Joseph's Hope Realized: Genesis 43:26-34

God intimately cares about our needs, hopes, and dreams.  He created the entire universe, yet He cares about me and you.  He knows everything that ever happened in His creation, yet He wants to know your hopes and dreams.  He wants you to feel seen and loved.

Joseph comes home.  His brothers bring him the gifts and bow down before him.  In that simple act, God’s vision from Joseph’s youth is fulfilled.  Joseph asks his brothers about their father; they respond again and bow once more. 

God told Joseph his brothers would bow before him.  God sent Joseph two dreams; here in this story they bow before him twice.  As Joseph declared while interpreting Pharoah’s dreams, it happens twice to demonstrate it was God, not coincidence.

Once God demonstrated His ability to orchestrate the events of the future for the good of all, Joseph focuses on his brother.  For several decades, Joseph has been without family.  He’s been alone with God in a foreign culture trying to survive and prosper as much as possible.  He’d made a life for himself.  With God’s help, he’d risen high in society.

Suddenly, someone with his own blood walked through the door.  He didn’t need to be alone anymore.  His true brother, Benjamin, was in his house.  All his brothers were there, but his brother – from the same mother – was with him.

Joseph is overwhelmed.  Certainly, he could see God at work in his life.  He could see God using him to save his family.  He’d already used his wealth to provide several months of food for his extended family and their animals.  He could easily do it again because of the position God elevated him into.  Joseph understands God’s provision.  There has never been any doubt about God’s provision.  Joseph knows God put him in this position to save his family.

Yet, it is God’s ability to bring his blood brother into his midst that makes him weep.  When Joseph sees Benjamin, he truly understands how much God cares for him personally.  When his family sold him to the Ishmaelites and they in turn brought him to Egypt and sold him to Potiphar, he might have hoped he could one day return to Canaan.  When he was arrested and thrown into prison, he probably assumed any chance of knowing Benjamin was gone.  When he was released from prison and elevated to such a high position, he now had the means to go visit his family but with the impending famine he did not have the time.  In this circumstance, God brought his blood brother to his house.

The story of Genesis formally serves as the beginning of God’s plan for redeeming the world.  Within this story, God actively works among people to propel His plan forward.  Here, God demonstrates He cares about more than His plan.  God cares about the people He calls to play a part in His plan.  God intimately cares about our needs, hopes, and dreams.