Prepare your heart for the Sermon by looking through these suggestions that will assist you in making the most of our time together hearing God's Word.
You will find suggestions for thinking more critically through the passage, meditating more intently on the text, and prayerfully seeking wisdom to deepen your understanding of the passage to be preached this Sunday.
Carefully Think
- Read Genesis 42
- Describe the situation in which Jacob and his family are encountering in verses one and two?
- How many brothers went to Egypt? Is this all of Jacob’s sons?
- Why was Benjamin left behind?
- Why might it significant that the author uses the name Jacob and then switches to Israel in
- verse five?
- Where have we seen the bowing down language of verse 6 before? Read Genesis 37:5-10.
- Ponder the significance of the brothers claiming to be “honest men” in verse 11 after what they
- had done to Joseph.
- What did Joseph require his brothers to do before they could leave Egypt?
- What memory did this bring to mind for the brothers according to verses 21-22.
- What did Joseph have his servants do while filling the food bags and provisions for his
- brothers?
- Why did Joseph do this? How did the brothers respond when they found the money in the
- sacks?
- How did Jacob respond to Simeon’s imprisonment, and the news about Benjamin and the
- money in the sacks?
- What does Reuben say in light of his Father’s response?
- Do the brothers initially return with Benjamin? Why/why not?
Prayerfully Meditate
- What would you have done having seen your brothers who betrayed you years down the road?
- How does the story lead you to expect Joseph’s response might be to his brothers?
- Where in the story do you see guilt over sin affecting the brothers? Why would this still be true?
- Is Reuben’s response to his Father and promise a good one to make?
- What does this story have to say about God’s sovereignty?