Joseph Provides for His Father’s Household - Genesis 47:11-12

So Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.  And Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to their little ones.

What a far cry this is from what occurs today in many households.  Recently I read about an older parent, left on her own, who was suing her son and daughter-in-law for not properly taking care of her in her old age, especially since the two of them had done very well ranching.  In my own city of Toronto with its very cold winters, a son and his wife pleaded guilty to having his mother live in an improperly insulated garage converted into a room for her without heat or proper bathroom facilities.  I’ve seen well-off children who became what they were because of the sacrifices of their parents allow their aged mother and/or father to live in nursing homes that left much to be desired.  God certainly did not intend for us to treat each other that way, especially in our own family.

Joseph’s behavior here is exemplary in how he treated not only his aged father, but also his brothers, who by the way, had previously intended to do him great harm.

There is an interesting phrase in this passage as well.  Joseph gave them “a possession in the land of Egypt”.  This was not just a simple, “go live there for now” or “lease that property” or “rent it”.  Rather, scripture tells us that Joseph gave it to them under the order of Pharaoh as an inheritance, for the root word used here is translated as to property coming via inheritance and now being owned by those that receive as such.

The application of this point for us as Christians is also interesting.  In our travels during our lifetime here on earth, we will indeed be given or we will amass property and other material good that will be deemed, without challenge, to be “our inheritance” or “our possessions”.  As we unfold the story of the Israelites in Egypt, we will see that although they had ‘rights’ in Egypt as this passage implies, there was no point in getting too attached to their possessions at all.  It is the same for the Christian.  We would do well to ask ourselves how closely we are literally ‘bound’ to our various legally owned assets.

Finally, we note that Joseph provided for his father’s entire household in accordance “to their little ones.”  That means proportionally.  The bigger the household was, the bigger the provision to that part of the family would be.  As one whose career was in Human Resources, I know that many years ago many employers did pay people differently based on their need.  For example, a young single healthy man would make less money than an older family man, married, and with several children.  The latter’s need was greater.  That was legal and acceptable, perhaps in keeping with this part of scripture and others.  But as the years wore on, laws of equal pay for equal work, and later, equal pay for work of equal value, were introduced that prevented people from addressing the greater needs of one employee over another.  And in a world which is not based on a godly worldview perspective that is understandable.  As Christian employers we are required to follow the laws of our land.  At the same time, however, it behooves us to keep in mind God’s general principle of taking care of others in accordance with their need, to the extent that we can do so, within the law, and perhaps outside of the ‘employer-employee’ relationship.

Still the major message for us in these two verses is that we do have a responsibility for our families beyond those living under our roof.   It is my prayer we have not talked ourselves out of that because of circumstances.

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Food Runs Out And Another Trip To Egypt Is Required - Genesis 43:1-5

Now the famine was severe in the land.  So it came about when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.  But if you do 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.’”

In the section preceding this passage, Jacob had made the decision not to allow his sons to take his youngest son, beloved Benjamin, back to Egypt.  They needed Benjamin in order to get more grain and retrieve their brother Simeon whom they had left as collateral with the Egyptian ruler.  The ruler, of course, was Joseph, their own brother whom they had not recognized and whom they had sold to traders to sell as a slave in Egypt many years ago.  But God has a way of dealing with unfinished business.

The famine in Canaan became very severe and all the grain the brothers had brought back from Egypt was now finished.  We do not know how long a period that was but I am confident that poor Simeon thought his brothers had forgotten him just as they all had forgotten Joseph. Jacob meanwhile realizes that the family had to get more grain from Egypt and tells his sons to go and buy some.

This time his fourth son, Judah, also from his first wife Leah, came to him and reminded him of what Joseph had said.  So far in this story we have heard from Reuben the eldest and Simeon, the second eldest, was required to stay behind in Egypt.  Levi, the third eldest has not yet been quoted in the story.  You will remember, it was Simeon and Levi that had committed the treachery against Hamor and his son Shechem and their entire city (see Genesis 34).  With Simeon, his partner in crime, being held in a prison in Egypt, Levi remained quiet.  He may well still have been suffering from losing his credibility with Jacob (Genesis 34:30).  In fact this may also well explain why Jacob was not too worried about retrieving Simeon from Egypt.

Judah is the one that tells him, perhaps in a somewhat stern matter, that, “no, we won’t go without Benjamin.”  The brothers were not prepared to face the Egyptian ruler without Benjamin as he had warned them the consequences would be severe.  The ball was now clearly thrown into Jacob’s hands.  He could live with the fact that if he remained stubborn, the blood of all his children, their wives, and his grandchildren would be on his hands, not that of the brothers.  What a place for a parent to be.

Have you been in such a place?  It is not easy.  How you react is what matters most to you, to those you are concerned about, and to the God that you serve.  We may not see that readily in the midst of the challenge, but if we can somehow learn that and prepare ourselves for it – psychologically, emotionally, and most importantly, spiritually, for it in advance, we have a much better chance to react well when the need to actually do so arrives.  I believe that is our lesson here.  Soon we’ll see how Jacob did react.  In the meantime, we must remember that those whose trust is in God must be prepared to live accordingly, or that trust amounts to nothing.

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