Genesis 42:24

And he turned himself about from them, and wept…

That gets me every time.

Joseph is standing there before the very men who betrayed him, sold him, and acted like his pain meant nothing, and now he has to turn away because the emotion is too much. He wept. Under all the testing, under all the severity, under all the restraint, there was still a heart that loved them.

That reminds me immediately of Jesus. After His final rejection, He looked over Jerusalem and wept. He was not indifferent. He was not bitter. He was not done loving them. He wept over the very city that did not know Him.

That is what makes this so striking. Joseph is not just a ruler in this moment. He is a brokenhearted brother. And Jesus is not just the rejected Messiah. He is the One who still weeps over those who turn from Him.

Genesis 42:24

… and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes.

Then Joseph comes back and keeps dealing with them, but he takes Simeon and binds him before their eyes. Simeon means hearing. I think there is a picture in that.

Nine brothers are going back to the land, but they are going back without hearing. That fits with what Isaiah said concerning Israel, that in hearing they would hear, but not understand, and in seeing they would see, but not perceive. The problem was never that sound reached their ears. The problem was that truth did not break through to the heart.

And that is still the issue.

In May of 1948, the Jewish people returned to the land of Israel. That was a remarkable thing to watch in history. But they returned without Simeon. They returned to the land, but nationally they still do not hear Jesus.

That is the sadness of this passage, but it is not the end of it. Joseph’s tears tell me something important. The One they do not yet hear is still the One who loves them. The One they do not yet recognize is still the One whose heart is moved toward them.

That gives me hope. Because the Lord who weeps is also the Lord who reveals Himself. And in His time, hearing will come.