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Daily Devotion: Genesis 43:31-34

Genesis 43:31-34    "And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with him, by themselves: because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth: and the men marvelled one at another. And he took and sent messes unto them from before him: but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were merry with him."

Joseph was deeply moved by the presence of his brothers. He was not yet ready to reveal his relationship with them, so he went into a private room to weep. Once he had control of his emotions, he washed his face. We might say he “got a grip” on himself. He then returned to the table and commanded that food be brought. 

Being the governor and of highest rank in the room, Joseph was seated at a table by himself. They Egyptians would not eat with those of other nations, so they had a table to themselves. Joseph’s brothers also had a table to themselves. But their table was set before Joseph so that he might look upon them and they him. 

Joseph began to reveal his knowledge of them to the brothers at this time. He had them seated oldest to youngest. This displayed to them that Joseph had an intimate knowledge of them even if they did not fully know or understand him. They looked at each other with amazement that Joseph should know this about them.

Then he began to show them great favor. He had food carried to them from his own table. Some writers think that Benjamin’s portion was five times that of the others in order for Joseph to see how the other brothers would react. After all, Joseph had been the direct recipient of the jealousy of his brothers. Joseph may have been trying them in order that they should reveal their heart concerning Benjamin.

The scripture says they drank and were merry with Joseph. This would indicate that, while Benjamin received a larger portion, none of them lacked for a sufficiency. Further, it would appear that their remorse over the way they had treated Joseph (Genesis 42:21-23) was genuine. There was no indication that they held any contempt for Benjamin even though he was shown some favoritism.

Dear ones, I hope we all remember the awe we felt when Jesus first revealed Himself to us as the Lord of our lives. He has shown us that He has an intimate understanding of who we are. Yet, we are fed directly from His table according to His will and purpose. We learn to rejoice and be merry when the Lord bestows blessings upon our brothers and sisters, even if they are in larger portion than what we may have received. 

We learn to have contentment with what we have without envying the blessings of others. This lesson begins to lead us into a deeper understanding of our relationship with Jesus. As we continue to look at Joseph and his brothers, we will see that there were depths of understanding yet to come that would bring great rejoicing. May we be blessed to see the love of our Lord for us as we follow the coming revelation that Joseph has for his brothers!


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