By this time, Jacob had become an old man (see final verse of this chapter), and was facing sorrow after sorrow because he believed Joseph to be dead still. Yet I don’t blame Joseph for not going back to Canaan for his family, even naming a child about forgetting the bad stuff that had happened to him! (See Genesis 41:51.) But in the meantime, his brothers believed he was no longer with them, and Benjamin stayed behind (verse 13), and they didn’t know Joseph had taken charge of Egypt, answering only to the Pharaoh. By the way, did you know that Egypt in Hebrew is “the narrow place” in English? I found out a few days ago that Canada is literally translated “The Village,” too! And Mexico is “Land By The Sea.” Sorry for getting off-topic ššš but this chapter is found in pages 25-26 of my NKJV Bible, pages 33-34 of my NASB Bible, pages 56-58 of my VOICE copy, and pages 54-56 of my Amplified Bible (Classic Edition) copy.
When Joseph’s brothers (ten of them) come to Egypt, they believe someone thinks them to be spies… it was Joseph, but again, they didn’t know this… I think he had PTSD from what had happened to him over 20 years before. I don’t blame him! I’ve faced the same thing from my own family members before, and now I’m praying hard that my niece wouldn’t get the coronavirus or perish from any other disease! If that happens, I wouldn’t be alive anymore. The sorrow would destroy me, and I would believe there’s nothing left for me to look forward to in this life. But if my niece accepts Jesus, she’ll be in Heaven, yet I still won’t be happy about this, for she would’ve been gone way too soon! I can’t allow this to happen! In all my years of being Christian so far, I’ve never imagined losing a child ššššššš I’d rather die šššššššššš yet I think better than both is if my niece doesn’t even get the virus ššššššš indeed, I think Switchfoot’s Easter Sunday blog post helps with the fact that while it’s guaranteed that we’re going to do poorly in life at least once, hope is still available. Too bad many people try and mislead others away from it using the Scriptures to do so, and that’s just not right. But I did leave a comment on that post saying I’d use it for this ššššš I pray no one else gets sick from this pandemic… the world’s already been decimated because of it; I don’t want to lose my niece along with my stability ššššš I can’t stress enough about this…
And people are wondering because of the outbreak, “What is God doing to us?” The funny thing is, Joseph’s brothers were wondering the same thing during their lack of unity (Genesis 42:28 (VOICE)). Here’s a note that the VOICE editor makes here:
The brothers of Joseph are in the dark. What does this mean? Is this some sort of trick? Has someone planted the money there only to later claim it or the grain has been stolen? Are the Egyptians even now bearing down on them? Is this part of the test? Should they go back and tell the gruff Egyptian governor what has happened? And if they do, will he believe them? What happens to Simeon? They have a thousand thoughts, but their most profound thought occurs next.
Someone had put a money in one of the bags that one of Joseph’s brothers was carrying. Turns out, each of them has money in their bags. What will happen next? Let’s find out in chapter 43!
Ron And His Stories 