An overview for Sunday School teachers and Bible study leaders, of Lifeway’s “Explore the Bible” lesson of Genesis 45:1-15 for Sunday, May 19, 2024, with the title, “Reconcile.” A video version of this overview is available on YouTube at:

INTRO: ??? Ask your group members to share about a joyous family reunion they had with a long-lost/absent family member or loved one???

(EX: — As children growing up, we prayed every night at the dinner table for “Uncle Rick in Vietnam” — and then one day, some years later — he came home! We were really excited — until he lined us up and told us in his best Marine voice that our room was a mess and we needed to get that place cleaned up!

— As an adult, what sticks out is the return of my sister from the mission field, where she had been involved in a tragic jetliner crash in China in which only about 8 people survived. She had been in the hospital in China for some time, recovering from broken bones and some 3rd degree burns. But some weeks later we met her at the airport in Oklahoma City, where they wheeled her off the plane, and she smiled and waved to us — and we could see it was the same Erin we’d always known and loved. Our kids (her nephews and nieces) were there, and it was a sweet reunion.

You/your group can share your own experiences, and then you could say something like: in this week’s lesson we’ll see how Joseph and his brothers had a “family reunion,” which was surprisingly sweet, especially given all his circumstances!

CONTEXT:

We left off in our study of Genesis with Joseph rising to the position of basically being the ruler of Egypt. He’d been sold into slavery by his brothers, unjustly accused by Potiphar’s wife, thrown into prison — but there he interpreted dreams which he also did for Pharaoh, predicting 7 years of plenty, before 7 years of famine, and so Pharaoh made him ruler of the land, storing up food for the upcoming famine. 

In the meantime, the good years came, and Joseph wisely stored up food in Egypt, and then the famine comes, and it ravages that whole region of the world. So Jacob sends Joseph’s brothers to Egypt, where they have heard they can buy food. But he specifically did NOT send his youngest son, Benjamin, because he didn’t want anything to happen to him. 

SO 42:6 says they went to Egypt, and bowed down to Joseph (what’s the significance of this? This is just what he prophesied in his dream, of their sheafs bowing down to his! It DID come true.)

42:8 says “Joseph had recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.” 

So he “toyed” with them a bit: he accused them of being spies, and put them in prison for 3 days. Then he released all but Simeon (as 42:36 makes clear) and told the brothers not to come back without Benjamin, their youngest brother, whom his father Jacob did NOT want to send there.

But Chapter 43 says the famine was severe, so Jacob finally relented and sent Benjamin back with them. But when they bought more grain, Joseph had his own special cup put in Benjamin’s sack, and then told them that he was going to make Benjamin his slave, for stealing his cup. 

With that, Judah broke down and told him about how heartbroken their father Jacob would be to lose Benjamin, and he offered himself as a ransom, a captive in Benjamin’s place, because it would be so hurtful to his father.

(there’s actually several good lessons in there:

— ??? You could ask your group: why do you think Joseph “toyed” with his brothers here??? Was this good/right?

(Maybe he was getting just a little bit of revenge on them? Or maybe he was teaching them a lesson that he wisely felt would lead them to repentance — which it may have?

But you could have some interesting discussion here.

(And remember “descriptive vs prescriptive.” The Bible “describes” what Joseph did; it doesn’t necessarily “prescribe” that this was exactly what he SHOULD have done. Even though he ultimately forgave them, it does seem to me like he was getting back at them a bit!)

Then at the end of Chapter 44, where Judah offers himself as a substitute in the place of his brother Benjamin — does this picture anything to you???

(Judah’s action here foreshadows what JESUS would do: the offspring of Judah, who would offer HIMSELF as a substitute/ransom for ALL of us, in His death on the cross! So this is one of the Old Testament analogies/signs of truth to come!)

So this brings us to our focus passage:

OUTLINE:

I.  The Gracious Reunion (:1-4)

II. The God-Centered Perspective (:5-9)

III. The Divine Purpose (:7-15) 

TEXT:

I.  The Gracious Reunion  (:1-4)

When Judah offered himself as a substitute, to take Benjamin’s place  :1 says “Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, ‘Have everyone go out from me!’ So there was no man with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.”

So Judah broke down and begged for Joseph’s mercy, and offered himself as a Substitute (and that is such a good picture, you might want to talk about that here in point I), and this made Joseph “break down” as well. Have you ever tried to hold back your emotions/tears — hold them back, hold them back — but finally they just burst out? That was Joseph here. 

In fact :2 says “He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.” So it was REALLY loud. 

At our daughter Libby’s wedding, when she came walking down the aisle, my wife Cheryl was SO overcome by emotion, that she just totally lost it. And Cheryl said it wasn’t one of those “sweet little cries,” she said it was what she called a “donkey cry”! REALLY loud and uncontrolled; everyone heard it. 

THAT is how Joseph was here in Genesis 45.

??? Why do you think Joseph was SO emotional about this???

(I think there was probably some MIXTURE of emotions in Joseph’s tears here: both mourning all the hardship he’d been through, but also with joy that he’s been reconciled with his brothers, etc. )

:3 Then 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.”

??? Why do you think they would be “dismayed.”???

(The Hebrew word here is “bahal,” it means, “disturbed” or “terrified.” Why might they be “terrified”?

(Of course, because of what they had done to him, right?

It would be like cutting somebody off in traffic, and then discovering that he was the JUDGE at your trial! “Uh-Oh!”

They had every reason to expect that he was really going to bring the hammer down on them! And by all “worldly standards,” he should have: these guys were going to kill you; then DID kidnap you and sell you into slavery. He had every worldly right to take revenge on these guys.  But he didn’t!

:4 “Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Please come closer to me.’ And they came closer. And he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.”

He continues in :5 “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

Do you think they were surprised when he responded this way?

I’d think so! you would expect him to really hammer them: you treated me badly, and now I am going to get YOU back!

That’s what they deserved — but that’s not how he treated them.

And that’s called GRACE: when we treat people better than they deserve to be treated. 

1) This is GOD treats US, right? We have all sinned against Him, just like Joseph’s brothers treated him, and we all deserved to punished by Him, just like they deserved to be punished by him.

But instead, Joseph treated them GRACIOUSLY. That means He treated them better than they deserved. And through Christ, God also treats us better than we deserve.

In 2020 John Rahm was at Augusta Georgia for the Masters, and  he hit a golf ball on the water on the 16th hole: it hit the water, skipped a couple of times, went up onto the green, rolled all the way down and began to bank to the left, then slowly dropped INTO the hole, for a hole in one!  John Rahm had a big smile on his face, and he shook his head waved to the crowd, like “I sure didn’t deserve that!” 

The way he felt that day, is the way every Christian should feel every day. We should be all smiling and waving and shaking our heads. We don’t “deserve” what we get from God. It is all totally by His grace! 

The message of Christianity is NOT: “come to church and be a good person.” No, the message of the gospel is that God has GRACE for us; it is not a matter of us getting what we deserve, but that God has grace for us, and will treat us BETTER than we deserve, if we will repent of our sins and put our trust in the Gospel. 

2) This is also a good model of how WE are to treat OTHERS too.

God has treated US better than we deserve — so we should also treat OTHERS better than they deserve to be treated too!

If you’ve ever had someone whom you have treated badly, act in a gracious manner to you, you know it is a very humbling thing. And you are likely, very appreciative of the grace they have shown you. We should be that way. Because of what God has done for us, we should be very gracious to others — for God has been so gracious to US! 

You might challenge your group to consider: Is there anyone in your life right now, whom you are tempted to be harsh and unforgiving towards — but God is showing you that you should be GRACIOUS towards them instead — NOT because they deserve it, because they DON’T! — but that you should just be GRACIOUS to them, because GOD has first been gracious to you! 

Joseph’s story is that God was gracious to him; he recognized that, and was in turn gracious to his brothers.

That should be OUR story too: God has been gracious to us, so let us in our turn be gracious to others, and show them the grace that God showed us!

II.  The God-Centered Perspective (:5-9)

So it was a gracious “Reunion.” How was this possible? Only because of the God-centered  Joseph had, which he shows us in :5-9:

:5 “Now do not be grieved or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.”

This is such a KEY, KEY statement: “GOD sent me” here, Joseph said.  Joseph was a very wise and godly person, and as we said in church a couple of weeks ago in our study of the Book of James, that wisdom is the ability to see things from God’s perspective, and to apply that to our lives. Joseph was truly wise — so he was able to see his situation from God’s perspective. He saw past what his brothers did, and saw the hand of God, and His plan unfolding, even in this difficult situation. 

As we have mentioned a number of times, we see here the scriptural balance of the Responsibility of Man, and the Sovereignty of God:

— Was what the brothers did a sin? YES! And Joseph did not lightly skip over that: “you sold me here.” He confronts them with their sin.

— But he also points them to the bigger picture: the Sovereignty of God. Despite their sin, God was causing all to work together in His plan — and He used even their sinful actions, in that plan! 

NOTICE HOW MANY TIMES HERE IN THIS PASSAGE JOSEPH POINTS THEM TO GOD’S PURPOSE: 

— :5 “for GOD sent me before you to preserve life.”

— :7 “GOD sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth …”

— :8 “Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but GOD, and HE has made me a father to Pharaoh …”

:5, :7, :8, “GOD sent me … GOD sent me … you didn’t send me, but GOD …”! He repeatedly exhibits this God-centered perspective, that God at work here, that God has a plan and He is in charge. 

ILLUSTRATION:

Immediately after World War I was over, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson worked feverishly to get his idea of a “League of Nations” passed by all the major countries of the world. He believed it would keep another war like that from ever happening again. Wilson was working himself to the bone, and his health was suffering. But in the midst of that, he said:

“I believe in divine Providence. … If I did not, I would go crazy. If I thought the direction of the disordered affairs of this world depended upon our finite endeavor, I should not know how to reason my way to sanity. But I do not believe there is any body of men, how ever they concert their power or their influence, that can defeat this great enterprise.”(A. Scott Berg, Wilson, p. 629)

As it turned out, Wilson was wrong about the League of Nations; it did NOT pass the U.S. Senate, and it did not stop a Second World War. But he was RIGHT that there is indeed a Divine Providence ruling over the events of our lives. And we might well say with him, in a number of different situations in OUR lives: that if we didn’t believe God was in charge, and had a purpose for what we were going through, we too might “go crazy.”

YOU MIGHT POST THIS QUOTE FOR YOUR CLASS TO COMMENT ON AND DISCUSS their thoughts about. And you might ask:

???What are some situations in OUR lives today, where a strong faith in Divine Sovereignty/Providence would help us???

(— Perhaps in the loss of a loved one — believing that “precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints” (Psalm 116:15); that their passing was not an “accident,” but that He has some purpose in it.

— Like Joseph, in some trial we face: WHY are we going through this? If we know God is sovereign, we know He is “causing all things to work together for good” in it somehow.

As God’s people, let’s not talk about “luck” or “accidents” and so on; like Joseph, let’s talk about GOD; let’s point people to GOD in our situations. Like him let’s have a God-Centered Perspective.

III.  The Divine Purpose

Several times in these verses Joseph indicates not only that God had a purpose what had happened, but he also indicates what the PURPOSE WAS: 

— :5 “for God sent me before you TO PRESERVE LIFE”

— :7 “God sent me before you to preserve for you a REMNANT in the earth, and TO KEEP YOU ALIVE by a great deliverance.”

— :11 “There I will also provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.

??? WHY was this so important that this family live??? What was so important that God to work all these things together to keep them alive?

(— We saw early on in Genesis 12 when God called Abram, that He said He would make him a great nation, and would bless all the earth through him. So GOD’S WORD was on the line for one; He had promised to do great things through this family.

— Then specifically we know that it was through this family that the word of God came to the world: we see in Exodus 20 and following that God gave the 10 Commandments, and the Law to the world through the descendants of this family.

— And then, as we mentioned a few minutes ago, from Judah in this family eventually came King David —and then eventually the Messiah, Jesus, the only way we could all be saved. 

So saving this family was HUGE! And God allowed all that happened to Joseph: his kidnapping, being sold into slavery, going into prison, etc., to all work together to save this family and “keep them alive”, to keep His promise, and give the world His word, and eventually His Messiah through them.

So this is one of those times when you look back and say, “NOW it all makes sense!” NOW I see why God did that. Joseph could say that.

David basically says that in Psalm 119:71. He could look back and say “It was GOOD for me that I was afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.” He had gone through some difficult experience, but he could say at the end of it: “It was good for me.” 

Again (and we’ve mentioned it a lot the past few weeks, but we’ll do it again because it is so true) Romans 8:28 says “For we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” 

And again, we need to make sure this isn’t just a history lesson for us. How can this apply to US, TODAY? God is STILL in the business of causing even difficult things to work for our own personal good, and for the advancing of His plan in the world. 

??? Can you think of a time when God used something hard or uncomfortable to grow you???

— maybe someone even has a testimony of how God used something hard to lead them to be saved. 

I shared before this is my wife Cheryl’s testimony; when she had a heart-rending breakup with her boyfriend in high school, that led to her realizing that she needed Jesus as her Savior. God worked even that difficult thing for her ultimate good.

— I’ve mentioned how the first year after I graduated seminary, while we were still waiting to get called to a church, and we were very poor, and barely making it, God used that time to grow me spiritually.

You are welcome to share those, and/or your group have other testimonies like that you can add to them.

The point we want to make here, is that our lives are not aimless. The things we go through are not without reason or purpose. God has a purpose for what we are going through.

This should challenge all of us to examine our own lives, and ask: What might God be doing in MY life, right NOW? Whatever you’re going through, you can know He has a plan to do something good through it, in you and in others, just like He did for Joseph. So talk with God about it as you go through it, try to see what good things He might be about: how He might be growing you — what ministry or Kingdom work He want to do through you in this — just like He did Joseph here in Genesis!

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