GENESIS 42:1-17
Joseph accused his brothers of being spies. Think of the contrast! More than 20 years
ago they had accused Joseph of spying on them and telling their father on them; now he
was accusing them of being spies.
When they accused Joseph, they cast him into a pit. Now that he accused them, "he put
them all together into ward three days" (Gen. 42:17). Joseph's actions paralleled their
actions many years before, but be did not do it for revenge.
Memory is one of the most marvelous faculties of our nature. Often when a person
receives the kind of evil treatment that he has dealt to others, he remembers his sin and
is convicted. A step God used in awakening the consciences of Joseph's brothers was
having them imprisoned. There God could bring even stronger conviction. Their guilt
was beginning to strike home.
Joseph's heart was bursting with the desire to disclose himself to his brothers, but he
realized he dare not do this and spoil God's program. Joseph looked on his brothers with
compassion and saw them as ones needing to be made right with God.
When you see those who are without Jesus Christ, is your heart moved with
compassion? When you are in a crowd of people and realize that maybe 98 percent of
them are not born again, how does it affect you? Does it mean anything to you, or are
they just people?
Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be
courteous: not rendering evil for evil…. but contrariwise blessing (1 Pet. 3:8-9).
Theodore Epp
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