GUILTY CONSCIENCE
Genesis 42:1-28
In August 1999 a 17-year-old boy robbed a bank in Hermiston, OR but his plan failed when he accidently locked himself inside the trunk of his car to change his clothes so he wouldn’t be recognized.
The temperature in the eastern Oregon town was 102 degrees and as a result of the stifling heat he had to call for help as he was locked in the trunk for several minutes and could not get out.
Sin has a way of finding us out one way or another because God does not want us to get away with breaking his laws.
In Numbers 32 two of the tribes of Israel want to settle on the east side of the Jordan River, but they make a promise to the rest of the tribes that they will fight with them until they completely defeat the nations living on the west side of the Jordan River.
Moses tells them, “If you do not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and be sure your sin will find you out (23).”
John Gill – “It will accuse them in their consciences, charge and load them with guilt, and bring deserved punishment upon them.”
God does not allow us to get away with sin because:
1. Sin breaks his law so we must be punished.
2. Sin challenges his divine sovereignty over us.
DRIVEN BY FAMINE :1-5
The famine was severe everywhere (41:57) which included the Promised land where Jacob was living. The ten sons may not have
wanted to make the 250 mile, six week trip, go to Egypt because that is where they had sent Joseph to be sold as a slave
:3Tenof Joseph’s brothers – who were older than him and had planned to kill him, but instead sold him as a slave 13 years ago.
He was 17 when they sold him (37:2) and now he is 30 (41:46).
:4Benjamin – is now 20 years old, but Jacob is afraid that something bad might happen to him and he is the only son
left of his favorite wife Rachel who died givingbirth to him.
:5 Joseph’s ten brothers came to buy grain along with others from Canaan which was north of Egypt where there was also famine.
CHARGE OF TREASON :6-11
Governor(4x) –Heb. to have authority, rule and power.
The other three are in Ecclesiastes:used of strong men (7:19), power over your spirit (8:8) and the authority of a ruler (10:5).
The title governor emphases his complete control over the land.
Nothing took place that he did not allow or permit to happen.
Bowed themselves – showing their respect for his authority.
:7 He recognized his ten brothers because they looked different from the other people and they were all together in one group.
Instead of acknowledging them as his long-lost brothers he decided to treat them as strangers and not show them any kindness.
:9 Joseph remembers the dreams which he had 13 years earlier
where they had bowed down to him, but nobody believed (37:5-9).
Chuck Swindoll – “How tempting it must have been to reveal himself at that moment and remind them of those dreams.
Those dreams for which they had mocked him and hated him. How self-satisfying it would have been to say, ‘I told you so!’ Instead,Joseph decided to buy a little time.”
Spies – Heb. explorers meaningto see what was in the land.
This is what the spies did when they entered the Promised land.
Joseph charges them as being spies 4 times (:9,11,14,16).
Nakedness of the land – the areas that are weakest, without defenses so they would be easy to attack and defeat.
Joseph is testing them to see if they are really telling the truth
or if they are lying by trying to hide something from him. He wants to know if there has been any change in their character
over the past 13 years or not.
:10 Their response is that they have just come to buy grain
like everyone else who is coming because of the famine.
:11 Their defense is that they are all brothers from one family
and he can trust them to tell the truth that they are not spies.
It is ironic that they say, “We are honest men” because they deceived their father into believing a lie that Joseph had been killed by some wild animal and had not told him the truth
for the past 13 years. They would keep the lie to themselves
and take it to the grave without telling Jacob the truth.
TEST OF TRUTH :12-17
Joseph pressures them by insisting they are spies because they have given him a general answer, but he wants specifics.
:13 They tell Joseph the truth that they are a family with 12 sons.
Ten have come for food, the youngest Benjamin is home with
their father and one son, referring to Joseph, is dead
:14 Again Joseph charges them with being spies which gives him the authority to do whatever he wants to do with them, like they had done to him when they sold him as a slave.
:15 He wants to see his brother Benjamin, who is his only other brother from his mother Rachel. His other ten brothers are step-brothers from three other mothers.
:17 He put them in confinement for three days which demonstrated his authority and power over them. Three days or 72 hours is a long time to think about things. We have three-day weekends
which allow people enough time to get away from the everyday
activities of life and relax.
Three days is long enough for you to change your attitude and to cause you to think about something different than what is currently pressing on you at the moment.
Three days is used in Scripture as time to change your focus:
1. God told Abraham to take Isaac on a three-day journey to
Mount Moriah to offer him as a sacrifice (Gen. 22:4).
2. God wanted the nation of Israel to go a three days journey into
the wilderness to worship him (Ex. 5:3).
3. When Israel came to Mount Sinai the people were to prepare themselves for three days before God came down on the Mountain and they would experience his almighty presence (Ex. 19:11).
4. Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days as punishment for his disobedience to the Lord’s command to go to Nineveh and tell them to repent of their sins or be judged (1:17).
Joseph wanted his brothers to think about what they had done in the past by selling him as a slave and to ponder the fact that they
were no longer in control of their future, God was.
REMEMBERANCE OF SIN :18-22
I fear God – Joseph had a respect and reverence for God.
Matthew Henry – “You may assure yourselves I will do you
no wrong; I dare not, for I know that, high as I am, there is one higher than I. The fear of God will be a check upon those that
are in power, to restrain them from abusing their power.”
:19Joseph does not trust his brothers so he wants to keep one
of them in custody as assurance they will return with Benjamin.
:21We – Heb. is emphatic which emphasizes their personal guilt.
Guilty (3x) – Heb. convictionhaving broken the law of God.
II Samuel 14:13 of David who would not forgive Absalom.
Ezra 10:19 of the men of Israel who took foreign wives.
Distress (KJB anguish) – Heb. affliction, distress or suffering.
Genesis 35:3 of the fear Jacob felt when he fled from Esau
after stealing his family blessing for the future.
Chuck Swindoll – “The brothers did not blame their father for being passive. They did not blame their brother Joseph for being proud or arrogant or favored. They used the right pronoun when they agreed together, ‘We are responsible! There is no one else
we can blame!’”
God uses circumstances to remind us of our sin.
Note: this is the only acknowledgement of sin in Genesis.
There is every kind of sin recorded, but no confession of sin.
Application
God uses circumstances to remind us of our sin so that
we will acknowledge and confess it so we can be forgiven.
Thomas Manton – “If conscience does not speak, it writes;
for it is not only a witness, but a register and a book of record:
Jeremiah 17:1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with the point of a diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart.”
John Calvin – “Their own conscience condemned them . . .
a sinful impression was made upon their hearts.”
:22Reubin – who was the oldest had convinced the others not to kill Joseph but instead to put him into a cistern. It was while he was awaythat the other brothers sold him as a slave.
F.B. Meyer – “The sons had become middle-age men, with families of their own. They probably never mentioned that deed
of violence to each other. They did their best to banish the thought from their minds. Sometimes in their dream they may have caught a glimpse of that young face in its agony, or hear the beseeching of his anguished soul; but they sought to drown such painful memories . . . by forgetfulness.”
TEST OF CONSCIENCE :23-25
When he heard they were feeling guilty over what they had done
to him he wept knowing that God was working in their hearts.
:24Simeon – kept as a prisoner to assure his brothers will come back again because he does not trust them yet. He and Levi had killed the men in Shechem because their sister Dinah had been raped by the son of the head of the city (34:25).
:25 Joseph had each of their money put back in their sacks
as another test of their honesty and truthfulness.
REMINDED OF GUILT :26-28
When one of them opened his sack, he saw the money he used to buy grain there in his sack and they were filled with fear for their actions against Joseph.
:28Trembling – Heb. to physically shake out of fear.
Genesis 27:33 used to describe Isaac trembling when he learned Jacob had stolen Esau’s blessing as the oldest son.
If their consciences had been clean the money would not have bothered them because they knew they had done nothing wrong.
They clearly recognize that God is convicting them of their sin against Joseph. They had not been willing to confront it so God
was now using circumstances to convict their guilty conscience.
John Trapp – “Conscience is God’s spy and man’s overseer.”
APPLICATION
1. God always knows what we have done.
We can hide our sin from others, but not from God.
2. God uses our conscience convict us of our sin.
When we are convicted of sin we need to acknowledge we have sinned and repent of it so we can be forgiven by God.
I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.