Do not be Angry with Yourselves

One of my favorite passages of Genesis is this one:

Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.
³ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. ⁴ And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸ So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. -Genesis 45

Joseph made his brothers go through a lot after their initial meeting in Egypt before revealing himself to them.  I always wondered what that was about until now. (I kind of thought it was mean of Joseph to be so weird about the whole thing). He was testing them, I think, seeing if they had learned anything by the things that they had gone through. Finally, he could see that they were sorry and couldn't hold back his love and all the riches of Egypt from them.

¹⁶ Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well. ¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land. ¹⁹ Now you are commanded—do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. ²⁰ Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.-Genesis 45

I can see why it is said that Joseph is a type of Jesus. There is much we can draw from the story. 


Mercy triumphs over judgement!

Reuben

I'm currently reading through the bible about a chapter a day; no study guide, no commentary, no agenda. I would really like to just see what it actually says.





Something stood out in Genesis 42 in my reading recently. After the whole deal with Joseph, and him going into Egypt, being given the second position and seeing his brothers once and requiring Benjamin be brought to him in order to release Simeon from jail, The brothers beg Jacob to let Benjamin go to which he replies:

 “You have bereaved me: Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin. All these things are against me.”

But Reuben steps in and says: 

 

“Kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

What a thought- Reuben giving up his own two sons in exchange for the loss of his father's sons. Was this an actual offer? Would Jacob have killed his own grandchildren if Benjamin hadn't been returned?



It seems that in the beginning of this whole deal, Reuben was the only one against killing/selling Joseph to begin with. He also may have been extra pained with guilt after this happened as well.





My heart went out to Reuben in this story. He just wanted things to be right again. A man laden down with guilt and sins trying to comfort his father. 

The Lie

I've always heard it explained that the lie Satan told Eve that really was the lie is that they would be as gods.

For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. (said the serpent)

BUT that was true:

And the LORD God (Jehovah elohiym) said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: 

You know the rest, God sent them out of the garden and forbid them from access to the tree of life. Therefore, this would be better called the temptation and not the lie.






Now, the lie:


Eve said that God said:

 But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 


Satan says:

 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:


God said:
 

 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.



The lie was that they would not die, but the temptation to disobey God was that they would be as gods. (which was true in the knowledge of good and evil respect....God even says so).





It got me to thinking about a couple of knowledge verses:

For in much wisdom is much grief: and he that increaseth knowledge increaseth sorrow. Ecc 1:18

Wisdom [is] the principal thing; [therefore] get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding. Prov4:7

I believe in the sovereignty of God and that if He hadn't intended Eve to eat, and later Adam, it wouldn't have happened. God wanted us to be wise, but why by disobedience?

For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. (Romans 11:32)

Perhaps?

Man and Woman, Christ and the Bride

and a mist goeth up from the earth, and hath watered the whole face of the ground.

 In Genesis 2 we are now given a name for God as Sarah pointed out on her blog some time ago.

I wonder why not from the very beginning?


 The theme of man and woman , Jehovah as the husband of Israel, and Christ and the bride came to mind when reading the rest of the chapter.

 And Adam said, This [is] now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

 I think about Adam and Eve and as Christ the second Adam:

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 1Cor 15:45

And the wife of Adam and bride of Christ. 


In Ephesians 5 Paul tells wives and husbands how to behave. Husbands are the head of the wife and are to love as Christ loved His church (which is also His body- for no man ever hated His own body). And wives are to be subject to the husband as the husband "represents" Christ in the (ideal) family model.

Paul says this is a great mystery...indeed. That is something to chew on for awhile.

For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. (Ephesians 5:20)