No Fear

DEVOTION

GENESIS

NO FEAR

Gen 43:15-25

15 So the men took the gifts and double the amount of silver, and Benjamin also. They hurried down to Egypt and presented themselves to Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Take these men to my house, slaughter an animal and prepare dinner; they are to eat with me at noon." 17 The man did as Joseph told him and took the men to Joseph's house. 18 Now the men were frightened when they were taken to his house. They thought, "We were brought here because of the silver that was put back into our sacks the first time. He wants to attack us and overpower us and seize us as slaves and take our donkeys." 19 So they went up to Joseph's steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. 20 "Please, sir," they said, "we came down here the first time to buy food. 21 But at the place where we stopped for the night we opened our sacks and each of us found his silver — the exact weight — in the mouth of his sack. So we have brought it back with us. 22 We have also brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don't know who put our silver in our sacks." 23 "It's all right," he said. "Don't be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your silver." Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 The steward took the men into Joseph's house, gave them water to wash their feet and provided fodder for their donkeys. 25 They prepared their gifts for Joseph's arrival at noon, because they had heard that they were to eat there.

NIV

Several issues are before us here. It would seem the brothers feared the worst, when what was happening to them was for their best. Well at least in the short haul, as ultimately the whole nation will be enslaved years later. But for now their famine is over, for Joseph was second in command of all Egypt, because God was with him. Yet these brothers were members of their fathers household, who knew the Lord God. They were men who the Lord God was with as well, yet they were filled with fear. How can this be? If they trust in the Lord God, then fear should not be an option, other than in order to have wisdom it is appropriate to fear or revere the Lord God. But to fear men when they knew God, shows they really did not trust him. It is interesting Joseph’s steward, who must have been an Egyptian, reminds them not to be afraid, to have no fear, their God, the God of their father was the one who gave them the treasure in their sacks. He actually received their silver. The steward received their payment the first time they came to buy grain. Unknown to him, Joseph had silver put in there sacks. However, it is also interesting that the steward knew about the God of their father. He was Joseph’s steward, an Egyptian serving as steward to a Hebrew. It would surely make sense that Joseph took opportunity to talk to his steward about the God of his father. Whether the steward accepted God as the Lord God, maker of heaven and earth we do not know, but we might say, an unbeliever reminded supposed believers about the provisions of their God. We are going to see next how the Egyptians would not eat at the same table with Hebrews as it was considered detestable to the Egyptians to do so, yet a Hebrew was second in command of all Egypt. How did they justify that? Perhaps Joseph was considered more than a Hebrew, although we also see he ate alone. Yet our lesson is in the fact these men needed a foreigner to remind not to be afraid, because their God was looking out for them. That would be a sad commentary if we acted in such an unbelieving way, filled with fear, which an unbeliever would need to remind us our God will take care of us. What can men do to us? At worse these men could have been killed. Death has no sting for a believer. What do we have to fear? Do we fear famine? Do we fear authority of an unbelieving government? This was the fear these men had. They feared the authority of Joseph, although they did not know he was their brother. We might think we have cause to fear government with all its actions against Christianity, or conservation values. It seems strange there would be believers who have liberal or progresive values, that would agree with this unbelieving government authority.  Yet still we have nothing to fear, for our God will always provide for us. Our country might well be in the greatest spiritual famine it has ever seen. Forces are at work to destroy any resemblance of God from the public square. Forces are at work to give equal homage to all gods of all people, making these false gods greater than the almighty God. If people know we are believers, and they most certainly should, then we should be living openly as a believer, showing no fear of mankind or their false gods. The brothers did not bring their silver back and gifts out of kindness or what was the right thing to do, but out of fear. Our actions, our behavior in this world should not be because of fear, but due to love.