| Subject: Genesis 42 vss 9-17 Post 195 |
Author:
Hillbilly
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Date Posted: 13:44:57 04/21/12 Sat
Genesis 42:9-17 And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them, and said unto them, Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 10 And they said unto him, Nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. 11 We are all one man's sons; we are true men, thy servants are no spies. 12 And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. 13 And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. 14 And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies: 15 Hereby ye shall be proved: By the life of Pharaoh ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. 16 Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you: or else by the life of Pharaoh surely ye are spies. 17 And he put them all together into ward three days.
Joseph recognizes his brothers, remembers his dream and then a warfare starts up in him as his memory takes him back to his ill treatment by his brothers. Revenge is a strong motivating factor in many if not most people. Joseph is torn between hugging necks and making them pay. As a cat plays with a mouse Joseph starts tormenting his brothers.
"You are spies"! is the accusation that Joseph uses and it brings instant consternation to the 10 brothers as it was meant to. The reference to the "nakedness of the land" would be pointing to Egypt's weakness during the famine. The idea is that they are scouting out the land to determine it's weaknesses.just as Israel spied out the land of the Canaanites before entering to take the land. The answer that "we are true men" is simply saying "we are telling the truth when we tell you that we are not spies but are only come to buy food." "You have nothing to fear from us."
When the 10 brothers felt trapped they started telling Joseph how they came to be there and revealed (or so they thought) the circumstances that led them there. I believe Joseph started formulating his plan as they talked about their family. Joseph knew that he had to get them all to Egypt to take care of them. It was out of the question in Joseph's mind to leave Egypt and rejoin his family. First it was God's will that he be there and secondly Pharaoh probably would not have let him leave anyway. He was too important to the wellbeing of Egypt at that time. What ever he had to do he was going to do it. He meant to see his only full brother and his father whom he both loved dearly.
In a move that gave the brothers a small taste of what had been dealt to him "he put them all together into ward three days". The three days in ward are for them to make up their minds as to the proposition he has presented to them and to let them feel a little of what he felt at their hands.
The three days are important. Three days, three years, 3 weeks and even three hours all are prominent in scripture when dealing with prophecy. Just as Jesus was in the heart of the earth 3 days they would be locked up 3 days. When Moses approached Pharaoh to let the people go he told Pharaoh they were to go three days journey to sacrifice to their God (Ex. 3:18). When Jacob made his agreement with Laban concerning the spotted animals he put three days journey between him and Laban. The prophecy of the baker and butler with their dreams were fulfilled in three days. (Gen. 40:12-23) Darkness was over the land of Egypt for 3 days. (Ex. 10:22) Israel, after crossing the Red Sea went three days without water (Ex. 15:22). The spies hid themselves 3 days before reporting back to Joshua (Josh. 2"16). Daniel mourned and prayed for 3 weeks (Dan. 10:2) Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of the whale. (Jonah 1:17 with Matt. 12:40). Jesus spoke to the multitude in Galilee for 3 days and they went without food three days. (Matt. 15:32). Paul was three days without sight after being struck by Jesus on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:9). The two witness lie in the streets of Jerusalem for 3 days (Rev. 11:9-11) When Jesus was crucified there was darkness over the face of the earth for 3 hours (Luke 23:44).. There are a great many more examples that could be cited but this should suffice. Anytime you are reading in the Bible and come across a period of time with the number 3 it will pay you to read closely for the context and see if they are connected to a time of trouble. These verses are prophetic of the tribulation period which is divided as 3 1/2 and 3 1/2 for 7 years total.
The events shown to us in Joseph's day are pre-cursors of that which is to com.
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