Scripture Daily

Context No. 1353 of 4322 · Genesis

Context · Reflection

Genesis 43:23-27: in context

23He said, “Peace be to you. Don’t be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money.” He brought Simeon out to them. 24The man brought the men into Joseph’s house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. 25They prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. 26When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to the earth before him. 27He asked them of their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?”

Joseph's brothers have come back to Egypt in fear, sure they will be accused over the silver they found returned in their sacks. But Joseph's steward meets their anxiety with unexpected words: Peace to you, do not be afraid; your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; I received your money. He brings out Simeon, who had been held, gives them water to wash, feeds their donkeys. They prepare their gift, and when Joseph arrives they bow before him, and he asks kindly after their welfare and their old father: is he still alive?

The moment to hold on to is the steward's greeting to men braced for the worst: peace to you, do not be afraid. The brothers had come expecting an accusation, perhaps enslavement, over money they could not explain; they were tense with dread, ready to defend themselves. And into that fear comes a word of peace, an assurance that all is well, that the returned silver was not a trap but a gift, framed as something their God had given them. Grace met them where they expected judgment. There is a foreshadowing here of how God so often deals with us. We come to him, when we come at all, braced for the accusation we feel we deserve, rehearsing our defense, sure that what we have done will be held against us; and the word that meets us is the one the steward spoke: peace to you, do not be afraid. The account we dreaded has already been settled. It is worth noticing how much of the brothers' fear was suffering they carried needlessly, dread of a judgment that was not coming. We do the same, living under an anxiety about God's disposition toward us that his grace has already answered. To those who come to him in Christ, the word is not the accusation we brace for but peace, do not be afraid; the debt has been received and settled by another.

Do I come to God braced for the accusation I feel I deserve, rehearsing my defense, when the word his grace speaks to those who come to him is peace, do not be afraid, the debt already settled?

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