Concern

View daily reading plan: Genesis 42.35-38; 43.11-14

Joseph’s attempts to chasten his brothers were tempered by his genuine concern for their famishing families and so they were sent home with the necessary provisions, while Simeon was kept in Egypt.
 
The arrival of his sons with the laden asses should have cheered Jacob’s heart, for the immediate emergency was now over, but the absence of Simeon and the threat of Benjamin’s departure made him say, “all these things are against me” (Gen 42.36).
 
With the famine still raging (Gen 43.1), there was another urgent need for fresh provisions. Said Jacob, “Go again, buy us a little food” (v.2). By the end of the episode, the request for “a little food” was answered in a way that exceeded his wildest imagination. It is a wonderful illustration of the fact that God “is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think” (Eph 3.20).

Jacob knew that a suitable outcome of this whole business was dependent on God Almighty giving them mercy “before the man” (Gen 43.14). He could not bring himself to say, “Thy will be done”, but rather, in a spirit of resignation, “If I be bereaved…I am bereaved”. It is better to embrace God’s will than to shrug the shoulders and say, “Whatever will be will be”.

Saturday, 17 February, 2024