So here we see Joseph responding to them as they were. Still wracked with guilt, still afraid. And he responds to them in wisdom and kindness. He does not treat them as they had been but deals with them in their present state. And notice their change, notice their present state. I mentioned a few of these as we went through.
1. They sought his forgiveness. Calling their act, they admitted that their act was a trespass, a sin, and evil. They fully confessed their sin.
2. They fell down on their knees and voluntarily humbled themselves before him, which harkens back to the dreams that he had that they would bow down before him. It is not something that happened just because he was Pharaoh's number one minister. It was also because Joseph was God's representative. Joseph was the one God had sent. It was Joseph who had become the head of the family. And they voluntarily, as I said, made themselves his servants. These were not the same brothers that threw him into a pit and sold him to the Midianites.
They had changed. What we see here is the process of repentance that had brought the sons of Jacob back into a proper relationship with Joseph.
Now let us look at Joseph. Instead of berating them and making them feel more guilty, Joseph did four things here.
1. He allayed their fear immediately. Do not fear. You do not have anything to be afraid of. It is me, Joseph. I am not going to do something like that. It is kind of like what he said.
2. He explained God's greater purpose. It was always in his mind that God was working, God was sovereign, God was making things work toward a specific end. And he explained it to them.
3. He provided for them. He gave them what they needed to live in the world of Egypt where they were strangers and sojourners.
4. He comforted them and spoke kindly to them. He did not lord it over them. He did not criticize them. He did not yell at them. He did not say, what dolts you are, you should know this. Did you not listen to dad all those years ago? No. He treated them as they were. In this, Joseph is a type of Christ as he is in many instances in his story.
God put Joseph in that place to equip Pharaoh and Egypt to supply food to the world during a seven-year famine foretold by Joseph. Years later, during the terrible famine, Joseph again meets his brothers, and here is how Joseph dispels the whole tale of treachery against him. Notice his focal point after all of this.
Joseph wisely interpreted the events of his life by seeing God first, and then his circumstances. Joseph's eyes were filled with who God was as the preserver of life, not just of his own life, but the lives of many that were affected at that time.
This was not really the end of this, because when Jacob died the brothers still were apprehensive because they felt that perhaps Joseph allowed them to be alive only because Jacob was alive, and out of deference to their father he did not hurt the family. They were as guilty as sin, and many years after, their consciences were still smiting them, because Joseph was there on the throne, and even though he did not say anything, he was condemning them simply by the fact that he was there. Their consciences were smitten. They felt they needed to be reassured once again.
After eating from the forbidden tree, Adam and Eve know good and evil. Thereafter, good and evil are intertwined for those living in a physical world.
Although Joseph's brothers meant evil against him, Moses recorded Joseph's words in Genesis 50:20. Joseph saw that: "God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive."
There you have it, in summary. One of the major, broad teachings of the events of Joseph's life is that God is able to work out His purposes even when people are unaware that it is working for their good. Joseph did not know right away that this was what he was going through.
