Genesis 42:6

Joseph probably did not understand that God meant the dream as a prophecy. His brothers would one day bow to his authority, and Genesis 42:6 tells us they did. Of course, the most vital lesson here is that all Israel will yet bow to the Lord Jesus, whom they have despised and hated. At the time, Joseph's brothers thought it ridiculous that he would ever rule over them.

During the days of plenty the world paid little heed to Joseph. We hear nothing of his brothers; they took no interest in him at all. But when the shortage came, need woke them up. "The land of Egypt was famished," and Jacob and his sons faced starvation and death. The need makes them cry out for bread. The Gentiles have to learn, and the brothers discover, that only one man can meet it — the one they once scorned and rejected. The Gentiles must "go to Joseph." The once rejected but now exalted man is alone the resource for Gentile nations as well as for Jacob and his sons.

What is the first thing these men do — the men who had opposed him so many years before? They bow down. The moment of real blessing in your soul is when you first bow down to Christ. I do not mean an outward bow. I mean a bowing to the blessed Lord inside your soul.

Joseph was the governor, and the brothers bowed down before him with their faces to the earth. They did not know him, though he recognised them. He began at once to deal with them in a way that would test them and stir their consciences. He accused them of being spies, and so drew out the family details he wanted. These included mention of Benjamin and of himself — for he was the one who "is not." How wrong they were! They were soon to discover that Joseph "IS," and that their very lives are in his hand. The careless world today acts as though Christ is not. They have yet to learn that He is the Master of their lives, for He is the great "I AM."

The righteous Jehovah loves righteousness. He had a case against those brothers of Joseph. They had wronged their faithful brother, and they had never judged their cruel envy and evil deeds. He dealt with them for this very reason: they were His chosen family for His plans on earth, as no other family could claim to be. So if they had sunk below plain fairness, God knew what to do. With wonderful patience and wisdom He would reach their conscience, show that faithfulness was right, correct self-will, and cleanse them from a defiled state. This first meeting of the ten brothers with Joseph mattered in God's moral government. He had lifted up His wronged and mistreated servant. Now He was about to break down the hard-hearted, and to clear their hearts of the old wrongdoing that contradicted their standing as people who bore His name.

There was a symbolic fulfilment when his brothers honoured him in Egypt. Their sheaves bowed to his. And they still honoured him after they knew who he was. But this did not meet the full meaning of Joseph's prophetic dreams. The sheaves of Israel are to bow to the Messiah. But the second dream shows more: the sun, the moon and the eleven stars bow as well. That means every established authority in the world, Gentile or Jewish, bowing to Christ in the person of His representative.