Bible Commentaries
Genesis 42

Verses 21-22

CONSCIENCE AWAKENED

‘And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother,’ etc.

Genesis 42:21-22

I. Joseph’s brethren had not been placed in any peculiar circumstances of trial since the loss of Joseph; consequently their sin had slept. There had been nothing to call it to light; they had well-nigh forgotten it; its heinousness had become dim in the distance. But now they were in trouble, and they could not help seeing the hand of God in that trouble. Their spiritual instinct told them that their trouble did not spring out of the ground; it had been planted there,—it had a root. Their sin had found them out at last, and their own adversity brought about that contrition for their offence which its own hatefulness ought to have been sufficient to produce.

II. We see from this story that men may commit sins, and may forget them; and yet the sins may be recorded, and may one day rise up again with a frightful vitality. Men will soon bury their own sins, if they be left to themselves; but it is like burying seed, which appears to die and be forgotten, and yet it rises up again, and perhaps becomes a great tree.

III. The voice of conscience is a good voice, a wholesome voice,—yea, the very voice of God to our souls, and one to be welcomed by us if we only listen to it at the right time. The consciousness of guilt is a blessed thing, if only it come at the right time, and when there is opportunity for bringing forth fruits meet for repentance. Well for us if our estimate of our condition is the same, at least in its main features, as that estimate which God has made, and which the last day will produce!

—Bishop Harvey Goodwin.

Illustration

‘The brothers’ sin found them out in want, in shame, in remorse, in degradation. Those dreams of their brother came literally true; they might punish him, but they could not defeat their fulfilment. Let us never excuse ourselves for sins done long ago, or done in ignorance, or in passion. Let us be lenient towards others, but severe towards ourselves.’

Dean Vaughan.

Verse 30

ROUGH TONGUE AND TENDER HEART

‘The lord of the land spake roughly unto us.’

Genesis 42:30

There may be immeasurable kindness hiding behind a rough exterior. Joseph made himself strange to his brethren; but what truth was in his heart, what tenderness, what love!

I. So it sometimes is in human relationships. For a little while the father must look gravely on the child who has disobeyed, and must speak seriously and sternly to him; but underneath the surface, his very soul is throbbing over the wrongdoer. A true friend is called, now and then, to reprove and rebuke his friend, rather than suffer sin upon him; but his affection is unchanged all the time.

II. So it often is in the providence of God. He leads me through dark rooms, along stony paths, up the steep hillsides, down into the waters which are ‘to the palate bitter, and to the stomach cold.’ He seems to hide the shining of His face. But He loves me none the less but all the more. He is seeking my richest good. He is consulting my truest welfare.

III. So it frequently is, too, in the history of the soul. There is conviction of sin before there is the assurance of forgiveness. There is trouble, and afterwards there is peace. Weeping endures for a night, and then joy comes in the morning. My Saviour deepens and intensifies in me the sense of my guilt, ere He lifts away my heavy burden and welcomes me into His house of wine.

IV. Sin always finds the sinner out. Let me look the humbling and momentous truth in the face. I am inclined to refuse to do this. I am disposed to prophesy smooth things to my heart.

But that is foolish, ruinous, suicidal. It prevents me taking home the consolations of God. I cannot know the comfort till I know the sadness. I am not meant to abide in the gloom for ever, but to pass out of its shadows into the sunshine. But I cannot enter the region of light and peace, until I have become acquainted with that of darkness and pain. Only then ‘the morning will awaken, the shadows will decay.’ Only then the weeping will yield place to shouting and joy.

So soon as Joseph’s brethren know the incubus of their guilt and confess the vileness of their pollution, pardon and hope and life are not far away.

Illustration

‘ Our Brother sometimes speaks roughly, but never because He does not love us. It is to test us; to see whether we love Him for His own sake, or for the bounties He gives us; to know what is in our hearts. “Thou shalt remember,” said Moses, “all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble thee, to prove thee, to know what was in thy heart.”

But all the time that He is speaking roughly to us, and even when He is taking our Simeon from us, His eyes are full of tears, He is filling our sacks with corn, and giving us provision for the way. The roughness is a great effort for Him to sustain; and He longs for the hour when He may cast aside His mask, and talk with us face to face.

So long as this strange behaviour is in our Lord, we must be humble and resigned. We must above all be very tender with our brothers. It does not become us to be churlish or austere to them; but, on the contrary, sweet, generous, and helpful.’