And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man's money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.
Joseph has wept out of sight of his brothers and bound Simeon before their eyes. Now he sends the rest home with full sacks — and with the silver they paid hidden in the grain. The kindness is real, but hidden. It lands on guilty consciences as alarm, not joy.
Grain given, money returned
The command has two halves: fill the sacks, and put back what was paid for them. One writer reads the returned silver as a picture of how salvation comes.
W. T. P. Wolston"And Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man's money in his sack" (verse 25). What is the lesson of the money in the sack? That if you are to get salvation, you cannot buy it. You are too poor to buy it, and God is too rich to sell it. Salvation must be God's free gift, and you must have it as a gift, or not have it at all.
A giver, not a seller
The brothers came to Egypt as customers. What they carried home said something different about the man they had dealt with.
Hamilton SmithHe is not unmindful of their needs and so grants a measure of relief; yet Simeon is still held in bondage. In the way Joseph meets their needs, he is still leading his brothers a further stage in their restoration. While supplying them with grain, he returns every man his money. Had they eyes to see they would learn from this that Joseph was a giver.
Kindness that does not cancel the dealing
Joseph's tears in the previous verses did not change his plan. The generosity and the pressure run side by side, and both serve the same end.
F. B. HoleThough Joseph had such tender feeling towards his brothers that he wept over them, he did not allow it to turn him aside from the stern dealing. That dealing was necessary to bring them to a proper spirit of repentance about the great wrong they had done to him, and to their father also, many years before. Joseph held Simeon as hostage, but sent the rest off with full loads of grain and provision for the way, each man with his money placed in his sack.
Something no human transaction explains
They had already traced their trouble back to their sin against Joseph. The returned money went further. It fitted no business deal they knew.
William KellyBut Joseph followed up what he had begun by directing that each man's money be returned in his sack. He wanted to deepen the work beyond a sense of retribution for their past evil towards himself. Provision for their journey alone might not have had any such effect. But the money restored would strike them as not at all the way of sale, or of man.
Why a gift produced fear
One of them opened his sack at the lodging place, and the discovery emptied their courage. What follows is what grace often does when God first draws near.
L. M. GrantHis brothers too were shocked at this. They realised that God Himself was at work in it, but they did not understand why. They were afraid. John Newton puts this reaction into words in his hymn "Amazing Grace": "It was grace that first taught my heart to fear." It is always grace that brings us face to face with the living God. Because of our sin, that first meeting frightens us.
Suspecting a catch
Back home, the rest of the sacks told the same story, and the whole family read it the wrong way.
L. M. GrantThen, opening their sacks, they find the money of all restored to them. Both they and their father were afraid rather than thankful. They suspected some hidden motive behind it. So it is with mankind generally. They are suspicious that there must be some "catch" when the free grace of God in Christ Jesus is proclaimed.
Two kinds of fear
The fear that rose in them was not the fear Joseph knew. One writer sets the two side by side.
Hamilton SmithIn their condition, gifts only arouse deeper fear. Their hearts fail them when they discover their money. They have recalled their sin, and now they see that God is dealing with them. The fear of God is rising in their souls — but not the holy fear that marked Joseph. "They feared because they were offenders; he feared that he might offend."
Summary
- Command. Joseph fills their sacks and hides their silver inside them. They leave with the food they needed and the price they paid.
- Gift. You cannot buy salvation. You are too poor to buy it, God too rich to sell it — so it comes as a gift or not at all.
- Giver. The returned silver marked Joseph as a giver, not a seller. He met their need while still holding Simeon.
- Grace. No trade explained the restored money. It was not the way of sale, or of man, and it drove the work deeper than any sense of payback.
- Fear. Grace first taught their hearts to fear. They feared because they were offenders, suspecting a catch — which is how people still meet a free offer from God.