Reconciliation Begins

Joseph had wanted to rebuild the relationship between he and his brothers, but had not dared because he wasn’t sure how they would respond.  He had caused the situation with Benjamin to find out if their underlying attitudes had changed.  Their concern for their father and for Benjamin made it clear there had been a change in attitude.  He couldn’t hold himself back any longer, as Genesis 45:1-3.  “Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.  And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.  And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.”

Twenty two years before, his brothers had sold him into slavery.  They had pretended he was dead so long they had come to believe it.   When he told them who he was they were dumbfounded, and terrified that he might try to get even with them.  He had a hard time convincing them he was not still holding a grudge, in Genesis 45:5-8.  “And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.  Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.  For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.  And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.  So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. “

Joseph was honest about what they had done, and did not pretend they had done no wrong, but he didn’t rub it in either.   As I Corinthians 13:6 tells us, love “Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.”  He recognized they had intentionally betrayed him, intending his death.   Real love faces the truth about the person, and loves them in spite of their faults.  It doesn’t pretend they are something they are not.  Joseph also did not go out of his way to embarrass them or run them down for what they had done or emphasizing how much he had suffered as a result, simply pointing out what they had done.

He recognized God had allowed them to do an evil thing to accomplish His own purpose.  As a result of their sin, Joseph was in a position to save both the Egyptian people, and his brothers.  Understanding that he could not continue to hold a grudge against them.  If it had not happened, Joseph would be starving just like all the other people. 

 Based on that fact, he recommended they let what had happened go and rebuild their relationship, in Genesis 45:9-15.  “Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not: And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.  And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.  And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither.  And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.  Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.”

The seven good years had passed, and two of the bad years.  There were five more bad years to come, and Joseph offered to take care of the whole family if they would move to Egypt where he could.  It was a very emotional time of celebrating for the brothers, although they still had reservations as a result of their guilty conscience.   They were able to talk freely, sharing the things that had happened and enjoying each other’s company because most of the fear was gone. 

Reconciliation cannot begin until someone, in this case, Joseph, made the first move.  Even when it begins, there is usually some hesitation, fearing that people still harbor ill will.  Frequently those who have a guilty conscience have trouble believing they are completely forgiven.  It would be years before Joseph’s brothers would accept his forgiveness completely.