Introduction: Like many students of Scripture I never tire of the Joseph story as found in Genesis. Joseph is a textbook case for what is known as typology—a foreshadowing, a forerunner, a hint, a type of the God-man Jesus, who was to come. 

In Genesis 42, the climax of the Joseph drama is nearing. Joseph had been abandoned by his brothers earlier and left for dead. Through a series of providential events Joseph not only survived but actually rose to a position of immense power in Egypt, the world power in the ancient Near East at the time. Meanwhile, Joseph’s brothers were going hungry, along with their (and Joseph’s) father, Jacob. The boys return to Egypt to petition for provisions from the hand of Joseph, second in charge under Pharaoh in Egypt. The brothers don’t know it’s their brother Joseph. Why? Because they thought their earlier schemes to rid themselves of their brother had succeeded. They were blind to the fact that the one they’d despised and rejected was actually the one who would be their savior. 

Text:  In order to test his brothers as they return again to Egypt from Canaan to petition for provisions, listen to how to the story unfolds:

On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, for I fear God: if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry grain for the famine of your households, and bring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. Then they said to one another, “In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. Then he turned away from them and wept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them (Gen 42:18-25). 

Explanation/Principle: The brothers were finally humbled; they were brought low. They admitted their guilt (v. 21). Reuben asked one of the most profound typological questions in the whole Bible: “And Reuben answered them, “Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now there comes a reckoning for his blood.” 

But Joseph, a type of Christ who was to come, upon seeing repentance and faith, did not abandon them; he restored them: “And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey” (Gen 42:25). 

Encouragement & Application: If you are like I am, most days I shake my head at what I see being done to my country, to the West, and especially towards any biblical Christian influence upon culture. It is easy to grow discouraged. But when you go through Scripture, again and again we find that God grips some people such that they eventually come to their senses. They repent. They return. They recognize that there is a reckoning for his blood, so to speak. 

A remnant of people is sober in their thinking such that they recognize where provision is rooted. It’s not in the wiles of men but in God and in God’s anointed. 

This is how Joseph is a type of Christ. He was abandoned and forsaken by his own. Yet he was preserved by God and rose to rule the nations as his inheritance. And he forgave all who came to him in repentance and faith in order to preserve them, in order to bless them, in order that they would be saved.