We’re in a series through the story of Joseph in the last half of Genesis. We find ourselves where Joseph has been betrayed by his brothers and sold into the land of Egypt. He had been imprisoned, but then found himself surprisingly, by the grace of God, on the rise, and is provided for through a bizarre set of circumstances. There was a time of famine and his family came to Egypt seeking food and help, not knowing that they encountered Joseph. We learned last week that Joseph had sent them back and that they were to bring their youngest brother. Their father Jacob has hesitated. Now we find ourselves back in the land of Canaan with the family of Jacob.
1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will 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.’” 6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 7 They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”
11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” 15 So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house. 18 And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food. 21 And when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, 22 and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, 25 they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.
26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.
Genesis 44
1 Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.
3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? 5 Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”
6 When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 9 Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants.” 10 He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” 11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
18 Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’
24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’
30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
Genesis 45
1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God.
Edmond Dantes had everything going for him. He was a young, nineteen year old Frenchman with a steady job as a first mate. He had a loving father and an adoring fiancé. Through no fault of his own, he was wrongly accused and unjustly imprisoned in an isolated island fortress. During his time of suffering there he met a well-educated prisoner who ended up teaching him a number of languages and history, culture, math, medicine. He was taught all these skills that Dantes would store up to serve one driving aim—revenge. He didn’t yet know who had betrayed him, but during his time in prison he doomed these unknown men to every torment his inflamed imagination could devise. He thought death was too good and too brief. Vengeance became his driving life mission and it was towards that end that all his energy and will became bent.
It just so happened also that among the things that his friend taught him, he revealed the location of a long lost buried treasure. After some years, his friend breathed his last and in a momentary decision, Dantes switched places with the corpse, snuck into that sack and then was carried out and discarded into the sea. He was able to escape, eventually discovering the treasure, purchasing high standing, and then renaming himself the Count of Monte Cristo. It was a position and a fortune that he dedicated to the vengeful destruction of those who had so deeply wronged him. It was his calling. It was his appetite. It was his hunger. He says, “I, betrayed, sacrificed, buried, have arisen from my tomb by the grace of God to punish that man. He sends me for that purpose and here I am.” Vengeance is the ultimate dream. It’s a dish, we’re told, that is best served cold. Dantes enjoys it in full.
Revenge can be a powerful driver and earthly motivator, as can a number of other earthly hungers; popularity, pleasure, possessions. All of these natural appetites promise much happiness but never truly deliver what they offer. All appetites promise these kinds of things, but they don’t serve us in the way that we might imagine.
Joseph had been betrayed by his own brothers. He was sold into slavery in a foreign land, wrongfully accused, imprisoned and forgotten. Here is a man who had every excuse and all the time in the world to fantasize and dream about revenge. But the tale of Joseph, we find, is not that kind of story. It’s a stand out from our own culture’s stories which are rife with sinners and sufferers unleashed to their appetites and running wild in an almost animalistic fashion, chasing their dreams, following their hearts, the product being scandal and outrage. What Paul said of the people on Crete to Titus especially describes our own day.
Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing their days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
This is what fills our headlines. No one wants super heroes called The Forgivers. We want The Avengers. It’s not to say that there aren’t noble things about justice or pleasure. But the world twists these things and turns them to serve self rather than God and others. As sinners, we twist in the flesh what should be grateful enjoyment into lustful demands. As sufferers, in our flesh, we corrupt a healthy longing for justice into a craving for revenge. But the best dishes this world can offer, whether selfish vengeance or whether sensual pleasures, they are never worth settling for when there are far greater courses to be held. There are far greater meals to be enjoyed. There is a signature dish, you could say, that is worth waiting for. It is better than your wildest dreams.
What is that? What is the signature dish worth waiting for? You can almost imagine that would be what Joseph was wondering or what the Hebrews would be wondering when they were released from Egypt. What exactly is God cooking up for us with all the time that He is taking? What is so worth the wait? What could be that good? Is it really worth all the hype? No, it’s better! It’s better than you could possibly imagine. It’s better than your wildest dreams. That’s the point as we reach the climax of this story. There is a lesson God wants to teach us at the very beginning of the Bible in the history of His people. We should never doubt God’s ability to surprise us by changing life and lives for the better. Never doubt God’s ability to surprise you by changing life and lives for the better. It’s His specialty. There are shocking turnarounds and transformations.
Following God is going to be this path of faith. He makes promises that seem unbelievable. He makes promises that we have to trust. He makes promises about the future. We’re in this constant state of anticipation, but it doesn’t mean that He doesn’t love to offer sometimes a few samples, a few hints, a few appetizers that sort of awaken our desire for the things that are to come. He loves to expose us to the kind of tastes that we should desire and sharpen a mature spiritual palate so that we’re ready for the feast that we long await. This morning, we’re just going to look at a few tastes for us to hone that kind of whet a healthy appetite for the dish that God most loves to serve. These tastes are bitter, bittersweet and sweet. We’ll start with
#1 Regret: A Bitter Aftertaste To Beware (42:1-38)
By regret, I mean that sick feeling that you have after you’ve done something wrong. It’s that awful piercing to the core. We talk about it with that word bitter in terms of taste and digestion because it’s so tangible. You know when you’ve eaten something bitter and you taste that food, whatever it is. I remember as a child, the first kind of strong bitter taste I had was brussel sprouts. What is this? (Laughter!) You experience that taste, but over time, you realize it’s nothing compared to actual bitterness of regret. When you start to do things, you make choices in life and you realize it seemed like a good idea, but afterwards, it was terrible.
Sin is like that. It tempts us with all these promises, but it’s never worth the pain that follows. It carries this bitter aftertaste. You know what I’m talking about in a broken world. You look at your life and you have relationships ruined from words spoken. There are friendships fractured due to secrets kept. Trust has been destroyed after websites are visited, after lies are told, after immorality is pursued or purchases are made or an assault is committed. There are jobs lost, licenses revoked, opportunities missed. Sin is never worth the pain that follows. The aftertaste is bitter.
This story reminds us of some of those consequences. Before we move on to the sweet, we need to start with what is bitter. It’s the regret that we have over sin and recognizing the consequences that follow. Here, we unpack this story and we look back to what we learned last week. We see a few of the consequences, the painful bitter aftertaste of regret that follows sin. I’ll just mention a few. The first simple one is suspicion from authority, back in chapter 42.
The brothers come. They’re looking for food and they find their brother, Joseph, in charge. He happens to be an authority that is informed. He has inside information on exactly what kind of guys these are. So as an authority, it seems as if Joseph is taking some precautions. You could approach what Joseph is doing here from a number of angles. It’s hard to know exactly what is going on, but I think it could be not that Joseph is seizing an opportunity for a bit of payback, but that Joseph is aware of what is at stake. I mean, they’re saying “we’re honest men,” but he knows what kind of men they are. He knows how callously and easily they had discarded him.
So here he is, and he has no idea how his father is doing. He has no idea how his younger brother of the same mother is doing. He would have a legitimate concern. Here they are. They’re coming to him and they’re saying they are honest men. They see him. He has told them the dream. They send him to Egypt, and yet, there is no inkling? As he looks at them and they’re looking at him this isn’t ringing any bells? They’re bowing before him, just like he had said. He is speaking with the voice that he had cried out their names and nothing? There is reason for concern and it seems as if Joseph, in this position of authority, has some suspicion. He arranges this situation.
It’s almost like Benjamin is perhaps a hostage where he is not quite sure how he is doing and there is a scheme whereby he is going to maybe be able to rescue Benjamin from their clutches. There is a scheme whereby he is going to hold one of them in prison so that they would go and then come back and bring Benjamin and he can ensure that he actually is safe. So here, there is a protective measure taken by authority because he knows what they’ve done. That’s something that we can expect.
But the real note that Pastor Ritch was striking last week that stands out to us is dread in our consciences. One of the consequences of regret is not just that there are some challenges we deal with, with suspicion from authority, but now dread in our consciences. You see the brothers there in chapter 42 saying
Genesis 42:21 Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

They were like, “We’ve been found out.” They feel a fear, a dread, an internal worry. They are obsessive about what they have done. So even though Joseph displays some kindness and gives them their money back, he gives them some food, he provides for them, they can’t receive that as a kindness. In fact, when they traveled and the first one opens his sack and he sees the money,

Genesis 42:28 …At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

They’re not even able to receive the kindness because of the dread of their conscience. Spurgeon would once say, “When conscience goes against a man, he has a stern enemy to contend with.” There is dread within. It gets worse because if you look at verse 29,

Genesis 42:29 When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying,

They unpack everything that happened.

Genesis 42:35 As they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid.

You can feel the dread. Do you see who saw the money? It was they and their father. This is not the first time they have returned home one brother short and with the jingle of extra shekels. There is suspicion from authority, dread in their conscience, and then now they receive some condemnation from a sufferer. Sometimes it’s fair and sometimes it’s unfair. Here, Jacob just unloads on them with some excessive blame as a grief stricken father. Look at his words. It’s almost like something clicks for him and he shares what he is really feeling. He doesn’t know about this whole story. Maybe the money after losing another brother is just too familiar. Whatever it is, he just makes his heart known here.

Genesis 42:36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin.

He blames them. He views them as responsible. It’s not clear how, but he blames them. It’s not entirely rational, but they’re in no position to argue. He doesn’t just blame them. He also seems in a passive sense to blame God. He says

Genesis 42:36 …All this has come against me.”

It seems as if Jacob is wrestling a bit even with his own past. There is sort of a sinful pattern that we’ve seen somewhat that seems to come out in his response to Reuben in verse 38.

Genesis 42:38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is the only one left.

Ouch! I didn’t know we were keeping track, keeping count of which son of which mother and he is the only one. That hurts! This is the condemnation unleashed as sort of an outrage. He is speaking out of his grief. Then if you look there in verse 37, Reuben just gets desperate in his actions. There is a desperation that unfolds out of this regret where they can’t contest what Jacob says. I mean, how could they? There is blame that is undeserved that he offered, but there is also other guilt that he doesn’t know about. So they’re just silent. Reuben just sort of proposes this other ill-thought-out solution.

Genesis 42:37 Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

It’s absurd! This is just desperation at work. There is desperation because he feels such regret. There is suspicion from on high, dread from within, condemnation from without. There is desperation of all kinds. These are the consequences that accompany regret for our sin. It’s the bitter aftertaste that we need to beware because choosing sin is never worth the pain that follows.

There is no shortage of stories of regret. From Cain to Esau bargaining his way out of the blessing, Israel not entering the Promised Land, Saul caving into the people’s pressure and then regretting what had happened. Ultimately, Judas was so full of regret for betraying the innocent Christ, that he took his own life. But regret is not limited to tragic characters. We see it even in our heroes. We see David and his sin with Bathsheba, Peter and his denial of Jesus. We see the prodigal son and the hunger pains of a wasted life and fortune. We see the men of Acts 2 cut to the heart for their execution of Christ. Even Paul was a man responsible for persecuting the church and overseeing the murder and martyr of its earliest hero. This is a taste that he hints at that even one day actually Israel itself will face in truest form when they see the risen Christ. Do you remember when we were looking at the book of Zechariah in chapter 12?

Zechariah 12:10 …when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

This sort of bitterness should lead to tears. It’s painful. But the hope of the Scripture is that this is not the end. Paul would remind us that just as the Gentiles and Israel will one day gather together to realize that God is faithful to discipline, He is also kind and gracious to forgive. You see His heart and intent. You see it even in Joseph’s kindness and provision for his family. You see it in the prodigal father’s compassion. You see it in Jesus and His breakfast with Peter. You see it in Peter’s encouragement to the men in Acts. You see it in Paul’s explanation of his own role and how he is an example and then his appeal as a model and an example of mercy. You see it in the prophecy of Israel’s return one day. There is hope!

As bitter as your cup may be, the Scriptures tell us that the most bitter cup, the cup of God’s wrath, God came and He drank it in our place down to the bitter dregs so that we would not have to. The one who never deserved to taste regret drank the wrath of God for us. Such is the kindness and mercy of God. It’s a kindness that would call to us and cry to us even now for those of you who maybe have forgotten past lessons of the bitterness of sin and are being tempted even now. Don’t do it! Perhaps you’re suffering because of another person’s sin or the brokenness of this world in general. Here’s where we see that sin brings bitter regret, but there is hope. There is hope that is better than we can imagine and you can see that here as we move from bitterness to bittersweet.

#2 Repentance: A Bittersweet Acquired Taste To Foster (38:1-30; 43:1-44:34)

Repentance is not merely sorrow or sadness. It’s just confessing and agreeing with God in calling sin, sin and turning from that sin to Him in faith. We say “This is evil. This is wrong. I don’t want it anymore. Instead, I want God” in the action of turning to Him, trusting in Him. It’s owning sin and the responsibility for it and then renouncing it. That is anything but natural. It’s incredibly uncomfortable. Sin gives us an appeal saying this will be sweet and you step into it and it’s bitter. You think repentance is going to taste bitter and it’s going to be tough, but in the end, it actually turns around to be sweet. It’s a taste that is actually acquired. We actually must step into it and trust God about it.

It’s a spiritual palate that we have to develop. It’s a maturity that we respond to God’s call and appeal and we experience that yes there is a sense in which repentance is uncomfortable for us, but it is always worth it in the end. It feels uncomfortable. Owning our sin and stepping towards God feels uncomfortable, but it is worth it. There are plenty of acquired tastes in life that are developed only through maturity. You start to appreciate the blessing that actually comes from something that at first you thought was not worth it. Repentance is that kind of a taste. It’s a choice that feels uncomfortable, but is always worth it in the end.

You can see some of the hints of the notes of repentance. There is a lot going on here. It’s very complex relationally. It’s complex socially. It’s complex in the family. There is a little bit of a melody of repentance and what’s going on that I want to try to trace for you here in the character that we often overlook, which is Judah. We’ll start here with the truth that we must confess. In chapter 43, Judah is coming here and Judah had overlooked the early stages of his sin. He has come here in chapter 43 and before he gets to Joseph, he speaks to his dad.

1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will 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.’”

8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.

He’s saying, “I’ll be a pledge. I’ll be the guarantee.” It might be easy to skip over that word. Okay, Judah is doing that. But if you think about it, what causes a guy like Judah to offer himself as a pledge? He was the guy who was so happy to just get rid of Joseph. He was so heartless, so cold. What is it that brings about a change in a guy like that? Here we return to the chapter that we had skipped over, chapter 38. It’s not your every Sunday School lesson chapter. So this is a parental forewarning. This is an advisory. Viewer discretion advised when you look back at who this man Judah truly is.

Reuben, the firstborn, had actually disqualified himself from being the true one that God would provide the chosen Child, the Seed they were waiting for. He had been with his father’s concubine. Then next, Levi and Simeon had compromised their positions through that deceitful slaughter of a town, vengefully avenging their sister. Now here is Judah, the fourth born. We wonder, is it possible that he could continue the line? But in chapter 37, he is the one who convinces them to rescue Joseph and send him as a slave. So maybe there is something going on here with Judah. It still seems pretty bad. I mean, it can’t get worse than that, can it? Chapter 38 says yes, it can get way worse. Look at what Judah does.

They had betrayed Joseph, their brother. They go back and tell Jacob and he is all heartbroken. Judah doesn’t stick around for that. Jacob is saying, “Oh, my only son.” Judah says, “I’m out of here!” So he leaves. This chapter ends up being Judah kind of off on his own. It’s about him and how blind he is to the suffering and to the stench of sin. He is completely calloused. He is completely unaware. He is coldhearted. He just continues down the same path that he is on.
Genesis 38:1 It happened at that time that Judah went down from his brothers and turned aside to a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.
This guy is not a great guy. You can see down in verse 20 that he is a pretty unhelpful character. Judah seems to go rogue. He is independent of his family. He goes back into a space where he is almost reinitiating the danger that had happened with Levi and Simeon where they were going to start to integrate with some of the Canaanites and be compromised and threaten the lineage of the Seed. Now Judah is here doing the same thing.
Genesis 38:2-5 There Judah saw the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. He took her and went in to her, and she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er. She conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan. Yet again she bore a son, and she called his name Shelah. Judah was in Chezib when she bore him.
You see him enter into a questionable marriage and then he has a questionable lineage. It should bring to our minds, is this the line? Why do these kids matter? Is this really where we’re going? There is a questionable lineage, here. Then we see that they grow up in this culture and we see the kind of men these boys turn out to be.
Genesis 38:6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.
Then she becomes the unsuspecting victim of unthinkable evil.
Genesis 38:7 But Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and the LORD put him to death.
We’re not even told what the wickedness is. It’s not even listed for us, but it was incredibly evil. At the time, the common respected ancient custom was when a woman’s husband died before he produced any heirs, that she was vulnerable. So there was need for a male heir to receive the inheritance and continue the family line. So the custom was the next brother in line would then assume her as his wife and bear children through her. The point would be those children would take on his brother’s name so that the son would be the heir and would continue the inheritance and the lineage through his line. That’s what Judah commands his second son to do.
Genesis 38:8-9 Then Judah said to Onan, “Go in to your brother’s wife and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up offspring for your brother.” But Onan knew that the offspring would not be his. So whenever he went in to his brother’s wife he would waste the semen on the ground, so as not to give offspring to his brother.
This is unthinkable evil and abuse. He was using her as an object and depriving her of the sole reason for the union, which was children, because he did not want to reduce his share of the family inheritance.
Genesis 38:10 And what he did was wicked in the sight of the LORD, and he put him to death also.
God takes his wickedness seriously. But do you know who doesn’t? Judah. The Lord puts him to death and Judah doesn’t take a hint from what is going on here from God. In fact, he says, do you know the problem, here? In his mind, he thinks the problem is this woman. She’s cursed. That’s the problem. She has a stigma in his mind.
Genesis 38:11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, “Remain a widow in your father’s house, till Shelah my son grows up”—for he feared that he would die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and remained in her father’s house.
He preserves what matters to him. Judah is heartless, cold, callous. Judah puts her future at jeopardy with no husband or potential son to care for her and no other provision. It’s dark, but it gets worse. She seems to realize, I’m stuck. There is no way out for me. So she starts to devise her own plan.
Genesis 38:12-14 In the course of time the wife of Judah, Shua’s daughter, died. When Judah was comforted, he went up to Timnah to his sheepshearers, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite. And when Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law is going up to Timnah to shear his sheep,” she took off her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil, wrapping herself up, and sat at the entrance to Enaim, which is on the road to Timnah. For she saw that Shelah was grown up, and she had not been given to him in marriage.
She takes matters into her own hands and realizes I have to do something. We’re not told that what she does is right, but this is what she does.
Genesis 38:15 When Judah saw her, he thought she was a prostitute, for she had covered her face.
Right in front of him is this sufferer that was a victim of the sinners. Instead of recognizing who is in front of him, he thinks she is a prostitute and he is distracted because of what he wants.
Genesis 38:16 He turned to her at the roadside and said, “Come, let me come in to you,” for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law.
He doesn’t realize what is going on. He is easy prey, in contrast to what is going to happen with Joseph. She doesn’t even have to go after him. He just asks for her.
Genesis 38:16-17 …She said, “What will you give me, that you may come in to me?” He answered, “I will send you a young goat from the flock.”
It’s not a bad gift. Goats were reasonable as it goes.
Genesis 38:17 …And she said, “If you give me a pledge, until you send it—”
Wait a second! Have you heard that word before?
Genesis 38:18 He said, “What pledge shall I give you?” She replied, “Your signet and your cord and your staff that is in your hand.”
Those are three most obvious identifiers. That’s outrageous! You never give all of those. But sin makes us do foolish things.
Genesis 38:18-19 …So he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him. Then she arose and went away, and taking off her veil she put on the garments of her widowhood.
Judah has no idea what has happened. He tries to send a goat through his friend, but he doesn’t find this woman. There wasn’t a cult prostitute there. They’re kind of embarrassed and say, well, let’s hope the thing just kind of goes away. He doesn’t really think about it.
Genesis 38:24 About three months later Judah was told, “Tamar your daughter-in-law has been immoral. Moreover, she is pregnant by immorality.” And Judah said, “Bring her out, and let her be burned.”
He is cold and heartless. This is dark. It’s harsh. He is completely blind. It’s almost as if he is holding a grudge against her for the death of his sons because of their wickedness and he doesn’t know how to count the days. He’s blind, but he is about to be exposed.
Genesis 38:25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, “By the man to whom these belong, I am pregnant.” And she said, “Please identify whose these are, the signet and the cord and the staff.”
You remember Judah, having maybe dipped Joseph’s own robe in blood and then saying, hey dad, identify whose these are. All of a sudden, here he is. Now he is the father receiving something to identify and realizing, I’m guilty.
Genesis 38:26 Then Judah identified them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not know her again.
He acknowledges that he is the one who did the gravest wrong. He recognizes that she was in some senses trying to acquire what he had promised. We’re not told that it was all right, but he recognizes he was guilty in assuming her guilt and exacting this kind of a punishment.
Genesis 38:27-30 When the time of her labor came, there were twins in her womb. And when she was in labor, one put out a hand, and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, “This one came out first.” But as he drew back his hand, behold, his brother came out. And she said, “What a breach you have made for yourself!” Therefore his name was called Perez. Afterward his brother came out with the scarlet thread on his hand, and his name was called Zerah.
This is a memorable story. These are important names that are going to actually come through the line of Judah and are going to be important later on. But the contrast right before the chapter that follows is Joseph could have enjoyed all the world had to offer. He could have enjoyed the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. He had the ultimate excuse. He is the total victim. No one knew where he was. No one knew what to expect from him. The temptation was strong and it was coming after him full force and he chose to honor God. Here is Judah, completely yielded to the lust of the flesh. He was willing to sell his brother for a slave, but he is actually a slave of sin and completely blind to the sufferers right in front of him. This is evil.
Yet, look at all that God does in a unique way to bring Judah to the end of himself. He comes to his father and he is able to say, let me be the pledge. Judah seems to be a changed man. What is it that changed him? God has exposed and brought some of his sin to the front, but God is not yet done working. There is more to unpack. Judah offers himself as a guarantee. Jacob still is wrestling with some of the things that he probably had from his past. Do you remember when Jacob was going to Esau and he didn’t really trust what was going on? That’s one of the challenges of being a deceiver. It’s that you can’t trust anyone.
11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”
I’m going to trust God. It’s a struggle. But even if trusting God is a struggle, it’s still worth it. This reminds us of the famous time when Esther has to make a big risk and go before the king. She says, “If I perish, I perish.” Even if it’s a struggle, it’s worth it. Sometimes our worst days are actually our best ones. So here is the truth that Judah is just now starting to face and having to confess and recognize. But it’s going to bring him up to a test that he is going to face.
They go to Egypt and they have a feast and all this stuff unfolds. They take the present. You see everything happening. They’re still blind to what is going on. It’s shocking that they could see Benjamin’s preferential treatment. It’s shocking that they could be seated in birth order. The chances of birth order happening accidentally are nearly 40 million, I think. They’re sitting there and they don’t realize that this is Joseph. They’re missing it. But then they have this opportunity. So they haven’t caught up to the fact that this is Joseph.
Joseph devises this scheme or ruse whereby on their way out, the servant comes and says you’ve taken something. No one did that. In fact, if someone did, kill them. We see here a theme of people ready to kill people pretty fast, whether it was back when they were ready to get rid of Joseph or whether it was Judah saying “Let’s burn Tamar.” Now here they are saying, kill him. The servant says, “No, don’t kill him. Just let the person be a slave.” Okay, fine. All of a sudden, the cup is found in Benjamin’s sack and here is the ultimate test. It’s the easiest option. We can just get rid of the other brother just the way that we did before. In fact, it wasn’t our fault. We didn’t do it. It just happened. But they don’t respond the same way. In chapter 44,
13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.
Who is mentioned in leading?
14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house,
They knew he had made the guarantee. They knew he was the pledge. He was leading the way. He comes back and we see the transformation that Judah showcases here.
15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants;
He recognizes we are undone. We’re guilty. He says
behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
Joseph seems as if he is rescuing Benjamin from their clutches and giving Judah the opportunity to just let him go.
18 Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’
24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’
30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
Judah is such a changed man that he is not willing to sacrifice his brother for him. He says “Take me instead.” Here’s the repentance that is starting to blossom. There is a beauty in it. It’s a bitterness, but it’s also a sweetness. There is something precious. It’s a kind of sweetness that God affirms so often.
Proverbs 28:13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy.
Jesus says
Luke 15:7 Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
God doesn’t look to the self-righteous religious Pharisee, but to the sinner who beats his chest saying, “God be merciful to me.” Repentance is bitter in its own way. It’s uncomfortable in the beginning, but it’s always worth it. It’s so sweet in the end.
James 4:9-10 Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.
There is a sweetness. God wants you. He’s calling you. We see Judah and his heart. It’s as if God is putting a microscope on him and saying, “Like this. This is the theme. Be broken over your sin. Change.” You see the hope that unfolds here in the last point. It’s the taste of sweet.
#3 Restoration: A Sweet Foretaste To Savor (45:1-46:34)
The Bible is full of this beautiful blessing of being brought back together, of reconciliation, of healing, of restoration. Here we get one of the best examples. It’s an appetizer for that kind of restoration. We see a restoration that is almost too good to be true. It’s almost too good to be true in this reconciliation amongst the brothers, where you see Judah in expressing this. He is speaking to Joseph and he can’t take it. Joseph hears the compassion. It’s the compassion that he longed for and that he couldn’t hear when he was appealing to them. Now here is Judah appealing. He is willing to put himself in harm’s way for Benjamin, the brother he loved.
1 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.
He loses all dignity. He just starts weeping.
3 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”
He had asked and they had said, but he didn’t know what he could trust. He is desperate now. Is dad really alive? He believes he can get an honest answer out of this guy, now.
But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.
They are shocked! What does Joseph do? Does he seek revenge?
4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.”
He’s crying alone. They don’t want to go close.
And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
Joseph sees vertically. He knows God put me here. He had the dream from the beginning. “I know God had me here so that I could provide.”
6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.
We have a famine in the world. He is using me in such a powerful way. Don’t be angry at yourselves. We can trust God.
8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”
You can imagine. You’ve had Christmases and birthdays and you want your family and friends to see, “Look what I got for Christmas. Look what I got for my birthday.” He has been sent away. God has done all these things in his life and he is the ruler who is second in the world. He’s like, “Go get dad. Bring him here.” Then he finally gets to Benjamin.
14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck.
They’re not just crying. They’re crying on each other’s necks.
15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them.
That’s what it took, that kind of expression of compassion and forgiveness and affection.
After that his brothers talked with him.
He was just unloading on them. That kind of reconciliation is almost too good to be true. Then we see an almost too good to be true reunification with the father.
16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
21 The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and all of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. 23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”
25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them.
He had been so quick to believe the dark tidings and now he is so slow to believe the good news. What are you guys talking about?
27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
But do you know what he does?
1 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
He remembers and recalls the promises that have been made and he takes time to spend time with God.
2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.
This world is broken. You’ve seen it all. You’ve been a big part of it, in fact. My promise is unbroken. Trust me.
4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again, and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.” 5 Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, 7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters. All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.
28 He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.
Judah arranges this reunification.
29 Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.
God wants us to read those words, “a good while.” It’s almost too good to be true. In fact, in this final provision amongst the foreigners, Pharaoh comes and there is all this blessing. There is a fulfillment of promises kept, promises to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob. Now he has experienced all these promises and he feels all of these blessings and you can read all of those. Then there is an expression of faith in the promises that are yet to come.
29 And when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal kindly and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place.”
There is a promise to come that they were trusting in. I want to be like that. I know there is something good to come. I know that there is something ahead. Promise me. I trust that.
He answered, “I will do as you have said.” 31 And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.
God has surprise blessings in this life. Never doubt His ability to do so. But the best of them are merely appetizers for the good that is to come. They’re echoes of what connects us to people of the past and people of the future and people who are waiting ahead. There is a great reunion, a joy that we await. You might say I want that kind of reunion. I want that kind of happy ending of Joseph, but it’s impossible for me in my story. I can’t have it. Maybe even the reunion you want is with someone who is not here anymore. They’ve passed on. It’s not possible. But listen. You may not have the same story of Joseph in this sense of the happy ending of Genesis, but you are a part of the great story of the happily ever after in Revelation, where our Savior Himself wipes away the very tears from our eyes and welcomes us home forever. This is just a foretaste of that. It’s the promise that all who are in Christ have and will enjoy. The best blessings that life has to offer here are just a foretaste of the thing that is to come, blessings beyond our wildest dreams.