Silver in Their Sacks - Tuesday evening, 6.16.2009

Genesis 42:27-28 - At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of his sack.  “My silver has been returned,” he said to his brothers.  “Here it is in my sack.”  Their hearts sank and they turned to each other trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?” 

In this story, Joseph’s brothers traveled to Egypt to buy food during the famine.  They did not realize that the official in charge of the food there was Joseph, whom they had beaten and sold into slavery many years before.  They did not recognize him, but he recognized them immediately.  

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Joseph’s brothers: “We are honest men” - Tuesday evening 6.9.2009

Genesis 42:10 - “No, my lord,” they answered.  “Your servants have come to buy food.  We are all the sons of one man.  Your servants are honest men, not spies.” 

Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy food during the famine.  They claim to be honest, righteous men, despite their long history of committing murders, immorality, deception, and acts of cruelty.  They show the position of sinners when they come before Christ trying to justify themselves, not recognizing their own sin and need for salvation.  Joseph’s brothers were indebted to him, but they want others to treat them as honorable men - just as unbelievers want God to treat them. 

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Genesis 37:2-11: Joseph’s Dreams

The Scriptures teach us that Jesus is “the Word.”  He is the Word of God; the entire Bible points us to Jesus, even the Old Testament.  Jesus challenged the religious leaders of his day for their mistaken emphasis on the letter of the Scripture, from which they would try to extract principles and precepts for life.  Jesus told them, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me.” (John 5:39)  The Old Testament is really about Jesus.  Its writing occurred long before Jesus came to this world as a man, but every story points forward to Christ.  In this sense, all of the Word is prophetic, not just the “prophetic books” like Isaiah or Joel.  We see Jesus in the story where Abraham nearly sacrifices his only son Isaac – pointing forward to the way our Heavenly Father would offer His Only Son.  We see Jesus in the Passover Lamb, in the story of Jonah in the belly of the fish, and in the Bronze Serpent that Moses lifted up for the healing of the people.  Jesus is everywhere in the Old Testament – each of the godly characters illustrates an aspect of him (excluding, of course, the incidences where these men failed or sinned).

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