HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 414
G EN ES IS 4 5
Judah Speaks for His Brothers
18 Then Ju dah stepped forward and said,
“Please, my lord, let your servant say just one
word to you. Please, do not be angry with me,
even though you are as powerful as Pharaoh
himself.
19 “My lord, previously you asked us, your
servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’
20 And we responded, ‘Yes, my lord, we have a
father who is an old man, and his youngest son
is a child of his old age. His full brother is dead,
and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and
his father loves him very much.’
21 “And you said to us, ‘Bring him here so I
can see him with my own eyes.’ 22 But we said to
you, ‘My lord, the boy cannot leave his father,
for his father would die.’ 23 But you told us, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes with you, you
will never see my face again.’
24 “So we returned to your servant, our father,
and told him what you had said. 25 Later, when
he said, ‘Go back again and buy us more food,’
26 we replied, ‘We can’t go unless you let our
youngest brother go with us. We’ll never get to
see the man’s face unless our youngest brother
is with us.’
27 “Then my father said to us, ‘As you know,
my wife had two sons, 28 and one of them went
away and never returned. Doubtless he was torn
to pieces by some wild animal. I have never seen
him since. 29 Now if you take his brother away
from me, and any harm comes to him, you will
send this grieving, white-haired man to his
grave.*’
• Stress
G E NE S IS 4 4 :1 8
Have you ever heard someone use
the phrase, “I made my bed, now I
guess I have to lie in it”? This person
is recognizing that uncomfortable or
stressful situations are often the product
of our own unwise decisions or sinful
behavior. Joseph’s brothers were facing
this problem. Years earlier they had
decided to eliminate their irritating brother
by selling him to Ishmaelite traders
headed for Egypt (Genesis 37:27). But
their sin created far more suffering and
stress than Joseph had ever caused
them. Sometimes the stress in our lives
is of our own making, the result of an
unhealthy lifestyle. When you are tempted
to use selfish or sinful means to deal with
a problem in your life, remember that you
will only create more problems—one of
them inevitably being more stress.
page 44
30 “And now, my lord, I cannot go back to my
father without the boy. Our father’s life is bound
up in the boy’s life. 31 If he sees that the boy is
not with us, our father will die. We, your servants, will indeed be responsible for sending
that grieving, white-haired man to his grave.
32 My lord, I guaranteed to my father that I would
take care of the boy. I told him, ‘If I don’t bring
him back to you, I will bear the blame forever.’
33 “So please, my lord, let me stay here as a
slave instead of the boy, and let the boy return
with his brothers. 34 For how can I return to my
father if the boy is not with me? I couldn’t bear
to see the anguish this would cause my father!”
Joseph Reveals His Identity
Joseph could stand it no longer. There
were many people in the room, and he
said to his attendants, “Out, all of you!” So he
was alone with his brothers when he told them
who he was. 2 Then he broke down and wept. He
wept so loudly the Egyptians could hear him,
and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s
palace.
3 “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my
father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned to realize that Joseph
was standing there in front of them. 4 “Please,
come closer,” he said to them. So they came
closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your
brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt.
5 But don’t be upset, and don’t be angry with
yourselves for selling me to this place. It was
God who sent me here ahead of you to preserve
your lives. 6 This famine that has ravaged the
land for two years will last five more years, and
there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7 God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and
your families alive and to preserve many survivors.* 8 So it was God who sent me here, not you!
And he is the one who made me an adviser* to
Pharaoh—the manager of his entire palace and
the governor of all Egypt.
9 “Now hurry back to my father and tell him,
‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has
made me master over all the land of Egypt. So
come down to me immediately! 10 You can live
in the region of Goshen, where you can be near
me with all your children and grandchildren,
your flocks and herds, and everything you own.
11 I will take care of you there, for there are still
five years of famine ahead of us. Otherwise
you, your household, and all your animals will
starve.’”
12 Then Joseph added, “Look! You can see for
yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin,
that I really am Joseph! 13 Go tell my father of
my honored position here in Egypt. Describe for
45
44:29 Hebrew to Sheol; also in 44:31. 45:7 Or and to save you
with an extraordinary rescue. The meaning of the Hebrew is
uncertain. 45:8 Hebrew a father.