Joseph, His Brothers, and a Silver Cup - Genesis 44

Thursday, October 18, 2012

Many stories we learn about in the bible comes in the form of short and sweet. While there are several stories that let us follow a character from beginning to end like Moses, others tell only portions of their lives.

Since God is never wrong and knows exactly what we need, we obviously don't need to hear every detail of all their lives even if we'd like too.

That being said, I wanted to add this post about Joseph. For the most part, God has seen fit to tell us nearly all of Joseph's life story which is a very interesting story if you have never took the time to read it. You can start in Genesis 37 and read through the rest of the book of Genesis to get a better grasp of Joseph's life.

(Picture courtesy of Ndecam - Flickr)

The Story of Joseph

As you'll recall, Joseph's brothers were very jealous of him. Their father, Jacob, made it known that Joseph was his favorite son and because of this, Joseph's brothers hated him, envied him, and was extremely jealous of him.

Because of their jealousy, they took Joseph's coat of many colors, threw him into a pit, and eventually sold him as a slave. When their father ask about Joseph, the brothers gave him Joseph's coat which they had torn and covered in animal blood. They lied to their father and said he was dead.

God was with Joseph though and many years later, after a lot of hardship, Joseph became the ruler over the land of Egypt. He only answered to the Pharaoh himself while everyone else answered to him. Because his brothers sold him, Joseph was in a position to save the entire country and other parts surrounding Egypt.

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Joseph's Silver Cup

When a devastating famine came to the land, Joseph had made provisions and store up enough food to take care of the whole land during this time. The famine was so widespread it even affected his family in Canaan causing his brothers to come to Egypt to buy food.

Joseph had taken on the role of an Egyptian which allowed him to be hidden from his brothers even in plain sight. Although Joseph wanted to run to his brothers, hug them, and tell them he forgave them because he knew this was where God needed him, he held back and decided to test his brothers.

These test would let Joseph know if his brothers had changed over the years or if they were still jealous and unkind. After several other tests, Joseph decided to give one last test. He ordered his servant to put his silver cup into his youngest brother's sack.

Joseph knew that if his brothers tried to take care of Benjamin, the youngest brother, then they truly had changed. But, if they let the Egyptian take Benjamin away without a second thought, then they had not.

Changed Men

When Joseph's silver cup was discovered in the sack of Benjamin, the other brothers pleaded for his safety. They even wanted to take his place so he would not become a slave. Joseph realized his brothers had changed and revealed himself to them.

Because Joseph stayed true to the one true God during all this time, Joseph was able to save not only his family, but the lives of thousands. God uses us in ways we could never imagine possible if we only let Him.

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