Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. (v.3)
Back in chapter 44 Joseph had set a trap for his bothers to see how they would respond to the youngest, Benjamin, being the victim of a set-up. Joseph planted a silver cup in his brother Benjamin's grain sack, then made a false accusation to see what his other brothers would do. Had they changed? Would they sell the youngest down the river as they had done with Joseph many years before, or had they acquired some integrity through the Spirit working in their lives and change their ways?
Joseph’s brothers again passed the test that he had put before them by Judah offering his life in exchange for Benjamin's. Right then Joseph knew that they were fit to fulfill their roles as the patriarchs God had called them to be. So Joseph, being overcome with emotion, revealed himself to his brothers (v.3) and asked them to come close to him (v.4). Then he tells them not to be grieved or angry with themselves about what they had done to him twenty years earlier when they had sold him into slavery (v.5), that it all came about because of the Lord’s desire to spare them when the famine struck. In fact, it was to spare life in general that he had been sold into slavery (vv.6-7).
Joseph acts here as a type of Christ in that He forgives the sins of those who had sinned against him, and he does not hold any of their transgressions against them. Furthermore, he tells them not to grieve or be angry with themselves, which is similar to the work of justification that occurs in the life of a believer when he has received Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.
Oh help us LORD, to learn to forgive others as Joseph forgave his brothers and did not hold their wrong against them. And help us LORD to forgive ourselves once we have been cleansed by Your blood.
The Truth: "For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:14-15)
