THE LAND OF PROVISION

“Now Ya’akov saw that there was grain in Egypt; so Ya’akov said to his sons, ‘Why are you staring at each other? Look,’ he said, ‘I’ve heard that there’s grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us from there, so that we can stay alive and not die!’”
Genesis 42:1

Not sure how you feel about this idea, but to not die is on the top of my list. Well let me rephrase that – to not die physically. Trust me, spiritually and daily I want to die to sin and find myself alive in Yeshua. But I understand where Ya’akov was coming from. With the famine spreading over all the earth, and severe in the land of Egypt (Gen 41:56), Ya’akov had to do something. Once he had heard that food was available in the land of Egypt, he knew he had his answer. Now he may not have known what all would have transpired, as we will see in the days to come, but Adonai’s hand was at work.
All the brothers, with the exception of Binyamin, traveled to Egypt to purchase grain as their father had requested. Remember, their life depended on it. In coming into Egypt they found their way to the official who was in charge of the dispersing. Little did they know that this official was their brother. Yosef did not let on to it as well and instead began questioning them. But as the dreams he had once had as a child began to replay in his mind, he called them out as spies and had all his brothers placed in custody.
In reading this, I want to point out two facts that I am reminded of in reading this portion. The first is in the words of Ya’akov. Sometimes the blessing is waiting for us in another place. The brothers had to go to Egypt. Domino’s Pizza wasn’t around back then to bring then what they needed. FedEx wasn’t delivering quite yet. So the brothers had to extend their faith in extending their feet. We too may have to follow the leading and go to the place of blessing as opposed to waiting for Adonai to bring the blessings to us. The second point I want to point out is that, as we know by reading ahead, Yosef was looking for a heart change in his brothers. He was wanting to see if they were sorry for what they had done against Yosef, as well as how they had brought pain to their father. Doesn’t that sound like us? Adonai looks at our heart when judging our forgiveness. Paul speaks of a worldly sorrow and godly sorrow. The world sorrow is basically being sorry you got caught. But godly sorrow brings about true and lasting change. Which then are we offering when we ask for forgiveness?

Genesis 41:53 – 42:18