Ep. #13 “SUBSTITUTE LOVE” [Series: GENESIS & JOB]

The story of Joseph is one that stresses God’s foreknowledge and control. God knew about the time of plenty and the time of famine before they happened. God knew how to make Joseph’s slavery contribute to the redemption of his country and family. God knew how long the Hebrews would be in Egypt and he knew how they were going to leave. God knew the family of Israel, located in Canaan, would have to go to Egypt to get grain if they were to avoid starvation. You can imagine God smiling when he thought about the surprises awaiting the ten brothers when they arrived. The Bible says the brothers did not recognize Joseph. That is probably a bit of an understatement. Granted, it had been about twenty years since they had seen him, but that is only part of it. Joseph was probably wearing heavy makeup, had his hair in the Egyptian style, and wearing elaborate Egyptian clothes and a headdress. He looked like an Egyptian, talked like and Egyptian, and probably even walked like an Egyptian. Besides, they probably thought Joseph was dead. In Joseph’s interactions with his brothers, it is hard not to perceive that he punished them for their past actions, almost to point of being a little sadistic. He toyed with them, and with their father, over a pretty long period of time. When he finally revealed himself to his brothers, he made sure to give God the credit for all that had happened. In a little foreshadowing of Jesus, Joseph tells them that God sent him to save their lives by a great deliverance. When Joseph extends the invitation to his wealthy family to move to Egypt, it is easy to perceive there were hundreds, if not thousands, of family members. However, there were just over seventy people who moved. About four centuries later, this entourage will have grown into far more than a million people.