Sermon Bible Commentary
Genesis 45:8
The words of Joseph in the text contrast somewhat strangely with the words spoken by his brethren of themselves. It is clear that the view he took of their conduct was the one most likely to give them ease. He assured them that after all they were but instruments in God's hands, that God had sent him, that God's providence was at work for good when they sold him as a slave. Both views are true, and both important. The brethren had done what they did as wickedly and maliciously as possible; nevertheless it was true that it was not they, but God, who had sent Joseph into Egypt.
I. That God governs the world, we do not we dare not doubt; but it is equally true that He governs in a way which we should not have expected, and that much of His handiwork appears strange. So strange, indeed, that we know that it has been in all times, and is in our time, easy to say, God cares not, God sees not, or even to adopt the bolder language of the fool, and say, "There is no God." Scriptural illustrations of the same kind of contradiction as we have in the text are to be found: (1) in the case of Esau and Jacob; (2) in the manner in which the hardheartedness and folly of Pharaoh were made to contribute to the carrying out of God's designs concerning the Israelites; (3) in the circumstances of our Lord's sorrowful life on earth, and especially the circumstances connected with His shameful and yet life-giving death.
II. Our own lives supply us with illustrations of the same truth. Who cannot call to mind cases in which God's providence has brought about results in the strangest way, educing good from evil, turning that which seemed to be ruin into blessing, making even the sins and follies of men to declare His glory and to forward the spiritual interests of their brethren. We see human causes producing effects, but we may also see God's hand everywhere; all things living and moving in Him; no sparrow falling without His leave; no hair of one of His saints perishing.
Bishop Harvey Goodwin, Parish Sermons,5th series, p. 63.
Joseph was in Egypt in 1730 b.c. At that time, according to the inscription on the tomb of Baba, a great scarcity of food prevailed. The occupant of the tomb relates his good deeds, and these were the doling out of bread to the hungry. Doubtless the man was one of Joseph's subordinates. The exact meaning of Joseph's Egyptian name is difficult to determine, but the most plausible explanation is "food of life," or "food of the living," a most appropriate name for the man who did so much in the great famine to rescue Pharaoh's myriads from starvation,
I. The story of Joseph is to all men for ever the best proof of the working of the hand of Providence.
II. As through the life of Joseph, so through our life, there are threads which connect the different scenes and bind together the destinies of the different actors.
III. This history and the inspired commentary on it in Psalm cv. teach us the wonderful continuity of God's plan and the oneness of the thread that binds together the histories of Israel and of Egypt.
C. H. Butcher, Contemporary Pulpit,vol. ii., p. 208.
References: Genesis 45:8. E. Blencowe, Plain Sermons,2nd series, p. 179; W. M. Taylor, Joseph the Prime Minister,p. 222.Genesis 45:9. Parker, vol. i., p. 352.