<figure class="wp-block-embed-vimeo wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-vimeo">

<figcaption>Book of Genesis – Joseph – Part 3</figcaption></figure>

Transcript of Podcast

Introduction

Welcome to another podcast of Rizen Fellowship. We’re glad you joined us. We’ve been going through the book of Genesis for some time now, but it’s just really been an overview type of thing to be able to see the highlights of what the book of Genesis, the 50 chapters, are about. Now, the first division that we studied is Genesis, Chapter One through 11, and it really focused on four great events. Of course, creation, the fall of mankind, the flood of Noah and then the rebellion at Babel. That was the first section. Then, from Chapter 12 to Chapter 50 is the second division of Genesis and it focuses on four great men. We see Abraham, the patriarch, and then Isaac, the promised son, then we saw Jacob who was a deceiver and really worked to scheme and get things his way who wound up submitting to God and God changed his name from Jacob, bein’ a supplanter or deceiver, to Israel, which was the prince of God. And then, the fourth character is Joseph and we’ve already done two podcasts looking at Joseph and those first ones were, No Ordinary Joe, about how Joseph was getting the dreams from God and how his brothers learned to hate him and then he was sold into slavery and the second podcast dealt with Joseph doing right when things were going wrong and that’s when he got sold into Egypt and he went down there and was sold to Potiphar and then Potiphar’s wife tried to rape him, accused him of trying to rape her and then got thrown into prison and then the cup bearer and the baker had come in and he interpreted their dreams and asked the cup bearer to remember him when he was released as Joseph interpreted his dream, but the cup bearer forgot until two years later. During that time when Joseph was sent to Egypt and was a prisoner he really conducted himself in a very Godly way and was really good, even as a prisoner and whether it was Prime Minister, he was exemplary in his character and his behavior.

<figure class="wp-block-image is-resized"><figcaption>Subscribe to Apple Podcast</figcaption></figure>

Joseph: Part 3

So, this third and final podcast on the life of Joseph is called, When Dreams Come True. And, we’re gonna focus how Joseph dealt with his brothers as they were trying to be brought back together and how he was wanting to bring them to true repentance. And what Joseph did during these chapters is truly a masterpiece of spiritual insight, patience and love. In Chapter 42 we see where Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream was right on track as he had said it would be. There would be seven years of abundance. Those years had been completed and now they were gonna be followed by seven years of famine which would do away with the abundance that they had during the first seven years. This famine was extreme and it was worldwide, but Egypt, because of Jacob’s, Joseph’s insight would have grain, not only enough for them, but to sell to other people in the world. And God is gonna use several tests to bring Joseph’s brothers to repentance.

The first test was that of being hungry. Jacob, the family was running out of food and Jacob had heard that there was grain for sale in Egypt so he called his brothers together and sent nine of them. Said, go down to Egypt, I heard they’re selling grain there. Buy some grain and bring it back so we as a family don’t die. But, Jacob would not allow Joseph’s younger brother, Benjamin, to go on that trip. In his mind he’d already lost Joseph, the son of his favorite wife, Rachel, who was his favorite son. He’d already lost him. He was gonna do everything in his power to make sure that Benjamin was safe and remained alive.

So, there was the hunger. And then, there were the harsh words that Joseph, their own brother, who was now the governor of Egypt, spoke to the brothers as he met them the first time. And it’s interesting, as they were standing before Joseph they didn’t recognize him. It’s amazing that when he had the coat of many colors that their father, Jacob, had given to him, they recognized him from a far distance off. But now, he’s standin’ before them. He’s dressed, he acts and he speaks like an Egyptian and they do not recognize him.

And Joseph, literally accused them of being spies from another land, from a foreign country who had come and was gonna try to overthrow the Egyptians. They said that they weren’t and kinda confessed of who they were. They were the nine brothers of one father. One brother was gone and another brother, 10 brothers of a father. One brother was dead and that was, they were speaking of Joseph ’cause in their mind he was probably died and then the youngest brother was at home and then they were gonna be imprisoned because Joseph wouldn’t listen to them. He imprisoned them for three days and you almost have to wonder if he put ’em in the jail just to give ’em a time out, like we do our children that have been disobedient to a parent’s words. We put ’em in a time out to let them think about what they have done and maybe to think that God might be ready to punish them for the sins they had committed so many years ago.

Then came the test of surety. Joseph decided that he was gonna let all the brothers go, nine of them go, but he was gonna keep one of ’em back and keep them in prison just so they would have reason to come back. But, he warned the other brothers. He said, you will not see my face again unless when you come back to Egypt your youngest brother is with you. Of course, Joseph at this time was not certain that what the brothers had done something to Benjamin just like they had done to him. He didn’t even really know if Benjamin was still alive, if they were telling the truth and he was back home with the father. And so, they began talking among themselves in their own Hebrew native tongue and they began to say to one another, surely God is paying us back for the evil that we had done to our brother, Joseph. And Joseph was standin’ there and those brothers didn’t even realize that he was understanding every word that they spoke. And really, he was probably almost happy to see that they really thought that God might be punishing them for their sins.

So, Joseph had chose Simeon and that was the second born son to Jacob and held Simeon back in prison and sent the other nine on their way. Of course, he gave them their sacks of grain that they come to buy and purchase and he was gonna give ’em a test to find out if they were really honest and he put their money back in their sacks and when they returned home these nine brothers had to explain all the things that were going on that happened about the sacks of grain and the money that was returned in them and they even tried to explain to their father, Jacob, at that time that this governor told them that they could not come back and see his face again to buy more grain unless their younger brother, Benjamin, was with them. And Jacob in his despair, cried out, Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more and now you would take Benjamin from me? All this has come against me. And that is very valid from a human perspective, but from God’s point of view it was quite the opposite. Actually, God was working everything out for Jacob’s good and not for his harm and not only Jacob, but for the whole family and not even for the family but for the nation that would rise from this Israel and not just Israel, but for the whole world. And this kinda reminds me of that story that I read years ago about a sole survivor of a shipwreck and he washed up onto a shore of an inhabited, uninhabited island and after praying for days asking God to rescue him, he finally gave up and he took some of the driftwood that he found there on the shore and he built a little shelter only to find out a few days later that that shelter had caught fire and had burned to the ground and he could not believe that God would let all this happen to him. The next morning as he was awakened by the sound of a noise he realized that there was a ship out in the sea that had come to rescue him and he asked them after all this time he wondered how they knew that he was there and how they found him. And the sailors told him, we saw your smoke signal. See, it’s so easy to get discouraged when things aren’t going the way that we think they should and it’s easy for us in those times that we lose heart, but it’s during those difficult times of life we have to realize that God is still at work in our lives, even in the midst of pain and suffering. So, the next time the little hut of your life is maybe what you consider being burned to the ground. Just remember, it may be a smoke signal to usher in God’s grace into your life just like it did for Jacob. When the grain ran out Jacob had forgot what his sons told him, he told the nine sons, go back now and buy more grain and see if Simeon’s still alive and Judah reminded his father, Jacob, that they couldn’t go back, that the man had told them that younger brother,

Benjamin, had to be with them and Judah offered himself as a pledge saying that if anything happens to Benjamin’s life you can take my life from me instead. I will lay down my life for him. Judah offered himself as that pledge assuring that Benjamin’s safety in