HealingStrong's Around the Word

Episode 14 - The Joseph Series: Family Drama (Genesis 43:1-34 NIV)

• HealingStrong • Episode 14

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Trauma triggers our alarm bells easily, yet God works healing through unexpected encounters. In Genesis 43, Jacob must send Benjamin to Egypt despite his fears, demonstrating wisdom by combining prayer with practical action during crisis.

This quick episode covers:

• Jacob sends his sons back to Egypt with gifts, double money, and his precious son Benjamin
• The brothers are terrified when invited to Joseph's house, assuming punishment awaits
• Joseph's household manager acknowledges their God, showing Joseph's influence
• Joseph arranges brothers in birth order, causing them astonishment
• Upon seeing Benjamin, Joseph is so emotionally moved he must leave to weep privately
• Joseph maintains his disguise while beginning the process of family reconciliation
• Jacob's situation reveals a profound truth: having wealth doesn't mean having what you truly need

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Suggested Resources:

BIBLE PLAN - Trusting God's Plan in the Waiting: Lessons from the Life of Joseph

PODCAST - Genesis to Revelation Bible Reading

TOOLS - Refresh Your Spirit through God's Word




Speaker 1:

When you have a trauma that's happened in your life, then the bells and whistles go off very quickly and very easily.

Speaker 2:

Hi, my name is Cheryl and you're listening to Healing Strong's Around the Word. We're friends sitting around the table who love the Lord and love digging deep into His Word. Each day in the podcast you'll hear me reading a Bible passage and then we'll chat about what we're learning from it. I'll be reading Genesis, chapter 43, verses 1 through 34 from the NIV version of the Bible. So join us today Around the Word. Genesis 43, verses 1 through 34.

Speaker 2:

Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them Go back and buy us a little more food. But Judah said to him the man warned us solemnly you will not see my face again unless your brother is with you. If you will send our brother along with us, we will go down and buy food for you, but if you will not send him, we will not go down. Because the man said to us you will not see my face again unless your brother is with you. Israel asked why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother? They replied the man questioned us closely about ourselves and our family. Is your father still alive. He asked us do you have another brother? We simply answered his questions how are we to know? He would say bring your brother down here.

Speaker 2:

Then Judah said to Israel his father, send the boy along with me and we will go at once so that we and you and our children may live and not die. I myself will guarantee his safety. You can hold me personally responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him here before you, I will bear the blame before you all my life. As it is, if we had not delayed, we could have gone and returned twice. Then their father, israel, said to them if it must be, then do this. Put some of the best products of the land in your bags and take them down to the man as a gift A little balm and a little honey, some spices and myrrh, some pistachio nuts and almonds. Take double the amount of silver with you, for you must return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks Perhaps it was a mistake. Take your brother also and go back to the man at once, and may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man so that he will let your other brother and Benjamin, come back with you. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved. So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare a meal they are to eat with me at noon. The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph's house.

Speaker 2:

Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought we were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys. So they went up to Joseph's steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. We beg your pardon, our Lord. They said we came down here the first time to buy food, but at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver, the exact weight in the mouth of a sack. So we have brought it back with us. We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don't know who put our silver in our sacks. It's all right, he said Don't be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your silver. Then he brought Simeon out to them.

Speaker 2:

The steward took the men into Joseph's house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. They prepared their gifts for Joseph's arrival at noon because they had heard that they were to eat there. When Joseph came home, they presented to him the gifts they had brought into the house and they bowed down before him to the ground. He asked them how they were and then he said how is your aged father you told me about? Is he still living? They replied your servant, our father, is still alive and well. And they bowed down, prostrating themselves before him as he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son. He asked is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about? And he said God, be gracious to you. My son Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep.

Speaker 2:

He went into his private room and wept there. After he had washed his face, he came out and, controlling himself, said Serve the food his face. He came out and, controlling himself, said "'Serve the food'. They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestable to Egyptians. The men had been seated before him in the order of their ages, from the firstborn to the youngest", and they looked at each other in astonishment when portions were served to them from Joseph's table. Benjamin's portion was five times as much as anyone else's, so they feasted and drank freely with him. That was our Bible reading today, so now let's listen in and hear what we're discussing about that passage.

Speaker 3:

You know, I just put myself in the position of the father. And so here he is, faced with the possibility of losing his other son. But just the steps that he took, the wisdom that he had, number one, you know, he instructed them once it was decided they were going to go back and take the son back with them. He prayed may God Almighty be with you. And then he said, if you know, if I must bear the anguish, then so be it. So he prayed, he trusted God, but then he took action steps. He said, okay, you're gonna, you're gonna take double back, you're gonna take gifts to Joseph there are things that you're going to be able to or not to Joseph, but to the governor, yeah, so he was using his wisdom, his heart was troubled, but he also just by example, I think just showed them. This is what we need to do. We're going to pray about it and I'm going to trust God.

Speaker 2:

I found it interesting later on whenever we meet the servant or the guy that's working in Joseph's household. So now he has somebody that's maintaining his household and I think you had said it. When you're reading it out loud, Angie, you said yeah, verse 23 about your God.

Speaker 4:

The household manager said your God, even the God of your fathers, must have put it there, for we collected your money, all right. So of course the Egyptians had many, many, many gods, and the Israelites were the only faith that had, the one true God. So that's some indication that the household manager maybe was beginning to believe in their one true God.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, that Joseph had an influence on him.

Speaker 1:

Right, and it's kind of funny. They didn't notice that he knew their God, about their God, because they knew Joseph. They didn't realize that because they thought he was Egyptian, they didn't know he was their brother. What?

Speaker 2:

do y'all think about this dinner? They got this big dinner. Joseph's got to sit separate, but he's ordered them all in their birth order. I mean, what do you think is the motive behind what he's doing here?

Speaker 4:

Well, I'm thinking about the guys themselves in verse 18. It says they were badly frightened when they saw that they were being taken out. So all of this is being really strange to them. So they're afraid because they know their past. And then they go into this banquet hall and he starts ordering them in their birth order at the table. They've got to be freaked out, don't you think? I?

Speaker 3:

do, and it's small talk. Hey, how's your dad doing Everything, is he still living? Oh, yes, he's. Yes, I mean, it was just, it was small talk to them, and they have been. You know, their hearts have been racing and not knowing what's going to happen. And yet here, I think in the story, we just begin to see the turn of events shift just a little bit. The healing begin to happen.

Speaker 1:

Right. When you have a trauma that's happened in your life, then the bells and whistles go off very quickly and very easily.

Speaker 3:

Just reading a little bit further and you look at Joseph and so the brothers are like, wow, all this small talk is going on. But it says that Joseph, he looks about and he saw his brother, benjamin, his mother's own son, and he asked is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about? And he said God be gracious to you, my son. And then he was deeply moved at the sight of his brother. And I just think about just the love of our family, the love of people that we have in our hearts, and how time won't change that, and how Joseph moved with compassion, had to hurry out because he was going to weep and he wanted to keep it together. So he actually went out and wept outside of their presence, washed his face and then came back in and began to serve the food. So there just was a whole lot of emotion going on, but I also really feel like there was a whole lot of healing going on that the Lord wanted Joseph to experience at that time, and that was the first step in that.

Speaker 4:

Well, I was just thinking about. Realistically speaking. The story tells us that Jacob sent they didn't have any food, so he sent all 10 of his sons with plenty of money to go buy grain and then, when they came home and they found that the money was still in their sacks, he doubled them up again with money and gifts of all kinds. So it led me to believe that they had plenty of money. Jacob was a wealthy man. Jacob was a wealthy man. He was a wealthy man, but he didn't have what he needed.

Speaker 2:

That's a pretty profound observation from Angie. People that have everything in the world but not what they want. It's very interesting. Anyway, thank you so much for joining us for Healing Strong's Around the Word podcast. I hope you were encouraged to dig deeper into God's Word. If you have a minute, check out our website, healingstrongorg, where you can find out more about our mission and our amazing community groups. Until next time, remember, faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.