R.C. Sproul

They're still dissembling.

are still not dealing directly with the problem of their guilt before Joseph.

They don't send a letter to Joseph saying, we confess to you that we have done this evil against you.

Please forgive us.

But they couch their confession in this indirect reference to Jacob.

They're still appealing to Jacob as their protector in this case.

where they're saying, oh, by the way, Joseph, before your father died, he commanded that we make this request of you that we should beg you to forgive our trespasses.

And so now we're asking for that forgiveness as our father had instructed us.

Joseph's response, we read, and Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

And his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, Behold, we are your servants.

Now, how many times have we seen the literal fulfillment of the original dream that created all of this hostility in the first place?

The dream that Joseph had as a boy of these sheaves of wheat bowing down, which was interpreted to mean that at some point his brothers would bow before him.

And they were enraged and filled with jealousy and anger and hatred against him.

And that's what precipitated their betrayal of him in the first place.

And now it's like a broken record.

It's like a litany in these later chapters of Genesis where now this is the fourth or fifth time that they are bowing down before him and offering themselves as slaves to Joseph's household.

But Joseph said to them, verse 19, do not be afraid.

For am I in the place of God?

But as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring it about, as it is this day, to save many people alive.

Now, therefore, do not be afraid.