He sent a man before them—
Joseph—who was sold as a slave.
Many times in life we find ourselves in situations and circumstances where the only thing we can say is “Why”? Why me, why did this happen, what did I do? We can only imagine the thoughts that Joseph was thinking for he did not give voice to thoughts. But God always has a plan, there is nothing in our lives or in the history of the world that comes or has come as a surprise to God. Joseph kept his faith and trust in God, and in the end, God’s plan came into the light and was revealed…..Bill
Charles Spurgeon
“He sent a man before them, even Joseph.” He was the advance guard and pioneer for the whole clan. His brethren sold him, but God sent him. Where the hand of the wicked is visible God’s hand may be invisibly at work, overruling their malice. No one was more of a man, or more fit to lead the van than Joseph: an interpreter of dreams was wanted, and his brethren had said of him, “Behold, this dreamer cometh.”
“Who was sold for a servant,” or rather for a slave. Joseph’s journey into Egypt was not so costly as Jonah’s voyage when he paid his own fare: his free passage was provided by the Midianites, who also secured his introduction to a great officer of state by handing him over as a Slave. His way to a position in which he could feed his family lay through the pit, the slaver’s caravan, the slave market, and the prison, and who shall deny but what it was the right way, the surest way, the wisest way, and perhaps the shortest way. Yet assuredly it seemed not so. Were we to send a man on such an errand we should furnish him with money—Joseph goes as a pauper; we should clothe him with authority—Joseph goes as a slave; we should leave him at full liberty—Joseph is a bondman: yet money would have been of little use when corn was so dear, authority would have been irritating rather than influential with Pharaoh, and freedom might not have thrown Joseph into connection with Pharaoh’s captain and his other servants, and so the knowledge of his skill in interpretation might not have reached the monarch’s ear. God’s way is the way. Our Lord’s path to his mediatorial throne ran by the cross of Calvary; our road to glory runs by the rivers of grief.
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Enduring Word
He sent a man before them: David understood that the injustice and misfortune which came upon Joseph was ordained by God so that in His plan he could be sent ahead to Egypt to save the patriarchs (and the whole region) from famine.(Guzik)
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Barnes
He sent a man before them – That is, He so ordered it by his providence that a man – Joseph – was sent before the family of Jacob into Egypt, that he might make arrangements for their reception and preservation. The whole matter was as God had sent him, or had commanded him to go. And yet it was brought about as the result of a series of acts of the most wicked character; by the envy and the hatred of his brethren; by their guilt and hardness of heart in proposing at first to put him to death, and then in their arrangements for selling him to hopeless slavery; by their plan so to dispose of him that their father might never hear of him again, and that they might be troubled with him no more. God did not cause these acts. He did not command them; he did not approve of them. And yet, since they did occur, and since Joseph’s brethren were so wicked, God made use of these things to accomplish his own benevolent purposes, and to carry out his great designs. So he makes use of the passions of wicked people at all times to execute his plans (compare the notes at Isaiah 10:5-7; see also Psalms 76:10; and Genesis 50:20); and so he will do to the end of time. People are free in their wickedness, but God is equally free in frustrating their schemes and overruling their designs for the accomplishment of his own purposes.
Who was sold for a servant – For a slave; Genesis 37:28, Genesis 37:36; Genesis 39:1.
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John Gill
He sent a man before them, even Joseph,…. Who, though but a lad of seventeen years of age when he was sold into Egypt, yet was a grown man when he stood before Pharaoh, and interpreted his dreams of plenty and famine to come; and advised him to lay up store in the years of plenty, against the years of famine; by which he appeared to be a wise man, as the Targum here calls him; see Genesis 37:3. Him God sent before into Egypt; before Jacob and his sons went down thither, to make provision for them, to support them in the time of famine, and preserve their lives. God is said to send him, though his brethren sold him out of envy; there being such a plain hand of Providence in this matter; and which is observed by Joseph himself over and over again, Genesis 45:5, in which he was a type of Christ, in whom all provisions are made, and by whom they are communicated unto his people; who all receive out of his fulness, and grace for grace.
Who was sold for a servant: either “to a servant”: as to Potiphar, as Aben Ezra, who was a servant of Pharaoh’s; or rather to be a servant, as Joseph was in his house: he was sold for twenty pieces of silver, as Christ, his antitype, for thirty; the price of a servant, Genesis 37:28, and who not only appeared in the form of a servant, but did the work of one: and a faithful and righteous servant he was to his Father, and on the behalf of his people.
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Matthew Henry
He was humbled, greatly humbled (v. 17, 18): God sent a man before them, even Joseph. Many years before the famine began, he was sent before them, to nourish them in the famine; so vast are the foresights and forecasts of Providence, and so long its reaches. But in what character did he go to Egypt who was to provide for the reception of the church there? He went not in quality of an ambassador, no, nor so much as a factor or commissary; but he was sold thither for a servant, a slave for a term of life, without any prospect of being ever set at liberty. This was low enough, and, one would think, set him far enough from any probability of being great. And yet he was brought lower; he was made a prisoner (v. 18): His feet they hurt with fetters. Being unjustly charged with a crime no less heinous than a rape upon his mistress, the iron entered into his soul, that is, was very painful to him; and the false accusation which was the cause of his imprisonment did in a special manner grieve him, and went to his heart; yet all this was the way to his preferment.
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Geneva Bible 1560
Psalm 105:17
17 But he sent a man before them: Joséph was sold for a slave.
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Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; Phil 4:6 NKJV
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