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Text: Genesis 45: 4-8

MEDITATION

Genesis 45:4-8

4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5 But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting.
7 And God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

MEANINGFUL APPLICATION TO LIFE

1. Joseph asked his brothers to draw near

They obeyed but with guarded fear in their heart.

2. Joseph’s word to his brothers

a. He was indeed their brother Joseph whom they had sold into Egypt.

b. Negative responses that must be set aside:

i. Grief that came from regret.

ii. Anger at themselves as they looked back.

c. Speaking of God’s hand:

i. God had sent him to Egypt.

ii. God had a special work for him to do.

d. The famine years:

i. They were only in the second year of the great famine.

ii. The famine would last for five more years.

iii. There would be no ploughing or harvesting for the next few years.

e. The special work that God had chosen Joseph to do for Him.

i. To save and preserve lives by offering deliverance (supply of grain) and thereby preserve posterity.

ii. It was God who had promoted him to be a father to Pharaoh and to become a lord of his house, and a ruler of the land of Egypt!

经文：创世记 45：4-8

沉思

《创世记 45：4-8》
4约瑟又对他弟兄们说：“请你们近前来。”他们就近前来。他说：“我是你们的兄弟约瑟，就是你们所卖到埃及的。
5现在，不要因为把我卖到这里自忧自恨，这是神差我在你们以先来，为要保全生命。
6现在这地的饥荒已经二年了，还有五年不能耕种，不能收成。
7神差我在你们以先来，为要给你们存留余种在世上，又要大施拯救，保全你们的生命。

8这样看来，差我到这里来的不是你们，乃是神。他又使我如法老的父，做他全家的主，并埃及全地的宰相。

在生活里有意义地应用

1. 约瑟叫弟兄们近前来

他们遵从但心中有所防卫

2. 约瑟对弟兄的话语

a. 他的确是被他们买到埃及的约瑟

b. 负面的反应必须搁在一旁：

i. 后悔中的忧伤

ii. 回顾当时而自恨

c. 诉说上帝的引导

i. 上帝派约瑟到埃及

ii. 上帝有这特别的工作给他

d. 饥荒

i. 他们现在饥荒只过了两年

ii. 接下来还有五年的饥荒

iii. 下来的几年都不能耕种，不能收成

e. 这是上帝给约瑟的特别事功

i. 拯救（通过粮食）并且保存性命，也因此保存后裔

ii. 是上帝将约瑟升为埃及全地的宰相，使他如法老的父，做他全家的主