Genesis 42:1–5
The Bible4Jesus.com Podcast
About this episode
The Bible is not a collection of stories about nice people. It is the story of a great God who works His purposes through profoundly broken people. And nowhere is this clearer than in the family of Jacob. We have seen the jealousy, the deceit, the favoritism, and the violence that has ripped this family apart. Twenty-two years have passed since the sons of Jacob sold their brother Joseph into slavery, seared their consciences, and then lied to their father's face. For two decades, they have lived with this lie, a festering wound covered over by the routines of life. But God is the great surgeon, and He is not afraid to use a sharp knife to cut out the poison. That sharp knife, in this case, is a famine. We must not think of this famine as a random act of nature, a mere meteorological event.