Conviction

In this next section of the story the guilty memory of the brothers becomes an open confession for the first time. They said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen; that’s why this distress has come upon us.” Reuben chimed in, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen! Now we must give an accounting for his blood” (vv. 21-22).

What did God use to bring about this quickening of conscience and confession? He had used the pain of material want to bring the ten brothers (Benjamin had remained home with his father) to Egypt, where they were particularly vulnerable to God’s prodding. He had used Joseph’s harsh words to prick their carefully constructed defenses; the words had begun to get through. Now God uses solitude or physical imprisonment to set them apart from life’s incessant trivial demands and give them time to awake to His displeasure.

In the stillness of the brothers’ solitude, they began to hear the voice of God’s Spirit. The way the story is told we are introduced to the brothers’ thoughts only after Joseph had released them from prison after the three days and had begun to interrogate and deal with them again. But although their changing attitudes emerge in response to his prodding, I have no doubt that they merely reflect what had already been building up in their minds during the days of confinement. God was at work.

The second thing solitude did in the lives of these men was refresh their memories. So far as we know, there had never been a time previous to this when the anguish of Joseph had been openly discussed between them. Indeed, the narration itself does not mention it. It is only when their deep guilt has already been forced to the surface that they remember what we had long suspected but had not been told was the case, namely, that Joseph had cried and pleaded for his life but was not heeded. They say, “We saw how distressed he was when he pleaded with us for his life, but we would not listen” (v. 21).

The third thing solitude did for these guilty brothers of Joseph was cause them to reason spiritually. They were not godly men. In fact, they were probably not even saved men before the events of these chapters. They did not reason spiritually.