Testing if We Can Trust

Joseph was from the line of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the line of God's promises. And as a teenager he had dreams from God which came with a promise. But he was laughed at, thrown into a pit and sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. That way, he ended up in Egypt and went through further injustice. Nevertheless, he was faithful in all he did and clung to God. God's blessing was on his life despite the circumstances. Eventually, he became second to Pharaoh and in charge of the wheat distribution during a world-wide famine.

Then his brothers came to buy wheat for their families. They knelt before him with their faces to the ground. Joseph recognised them and he remembered his dreams.

He had no time to think what he would do. He had to react now and so he spoke harshly to them, accusing them of being spies, and imprisoned them for three days. What might have been going on inside him? Everything was washing like a wave over him. He gave himself three days to think.

Then he said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God.” It is out of that fear of God that Joseph made a decision. This second decision is different from the first one when he had said they would all remain captives and only one would be allowed to go home to get Benjamin. In this second decision, one would stay behind and the rest would be allowed to go home to take the much-needed wheat to their families.

The brothers said to each other, “Surly, we must pay for what we did to our brother. We saw how soul-stricken he was when he begged for mercy, but we did not listen, therefore this distress is coming upon us.” Joseph heard them and wept without them seeing him.

When his brothers came back, Joseph tested them by repeating history. During the meal, he gave Benjamin five times as much as the others. He had heard their words, but what would their actions look like? How would they treat Benjamin? Were they still jealous?

By hiding his cup in Benjamin’s sack and accusing him of theft, he made them face a choice. Would they choose Benjamin or would they choose their own lives?

Their first reaction was fierce. “If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves” (Genesis 44:9). Then Judah stepped forward and stood up for Benjamin. He said, “Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father” (verse 34). With that the test was passed.

Joseph did not ignore what had happened. He had already acknowledged his pain, sorrow, trouble and affliction in the choice of his son’s names, Manasseh, ‘God has made me forget all my trouble’, and Ephraim, ‘God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering’. Even when his brothers came, he did not blindly ignore the past. He tested them, questioned them, and examined how they would act now. He showed his emotions and mentioned twice that they had sold him.

But immediately after that, he said God used it for good, not only for himself but also for them.