00:00 Introduction and Monday Motivation

01:34 Today's Bible Reading: Genesis 43-45

02:05 Joseph's Brothers Return to Egypt

05:35 Joseph's Test of His Brothers

09:00 Joseph Reveals His Identity

11:59 Applying the Lesson to Our Lives

12:43 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Hey, everybody.

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Welcome back to another edition

of the daily Bible podcast.

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It is Monday, so happy Monday

to everybody out there.

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The weekend is over.

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We've got a new week in front of us,

and hopefully you are excited about

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what God is going to do this week.

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Who knows what the week's going

to look like by the end of it.

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None of us do.

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Right.

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And there's something exciting about

the turning the page on, on a week.

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And I know that's probably not

necessarily your perspective,

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especially if you're listening this

on the way to work, but, uh, mint.

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We have jobs, those of us that

are going to work right now that

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that is something that's good.

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That's something to be

thankful for and grateful for.

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Or maybe you're at home and getting your

kids ready and sending them off to school.

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That's a.

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A good thing, a noble thing to be doing

as well, or maybe you're at home and

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you're, you're teaching your kids.

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You're homeschooling your kids today.

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That is a, a good and noble task.

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This is.

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God has given us another day to day.

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And that is something to rejoice in.

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And as scripture calls us, this

is the day the Lord has made.

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Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

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And so I'll often ask pastor rod, Hey,

what's your favorite day of the week?

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And if you've listened to the podcast,

you've heard him say it before.

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He likes every day of the week.

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And so, uh, that's, that's a great

mentality, great mindset for us as

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Christians to have because every single

day that God gives us ease, just that a

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gift from God to be stewarded for him.

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And so today is a Monday and I get it.

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The case the Mondays, but maybe today.

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Uh, our, our Monday can look

a little bit different if we

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reframe our perspective on it.

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If we think about today and say, man,

God, you've given me 24 hours today.

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I may not be awake for all of them.

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Lord willing.

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I won't be, I'll hopefully be asleep

for some of those days, those hours,

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but, uh, I want to use the hours that

I'm awake and alert and conscious to.

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Uh, steward them in a

way that glorifies you.

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So, uh, happy Monday, everybody.

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Hopefully we have a great week

this week as followers of Jesus.

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Uh, our reading today in the daily Bible

reading plan is Genesis 43 through 45,

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Genesis 43 through 45 again, right.

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Smack dab in the middle of Joseph.

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And now his brothers have showed

up, but they've gone back.

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And remember we left off yesterday, they

had gone back and there was a problem.

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Each man had his money in his sack.

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And not only that, but Simeon woods was.

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Now a hostage in Egypt and he

wasn't gonna be freed until the

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brothers came back with Benjamin.

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Now, this kind of tells you, uh,

where Simeon ranks, I guess, with

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his family, because, uh, Jacob is not

going to send them back right away.

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He's going to say, uh, no,

we're not going to do that.

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In fact, So long passes that

they run out of food again.

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Th that all the food that each man had

brought back in his sack, it's gone.

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And the famous still they're still

very severe and they're left to go.

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Back to Jacob and say, we need to go back.

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We need to go back to Israel or to

Egypt because that's the only option

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that we have before us now to get

food, if we're going to survive.

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And after some back and forth

and belaboring of the, the.

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Situation.

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Uh, Jacob ultimately agrees to

send Benjamin with them, but only

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after Judah steps forward and Judah

pledges to be responsible for his

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well-being and safety Judases.

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If anything happens to him, you

can hold me accountable for that.

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And so, um, here.

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Judah is, is used by God and

in a way to convince Jacob

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to say, okay, then, then yes.

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And so here we see again, the first

point of the family who was the

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first part of the family, the first

born and the family was Ruben.

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Right?

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And so Ruben should have

been the one to step forward.

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Ruben should have been the leader,

but here we see Judah as an example

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of someone who's a better leader.

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Uh, not perfect and not by a long shot.

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Is Judah perfect.

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Uh, but he's a better leader

at least here than Rubin.

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His brother is in Judah steps

forward and says I'll be accountable.

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I'm the pledge.

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I'm the shorty.

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For the safety of Benjamin.

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And so Israel, Jacob, eventually

relents and agrees to allow

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them to go back though.

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He says, I want you to take double

the money and take gifts in addition.

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With you in order to compensate for

the money that had been returned in

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the mouth of each man sack previously.

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In 43 14, it may look like Jacob is a bit

of a fatalist here, but I think there's

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another way to look at this and read this.

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And that is that Jacob is

truly trusting God here.

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He's saying, may God almighty

grant you mercy before the

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man and may send you back.

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Your brother and, and Benjamin

as for me, if I'm bereaved in

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my children, I am bereaved.

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I, I don't think this is a

statement of a man who's fatalistic.

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I think this is a statement of

a man who's heavy hearted, but

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he wants to trust God right now.

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And so he's going to do that.

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And so the brothers go back, Joseph.

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Uh, is going to meet them.

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And when they show up, Joseph sees

them again and he orders a feast

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to be prepared for all of them.

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And at one point, when he sees his

brother Benjamin, he has to excuse

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himself again, he had a special place

for Benjamin in his heart because

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Benjamin was the son of his mother.

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Benjamin was his full true brother.

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And he sees his brother Benjamin.

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This is the first time he's seen him.

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And he has to excuse himself and

he goes in weeps and then he cleans

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himself up and he comes back.

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Well, the dinner has been arranged in

all of the brothers are shocked because.

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When they come in to sit down to eat.

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Uh, their plates are arranged in birth

order and they're shocked they think to

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themselves, how would he have known this?

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How could he have known who was the.

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The oldest and the youngest

and so forth and so on.

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But notice again, Joseph's affection

and affinity for Benjamin shows

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up because he gives Benjamin

apportion five times as large.

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As anyone else's portion

there at the table.

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Uh, and so here you have this

scene of this feast taking place.

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It's interesting.

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That we find that things were, were

culturally revealed to us here.

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We get a glimpse into the culture that is.

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Because Joseph sat by himself,

away from his brothers, his

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brothers sat by themselves.

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And then you had the

Egyptians in the house.

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They were sitting by themselves.

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Uh, because it was an abomination for

the Egyptians to sit with Israelites or

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with, with Canaanites, with non Egyptians.

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And so there's an idea

here of the cultural taboo.

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And we see, we see some of that

separation taking place here.

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Uh, even in Egypt, we know it's true

of Israel later because of the law

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and the commands that God gives.

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But even prior to the law,

we see it in other cultures,

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that idea of being defiled.

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By associating with

certain groups of people.

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And we're going to find out, even on

top of that later on, when they find

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out that Joseph's family are shepherds,

that's gonna set them even more outside

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in kind of a culturally taboo position.

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But chapter 43 of the

brothers show back up.

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And Joseph prepares this feast.

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Well, chapter 44, Joseph moves

to test his brothers again.

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And this time.

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He's going to send them away with

their food after the feast, but he's

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going to place, uh, his personal cup.

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In Benjamin's sack.

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So now it's not just the money.

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Uh, now he's going to make

it look like he's framing.

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Uh, the situation to make it

look like Benjamin has stolen.

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His personal cup is he's challenged.

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He sends the steward after

them when they leave.

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Obviously he knows what

he's going to find.

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The steward shows up and says, how could

you repay my master with this great harm?

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And he opens up Benjamin sack and behold,

there's this challenge, this cup there.

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And so, uh, when this was discovered,

they moved to detain Benjamin, but

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again, here's Judah with his leadership.

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Judah puts himself forward, fulfilling

the word, the domain to his father.

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And he tells Joseph of his promise

to act as shorty for him and the

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grief that would befall their father,

if anything were to happen to him.

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Uh, before we go any further,

let me make a note here.

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You probably saw, but it says that

this was his cup of divination.

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And Joseph even says to his brothers, did

you not know that I practice divination?

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Uh, this is not necessarily a, an

admission, uh, or an implication that

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Joseph actually did these things.

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But again, culturally divination

would have been something

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practiced by the Egyptian people.

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And so as Joseph is

continuing this, this ruse.

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With his brothers, he appears

here to be playing into that.

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Uh, because his brothers must've

thought, well, how would he have known

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about the cup and even where we sat in

the birth order and everything else.

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And so perhaps this is his way of

extending the rules by covering this up

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by appealing to this act of divination.

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Clearly, divination is not a good thing.

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It's not something that we

are to do or to practice.

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Uh, we are those that walked

by faith and not by sight.

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We are not to put the

Lord, our God to the test.

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Uh, but this is a situation where I think.

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These are just.

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The stream of conscious, this is just

part of the culture what's going on here.

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This is not necessarily an emission of

Joseph that he practiced divination.

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Could he have, is it possible?

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Uh, it's possible.

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And would that have been a good thing?

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No, that wouldn't have

been a good thing, but.

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Uh, here in, I don't think we

need to get too tripped up.

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On Joseph referring to this

as his cup of divination here.

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Uh, rather I think it's just part of, of.

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His interaction with his brothers

here and the continuation of this ruse

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until he's going to reveal himself.

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But chapter 44, Uh, this is a bad

situation and it's good for us

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to sit in attention, even though

we know the rest of the story.

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If you've been familiar with the Bible

and read this passage, you know, that.

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Ultimately everything's going to work out.

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Benjamin is going to be fine, but right

now, Ah, man, the youngest one, the

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one that Jacob was terrified of losing.

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Is now going to be held and this

is bad and he's going to be held.

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He's going to be a permanent servant.

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There's no hope of getting them back.

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And Judah says, well, wait a minute, let

me, let me serve as a replacement, as

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a substitution for, uh, for Benjamin.

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Let me give my life for his life.

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It's a weak echo, but I think

it's worth note here that

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there's a descendant of Judah.

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That's going to do that as well.

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And not just for a one man, but for

all, who would put their faith and

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trust in him, he is going to say,

you know what, rather than all of

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them be condemned, let me step in.

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Let me be the substitute to give

my life in place of their lives.

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And obviously that's that's Jesus.

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And so Judah is going to be the one that

is, is the head of the tribe of Judah.

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And Jesus comes from the

tribe of Judah eventually.

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And so here he is a very weak, very faint.

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Foreshadowing of what his future

descendant is going to do in a

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much grander, much more significant

scale, but here Judah steps forward

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says, hold me, let Benjamin go.

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So he's fulfilling his oath here.

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Well, chapter 45.

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Joseph can't contain himself any longer.

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And I think it's when he sees the change.

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When he, when he sees the man, these were

the brothers that threw me in the pit, in

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that sold me to the Ishmael lights and.

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All of these horrible things and

they hated me and everything else.

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And now I'm watching one of them

step forward and say, Hey, let me

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give my life in place to the other.

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I think he's just overwhelmed by the

transformation and the difference

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that he sees in his brother.

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And so he, he reveals himself.

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Verse three surprise.

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It doesn't actually say that in that.

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The Hebrew or the English or any other

texts there, but he says I'm Joseph.

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And he says is my father still alive?

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And I love that.

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The scene.

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I would have loved to have been

there to see this because his

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brothers are just, uh, just their,

their jaws are just on the floor.

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I have to imagine as Joseph

is just giddy, he smiling.

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I imagine he's going to all of them

and, you know, holding their hands

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and ain't putting his hands on

their shoulders and looking at them

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going, is my father still alive?

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And.

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And it says, but his brothers could not

answer him for, they were dismayed at

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his presence, man, that word dismayed

there means they were horrified.

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They were terrified because they

knew what they had done to this man.

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And here he is the most

powerful man in all of Egypt.

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And now they're not only worried about

Benjamin's life or Simeon's life.

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Now they're worried about all of their

lives for what they had done to him.

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And so there are dismayed and,

and here's Joseph just overwhelmed

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saying, it's me, Joseph.

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He's my dad alive.

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And he just is dying to know.

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And he goes on and encourages them

and he says, please, don't be afraid.

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Come near to me.

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I'm your brother who you sold into Egypt.

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Don't be distressed verse five or angry

with yourselves because you sold me

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here and notice Joseph's faith here.

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Notice what's so commendable about him.

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Again, he was a man of integrity

in Potiphar's house, and that has

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persisted until this point as well.

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And this is why I don't think

that he was engaged in divination.

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Uh, verse five, he's a man of faith for

God sent me before you to preserve life.

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Joseph knew that there was

something bigger than his

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own story that God was doing.

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And that God had used the actions,

the evil actions, the wicked actions.

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Remember we talked about it yesterday in

the episode that God reveals sin, right?

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God used his brother sin though, even

still to bring about good for, he had

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sent him before them to preserve life,

even to preserve the life of Israel

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and his sons and his brothers there.

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Uh, this is, uh, this is such a

commendable thing for Joseph, but

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still this scene would have been.

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Humorous at at least two to observe

and to see, uh, how all this unfolds.

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And again, this chapter just confirms

that that Joseph was a man who

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understood God's sovereign character.

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And even willing to overlook their offense

because of his faith in God, verse eight.

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It was not you who sent me here, but

God, verse seven, God sent me before you.

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Verse nine.

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God has made me Lord of all Egypt.

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Uh, Joseph is a man who knew.

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About God's sovereignty.

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And so here in chapter 45, I mean

the main thrust of the story is

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he's saying, Hey, it's me, I'm here.

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I'm going to take care of you.

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Uh, this is what I want you to do.

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Go back to, to, to Cain and, and get

our father and bring him down here

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and I'm going to take care of you.

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And so even though, yeah,

that's what it's about.

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I think the thing that, that really

stands out and jumps off the page for

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us in chapter 45 is just Joseph's.

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Confidence that God had ordained.

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Everything to bring him to where he was.

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And I think that's true wherever you are.

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I opened this up by talking

about Monday morning.

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If you're on your way to work, God

has given you that job and puts

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you there to work for his glory.

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If you are at home this morning and, and.

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Maybe it's your day off today, man.

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God has given you a day of rest today

and he's given you that time to recharge

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and get ready for what's in front of you.

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If you are teaching your children at

home today, God has entrusted to them.

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To you in this season as a

stewardship, if you are sending your

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kids out the door to school today.

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Oh, man.

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God has entrusted you to be

responsible over that as well.

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And over their education, as far as

following up with them and talking

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through things with them, if you are.

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Wherever you are.

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You're a married person, a single

person, wherever you are, the same

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God sovereign over Joseph's life is

sovereign over your life as well.

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And that is something for us to rejoice

in and be thankful for this morning.

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So let me pray and then we'll

be done with another edition

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of the daily Bible podcast.

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God, we do rejoice in that.

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We are thankful for your

sovereignty over our life.

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And we are thankful that even in

spite of sin, Instead of our own sin.

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You do good things for us.

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God, you preserve us.

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You protect us.

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You don't allow our sin

to derail your sovereign.

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Uh, decreed plans for

us or for anyone else.

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And that is such a good thing.

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So help us to steward the day

that you have given to us.

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Well, For your honor

and glory in Jesus name.

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Amen.

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All right, y'all keep, bring your Bibles

and tune in again tomorrow for another

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edition of the daily Bible podcast.

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But.