Those who fear God, who preserves life through great salvation

Those who fear God, who preserves life through great salvation

 

 

Egyptian king Pharaoh had a dream, and as Joseph interpreted through him,

after seven years of abundance, famine struck for seven years, causing starvation in other countries.

Consequently, people from other nations flocked to Egypt

to buy grain from Joseph, who was the prime minister of Egypt.

At that time, when Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he told his ten sons,

"Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die of starvation."

Joseph recognized his brothers as spies when they came to buy grain.

Though they claimed to have come for grain, Joseph tested their honesty by ultimately saying,

"One of your brothers must stay here in prison while the rest of you go

and take grain back to your starving households. But bring your youngest brother to me

so I will know that you are honest men and not spies.

Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land."

The reason is that Joseph, being a God-fearing man,

desired to preserve not only the lives of his brothers who had come to Egypt

but also the lives of their father Jacob and all their relatives in the land of Canaan.

Thus, Joseph, who feared God, was instrumental in preserving the lives of his father Jacob,

his ten brothers, his younger brother Benjamin, and all their families.

Later, when his brothers came down to Egypt a second time with Benjamin,

Joseph said to them, "God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth

and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God."

Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is eternal life, was sent by God the Father

to a land like Egypt and preserved our lives with great salvation, giving us eternal life.