Twenty-some years had passed. Joseph wore Egyptian dress, spoke through an interpreter, ruled with authority. The brothers could not see the seventeen-year-old in the man before them.

A picture of Christ's relationship with His brethren after the flesh. Romans 11 traces the same pattern — the elder brother of all mankind is not recognized by His own people. The day of recognition will come (Zechariah 12:10), but not yet.

Twenty years and the guilt has not faded. The brothers connected their current distress to their old sin against Joseph. Buried guilt does not stay buried; it surfaces under the next pressure.

Notice — they assumed therefore is this distress come upon us. They were not yet right about the cause-and-effect (God's purposes were larger), but they were right about their own guilt.

Joseph wept. The brother they had thrown into the pit, sold for silver, presumed dead — he wept for them as soon as they confessed their guilt. The mercy was already in the heart of the ruler before they knew who he was.

The pattern foreshadows Christ's response to His repenting people. Before they fully comprehend who He is, His tears are already running for them.

They had come to buy grain. They went home with grain and their money back. Grace giving more than was asked for, returning what was paid.

A picture of the gospel — we come asking for what we think we need, and God gives us that and returns what we tried to buy it with. The grace exceeds the request.

All these things are against me. From Jacob's perspective, every loss was a defeat. From God's perspective, every loss was an instrument of saving the family. He could not yet see what we now see.

Romans 8:28 stands as the New Testament rebuke of Jacob's assessment. All things work together for good — including the things that look like total loss. Jacob will say all these things are against me and be wrong. Decades later he will confess otherwise.