The Saga of Joseph, Part 2

Last week, we started a series of Sermons on Joseph. And I titled it, The Song of Joseph Worth the Weight. And we talk about how patience is something that we all need. It's missing in the fruits of God's Spirit. And I ask the question, are you patient? Bring as patient as you need to be. And then we looked into the Scriptures and saw that a couple even pointed us to where we learn patience is from God's Word. And we need to read of men who have developed patience as they gave us their life's example of learning patience. Learning to live and persevere through the problems and the life that we sometimes have to lead. And so last week, we looked at Joseph as we started with the story of Jacob and brought it up into the actual story of Joseph. And we finished with the story surrounding Joseph about everything that you go through. Is it worth the weight? All the patience it takes to build, if you're 13 or 14 years old, you cannot wait until you get to be 16 and you get to belong to God. Right? Yes. And when you are 11 and 12, you just cannot wait to be a teenager. But as I found out when I woke up the next morning, nothing changed. My life much, other than I was no longer 12, I was 13. As you anticipate graduation from high school or college, it seems a very long time. Especially if you're in med school or if one of our people is sitting in the back here, she is going to have to endure a lot of schooling, as we typically do. And you become very impatient. You actually say, how long God is going to take? As Christ talked about the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, he said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for there is the kingdom of heaven. But we have to wait for it, don't we? We realize the kingdom is not here yet. It is all up ahead.

He even said on a famous sermon, The meat shall inherit the earth.

I haven't inherited anything of the earth yet, much. It's not ready. It's not time. When? I want mine now! There's a cry for most people today, because they become very impatient. There are so many things that were taught that. We have short spans of attention. Advertisers have to change. Where are they advertising? They used to give you, show you a car, if they were trying to sell you, and then they would just show you that picture. Many, many years ago, and then they would tell you these wonderful facts about this car.

Those people, they don't like that. They don't like that now. They want to have facts. Show me that car from about five different directions. Show me different colors. Show me that car on the move. Show me something that moves. We have to change our Beyond Today television. Well, I guess, because we were finding out from experts that we were not shooting enough angles. People were getting tired. They were impatient of just sitting there watching someone speak. Patience and perseverance are two things that we all need to develop in our life. Christ actually said in Matthew 10, verse 22, He who endures to the end will be saved. He's going to take two patience. He takes patience. God, for all of us, each and every one of us, He knows, okay, you know what to do, then you fall. You will stumble. You think, boy, I don't know why I went back and did that or said that. I made those same mistakes again. I'm just glad that God is more patient with me than I am with Him. I think that involved each and every one of us. It takes a lot of patience to be a nurse, to be a doctor. This affects patience because you wait on patience.

What I found it interesting, as one true story came out on a doctor that said, he feels like at the end of the day his patience is at very end. He tells a story of a new mother, true story of a new mother, that brings her baby in for the six month check-up. When she brings the baby in, he's got a bottle. As he's drinking from this bottle, the doctor looks over after he had already given instructions to the woman before she left the hospital, what to feed the child, what to do, what not to do. He looks and he says, Wait a minute. You're not feeding that baby chocolate milk. She says, No, I'm not. He goes, Good. I just looked at it. It was chocolate milk. She says, No. He said, Well, what is it? She said, It's coffee. He loves it.

A true story. A true story.

Would your patience be tested? Might be. While you were trying to care, as doctors and nurses care for these children, would you have something like that happen? Mmm. It's a challenge for all of us, no matter what we do. I'd like to go back, if we will, because we talked about, if we would have, go back to Genesis. Genesis 39 is where we finished last time. Last time, we told about Joseph being thrown into a pit by his brothers and sold as a slave. Because he was very much favored by his father, he was also blessed and also favored by God. He gave him visions that he wanted to tell his brothers and his mother and his father, and that didn't go too well, because the visions were a time when Joseph would be held up. He would be elevated. He would be not only blessed but gifted above so many people on earth. And he was actually given this vision of this dream that his family would actually come down and fall down on their face before him.

And he had this dream, and this vision, as a child.

Whether he was 15, 16, leading up, or he was before he was 17 years old.

And I'm sure that was in his mind, as he knew God. He knew God was given these visions. As we kind of know sometimes that God is guiding us in certain ways, certain places. And we have to make sure that we answer the call. And I'm sure that Joseph had to wonder when he was sitting in the pit, waiting to be sold or killed.

How long he got. What about those dreams? How long am I going to have to live? And as he was taken to Egypt, put up on the slave market, and sold, it was a lot of fun. Did he wonder, God, how long am I going to live?

Thought he said he would be with me.

How many prayers did he say? And we came to chapter 39 of Genesis, and we see that Potiphar was an Egyptian.

Did you read that? It was the last book. And he describes this, as he's actually told it, an officer of the Pharaoh. He is actually known to be the head of the guard, head of the military, head of the security force, head of the protection for the Pharaoh. So he had a very, very high position. But it mentions three times, and that's why I want to go through today, about Potiphar in verse 1, and it says that he was sold to the captain of the guard in Egyptian. And as it says in verse 2 of that same chapter, the Lord was with Joseph. It's something very good we need to remember. We ask the Lord to be with us, because this is how you're going to get through and persevere and develop patience. It's knowing that somebody else way up there is in charge. But it mentions in verse 2, the house of his master, the Egyptian. Why don't you say that twice? And it also mentions in verse 5, the Lord blessed the Egyptians.

Now, I bring that out because that may be significant in our story. That we know that Potiphar was an Egyptian, and you would think, wow! Well, it wasn't everyone. That's where we're going today. We look at some things, because it's possible. Not everyone in our story that you may have always thought was Egyptian was Egyptian.

And then we looked down and found that Joseph did a fabulous job working with Potiphar's house of... And God blessed! And blessed! The household. But as we came to our story, we found in verse 6 that Joseph was handsome, in form and appearance. He was a hawk. Say that a good-looking dude. And it said, and it came to pass after these things that Potiphar's wife cast long, lusty eyes on Joseph. And as we left last week, and she said, as we get to the sex and lies and the dreams, lie with me. Lie with me!

But verse 8 it says, but he refused and said to his master, he said, Look! Why did he say, Look? In the translation, it's a very emphatic... He didn't just kind of go, Look! He said, Look! Or listen to me. Look! My master does not know what is with me in the house, and he has committed all that he has to my hand. There is no greater in this household than I. Nor has he kept back anything from me but you, because you are his life. How then can I do this great wickedness and sin against God? So we know here there is a reason he is not doing this, and it isn't because he's not tempted.

And it isn't just because he respects his master, but he has a greater master than he is answering to. But verse 10, He said, So it was, as she spoke to Joseph, day by day by day by day, she was not a patient woman.

She saw what she liked, and now, Come on, get it. And so, it wasn't a one-time weakness. It was something she demanded.

Day by day that he did not heed to her, to lie with her or to be with her.

So what kind of woman was this? Well, you would have to understand, she would be considered in the higher parts of Egypt society, being she married well, typically what they did. And so, she would have been a woman used to power, money, prestige. But I want to read from the story of civilization, just a couple of excerpts here about Egypt, because I think you'll find it rather interesting.

Here it describes what it was like in Egypt at that time. For women, no people, ancient or modern, says Max Mueller, historian, has given women such a high status as did the inhabitants of the Nile Valley.

Unlike many other cultures where the women were considered second-class, chow, and sometimes worthless. That is not the way it was. In Egypt. And actually, the women, as this... I won't go through every detail if you want this. I'll leave this book up here. They gave a lot of detail into what it was like at that time. Because, as it says here, not only was the woman full mistress in the house, she had control of the house, but all the states descended in the female line. We were the exact opposite of what the scriptures said. It was handed down from the oldest son and it went down to the sons. Basically, the women were away without anything other than their brothers taking care of them or marriage. So the husband made over all of his property and future earnings to his wife in the marriage settlement. When he came into marriage, he signed over. Which was very different. So even in courtship, the woman usually took the initiative. The love points and letters that have come down to us are generally addressed by the lady to the mother. She begs for what she wants, she presses her suit directly, and she formally proposes marriage. Which is different than we used to. I don't know now. In 30 years, I'm in the same room. So it's different now. But this is how it was back then.

Hence modesty as distinct from fidelity was not prominent among the Egyptians. They spoke of sexual affairs with a directness alien to our late morality. Adorn their very temples with pictures of startling anatomical candor and supplied their dead without seeing literature to amuse them in the grave. Premarital morals were free and easy.

Servants and peasants limited their everyday wardrobe to a long cloth.

I bring this out because this is the type of woman at this time. Because some may say, well, that's just strange. And it's just active. It wasn't for the Egyptians at this time.

And it's interesting because as we see, the dress at the time for most slaves and servants was just for men, just a long cloth. That's it. We didn't have anything else. The women typically without just barely wore something that was clean. Just covering whatever was necessary. The time. As a matter of fact, they actually said that up until the males and females were teenagers in Egypt at the time, they basically ran. And that it wasn't until some of the later dynasties that the women actually wear something to cover their upper bodies. But when they did it, just a little clean because it was hot atmosphere there, hot temperature. They didn't wear much. Which brings us back to our story. In verse 11, it says, But it happened about this time when Joseph went into the house to do his work, and none of the men of the house was inside, that she caught him by his garment. What was it? The only hat. Remember Tarzan movies? It's the little iron goth, that's all he had. She caught him, as it said, caught him by his garment, saying, What? Lie with me.

But he left his garment in her...what?...man, which means he was...shh...running naked. And he fled and ran outside. And so it was when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and fled outside, that she called to the men of the house, which would have taken place later. According to tradition, according to other historical accounts like Josephus and various things in the Torah, this action on this day took place because there was a time of the year called the Feast of the Rising Nile. And everybody would go to this grand feast at the Nile for Egypt. And so according to these historical accounts, Joseph did not worship at the temple, but very few didn't. Didn't worship. They set the Feast of the Nile so he would not have gone. And according to this, she didn't feel well and she stayed home, setting up the perfect opportunity to work in this river. Does anybody know her name other than Pada Firth? What?

Her name, according to historical accounts?

Zalakha. Zalakha was her name. I thought she might want to know that. I always wondered why she didn't know the name that she gave him quite a few historical accounts. Zalakha! And so when they all supposedly came home from having this big feast, he or she was very upset and she had a long block in her hand. And said, look what this Hebrew that you brought in.

I did it anyway. And as you can imagine, as you finish up chapter 39, she tells her husband. Now what's interesting is she tells her husband, he didn't because he was one of the lead men over all the executioners. And if he truly believed his wife that this Hebrew, this slave, this servant had tried to rape her, it would have been easy to execute in this part of the law. But as you notice, he didn't. And instead of putting him in a jail, we're the worst of the worst one. I guess you could say he sent him to a federal prison, as they call it today, where all the prisoners are somewhat elevated and kept and better close. What's interesting is it doesn't say anywhere that Joseph tried to defend himself.

Perhaps he did. I'm sure if he was asked. But from the story and everything we did, he really doesn't show that he's asked and it looked like Potiphar was angry and just put him in a prison.

But here was a man that took care of his household for quite a few years. Potiphar died. Could have been as much as seven years. And everything was well taken care of. But what could he do? And his wife made it a public spectacle for all the servants. And so, as we know, Joseph is cast into fear, at which time, I'm sure, you go from soul and slavery to a slave to all of a sudden you're elevated up to where you take care of yourself. You're taking care of the whole house. You're over all the servants. You're taking care of the master's clothing. You're taking care of the food. You're taking care of everything in his house. So, it had to be a slave. It's a pretty good place if you had to be a slave to be a slave. But then, what happens? We don't know. He's cast into prison. And, as it says in verse 21, chapter 39, But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the person of the prisoner.

But I'm sure Joseph hadn't asked the question, how long? I've been here for seven, eight, nine years. In a slave. God, how long? What am I supposed to do? Why am I here?

Haven't you been asked that question before? Haven't you asked that question of God? Why exactly am I here at this time? What is your purpose? What is your vision for me? Because I don't see it.

And then he must have thought, first it was my brothers. Then it was the man or woman that I took care of. I made sure everything was taken care of for me. I waited on them hand and foot. They prospered. And then they threw me under the bus. My brothers threw me under the bus.

But thankfully, God, He's still here.

So it was, as we find out, time for Him to start His vision. And you come to chapter 40, and you see there that His prison time was interrupted by two individuals. They were the butler and they were the baker. And they were cast into prison. And we'll go back to one of the reasons why. A butler basically took care of you as a cup holder. I'm not going to write it in the amount of time. A cup holder made sure, and this was his job, was to make sure that everything that was brought in or taken care of at the house was okay for the favorite of the King's of heaven. And a cup holder would actually hold the cup, as it's described in story count, hold the cup for the Pharaoh in his left hand, as he was standing there whenever he was to be right by the Pharaoh in case he wanted anything to drink. And he held this in his left hand, and in his right hand he had a cut-off palm leaf that would serve as a fly-cat to keep flies from giving him his wine. And across his right shoulder was a nice, like, napkin that was fairly long, because not only was his job there to have the wine ready for the Pharaoh, but it was his job when the Pharaoh drank that he would have this too, fly-back off his mouth so none of the wine would come down onto his clothes. So I bring this out because it was a very important position, very trusted position.

The baker, of course, the chef, was known to cook all the food. And so what happened at this time was the Pharaoh saw something was wrong. He said something was wrong. And he... What? If you were afraid of the food you were eating and the drink you were drinking, what would you think? You would think conspiracy. You would think somebody's out to kill me. And he would be dropped. He would be dropped. And so each of these men, the baker, chef, and the butler, came in and were thrown into prison to which there was death penalty. Obviously, can we see the story? And so these two had dreams. And the only one that could interpret these dreams, this dream was the cool Joseph. And what's going to happen to them? And then they found out in three days what would happen to these two men.

I thought it was interesting because as you read this, you see that the cut-barrel, the butler, just said, Well, God... He said, Joseph, I don't understand. Could you tell me this dream? And so he tells the dream, and he says, well, guess what? In three days, you're going to be lifted up and put back to your potential. And then you come down to the baker. In verse 16, he said, When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was what? Good.

Which tells you a lot. He said to Joseph, I also was in my dream.

And so he said, what's going to happen? And he said, in three days, the arrow is going to cut off your head, and it's going to hang your body on a tree.

So who do you think they found guilty of the conspiracy? As a matter of fact, in Egyptian time, for your body to be because they all thought you went into this second life, they buried you with all these money, they buried you with all this stuff because there's another life, and you could take all this stuff into the next life.

They cut his head off and hung him on a tree so that he would know if he believed there was nothing left for him. And so they then, why would you elevate the cup there? Because he was not guilty. So obviously they found out that there was a conspiracy and that it was the baker who was trying to do this. Because they showed the cup there every new glass, every new cup, because they had these real nuts, cups, royalty-d and a cup of water, and a cup of water. Now, why do I bring this out? Let me just stop here in detail by what we care about. Because there's something here that historians have had problems with.

And that's why I bring up the bottom of it. Do you know how you pronounce it? Want to take a guess? Yes. Who close? My name on the back. The man who made it for it. Ixos. Very good. Let me see if you pronounce Ixos. And if you look up this word, you'll find that there is a Ixos dynasty. It took place in Egypt at about the same time that Joseph, they can't nail the exact dates. But this Ixos dynasty ruled Egypt from anywhere between 150 and 200 years. But the thing about the Ixos dynasty is that none of the Pharaohs that lived during that time were Egyptian. They were Semitic. Better one tribes. That when there was civil war in Egypt, this tribes, which were used for living in tents, and the outside came in and actually conquered. And this dynasty set itself back for about 150 to 200 years.

Now, I bring that up for what reason? Is that, are we looking back at Potiphar where it says he was an Egyptian? Because it never says the Pharaoh is an Egyptian. Which brings a lot of intrigue into the story. Because as you remember this story, which shows up, when Jacob's brothers and all come into town, they are accepted.

And as it says, most Egyptians consider it a check of an abomination. We're going to go a little bit later. So here, Joseph is about to show up at the right place, at the right time, at the right Pharaoh.

And is it possible, as historians say, that years later, hundred and more years later, that when a new Pharaoh and the Hyksos dynasty was over, and the Egyptians from the south came up, and they actually put then an Egyptian on the front. A true Egyptian was installed after 150 to 200 years, that did not remember, Joseph, did not remember any of these things that had happened.

That's where historians look. That's why I bring it out.

But it says in verse 23 of chapter 40, when the butler was put in his place and set back up, Joseph just had one request for him, tell the Pharaoh about me, that I'm in here and I am innocent. And don't forget me. And it says in verse 23, Yet the chief butler did not remember Joseph, but forgotten.

So by this time, Joseph had been either a slave or a prisoner for 11 years. That's a long term, especially from age 17 to 28 years. This is who you are. And it said then in chapter 41 verse 1, Then it came to pass at the end of two full years that Pharaoh had a dream, and behold, he stood by the river.

And of course, we know the dream. Hopefully we've heard that. Where he had a dream about seven really good-looking cows and seven bad-looking cows. And those bad-looking cows came over and they ate the good-looking cows. And they had the same thing about some wheat. And so he couldn't understand, and he called all his magicians, seers as they called them then, and none of them could tell him what those dream were. Now thankfully, it wasn't like the Babylonian rule, never could have it. He said, if he can't tell them, they're going to kill all of them. That's what he did. The Egyptians were not quite that rash. Had a little more patience. And then in chapter 41 verse 16, it says, Pharaoh Joseph was called before him after the butler said, Oh, wait a minute. I know a guy. Forgot all about that guy. Good-looking kid. Just forgot about him. In prison. He told me exactly what was going to happen. Let me get him up here. So he comes up there and he gets him all cleaned up, as the scripture says. He was not very clean.

And so he called Joseph and he said, Can you tell me? Can you understand? In verse 16, so Joseph answered the Pharaoh saying, It is not in me. Wow, here was his chance. Get out of jail for he passed.

You talking to me? Okay, here. Bring your phone and I'll tell you. If you want to know, you're going to put me in a nice house. Well, I'll tell you. But he didn't. He said, It is not in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer. A piece. The weird. He wants to listen. Down in verse 25, chapter 40. Also, it says, God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Because God gave it to Joseph. Joseph knew it was a gift. And he told what was going to happen. That there are seven healthy cows, represented seven really good, great years. Followed by seven years of famine, really, really bad. And that's what's going to happen. And he says, God has shown Pharaoh. Verse 28. This is a thing which I have spoken to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. Verse 32. Pharaoh, and the dream was repeated to Pharaoh twice because of this thing is established by God. And God will shortly bring it to pass.

So he does not leave God out on the picture. It would be easy for any of us to take credit for this thing. Maybe you worked at a company. Well, all of a sudden you had this great idea. You took it to someone and said to your boss, and said, Hey, I think this would be really great. Next thing you know, you see that this guy is getting a raise and everything else because he took your idea. Right? It's human nature. This is what you're going to do, but take care of myself. And he goes, let me take you out for a minute. I'm going to give him five thousand dollars on the way.

But Joseph didn't do this. So here we are, Joseph, thirty years of age. He had been a slaver for how long? Thirteen years.

Finally, the wait was over. How many of us would have patience if we were told it was seventeen years of age? You're going to have to go through a living hell for the next thirteen years, but it's going to be worth it.

There, why God tells us about the end time, and before Christ returns, it's going to be his worstest, worst than it's ever been before all mankind. But he says, endure to the end. Keep your eyes on me. Just like Joseph kept his eyes on death. You're the one who took it. Nowhere does it say that Joseph ever was fearful. That's it? I'm sure he fell abandoned at times. I'm sure he had to pick himself up and stay close together.

But as you know from the story, the Pharaoh says, well, we need a man that can put this together, and there's no better than you. So I will make you, Joseph, next to me. You'll be the most powerful man. Bring out the ring. Bring out the clothes. Bring everything. You're going to get all the rewards. Once your Joseph was like, that time has been a long ride. As we've all gone through trials and tribulations, maybe going through them right now, God, when is this ever going to end? He's got a car one time that tore up all the time. Every time I turn around, they call it a pull-up.

Every time I would fix it, something else would go wrong. You know what? Finally, I kept asking God, I'd be broken down by the side of the road. Just something all the time. A car wouldn't stop. I remember telling God, when is this ever going to, you know, just want to get somewhere and not work down? He gave me the answer. Get a different car. It took that for me. After that, I didn't have any real problem. I didn't like this car. I didn't want to get in it.

God says you're going to have to wait some time. Most of us have to learn that. Well, what's interesting here, He sits him over everything. And in chapter 41 and verse 43, He said, He had him right in the second chariot which he had, and they cried out before him, Bow to me! So He sent him over all the land of Egypt. Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh. And without your consent, no man may lift his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt. And the Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zatnath-Ha'aneh, which actually means Revealer of Secrets.

And he gave him as a wife, as not priest of Aan. So Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharaoh, King of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went throughout all the land of Egypt. Now, here's what the interesting part is. That's where this king plays into this Pharaoh, this dynasty.

You must understand that Egypt at the time, they had many, many gods. And their gods were so important to them. They had temples everywhere. And they all had pagan worship. And you must remember that the key gods at that time was Osiris and Isis. And the famine would affect the Egyptian gods. Because they would pray, they would do all these things before Osiris, who was actually called the God of denial. And Isis was his wife and goddess of fertility. So, Isis had the power of life. Osiris had the power over all the elements of the world.

And it actually said that Osiris was pictured as a bull. He was the God of denial. And Isis was a goddess. She was pictured as a cow. Makes sense? She was the wife also of Nimrod. Because Nimrod originally, if you remember my son from a few years ago, where Nimrod and Samarimus actually came into Egypt as they ran away from Babel at the time. In Syria, she was called Ishtar.

In Phoenicia, she was Astra. In Greece, she was Aphrodite. In Rome, she was a humanist. And she was the source of opportunity. So what Joseph was actually saying here is, your gods do not mean a thing. The God, Lord of heaven and earth, is telling you what's going to happen. Now, can you imagine a culture that had been there for a thousand years or more, just giving up and saying, okay, unless something was different about this pharaoh? Because he changed everything when he put this Hebrew in charge of the entire nation. A Hebrew who just for the last 13 years has been a slave in the kingdom.

Now, Pharaoh had control, had power. But there are a lot of dynamics at work in this world that most people do not even realize. They don't even understand what it was like. But I want you to go down to verse 50, chapter 41.

And who Joseph would born two sons, before the years of the family, king, and his wife, had bordered him. Joseph called the name of the first born, what? On Asaph. For he has made me forget all my toil and all my father's house.

And the name of the second he called Ephraim, for God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction. He said, then the seven years of plenty, which were in the land of Egypt, entered, and the seven years of famine began. So here Joseph has two sons, and that is where we're going to enter into the future. It's our name, because we need to see. These two sons become very, very important in the picture of even a world event today. And it's hard to deny where those two sons ended up. When you look at things and you turn to scripture, we will be doing that.

So here we have Joseph over the entire world, the entire world that evolved around Egypt at the time. As far as you can see, there's a famine, and it's gone on for two years. Well, during the seven years of good, we know that Joseph, in what? He built all these storage ships, storage barns, and stored up all the food. It's going to be ironic, because everybody in that area will eventually give up everything for food. To where the Pharaoh, when Joseph is dead, owns everything. Everything! No one owns anything but you.

It's a little, you thought, but it sure is going to work. So here we have Joseph with a new title, a new name, a new life. Totally worked the way. He was willing to wait on God. So then we come down to 42 as we wrap this sermon up today, because I hope that you will study. And in verse 42, we see 250 miles away from Egypt at that time in the land of Hebron, we have Jacob and his 11 sons, wondering what's going on.

They enjoyed the seven years of good. I was over the land. What little did they set aside? Just enough. Here he's improved. So now we come to the story, and there's two years into the covenant. And all of a sudden, the family is running out of food. And it could pretty good brood here. Got a lot of people to feed, and there's a severe famine. So much so that when Jacob, this says in chapter 2 in verse 41, when Jacob saw there was grain in Egypt, you know how you act sometimes when you get under stress.

Don't always act if your husband and wife or even your kids, you kind of know when you're under stress and somebody asks you something and they hear you, I say, I hear what you say.

I said, and they happen to tell us. But here we have Jacob, who's realizing that, obviously from the context that boys ain't worried about it. He's a grown man. Jacob thinks they're dead. You're responsible for it, good luck. What does he say to them? Why do you look at one another?

You know, everybody's thinking, why do you look at one another? They're like, what are you going to do about it? They're going to say, we're starving to death here. There's grain in Egypt. He said, go and buy some there, and we may live and not die. What do you think was in the back of those boys' minds about going to Egypt?

Twenty-one years had gone by since they sold their brother into slavery, knowing he was going to be taken to Egypt. And they were pretty sure by this time being a slave didn't last long, and they noticed the way they worked everyone to death. And they really went. Egypt was one of the last places they wanted to go. And it was a long trip, be bad memories. But here's the thing, it was a life or death trip. If they didn't go, the thing would die. It was worth the killing. So they did, and it's interesting here in verse 6.

As they came in there, it's amazing, they sent all the brothers. They sent ten brothers, all the men. And as they came before Joseph to buy grain, because they had to, they said, now Joseph was governor over the land, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brothers came and did what? Bow down before him with their faces to the earth. The actual Greek word is hummus. Hummus.

I think it's something to eat, but it means ground. It means face to the ground. So here they had come a long way from 21 years, where now they were before Joseph not knowing his jokes. And they are bowing to the ground. Kind of lost that pride where they were before, let's just take whatever we want like we did in Shechem.

Let's just do whatever we want. We're loaded! Hops loaded! You've got all kinds of money. I'll just trade a goat for a prostitute. All these things they had done, now they were left to survive. Unless they did something, they would not know. And the only one who would be able to allow them to survive was Joseph. The brother they did not know was still alive. So in two weeks, we'll go into the incredible meeting between Joseph and his brothers.

Together is one of the most touching parts of the scripture. It is the most heart-rendering when you see it and you know it. It's incredible. I hope you'll read it. I'll try to bring down more details. There's a lot of inside story and tree involved in it also. So I wanted to let you have these two names so that you can at least add them to your notes.

And just remember the story as Joseph. It will work out even more down the road. But whenever we follow God, it's always worth the rest.