Genesis 42:21-26 "And they said one to another, We are verily guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the anguish of his soul, when he besought us, and we would not hear; therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child; and ye would not hear? therefore, behold, also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them; for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them, and wept; and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way: and thus did he unto them. And they laded their asses with the corn, and departed thence."
Joseph’s brothers were in a difficult situation. They stood accused of being spies and not honest men. One of them was going to remain in prison until they returned with their youngest brother. After having lost Joseph, they knew that Israel was not going to take it well when they went back and told him the governor of Egypt wanted them to bring Benjamin to him.
All of this stirred up their conscience. They were made to confess to each other that they were guilty concerning the mistreatment of Joseph. His anguish was apparent to them when they cast him into that pit in the wilderness. He even begged them not to leave him in that condition, but they hardened their hearts against him. While their brothers were realizing the consequence of their action, they did not realize that Joseph was standing there with them and understood every word that was spoken.
The oldest son, Reuben, had tried to spare Joseph in a roundabout way. He did persuade the others to cast Joseph into a pit rather than kill him outright. Reuben then intended to sneak around and get Joseph out and return him to Israel. However, his plan of deceit did not work out well, and he had to carry his own part of the burden.
Joseph was moved by the confession of his brothers, even though they did not see it at the time. Faithful to his word, Joseph loaded them down with corn. Then he went above and beyond all that they had any reason to expect. He gave them provisions for their journey and returned their money to them that they had brought to pay for the corn. The brothers started on their way back to their families, still ignorant of who Joseph was and all that he had done for them.
Dear ones, how many times in our lives have we been confronted with our sinful nature? How often have we had to confess our hard heartedness? Sometimes, we may have tried to be covertly obedient, like Reuben, but that never works out like we plan. Often, during these times, we did not realize that Jesus was listening and was moved by our distress. His bountiful grace was not immediately apparent to us as we shouldered our load and took up our journey again. But He is always faithful and provides more than we could ever deserve.