AUGUST 15, 2024
“And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them…” (Genesis 42:7)
It has been said that “a type cannot walk on all fours,” which is to say that there is no such thing as a perfect type, and that is especially so with types of Christ. Joseph, however, is to my mind the nearest to the perfect type of Christ in all of Scripture. He was the favorite of his father; he was hated by his brethren; was betrayed and sold for the price of a slave. He went down into Egypt where, though a righteous and innocent man, he was falsely accused, humiliated, and imprisoned, later to be released and then highly exalted to the right hand of power. From his highly exalted position at the right hand of power, he would dispense to a famished world the lifesaving “bread,” which he in his wisdom had stored in advance. He was, therefore, like Christ, the “savior of all men,” but the bread was especially meant to save God’s chosen people. He said to his brethren, “God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth.”
Since God’s primary purpose in bringing Joseph to Egypt was to preserve the lives of his father’s house, it begs the question; “Why did he deal so roughly with them?” We do not find that he spoke roughly to any others who came from other parts to buy corn; only to his brethren whom he loved did he deal roughly and make hard demands – the very family that the Lord intended particularly to save, for whose salvation Joseph’s granaries were specially designed.
They did not know him, but he knew them, and the “good” of saving them was the reason for which God overrode the “evil” that was perpetrated against him. (Gen. 50:20)
This is the manner of Christ in His providential dealings with the sons of men. Of the billions that God provides for, all have troubles in measure (Job 5:7), but if any should escape, it will surely not be His own elect whom He has known and loved with an everlasting love. (John 16:33; Acts 14:22) But, in our case God has a special design, for He sanctifies our troubles to us, as a means of turning our hearts to Him. We come to realize that God sends troubles in love, in order to bring good in the proving and perfecting of our faith. (I Pet. 1:6, 7) In the case of Joseph’s brothers, we see that it caused them to reflect on their past and own the guilt for Joseph’s “death.” They assumed that he was dead. (Vs. 21) Thus, in God’s rough dealings with His elect, He brings conviction and causes them to own their guilt and mourn for Him whom they have pierced. (Zech. 12:10)
If we, as believers, did not know the end unto which our trials of life occur, we might be perplexed. That’s not to say that we are not often perplexed. We often forget that what our enemy intends for evil; God intends for good. Lacking faith, we fail to realize that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” We need not always have to say, “Farther along we will know all about it; farther along we’ll understand why.” Though it is true we will likely “understand it better by and by,” yet even now we can rest in the fact that God sends trials not to destroy us, but to make us better; that when He speaks roughly it is no reason to doubt His love. Joseph spoke roughly only to those he loved and intended to bless above all others.
This was Joseph’s intention here. He has every intention to bless his brethren. We know that the trials continued until, at last, the gracious end was realized. Joseph will reveal himself to them and bring them and their father to be with him where he is. (See John 17:24)
It is most often the case that when the Lord sets upon a sinner to save him, He begins by speaking roughly to him, as it were. It is usually glimpses of terror that persuade men to flee to Christ. He will make a soul to experience darkness just before the dawn. (II Pet. 1:19) It is also true that trials will immediately precede great blessings in the Christian life, in addition to the blessing of greater and more mature faith.
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