God’s people have been given a number of difficult tasks—assignments that, at times, appear overwhelming and nearly unachievable. However, as we study them in the pages of Scripture, without exception we see that, along with said charges, God provides resources to assist and promises rewards to incentivize.

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The decision to take on a difficult task is made easier when resources are provided and rewards are promised.

For example: If you were challenged to walk across the country in six months—from St. John’s to Vancouver (about 7,000km in total; roughly 40km a day)—you may immediately think to yourself, “That’s impossible! I can’t do that! And, on top of that, Why would I?” And reasons for your quick dismissal of the assignment would no doubt start flooding your mind. “I have work. I have kids. That’s too long to be away from my pets, my favourite restaurant, or my favourite TV show.” 

But what if specific resources were provided? A years-salary, food and supplies en route, as many pairs of walking shoes as needed, and company and support vehicles following you along the way. All of a sudden, the impossible seems more accomplishable. It would still be difficult, no question—that’s a lot of walking. But, with the provided resources, perhaps it’s doable.

And then, add to the mix, promised rewards. If you finish that cross-Canada walk successfully, you’ll receive an eight-figure cash reward waiting for you and a national holiday named in your honour. 

At this point you may be already tying your shoes.

As God’s people, we’ve been given a number of difficult tasks that may seem overwhelming and nearly unachievable. However, as we study them in the pages of Scripture, without exception we find that, along with the assignment, God also provides resources to assist and promises rewards to incentivize.

Today, in Genesis 44 and 45, we’re going to find two such tasks given to God’s people—charges that we, at first glance, may be tempted to dismiss as unrealistic. But we’re also going to find a provided resource that can help and a promised reward that can motivate.

So, if you have a copy of the Scriptures with you, please turn to Genesis 44, where we’ll begin by asking WHAT are God’s people called to do? What’s our assignment?

Not surprisingly, chapter 44 continues where 43 left off: Joseph’s brothers had arrived in Egypt for the second time, this time with Benjamin. Joseph, still incognito to his brothers, invites them to a feast and everything appears to be copacetic as the chapter closes. It looks like the family’s about to be reunited and live happily ever after! That is, until the brothers pack up to leave (v. 1).

Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said. 

Last week as we looked at chapters 42 and 43 we noticed that God, through Joseph, was testing the brothers to show them their sin, see if they had changed, and call them to repentance. He was accomplishing this through a series of divine deja vu moments in which the men were being forced to almost re-live their past trespasses. 

Chapter 44 is perhaps the culmination of those convicting flashbacks as Joseph again, and in even more detail, re-creates for his brothers the original crime scene of Genesis 37 (v. 3). 

As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’ ” 

When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.” 

The test has begun. Joseph’s steward accuses the brothers of stealing a specific item, one he knows they have and one they’re certain they haven’t taken.

They insist on their innocence and point back to their previous acts of honesty as evidence of their character. “We’ve shown you our integrity. We proved we aren’t thieves when we brought back that silver!” 

Notice the brothers unity here. They’re so confident in one another’s innocence that they promise not only execution for the thief, but enslavement to the rest. No matter what, they’re in this together.

The terms are accepted albeit with softened consequences (v. 10).

“Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.” 

Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 

The steward, knowing where the cup is (he put it there, after all!), performs a suspense-building search. And, as it’s found in Benjamin’s sack, Joseph’s test now reaches its apex. 

What are the brothers going to do? Benjamin’s been accused of being—and largely proven to be—a thief who stole from one of the most powerful men in Egypt, the nation that has a corner on the grain market during famine time. They, and their families, are in huge trouble. They are exposed. They are vulnerable. What are the brothers going to do? 

They could hand Benjamin over. They had, after all, vowed to do so to a thief should he be discovered. I mean, it seems like he’s guilty. The cup’s right there. It’s the smoking gun. 

And if they turned Benjamin over they could still get home with all the life-giving grain and resources they had now had. Their families would survive both the famine and Joseph’s wrath. 

And, perhaps the cherry on top is they’d be rid of another rival for their father’s affections. They’d done this decades earlier with Joseph. What’s one more of Jacob’s favourite sons being sent into Egyptian slavery? And, unlike the first time with Joseph, this time with Benjamin there’s no need of deception. They could tell their father the truth—he had been imprisoned for stealing. There’s nothing they could do!

It was all teed up for the brothers. The easy decision here was to allow Benjamin to face the agreed upon consequences.

On the other hand, if they were going to stand with Benjamin, it was going to cost them a great deal.

What are the brothers going to do? As readers, we don’t have to wait long to find out (v. 13):

At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city. 

In a dramatic act of fraternal solidarity, the brothers rip their garments as evidence their mutual grief. 

Interestingly, the last time in Genesis that clothes were torn in grief was when their father was given Joseph’s blood-soaked robe at the end of chapter 37. There, Israel tore his clothes when his favourite son was taken from him and, here, the brothers tear their clothes at the thought that their father may have to endure it again.

And, with their grief now on display, the brothers, without hesitation, pack up and return to Joseph’s house. It’s like they didn’t even have to think about it. They don’t even know for sure that Benjamin isn’t guilty! It doesn’t matter at this point. They, the innocent brothers, are willing to suffer and perhaps even give their lives for Benjamin, for the family. 

They arrive back in Egypt in verse 14.

Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?” 

“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.” 

The irony is thick: Whereas in the past the ten brothers had been guilty and showed no remorse, here, they’re innocent and yet broken with grief. They know they’re far from righteous—God had revealed that to them—but this they have not done. 

That being said, they’re willing to give up everything. They are now proving themselves to be the brothers’ keepers they once failed to be. “Take us all,” they say.

Amazingly, this still isn’t quite enough for Joseph, who proceeds to tighten the screws a bit more (v. 17):

But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.” 

Once again, Joseph is giving his brothers an out. “Go ahead! You’re free! It’s just the thief that will be rightly punished!”  

Now, in verse 18, Judah steps up and, in the speech he gives, competes the transformation we’ve been watching him make over the last number of weeks.

Then Judah went up to him and said: “Pardon your servant, my lord, let me speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’ 

“Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’ But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said. 

“Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’ But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 

“Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my grey head down to the grave in misery.’ 

“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the grey head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’ 

“Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come on my father.”

One commentator wrote of Judah’s speech, “No more moving example of true contrition and repentance is to be found in Scripture, unless it be the parable of the prodigal son” (Wenham, Genesis 16–50, 431). 

As he had promised his father he would in 43:9, Judah puts his life on the line but not so much for Benjamin. We get the impression that the main motivator for Judah’s self-sacrifice is his aging and grieving father who is mentioned 14-times in his speech. Judah is willing to give up his life if it means his dad doesn’t have to endure another “bereavement” like he did with Joseph’s supposed death.

So, we’ve seen so far that, in response to Joseph’s final test, the brothers decide to stand in solidarity for the family and, Judah specifically, sacrifices himself for his brother and for his father. 

And, as God’s people, we have that same assignment. We’re to self-sacrificially stand with and stand for the suffering and the vulnerable. Benjamin and Jacob were at the mercy of Joseph. The brothers, innocent in this case but aware of their fallibility, are willing to lay down their lives for the sake of those who couldn’t help themselves.

That’s our task. We’re called to live a life of self-sacrifice, laying down our preferences, our authority, our influence, our rights, and even our very lives for the sake of the suffering and the vulnerable. It’s a tough assignment. A costly one. But ours nonetheless.

It may mean standing up to a bully at school on behalf of someone else, even if that means putting yourself in their crosshairs. It may mean opening your home to aging family members, laying down beloved conveniences. It may mean spending time praying for enemies or for the wounded. It may mean financial generosity that forfeits personal wants. It may mean speaking up loudly and boldly for those people who have no voice with which to defend themselves—the trafficked, the abused, the neglected, the unborn—even if that means sacrificing our popularity, our credibility with the secular world, or our relationships of convenience.

We Christians are to be agents of divine blessing, conduits through which the grace of God—the power of the gospel—can flow to the people around us, particularly to the people who are suffering and vulnerable.

And as we do that we’re becoming more like our Lord Jesus Christ, who gave up more than we can ever fathom. He condescended from heaven to live among sinners to save sinners. He felt the sting of slander, the hatred of enemies, the betrayal of friends, and the shame of public execution. He experienced the slashing of whips, the piercing of nails, the torture of crucifixion, and the coldness of death. He was willing to endure all of that because he loved a people who were suffering in hopelessness and vulnerable to the inevitable and unavoidable consequences of our own sin, namely death and separation from a holy God for eternity. 

And it was Jesus who closed his parable of the Good Samaritan by saying “Now go and do likewise.” It was Jesus who said that every time we brought water to the thirsty or visited someone in prison we were doing it to him. It’s the word that Jesus came to fulfill that commands God’s people to “Defend the weak and the fatherless; uphold the cause of the poor and oppressed” (Psa 82:3).

God’s people have an assignment: We are to self-sacrificially stand with and stand for the suffering and the vulnerable. That’s a tough assignment. Sometimes I think walking across the country would be easier.

And as we read Joseph’s response to Judah’s speech, we find another related-but-distinct assignment (45:1).

Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!” So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it. 

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?” But his brothers were not able to answer him, because they were terrified at his presence. 

Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.” When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you. For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

“So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.

Joseph, watching his brothers pass his final test with sacrificial unity and witnessing their love for their father and commitment to the family, can’t keep up the charade any longer. Seeing his brothers’ transformation, with tears streaming down his cheeks, Joseph does what he’s wanted to do since the first moment they arrived in Egypt: He reveals himself and offers forgiveness. Understandably, the brothers are speechless and skeptical at first, but Joseph’s sincerity wears them down and reconciliation begins.

Joseph gives up his right to vengeance, he holsters his power to pay them back, he surrenders any longing to hold a grudge and he, instead, forgives of the men who had wronged him terribly years ago, stealing decades of his life. Having lived in prison, Joseph refuses to be incarcerated by unforgiveness. 

Just as the brothers sacrificed themselves for the suffering and vulnerable, so Joseph sacrifices himself to forgive.

God’s people are to be characterized by the same self-sacrificial forgiveness. And, when we do that we’re practicing godliness as it’s God who offers us forgiveness for the sins we’ve committed against him, wrongs that far surpass any wrongs that have been committed against any one of us. 

As Paul commands believers in Colossians 3:13, “Forgive as the Lord forgave you.”

So, in this passage we have illustrated for us two tough assignments: First, God’s people are self-sacrificially stand with and for the suffering the vulnerable and, second, we’re to self-sacrificially forgive those who wrong us.

We may hear those challenges and be tempted to walk away, immediately thinking of the people we’d have to serve and what it would cost; the people we’d have to forgive and what they’ve done. We may think “Those assignments are too difficult for me.” 

That leads us to question number two: HOW? How are we supposed to do these things? What are the provided resources that make us able?Well, let’s notice how the brothers and Joseph were able to do what they did.

Look back to 44:16 and what Judah says to Joseph. 

“What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt.” 

Why are the brothers standing before Joseph and not running back to Canaan without Benjamin? What stopped them from doing to Benjamin what they had done to Joseph? How is Judah able to say all that he’s about to say?

God. God has uncovered their guilt. God orchestrated the events and conversations that all screamed at the brothers “You have sinned and you must confess.” If it was up to them, they’d still be hiding in faux-righteousness, but God worked to uncover their guilt and, so, here they stand … because of God.

What about Joseph? Why is he able to forgive such past treachery?

“It was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you … God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant … So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He made me father to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.” 

How could such forgiveness be offered? God! God was behind it all. God was working the whole time. God was on the move even when their little minds failed to comprehend. God did all of this to save, to do good, to bless, to provide. 

You see, both the brothers and Joseph have been resourced by what we call the doctrine of divine providence. I’ve heard it defined this way: 

Providence “is that continual exercise of the divine energy whereby the Creator preserves all His creatures, is operative in all that comes to pass in the world, and directs all things to their appointed end.” 

God’s is always at work. He doesn’t cause us to sin, but neither does our freedom to sin thwart his plans. God works in and through a sin-stained world full of sin-stained people to accomplish his sin-less purposes. 

That’s divine providence. And, because of this, Joseph and his brothers could take up the assignments they’d been given no matter the cost. 

And it’s the provided resource we’ve also been given.

How can we stand with and for the suffering and the vulnerable when it costs us so much? Because God is providential and in control of all things. That’s the only way. I can obey him in this assignment because I know he will take care of those who step out in faith. What I think I’ll be losing, he’ll provide. Where I perceive I’ll be exposed, he’ll protect. What I suppose I’ll be giving up, he’ll pay back—if not in this life, then in glory. 

How can I offer forgiveness to those who have hurt me? Because I know that God is providential and in control of all things. That’s the only way. I trust him with justice. After all, it’s against him ultimately the wrong was done. I don’t have to witness recompense to know it’s coming; that all wrongs will be exposed and dealt with by the perfect Judge in his perfect timing. And, knowing that, I can relinquish control of justice to him who already forgave me for worse.

And, as God’s people learn to do this we become more like God’s Son. As Jesus prepared to lay down his life for us and provide forgiveness for us, he leaned on the Father’s providence. He said, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt 26:39).

The Apostle Peter also describes this trust: 

“When they hurled their insults at [Jesus], he did not retaliate; when he suffered, he made no threats. Instead, he entrusted himself to him who judges justly” (1 Pet 2:23).

God’s providence is the resource we’re given with which we can accomplish these tough assignments. It’s the how to the what. 

But that still leaves the why. WHY should God’s people bother? What is the promised reward that motivates? Well, let’s finish chapter 45 and find out. Joseph is responding to his brothers. 

“Now hurry back to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; don’t delay. You shall live in the region of Goshen and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have. I will provide for you there, because five years of famine are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’ 

“You can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that it is really I who am speaking to you. Tell my father about all the honor accorded me in Egypt and about everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.” 

Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping. And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him. 

God, through Joseph, blesses the family with joyful reconciliation. Joseph, their long-lost thought-to-be-dead brother has come back to life. And God has providentially placed him in a position of power and influence to guarantee survival to his family through this time of famine.

When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased.Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan,and bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’ 

“You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take some carts from Egypt for your children and your wives, and get your father and come.Never mind about your belongings, because the best of all Egypt will be yours.’ ” 

So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them carts, as Pharaoh had commanded, and he also gave them provisions for their journey.To each of them he gave new clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.And this is what he sent to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other provisions for his journey.Then he sent his brothers away, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way!” 

That this Hebrew family reunion pleased them all speaks to just how loved Joseph had become in Egypt.

Notice, whereas Jacob in chapter 37 and the brothers in chapter 44 had torn their clothing in grief, here God, through Pharaoh, dresses them in new clothes. The time for mourning is done! And once again we see Benjamin getting special treatment but there’s no longer any danger of jealousy. That’s been dealt with.

Joseph, understanding that his great reveal means his brothers are now going to have to tell their father what they had done so many years ago, sensitively encourages them not to fight on the way home. Don’t let this time of liberation and reconciliation become one of bondage and disunity.

So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.They told him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler of all Egypt.” Jacob was stunned; he did not believe them.But when they told him everything Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.And Israel said, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Fuelled by an understanding and recognition of God’s providential workings in their lives, the brothers sacrificially stand with the suffering and the vulnerable and Joseph offers incredible forgiveness to those who had long-ago wronged him deeply. And what comes of those actions?

Blessings, blessings, blessings. God rains down favour upon this family through Joseph, through Pharaoh, through the people of Egypt. Where there was once schism, there’s now reconciliation. Where there was once thought to be death, now there’s life. There’s now love where hatred once reigned, unity in place of division. There is now joy where there was once only grief. There is peace where there was once turmoil. 

This is a wholesale move toward shalom, the wholistic peace of God that he desires his people to experience but against which sin fights. But, through Joseph and his brothers, because of their self-sacrificial obedience, God brings blessing to them, their family, and the people around them.

So, what are our promised rewards for taking up such a pair of difficult assignments? Blessings! We get to function as the recipients and agents of divine blessing. We, in spite of ourselves, get to bring God’s joy, peace, love, grace, and power into a world that needs and wants all of those but operates in their antitheses.

What are God’s people called to do? Sacrifice ourselves for the hurting and the vulnerable and to extend forgiveness to those who don’t deserve it. I’m guessing all of us can think of those people right now.

How can we possibly do that? By understanding God’s providential workings in our lives and in the lives of others. The more we understand that God is in control, that’s he’s the perfect Judge, the more we’re empowered to take up our assignments. 

And, why should we bother? Because divine blessing is at stake. To not stand for the hurting and vulnerable, to not forgive, is to forfeit God’s favour in our lives, and in the lives of those around us. 

They are tough, costly assignments. But God has provided the resources and promised the rewards that certainly make it worth the effort. 

So, may God, by the power of the Holy Spirit and for the glory of his own name, conform each of us and all of us together into the image and likeness of his Son in these ways this week, that we may experience his blessings and be blessings to those around us.