Thru the Bible

Host: "How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in His excellent word."

Host: Ready for a great story on Thru the Bible? Well, you're in for one of the best. The suspense is thick, the emotions run high, and even though we may know the outcome, we love every minute of the drama.

I'm Steve Schwetz, inviting you to turn in your Bible to Genesis 43 and grab a seat up toward the front of the Bible bus because you're not going to want to miss a minute of the next part of Joseph's story.

In this segment, Joseph is with his brothers. You know, the ones who nearly killed him, but instead sold him into slavery. And these are the moments Joseph has been thinking about, and likely the brothers have too, for over 20 years. I so appreciate how Dr. J. Vernon McGee, our teacher, walks us through the scene and then points out how Joseph's heart and his actions parallel those of Jesus himself.

When you look at the big picture, it's clear how God was preserving his people. Even through all the twists and turns of history, God's heart is to draw all men and women to himself. And that's also the heartbeat of Thru the Bible. You don't have to listen for long before you understand being on the Bible bus gives you an opportunity to be a part of taking the whole word to the whole world. First and most importantly, we're calling our brothers and sisters together to intercede for the people of the world. So as they hear the Word of God taught, they respond in faith to God's gift of salvation.

You can be a part of this prayer effort too. As I read letters from different parts of the world, pray for people in those areas and then listen for clues in their letters for specific things to lift up to the Lord. And if you like doing that, well, you need to join our World Prayer Team. Every day we're prompted to pray with a short email highlighting what God's doing somewhere in the world. You can spend a moment or two interceding and then get on with your day. That's it. Listen to how studying God's word and praying with us is impacting your fellow Bible bus riders.

Andrew from Florida shares this: "It's impossible to put into words what this ministry means to me. I'm on the World Prayer Team, am on my second Bible bus trip and have helped keep the gas tank topped off each month for the last few years. I was lost and living in sin for many years, confused and turning to the world for answers, but never getting them. That all changed when I accepted Jesus Christ as my savior while listening to Dr. McGee go through the book of Hebrews. Since then, my wife and I have joined a wonderful church in Fruit Cove, Florida, teach a kids' class, and are guiding both of our daughters, four and one years old, in the ways of the Lord. I'll keep praying and flinging the seed till the Lord calls me home. Please don't grow weary in your work. Continue the Thru the Bible ministry. I'm confident that when God looks down, He's smiling on everyone who has a part in it. May God richly bless you, my beloved."

Your story made me smile, Andrew. I'm so glad to hear how your family is thriving in the word and how you're growing and connected to a local church. Now, to join us as we travel the world on our knees, sign up for our app or at ttb.org. And if like Andrew, you'd like to praise God and celebrate His goodness in your life, you can email us, super easy, biblebus@ttb.org or write to box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109. Or in Canada box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1.

Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and how it impacts our thinking and our hearts. Open our eyes to your truth now, in Jesus' name. Amen.

Host: Here's Dr. J. Vernon McGee with our study of Genesis 43 on Thru the Bible.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now as we get here into this 43rd chapter of the book of Genesis at verse 16. You will recall that last time that the sons of old Jacob, Israel, as his name had been changed. They are asked by their father to return to the land of Egypt to buy corn because the famine was even worse now, that is, it had been extended out over more time than any of them dreamed that it would be.

And he's told very definitely by his son Judah, "There's no use going down there, if you go down there, you got to have Benjamin with you. You wouldn't send him before." There's no point in going because the man won't see us. And so Jacob had to relinquish the boy and let him go along.

And now we read in verse 15 to make the connection today, "The men took that present and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin and rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph." Now friends, this is a dramatic moment. He looks down not at 10 boys but 11 of them. And frankly, all 12 of them are there together.

Will you notice this? Verse 16, "And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, bring these men home, and slay and make ready for these men shall dine with me at noon." Now, why would he do this? Well, I think it's quite obvious why that he would do this. Joseph invites these brethren of his home because he did not want to make himself known unto them publicly. He wanted to be a private affair.

Now, will you notice? They go home. The man did as Joseph bade, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, are we brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses."

Now these men are really panicking now because they can't imagine him inviting them to his home for any good because he's dealt with them so harshly before. And now he's invited them home for lunch. Again, here is something that under ordinary circumstances would be something to brag about. As if the President of the United States had invited you to the blue room for dinner. Or the pink room. Or better still, the dining room, and you were invited there for dinner.

Why, you would think it was a wonderful thing. But in this particular instance, it brings no joy to these men whatsoever. You see, they have a guilt complex, and it's a mean one because they are the ones that sold their brother. And there is a strange parallel here. And when they finally got there, they wondered. They began to speculate, "Was it because our money was put back in the bag and he's been seeking an occasion to take us and make slaves of us?" Well, they didn't hesitate to make a slave of him and sell him down into the land of Egypt.

Now, will you notice? Verse 19, "And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house and communed with him at the door of the house and said, 'Oh, sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food. It came to pass when we came to the inn that we opened our sacks and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack. Our money in full weight. We brought it again in our hand.'"

They're beginning to apologize. They're beginning to plead, you see. They even tell this man that's brought them there, who evidently was an official. Listen to them, verse 22, "And other money have we brought down in our hands to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money in our sack." And this official had been instructed. Joseph had told him what to say. He said, "Peace be to you, fear not. Your God and the God of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money." And he brought Simeon out unto them.

Now, this man, evidently, through the testimony of Joseph, had come to a knowledge of the living and true God. And I think Joseph had let him in, at least partially, on what was taking place. The man says, "Why, I had your money." And I think that frightened them all the more. And verse 24, "And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, gave them water, they washed their feet." And here goes that foot washing again. We saw it in Abraham, you remember, and then down in the city of Sodom. And they washed their feet, and he gave their asses provender. And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. They couldn't imagine being invited to lunch.

And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And here they go, down on their faces before Joseph, and they're confessing that they brought a present. You remember that old Jacob told them, said, "Bring a present down to the man." And they bowed themselves to the earth. That fulfills the prophecy again.

Now notice verse 27. "He asked them of their welfare and said, 'Is your father well? The old man of whom you spake, is he yet alive?'" May I say to you, that's a dramatic moment. Joseph is probably there sitting on some elevation, probably not the throne necessarily, but a place of prominence. And these men are bowing down before him.

Now they get up and Joseph looks at them right in the eye and they look at him. And he says to them, "Is your father, the old man of whom ye spoke, is he yet alive? How is he?" You see, he's interested. After all, he's his father also. And they answered, "Thy servant, our father, is in good health, he's yet alive." And they bowed down their heads and made obeisance. And here they go down on their faces again.

I'd love to have had a picture of that, wouldn't you? These brethren, and Benjamin's with them now, and he goes down too now because after all all of them went down. Notice what he did. "And he lifted up his eyes and he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son." You see, the others were his brothers, but half-brothers. This boy is his full brother, his mother's son. And he said, "Is this your younger brother of whom you spake unto me?" And I think they nodded. And he said, "God be gracious unto thee, my son." His brother, this is really a dramatic moment.

And Joseph can't take it any longer. Joseph made haste for his bowels did yearn. That is, oh, his heart went out to his brothers. His heart yearned upon his brother. And he sought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there. And he said to his brothers, "Excuse me a moment, someone wants me on the telephone." And he got out of there as quickly as he could. He went into his own private quarters and he wept because he never thought, maybe he'd ever see his brothers again, his own brother Benjamin. Maybe the famine's near to an end now. Had seven more years. He's 40, some odd years old, that is, Joseph is. And Benjamin is the youngest one of all, but he's a young man now. And so Joseph entered into his chamber and wept there.

And he washed his face and went out and refrained himself and said, "Set on bread." Now here is a marvelous, wonderful picture that is yet to be fulfilled. And I hope that you'll see in this something that's quite wonderful. Zechariah said that he's going to make himself known unto his brethren someday. They're going to ask him about nail prints in his hands. And that he's going to at that time, the Lord Jesus, said, "I receive those in the house of my friends." Then they'll know him. They'll recognize him. And then they will weep. But he has provided salvation for them. He's provided redemption for them.

Now, that's going to take place when the Lord Jesus comes back to the earth the second time. He'll be revealed to his brethren, the nation Israel. That is, there'll be that remnant there. There'll be many there that they didn't know him. They didn't believe he came the first time. But then they're going to know him. Remember, the brethren of Joseph are the ones who delivered him into slavery. They sold him. They got rid of him. Now he's going to make himself known to his brethren.

And may I say to you today, Christian friend, beware of anti-Semitism. Some of those people are the brethren of our Lord. And there's coming a day when he's going to make himself known unto them. It's a family affair. You better let his family alone. No Christian can engage in anti-Semitism. And I don't care how blind the nation Israel is, and I don't care what they engage in today. I'm perfectly aware of what you are aware of, that they are not always as lovely as some of us are, especially those of us that are Scotch. Oh, are we lovely people? Yes, but may I say some of the Scotch have been pretty mean.

Again, let me repeat, friends. This is a wonderful scene here. It's a dramatic scene. Notice, he washed his face, went out, refrained himself, and said, "Set on bread." Let's eat, get it over with. But this is an amazing meal. And they sat on for him by himself. And for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians which did eat with him by themselves, because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

Now there's several things that this meal that these brethren, if they hadn't been so frightened, might have noticed. The first one is this, that he's not eating with the Egyptians. Egyptians ate alone. Joseph was separate from them. But after all, he's the brass. He's the head man in this particular place. Now, will you notice something else?

"And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marvelled one at another." Now, when Joseph put the place cards around, Joseph went around and he said, "Reuben, you sit here." He put Benjamin way down at the end, and he put all the brethren in their right order. And they looked at each other in amazement, "How does he know all that?" But they're not suspicious at all of who he is because naturally, they're blind to who he is.

Now, will you notice? "And he took and sent messes unto them from before him." He served them, you know, he served their place. And I wish we had another word here instead of sent messes to them because it sounds rather messy, but it wasn't. "But Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs." Again, he just couldn't refrain from showing his affection for his own brother. So he gave him five times as much. I bet that boy that had been through that famine, I bet that he had a real meal for the first time. "And they drank and were merry with him." Was a glorious affair. What a wonderful day it'll be when he reveals himself to his brethren.

Now that brings us to the 44th chapter here. And again we have a very wonderful chapter before us here. And we find that Joseph now is going to send his brethren away with corn. But he's got something else up his sleeve. And it is to test their affection for the youngest brother, for his own brother Benjamin. You see, they sold him in slavery. Now, have they changed? Would they, any one of them, be willing to give his life for his brother? Joseph's going to really find out something about these. And this brings Judah into a marvelous picture here because Judah was willing to take his place.

Now, let me read verse one of chapter 44. "He commanded the steward of his house, saying, 'Fill the man's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth, and put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest and his corn money.' And he did according to the word that Joseph had spoken. As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses. When they were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, Joseph said unto his steward, 'Up, follow after the men, and when thou dost overtake them, say unto them, "Wherefore have you rewarded evil for good? Is not this it in which my lord drinketh and whereby indeed he divineth? Ye have done evil in so doing."'" Now it was his cup.

And you will notice that he speaks of the fact that he divineth. I'll say something about that in a minute because we come to it later. Verse six, "He overtook them and he spake unto them these same words. And they said unto him, 'Wherefore saith my lord these words? God forbid that thy servants should do according to this thing.'" In other words, the brethren start out, they think everything is all right, and when they get out a little ways, they're overtaken. Here comes a whole troop after them, and the accusation is made, "Somebody got Joseph's cup. One of you fellows heisted his cup."

He says, "Behold the money, which we found in our sack's mouths, we brought again unto thee out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold? With whomsoever of thy servants it be found, both let him die and we also will be my lord's bondmen." They were so sure that none of them had gotten the cup.

And he said, "Now also let it be according unto your words. He with whom it's found shall be my servant, and ye shall be blameless." "Then they speedily took down every man his sack to the ground, open every man his sack." And he searched and began at the eldest and left at the youngest. "And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack."

"Then they rent their clothes. And laid it every man his ass and returned to the city." They went back. They're not going back home without Benjamin, you may be sure. "And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house, for he was yet there. And they fell before him on the ground." Here they go down before him again, and this time, I tell you, it's in dismay and agony. "And Joseph said unto them, 'What deed is this that ye have done? What ye know not or know ye not that such a man as I am can certainly divine?'"

Now, Joseph apparently was a prophet. Apparently was able to tell the future. And we know that's so because he interpreted the dreams of the baker and the butler and also Pharaoh himself. He was a prophet. And he apparently used this cup in it. This was a gift that God had given him. You must understand this is before Revelation. Don't you run and get a cup or go to anybody that's got one and think you can read tea leaves or something like that. That's all perfect nonsense today. And this business of the horoscope that's got so many people involved today, it's absolute nonsense and it reveals the sad spiritual condition people are in when they'll turn to that sort of thing. This was a gift God had given this man.

Now, Judah comes to the front and the nobility of this man stands out. You can see probably why out of the tribe of Judah the Savior's coming. Will you note, verse 16, "And Judah said, 'What shall we say unto my lord?'" And I think this again is one of the finest speeches that this man is going to make here. And I won't be able to finish it all today. It just looks like in this continued story, we get to the dramatic point, then have to leave off.

But let me read. "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.'" He makes full confession that it's because of their sin that this has come upon them.

"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.'" Now, you see, he's going to hold Benjamin. And he says these other brethren, "Go on home. You're free." But Benjamin's going to stay.

Now, listen to Judah. "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.' You see the position that Joseph occupies. '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 my 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's 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 very frankly, friends, I hate to break off there. This is really a tense moment here. But Judah is doing a noble thing here. He's doing the thing that Joseph wants to discover. We'll have to wait and see that next time. May God richly bless you, my beloved.

Host: Learn more about how to partner with us at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE. I'm Steve Schwetz, and I'll meet you back here as the Bible bus rolls along.

Host: Through the Bible is a five-year study of God's entire word, and together we discover God's purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know him yet?