January 30
Did God Send Joseph to Egypt
(Part 2)?
And
God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save
your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me hither,
but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house,
and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. (Gen. 45:7-8)
Yesterday we learned from the passage above that
Joseph told his brothers, “So now it was
not you that sent me hither, but God”. Many people have embraced a substitute for faith called fatalism due
to how they were taught from this passage. However, the New Testament says, “And the patriarchs, moved with envy, sold Joseph into Egypt” (Acts 7:9a). But are
Joseph’s statements the inspired Word of God? If so, why do they contradict the
New Testament?
Joseph’s statements are indeed the inspired Word of
God. However, if Westerners do not learn to understand Hebrew idioms,
especially the “permissive” idiom so often used by the Hebrews, they will
always teach contradictory ideas about God. Richard Twopeny explains:
“The great point of religion impressed upon
the mind of the Israelites was the absolute supremacy of Jehovah in every
thing, and his providential interference in every circumstance, which could
affect the welfare of their family or people. From whence the transition to
that expression was very easy, which describes those actions of men, as his
doing, of which he only overruled the event. Thus Joseph says to his
brethren, Gen. xlv. 8. “So now it was not you, but God, that sent me here:” by
which he does not mean to deny that his brothers had sent him thither, for he
expressly says so, ver. 5; but to ascribe the whole to his providence, who had
so wonderfully made use of their sin to the preservation of their whole
family.”[1] (Emphasis are mine)
God spoke His Word using the language of the people
of that time. Our job as His people in this modern age is to take the time to
study His modes of expressions so that we do not misrepresent Him when teaching
His Word to others.
