Joseph Reveals Himself

Genesis 45:1-15

When the brothers came back to Egypt for the second time with Benjamin, Joseph insists that Benjamin stay in Egypt. After Judah pleads with Joseph to spare Benjamin for the sake of their father, Joseph could no longer keep quiet. He reveals himself to his brothers as Joseph.

When Pharaoh heard the news, he was pleased and told Joseph to have his brothers go back to Canaan and bring back their father. Pharaoh will provide them with the best land in Egypt as well as whatever they needed. They would be honored guests in the land, as the family of Joseph.

Joseph sends his brothers back to Canaan, including Benjamin, with much money, goods and provisions. When the brothers tell Jacob what happened and that Joseph is not only alive, but now the ruler of Egypt, Jacob is stunned and cannot believe them. But when told of the words of Joseph as well as all the wagons full of goods, Jacob believes and is eager to go to Egypt and see his son who he believed was dead.

The Joseph narrative started in Genesis 37 when the young, spoiled boy received two dreams from God. Dreams about reigning over his family. But gleefully sharing this dream with his family caused Joseph his childhood. The resentful and jealous brothers decided to negate the dream by selling Joseph to slave traders.

As for the brothers, they had to make up a lie about Joseph being killed by wild animals, and Jacob, the father, was thrown into grief and depression, with an exaggerated protectiveness towards his youngest son, Benjamin. The brothers were shadowed by guilt as the years went by.

Looking at Joseph’s actions in Genesis 42 and 44, it seems that Joseph, with the dreams coming to fulfillment, still had no real sense of why this happened, except some vague notion that God favored him. So, rather than reveal himself to his brothers, he decides to play a little revenge on them, playing tricks, making accusations, making demands – To make his brothers sweat a bit, fearing for their lives and the well-being of their father and Benjamin.

During the banquet, however, Joseph seems to gain clarity on why all this was happening. This causes him to reveal his identity to his brothers, as well as to share with them the insights he gained about God’s plans for them. We see this in Joseph’s own words – “God sent me before you to preserve life.”

As for the brothers, when Joseph reveals himself, they are dismayed. They now realized that the dreamer brother they had wronged had his dream come true and is now standing in front of them as the ruler of Egypt. They probably felt they were in trouble. Remembering that Joseph had caused them anguish and fear by tricking them, accusing them and making demands of them, they probably feared and worried about themselves going forward. They must have been anxious about being ruled by their brother who they sold into slavery. So, they must have been relieved, at least a little, to hear Joseph telling them not be distressed for selling him, since it was all under God’s plans. But as we will see later, we know that they are hopeful, but not one hundred percent certain that Joseph will not take revenge on them in the future.

As for Jacob, the news was too good to be believed – Ones who died do not come back to life. But once he is convinced that Joseph is alive, this knowledge revives him, and he is eager to go to Egypt to see Joseph. It must have been like the feeling Jesus’ followers felt when they heard the news that their Lord, who was killed tragically now lives.

The key verses in this chapter, if not the whole Joseph narrative, are found in Joseph’s speech, repeated three times:

• V.5 God sent me before you to preserve life
• V.7 God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth
• V.8 It was not you who sent me here, but God

Joseph now understands that he is part of God’s plan for the formation of the nation of Israel. He has been placed in his position of power not to take revenge on his brothers who sold him into slavery, but to preserve his family and the dreams of a future great nation. He realizes that all the hardships that he experienced brought him to the position he is in now – the fulfillment of the dreams he had been given by God. He now takes action in accordance with God’s plan, to bring Jacob to Egypt so that the whole family can survive.

We too may find ourselves reaching some goals/vision in our lives. It might be some position at work that we coveted, certain financial status, position of influence over others, parenthood, grandparenthood, retirement, etc.

We may have overcome oppositions and discouragements to get to the position for which we strived, and our desire might be to let those people who did not support and even opposed us know that we have succeeded despite their opposition. But at those times, we need to look back at all that got us to where we are, and we will most likely see that many things had to go just right for us to have arrived in this place. It should be a reminder that had we not had God’s help, we most likely would not have arrived. We might have worked hard, but we know things could have easily gone wrong, but they did not.

At those time, like Joseph, we need to realize that God has a plan and a purpose for getting us to that place. We should be thankful, as well as aware that God expects us to act, to use our situation for the furtherance of His kingdom, rather than for our selfish agenda.

So, when we find ourselves in positions of power or influence or being able to be helpful, we ought to pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit and act according to God’s expectations – To be a blessing to others, and be witnesses to the fact that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and Savior of the world.

(the above is a summary of the message shared by Shun Takano during our worship on January 28, 2024.)