of food. But what they find is something far greater, God's guiding hand, a reunion with Joseph, and the first steps toward forgiveness.

I'm glad that you're here for our journey through the whole Word of God with Dr. J. Vernon McGee. Are you following along with Dr. McGee's notes and outlines? You know they're available in our digital book, briefing the Bible for free. You can download your copy in our app or at TTB.org or call us at 1-800-65 Bible and we'll send an abbreviated paperback by mail. You can also write to us at Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. In Canada Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1.

You know, there's nothing more exciting than being part of what God's doing in hearts around the world. I love hearing your stories of how he uses our time in his word to draw you to himself in salvation and in growing faith. And God is working miracles today. He's drawing people who once seemed so far away, even in places like the Middle East.

Take Iran, for example, with a population of more than 85 million and an overwhelming Muslim majority. The light of the gospel is quietly and consistently changing lives as his word is broadcast in Persian, also known as Farsi. Now, many describe the church in Iran as one of the fastest-growing Christian movements in the world. Don't miss that.

Despite strict laws that prohibit evangelism and restrict resources, Christian radio and the internet continue to carry God's word freely, and many are coming to faith. This is something we can truly praise him for and continue to pray about. Listen to this letter from a believer in Iran.

I want to tell you about God's faithfulness in my life. I prayed that my children would walk beside me in God's grace. These prayers lasted many years, but they have now placed their faith in Jesus Christ and are raising their children to love him too. We find joy in being together as a family and worshiping him. Now I'm learning how important baptism is. Just as Christ was baptized, we are called to share in his death, his resurrection, and his new life.

I will be baptized soon, and I hope others in my household will take this step of obedience as well. Thank you for the time that you have spent with my husband and me, helping us receive deeper teaching and be strengthened by God's word. It is equipping us to continue serving the Lord faithfully and to carry his word forward to every household in our country. It seems like a tremendous task, but I know he is more than able and willing. May his will be done in all of our lives.

Wow, what a story. Well, if you'd like to join our World Prayer Team as we intercede for this sister, her family, and millions of others in this part of the world, visit TTB.org. And let's do that. Let's pray together now.

Father, thank you for shining your light in the darkness and for drawing each of us to yourself. Strengthen our brothers and sisters who may feel alone in their faith, and then lead them to other believers who can encourage them and turn our hearts fully toward you as we study your word. In Jesus' name. Amen.

Hop aboard as we journey to Genesis 42 on Thru the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now last time, friends, we left off at a very dramatic moment here in the 42nd chapter of the Book of Genesis. And if you have your Bible, you'd want to turn there. We are going to put in at verse 15 today. And you will recall that the brethren of Joseph now have come down to the land of Egypt to get grain because of the famine. They have an audience with Joseph.

They do not recognize Joseph. They haven't the slightest idea that this man they bowed down before was Joseph. But Joseph knew them, and he's being rather rough with them. He is doing it in order to get as much information as he can. And this is the way that he does it. He accuses them of being spies.

Now he says for the third time in verse 14, "Ye are spies." Verse 15, "Hereby ye shall be proved. By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither." You see, they mentioned the fact that they are 12 brethren. Only 10 are there. So they explain, they said, "One of them, our youngest brother, well, he's not here with us. He's with his father. And our other brother, well, he's not. That is, he's dead."

That's what they think about Joseph. They think really he's dead. And Joseph now is attempting to make contact with his youngest brother because these brethren are really half-brothers of his. And the boy Benjamin, he's now a young man. He's his full brother. And he wants to see him. And the way he does it, he said, "Ye shall not go forth hence except your youngest brother come hither."

"Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh, surely ye are spies." And he put them all together into ward three days. He locked them up in the town bastille. And these brethren, I tell you, it looks bad for them now. And they wonder.

Verse 18, "And Joseph said unto them the third day, This do and live, for I fear God." Now, if there was anything that would have given any inkling of an idea of who he was, this was it. He says, "I fear God." Now there were people in that day, and I couldn't prove this if my life depended on it, but there were many people in that day that apparently knew God. That they knew the way to God by sacrifice.

That probably might not have excited the interest of these brethren or cast maybe a little suspicion about this man. But he at least gives a testimony for God. And I'd have you note that Joseph never misses an opportunity to give a testimony for God. And believe me, he's given a testimony here, because he's going to give God the glory as the one who is directing his life.

I would have thought this might have caused the brothers to suspect who he might be. It might also have encouraged them in believing that they'd be treated justly at his hand. And apparently this made no impression on them. It doesn't look as if it did. Now he says to them, though, verse 19, "If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison. Go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses, but bring your youngest brother unto me. So shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so."

Now, the thing is that these men, and that's what they are. Some of them, I suppose, 50-some odd years old. These men now find themselves in a real predicament. But they are being dealt with by one that fears God. But they are afraid because they don't know what he's going to do. So, he has put down this sort of a proposition. He said, and it's on the pretext that he's testing them to see whether they be true men.

He says, "Now, you leave one of your brethren here, and then you bring your younger brother next time, or just don't come back." That's all. He said, "That is the way I'm going to verify whether you're telling me the truth or not." Now, will you notice? They said one to another, "We are verily guilty concerning our brother. In that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us, and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come upon us."

So that what's taking place here is quite interesting. They're speaking in Hebrew. And Joseph, he understands them. But Joseph has been speaking to them through an interpreter. He didn't have to, but he did it because he is keeping up before them the fact that he's an Egyptian. And they do not think he understands. And when they are talking this over, Joseph hears them actually, which is really a confession almost.

Verse 22 now I'm reading, "And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required." Now they feel like what's happening to them is revenge, or the vengeance of God upon them for the way they treated Joseph.

And verse 23, "And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them, and wept, and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes." Now the thing that happened was this. Joseph heard them, and he heard them how they now are repentant. They really are. They say, "This thing is coming upon us because of the evil that we did to our brother Joseph."

And now Joseph hears every bit of it. And Joseph is moved toward them now. Really he'd love to have walked up to them and thrown his arm around each one of them and welcomed them and called him my brother. But he dares not do it because he'd never get Benjamin down there now. And he wants to test them further. And we're going to see that a real test is coming up.

Now, they are going to leave one. They left Simeon. Joseph, when he was so moved, he had to go aside and wept. And then he washed his face and got rid of the tears, and he came in as if nothing had happened, you see. But he just couldn't refrain from weeping. So emotionally charged was he at this time.

Now, they leave Simeon. And you ask me why? I won't let you in on something. Don't tell anybody. I don't know. I don't know why they left Simeon. Why they didn't leave some other one. And frankly, if they'd left any one of the 10, I'd still have said, I don't know why they left him. But this is the one that was chosen. I take it while Joseph was gone, they made a choice and Joseph accepted it.

Now, will you notice, verse 25. "Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way, and thus did he unto them." He just couldn't refrain from not taking money from them at all. They filled their sacks and the money they had given him, he just put it back in the sack. And thus did he unto them.

"And they laded their asses with the corn and departed thence. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he spied his money. For behold, it was in his sack's mouth. He said unto his brethren, My money is restored. And lo, it's even in my sack. And their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us?"

Now they recognized, you see, the hand of God in their life. And they feel like it's a judgment from God upon them. Now, who listening in is going to say that this is not a judgment of God upon them? The thing that would ordinarily have been good news and would have been a wonderful thing. Would you mind going down to your, whatever your supermarket is?

I was going to call one by name, but it might be just here in Southern California, and you wouldn't know what I was talking about. But whatever your supermarket is in the place where you live, suppose you went down there and got your weekend groceries in. That you filled up two of these great big carts. And I saw a woman the other day buy that many groceries.

And she had about three children with her. And I found out, and just, you know, I remarked about the groceries. She had more groceries in those two carts than were left in the supermarket. And I commented. She said, "Well, I've got three more at home." She had three with her and then her husband and herself. That was a lot to feed, of course.

Suppose you went down and spent $50 at the supermarket, and the bag boy got it all together for you, put it in the carts, and you went out and got in your car. And you found your $50 there at the top of one of the sacks. Would that be bad news to you, especially when you found out from the grocer, it was just a little gift from him to you. Well, may I say to you, ordinarily, that'd be good news. In fact, that would be something that would be very encouraging.

But it wasn't for these boys. They already feel like they're in hot water with this hard-boiled ruler down there in Egypt that's made it so difficult for them. Now they came unto Jacob, their father, unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them. You might ask the question of why didn't they go back? What would you have done under the circumstances?

I think they recognized they would have been in really hot water had they gone back. At least they thought they would have been. That this man would have accused them of stealing the money. They are not taking any chances. They're going on home. And they intend to bring it back when they come back again, because they felt like they'd be returning if the famine continued. And it was to continue.

Now we read in verse 29, "And they came unto Jacob, their father, unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them, saying, The man, who is the lord of the land, he spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said unto him, We're true men, we're no spies. We be 12 brethren, sons of our father. One is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan."

"And the man, the lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men. Leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households and be gone. And bring your youngest brother unto me. Then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men. So will I deliver you your brother, and you shall traffic in the land."

Now remember, they've left Simeon down there in that land. And it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And rightly so. They felt like that this was a trick, of course.

"And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children. Joseph is not, and Simeon is not. And ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me." Poor old Jacob. He's not the cocky individual we once knew. He's not quite yet the man of faith we'll see a little later, but he's growing.

And he's not bragging now, but he's very pessimistic. "All these things are against me." His son Joseph would not have said this, but this man did. Paul's going to say it even in a different way too. Paul's going to say, "All things work together for good to them that love God." He's going to say, "being confident in this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ."

Now, Reuben spake unto his father, saying, "Slay my two sons if I bring him not to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again." And he said, "My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in the which he go, then shall ye bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave."

Now, this man, Jacob's life was wrapped up in the life of this boy Benjamin. You see, Joseph was his favorite. He was the firstborn of his lovely Rachel. And now Joseph is gone. That was a heartbreak to him. And now, here is the chance that he may lose this other son of Rachel. And he says, "If this takes place, I'll die." And very candidly, he would have.

His life was absolutely tied up in the life of this boy, Benjamin. He's the son of my right hand. He's my walking stick. I lean on him. And that's what he had been doing. And now he's to be taken from me. Well, Jacob says, "I'm not going to let him go down." Well, poor Simeon is down there cooling his heels in jail. That's what he's doing.

And Jacob says, "I'm not going to let Benjamin go." But wait just a minute, that brings us now to chapter 43. And we come now to what I consider the most dramatic section of the Word of God. Well, maybe I ought not to put it quite like that. Let me say of the Book of Genesis. But I know of nothing that is quite as moving as the appearance of Benjamin now before Joseph.

And the thing that brings them down in the land again is the seriousness of the famine. If the famine had lifted, I think Simeon would have spent the rest of his life in jail down in the land of Egypt, or at least until his brother released him. But the famine, verse one of chapter 43 of Genesis now, "And the famine was sore in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food." We'll starve to death if you don't go down to Egypt.

Now listen to Judah. "And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us." Who is the man? Well, the man here is Joseph, their brother, but they don't know it. "The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou will send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy thee food."

"But if thou will not send him, we'll not go down, for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you." Well, it was just a cut and dried proposition, friends. Either they take his brother, or else they don't go. And it's just as simple as that.

"And Israel said," verse six now, "Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother?" Now poor old Jacob, he's really frustrated. He says, "Why in the world did you tell the man in the first place that you even had another brother?" Well, of course, he would have known it anyway.

So we find here, poor old Jacob wishes he'd kept their mouths shut. Verse seven, "And they said, The man asked us straitly of our state, and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? Have you another brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?"

They're very reasonable about it. They said, "We were not going to tell him everything, but he kept probing us." The fact of the matter is, he was going to get the information out of them. You can be sure of that. Now, will you notice, verse eight. "And Judah said unto Israel his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou and also our little ones. I will be surety for him."

I'll stand for him. "For of my hand shalt thou require him. If I bring him not unto thee, and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. For except we had lingered, surely now we'd returned this second time." We could have been back by now, Judah says, if you just let us go at the first.

"And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this. Take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels, and carry down the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds." You see, the thing they lacked was grain. They lacked bread, the staff of life. They had apparently honey and spices. So, old Jacob now says, "Let's send the man down a gift. Let's get on the sweet side of it."

"And take double money in your hand, and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand, peradventure it was an oversight. Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man. And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin, that is Simeon and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, well, I'm bereaved."

"And the men took that present, they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph." And friends, I can't wait till next time. We're going to have to stop right there today, because I want to see this most dramatic moment in the Book of Genesis. Maybe in the Bible. For it's a picture of another scene. Until next time, may God richly bless you, my beloved.

Host: Well, the suspense continues, and each chapter gets even more dramatic. Genesis is the foundation of all that follows. So if you want to listen to this daily teaching again or maybe share it with a friend, it's available anytime on our app or at TTB.org. You can also email biblebus@ttb.org or call 1-800-65 bible if we can help you find a local radio station that carries Thru the Bible.

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I'm Steve Schwetz, grateful for your company on the Bible bus and your partnership in taking God's whole word to his whole world. Our story on the Bible bus today is just one step in a five-year journey through the entire word of God. Come along for the ride and you'll study both the Old Testament and New Testament, discovering God's great redemption story. Is this your story too?