by C. A. Gray
30 “Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life, 31 it will happen, when he sees that the lad is not with us, that he will die. So your servants will bring down the gray hair of your servant our father with sorrow to the grave. 32 For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father forever.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad as a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. 34 For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would come upon my father?”
45:1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it. 3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. 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. 9 “Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not tarry. 10 You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. 11 There I will provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.” ’ 12 “And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. 13 So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15 Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him. 16 Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. 18 Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land. 19 Now you are commanded—do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. 20 Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ” 21 Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them carts, according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. 22 He gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments. 23 And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father for the journey. 24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.” 25 Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 26 And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still, because he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived. 28 Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Final Afterword
Covenant is a big concept to the Lord. It encompasses and explains a great deal of how God related to man from the beginning, and why even though He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8), many think that the God of the Old Testament (or Old Covenant) is different than the God of the New Covenant.
Originally I intended for one book to cover all the big stories relating to covenant in the scriptures, but realized that there were just too many, and thus split it into two. This book, as the title implies, covers the origins of the concept of blood covenants, including God’s covenant with Adam, Noah, and Abraham. But these still are not “the law” of the Old Testament; that did not arrive until Moses, which will be covered in the second book.
The purpose of covenants was to give God legal access back into the earth. God gave man (Adam) the authority upon the earth, and man gave it to Satan in the garden. From that point on, God had to strategize how to insert Himself into history, but required agreement from faithful men in order to do it. Satan, meanwhile, worked against His plan in every way he could. Looked at through the lens of the war in Heaven, and God’s limitations in abiding by His own rules as set at creation, much of the seemingly odd stories in the Old Testament begin to make more sense.
The picture comes into even clearer focus with the Mosaic covenant, followed by the New Covenant ushered in after the cross and the resurrection of Jesus. Only in hindsight does it become possible to understand what God was doing behind the scenes from the beginning.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to Andrew Wommack Ministries, for putting out his Living Commentary, a fantastic tool for biblical research! Many of my insights and choices in the stories came from this.
To my mom, Cyndi Deville: thank you for inspiring me with the idea for biblical retellings in the first place, as a way to enhance my own understanding and experience with the scriptures, and thank you for your editing for both theological and literary content. Invaluable!
To my editors, Doris McDonnell and Jim Strawn: thank you both for all of your support and great catches.
Lord, thank you for the opportunity to write, to get my work out to the world, and to share from Your word in a way that will hopefully touch others. What a blessing.
About the Author
C.A. Gray is the author of three YA bestselling trilogies: PIERCING THE VEIL (magic and quantum physics meet Arthurian legends), THE LIBERTY BOX (dystopian metaphysics and mind control technology), and UNCANNY VALLEY (dystopian coming-of-age with neuroscience and super intelligent A.I), as well as two standalone YA novels, DREAMSCAPE ADVENTURES, INC and THE ATLANTIS BLOODLINE. She is also the author of THE KAIROS MAKERS, her first series for children. BIBLICAL RETELLINGS is of course a very different genre!
By day, she has her own naturopathic medical practice (Nature Cure Family Health), podcasts (Christian Natural Health and Clean Audiobook Reviews), and writes medical non-fiction under her maiden name (Dr. Lauren Deville). She lives in Tucson, AZ with her husband Frank, and together they maintain an occasionally contentious film review blog, He Said/She Said Presents: Dinner and a Movie . In her spare time, she creates whatever meals or crafts she found most recently on Pinterest, drinks lots of coffee, runs in the AZ heat, practices yoga and barre, makes jewelry which she sells on Etsy (WanderlustGiftCrafts is her store), and studies the Bible.
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