Please come closer to me

Please come closer to me (Genesis 45 :4)

We may take this request from the mouth of Joseph speaking to his brothers and receive it for ourselves as a word from our loving heavenly Father. Sometimes we are not close enough to the Father to understand that the experiences he puts us through are engendered out of his intense love for us and not because he is our enemy. Indeed the trials of our lives are God´s true intentions disguised, in the same way as Joseph was disguised so that his brothers would not recognise him.

Their trials would not have had the same effect on them if they had known throughout the true identity of their author. Joseph knew them well, and loved them, but disguised himself and spoke harshly to them. We can imagine their dismay at being falsely accused of being spies before this powerful Prime Minister, and being put into prison for three days. This terrifying trial immediately uncovered the guilt they had been carrying for more than two decades, and they confessed aloud their belief that this was a reckoning for the blood of their brother who they had cast into a pit and then sold into slavery. How quickly trials cause us to search our hearts and discover any guilt that we carry!

However, despite this confession their trials were far from over, Joseph was not yet ready to reveal his love. The lessons he had learned through his own captivity were now to be applied to them, so that they also may overcome as he had overcame. The man they now saw before them seated on a throne was not the same young man who they had thrown into a pit more than twenty years previously. Thirteen years of affliction as a slave and a prisoner had purged his heart, and he had come to the place where he recognized the loving hand of God as the true author of his affliction, and as the first cause of all that he had been through. He was now not only the master of all Egypt, but more importantly he was the ruler over his own house, the house of his own being, his passions and his will. “Only in the throne will I be greater than you” Pharoah had said, and in effect this was just as if God himself saying that he was ready to rule.

At the age of seventeen, when his brothers disposed of him, he had known that he would rule, for God had shown him this in a vision. However it was his very eagerness to boast in that to which he had not yet attained , that sparked the jealousy of his brothers. This led to all his affliction. How inscrutable are the ways of God! The unjust treatment that he recieved consequently must have often caused him to question God’s love for him. Nevertheless, he determined to continue believing in God’s unfailing love despite years of agonising waiting and disappointment . The presence of God remained with him , comforting him in all his affliction and teaching him to die to his self love and master the impulsiveness of his natural make up. The old man had to die, and this could only take place through the fires of suffering.

Only once having attained the throne could he look back in retrospect and trace the hand of God that had brought him to his current position. Never would he have chosen that route to get there! Like Jesus, who for the joy set before him endured the cross and sat down on the throne, he also knew the path that could bring his brothers to the place of overcoming. The jealousy that ruled their hearts would for ever rule their passions unless it could be excised from them. Joseph formed his plan and executed it expertly.
After first giving them all a taste of prison for three days, having them believe that only one of them would be released to fetch Benjamin, he now releases them all and keeps only Simeon. We can only imagine those three days shut up with each other, each man considering in his heart what would be his plan of action if he were to be the one released. Could any of them trust each other after having been joint conspirators in Joseph’s abduction? How did their conversations progress during those dark three days in the dungeon? The depths of their depravity must have been rudely uncovered during that time. Finally after three days which seemed an eternity, Joseph releases all of them save one. He recreates the exact circumstances of the situation twenty years previously. We are reading here a manual on the operation of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There is not a circumstance in your life in which the Lord is not at work. He will bring you back full circle to face the sins of your youth.

Joseph also restores all their money to them in their sacks of grain, causing their hearts to sink with fear and ask:

“What is this that God has done to us?”

The test they now face is whether they will agree amongst themselves to abandon their brother Simeon with the same callousness that they had treated Joseph. The money in their sacks is not going to make it easier to return. How will they prove their innocence? Would they agree to lie to their Father about Simeon the way that they had lied to their father about Joseph? We may also wonder what Simeon is thinking they will do, and considering that he may be receiving his just recompense for his part in the conspiracy.

After a long journey back to Canaan, undoubtedly arguing all the way, they meet their Father Jacob and tell him the truth, and in so doing overcome their previous disposition which was to lie their way out of a predicament. They pass the test of honesty. By so doing they face the anguish of their old father’s blaming them for the loss of Simeon, which reminds him of the loss of Joseph, and the prospect of losing Benjamin also. The painful dynamics of acknowledging their past sins in their hearts, coupled with a restitutionary willingness to return to Egypt and face the consequences, must have torn deep into their souls. Yet Jacob still does not know what really happened to Joseph all those years ago. The brothers now discover that the self love which had caused them to be jealous of Joseph is pitted against the love they have for their father, and must be ruthlessly torn out if they are to find reconciliation. What anguish must have gripped them!

Jacob also is tested, like Abraham was, in his old age. He must be willing to relinquish his dearest young son if the Patriarchal clan is to survive. The partiality which caused so much bitterness amongst the brothers must be laid on the altar. The food is running out. Once the grain runs out, as Joseph knew it would, they must set out again for Egypt with the cherished son of their Father. They cannot come before the presence without the beloved son. As Joseph was loved more than all his brothers, now Benjamin is the preferred one, and the brothers themselves must put to death the nagging discontent which has ruled their hearts for so many years. They must love Benjamin in the way they ought to have loved Joseph. Their self love which demanded to be loved by their Father must be replaced by their love for their Father, and Jacob himself must relinquish the partiality which was the cause of so much jealousy . The circumstances of God work in uncountable ways in all directions , every person’s part being tailor made for him .The God of the Universe is beyond our understanding. Man in his pride considers himself to be the supreme being yet he is but a speck of dust in the grand design of things.

Judah now offers his life as surety for the boy, and as the seed through whom Christ would be born he typifies the substitutionary work of Jesus who died in our place for his Fathers sake. Judah identifies more with the sorrow of his Father than with his own interest in being loved. Twenty years before this same man had sought to profit from his brothers disappearance with no thought of his Fathers sorrow, and received twenty shekels of silver for the crime. Now he gives his own life in forfeit . He has learned the value of a soul.

On returning to Egypt they are ushered into the presence of Joseph and expect to be fell upon and converted into slaves because of the money which had been returned to their sacks. The greed which motivated them to sell their brother into captivity is now being addressed, and they are expecting to receive the same recompense for their actions. On the contrary, they receive now an unmerited demonstration of benificence which only highlights the crude greed of their shameful deed. It is the kindness of God that brings us to repentence. Most of their suffering up to now has consisted in nothing more than the anguish of the guilt which they are coming to terms with. They are now feasted and rested by Joseph, and sent on their way with full sacks and full coffers of money. We can imagine their relief and elation at the unexpected blessings which have come from this ruler whom they have not yet known. Joseph orders his silver cup to be put into the sack of the youngest.

“And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest”

Josephs cup is about to be passed on to his youngest brother. When it was inquired of Jesus if it were possible that the sons of Zebedee could rule with him, he asked them whether they were able to drink of the cup that he was about to drink. “We are able” they said, and he replied that they would. The other ten disciples were jealous about this , just as the ten brothers were jealous of Joseph and Benjamin. The cup that Joseph had drunk from is now going to be passed on to Benjamin, and then let us see to who it will be passed next! Do you want to rule with Him?

Joseph had already drunk his cup to the dregs, and through the drinking of it was elevated to being the ruler of his house. In this respect he is a type of Christ who endured the cross and sat down on the right hand of his Father’s throne. As the first amongst his brethren he was exposed to tribulation, distress, nakedness and the sword but he overcame all through the knowledge God´s inseparable love. The cup must pass to the other brethren now if they would reign with him.

As the brothers ride away, cheerfully thinking that the bitterness of death is past, the climax of their testing falls upon them like a bombshell. Joseph sends his steward in pursuit of them with the charge that they have abused his kindness by stealing the very cup with which he divines. This cup of divination is about to break open the secrets of their hearts and expose all the jealousy, hatred, and murder which has been residing there and ruling their lives.The steward searches their sacks and finds it with Benjamin. Benjamin must have been terrified , but this was nothing compared to the horror of his elder brothers whose iniquity has been found out.

“God has found out the iniquity of your servants” , they declare, and surrender their lives as slaves to Joseph. But their trial is not yet over. Joseph probes even deeper by refusing to punish them, insisting that only Benjamin shall bear the guilt; for by this strategy he uncovers the very root that has made them a dysfunctional family. The future of Israel as a nation hangs in the balance. The jealousy which consumed them and which led to Joseph’s imprisonment is still to be exposed, and this very jealousy is rooted in their lack of understanding of their fathers love.A death of the old nature must take place so that they may be transformed.

Judah, as their representative, explains the love of their Father for the littlest one, saying that his life is bound up in the lad’s life, and that if he does not return, then their Father will die of sorrow. Their hearts are cut to the quick as they realize for the first time the consequences of all their actions, and Judah resolves to bear the blame forever.

At this point Joseph send out all the Egyptians and reveals himself to his brothers.

“Please come closer to me” he says to them, so that they can recognize the author of all their anguish. At first they cannot recognize him, and are dismayed at his presence, but gradually they understand who he is and come into the full blessing that has been prepared for them.

“You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me” he says to them.

That really isnt the end of the whole affair, because until Jacob dies the brothers are not quite sure if they have really been forgiven or if it is only out of respect for their Father that he has not punished them. After Jacob’s death and burial, they again submit to him and beg for his forgiveness.

The final word of Joseph cements the entire affair into one theme.

“Do not be afraid,” he says “for am I in God’s place?”

This rhetorical question can be answered with a resounding “No!”
No man nor any circumstance or trials are in God’s place. God is ruler in all things, although we must come closer to him to recognize his love for us in these things. To the brothers Joseph seemed an enemy, but Joseph was working under God’s rule in all his dealings with his brothers. Are your circumstances making you feel that God is your enemy? If so , then the Lord would say to you:

Please come closer to me.


Joseph’s dealings with his brothers reflect the dealings of God with us, and what’s more Joseph accepted the dealings of his brothers with him as the dealings of God. Here is what he says in conclusion:

“As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result”

“So therefore do not be afraid, I will provide for you and your little ones”

So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.