CRITICAL NOTES.—
Genesis 43:27. Is your father well?] Heb. “Is there peace to your father?”—
Genesis 43:28. Thy servant, our father, is in good health, he is yet alive?] Heb., “Peace to thy servant our father—he yet lives.”—
Genesis 43:29. God be gracious to thee, my son.] “Benjamin was only about a year old when Joseph was sold, as he was sixteen years the younger.”—(Jacobus.)—
Genesis 43:32. And they set on for himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians which did eat with him, by themselves; because the Egyptians might not eat with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.] “The law of caste separated different ranks of Egyptians to different tables. And Herodotus mentions the unwillingness of the Egyptians to have any familiar intercourse with foreigners. The Egyptians were prevented from eating with the Hebrews because the latter slew and ate animals which the former regarded as sacred—the cow, the ox, etc. Besides, the Hebrews did not practise the same religious ceremonies at meals as the Egyptians.”—(Jacobus.)—
Genesis 43:34. And he sent messes unto them from before him.] It was the practice in the East to honour guests in this manner. (1 Samuel 9:23.) Five times as much as any of theirs. “The number five seems to have been in especial regard in Egypt. (Genesis 41:34; Genesis 45:22; Genesis 47:2; Genesis 47:24; Isaiah 19:18.) The reason is stated to have been, that the Egyptians recognized only five planets.”—(Alford.)
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Genesis 43:26-34
JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN AT THE BANQUET
Consider this incident:—
I. As it illustrates some useful principles of social life.
1. That we should not set up the pretence of loving all alike. When Joseph thus liberally provided for these men he intended it to be a feast of brotherhood, and yet he made a marked difference between them. His brother Benjamin was specially honoured (Genesis 43:34), and greeted with loving words. (Genesis 43:29). All were not treated alike. The possession of an universal love—a love which does not discriminate is an unreality, a mere sentiment, and nothing more. We should not say that Benjamin, who has offended little and loved much should only receive the same as the rest. Surely those who are most like Christ are the most dear to God, and, therefore, these should be held the most dear to all who are the children of God.
2. That it is wise to observe the established customs of society when they are not morally wrong. In this feast differences of rank were respected, established social customs were not broken through. The Hebrews sat at a table by themselves, the Egyptians also by themselves. Joseph occupied a separate table by himself, for he was governor, and, therefore, of superior rank to the other Egyptians. (Genesis 43:32.) Egyptian customs demanded such an arrangement. The equality of Christian brotherhood is quite consistent with this state of things. Christianity teaches principles that tend to make man equal, but in the meantime it does not rudely attack established customs which have a natural propriety in their favour. The pure and elevated principles of Christ’s religion are under present disadvantage in contending with the imperfections of human nature. But they shall prevail in the end, not by declaring a war of extermination against social customs which are not perfect, but by raising and ennobling the idea and the true purpose of life. It was thus that slavery was uprooted in the early ages of the Christian Church; not by declaiming directly against it, but by teaching those principles, which, if they prevailed, would render slavery impossible.
II. As it illustrates the secret and the outward life.
1. In the case of the brethren. Everything outwardly now tended to make them happy. The suspicious circumstances had been cleared up. They had the assurance that those with whom they were dealing feared God. They were treated with a generous hospitality. Joseph sustains throughout the character of an Egyptian nobleman. But he is more than this, he is a tender and considerate man. He remembers what they had said about a venerable old man, and not satisfied with asking in general of their welfare, he adds, “Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spake? Is he yet alive?” (Genesis 43:27.) He is moved to tenderness at the sight of Benjamin’s youth. (Genesis 43:29.) Thus they were received with kindness, indulged with feasting, and their outward circumstances were such as would render them happy. Yet with all this they had no peace, for the deep foundations of it had not yet been laid in the reconciliation of enmities, and in the complete healing of the past. In the midst of outward enjoyment, they must have felt a conflict of painful emotions within. The conduct of Joseph was, after all, strange and perplexing. They could not help wondering what it all meant. They had their fears. The secret and the outward life are also illustrated.
2. In the case of Joseph. In this conference with his brethren Joseph was getting on tender ground, and could only with difficulty control his feelings. (Genesis 43:30). Think of the scene in his chamber, and how he tries to obliterate the traces of it afterwards. (Genesis 43:31). He was one man in that chamber, and quite another man in the banqueting room. How great is the difference between the man whom God sees and the man whom the world sees! In human life we have sometimes this double part to play, weeping in the chamber and refraining ourselves below. Joseph had secretly indulged in a sorrow which he could not reveal. There are occasions of sorrow in which we have no need to disguise our feelings, and for these we can find comfort in the sympathy of others. But there are secret sorrows which we must disguise. Such are often the sorrows of the affections. Joseph could not yet declare himself to his brethren, and yet all the while his heart was consuming itself with love. How much anguish in families is often felt on account of love unreturned or unregarded. There are also secret sorrows arising from our anxiety concerning the souls of others. A parent’s anxiety about the spiritual state of a favourite son, wilful disobedience in children, signs of incipient intemperance in husband or wife; and yet, in the midst of all, the face is constrained to wear a smile, and may not tell the tale. There are also spiritual sorrows which are personal. They arise from a sense of imperfection, from the thought of blessings yet unattained. These are the sorrows of the purest and holiest of men, and may not be made known to the stranger. Joseph’s conduct was mysterious to his brethren, but his secret life, had they known it, would explain all. And so many strange characteristics and habits in others might be thus explained. That irritability of temper, that irregularity of spirits, that heaviness, that sullen silence—these might be well accounted for if we only knew all. This fact of human nature should teach us to judge tenderly and considerately of others. Some consuming care, or inward trouble, or self-reproach, some sorrow of the mind we know not of, may account for all that which seems to us so strange. Even where there is outward cheerfulness the chamber may have a sad tale to tell of weeping, watching, doubt, and fear. Jesus bore our griefs and carried our sorrows; and we should learn to bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Genesis 43:26. This was an exact fulfilment of one of his early dreams, when the sun, moon, and eleven stars bowed down before him. But Joseph was now changed; he had been too much saddened by misfortune, and was far too much accustomed to Egyptian homage to find any real pleasure in this, from which he had formerly expected so much. For us this is a pregnant example of the illusiveness of human life. Now that his dream was fulfilled to the very letter, he could not enjoy it. That thing which he had seen before in the prophetic visions of youth, that thing he had got; and now the joy of it was not in that, in the superiority, but in quite other circumstances. So it is we live, looking to an horizon which we reach but cannot enjoy, in which we find not what we expected. And yet observe here the merciful arrangement of God, who thus leaders on. Could we now count the cost of the things we hope for, would it be possible to live?—(Robertson).
Genesis 43:27-29. Observe Joseph’s relief in the indirect utterance of his feelings. He asked, “Is your father yet alive, and your youngest brother?” etc. Here is a strange principle of our nature, the necessity of utterance, either by a direct or by an indirect channel. Thus, criminal feeling must find for itself either direct expression in confession, or in speaking of the deed as committed by another.—(Robertson.)
They answer very properly, and call their father his servant, and again make obeisance. Thus, in them, Jacob himself bowed down to Joseph; and thereby that part of his dream was also fulfilled.—(Fuller).
Genesis 43:30. After uttering a benediction which, under the disguise of a good wish from a stranger, was in reality the effusion of a bursting heart, he was obliged to retire in order to throw a veil over those feelings which must otherwise have betrayed the secret that for the present he designs to keep. He withdraws, therefore, to give vent to his tears in a private place; and however bitter were the tears which he had formerly shed when exiled from all that was dear to him on earth, he now sheds tears of joy of proportionable sweetness; his grief for what was past was now swallowed up in the ecstacy of what was present and what was to come.—(Bush).
Genesis 43:31. We love Joseph for the warm sensibility of his heart, and we respect him as one who knows both when and where to weep, and who could refrain himself and appear cheerful when it was fit. While tears shed on proper occasions throw a grace over the manliest character, yet there is not only “a time to weep, but also a time to laugh; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing,” and that he whose tears are not in some measure under the control of his judgment, is rather a child than a man.—(Bush).
Genesis 43:32-34. It was now Joseph’s wish to discover himself to his brethren, or rather to enable them to discover him. While they were at dinner, three things tend to this end, and were designed for it.
(1) The order of the tables. The design of this was to set them a thinking of him, and who he was, or could be? That the Egyptians and Hebrews should eat apart, they could easily account for: but who, or what is this man? Is he not an Egyptian? Yet, why eat by himself? Surely he must be a foreigner.
(2) The order in which they themselves were seated. Every man was placed “according to his age.” But who can this be that is acquainted with their ages, so as to be able to adjust things in this order? Surely it must be some one who knows us though we know not him. Or is he a diviner? They are said to have “marvelled one at another,” and well they might.
(3) The peculiar favour which he expressed to Benjamin, in sending him a mess five times more than the rest. This was a manner of showing special favour in those times. It was therefore saying in effect, “I not only know all your ages, but towards that young man I have more than a common regard. Look at all this, and look at me. Look at me, my brother Benjamin. Dost thou not know me?” But all was hid from them. Their eyes, like those of the disciples towards their Lord, seem to have been holden that they should not know him.—(Fuller).
And now he feasts with them whom he formerly threatened, and turns their fear into wonder. All unequal love is not partial; all the brethren are entertained bountifully, but Benjamin hath a five-fold portion.—(Bp. Hall.)
Our New Testament Joseph bids us sit at the table which He has richly furnished in His house. He anoints our head with oil in token of honourable reception, and our cup runneth over. (Psalms 23:5).—(Jacobus).
1. The banquet of Joseph’s joy, of his hope, of his trying watch.
2. The feast of reviving hope in Joseph’s brethren.
3. Their participation without envy in the honouring of Benjamin.
4. An introduction to the last trial, and a preparation for it.
5. The successful issue in the fearful proving of Israel’s sons.—(Lange.)