Genesis 43

And he lifted up his eyes, and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me? And he said, God bless you, my son. And Joseph made haste, for his bowels yearned toward his brother. And he sought a place to weep. And he entered into his room and wept there.
(Gen 43:29-30)


His bowels yearned towards his brother… King James English is crazy! This basically means that when he saw Benny, his insides churned, overcome by emotion, sick with a desire to have fellowship with his brother.

The word bowels here could literally be translated “WOMB”. It speaks of the deepest part of who Joseph was… This was emotion of the deepest kind. The word “YEARN” literally means he was deeply affected with love for his brother. We could say it like this: “When I saw Benny, after all those long years, I couldn’t believe the emotion I felt. It was like a punch to the gut, it took everything I had to keep from falling apart. It was as if the deepest part of me was twisted and wrenched by love, I was overcome…”

In the New Testament there is another phrase used to communicate the same emotion in the life of Jesus. It is the phrase “Moved with Compassion”. The emotion Jesus experienced at times was so deep; He HAD to do something in response! I think we can all relate to this on one level or another … the question is WHAT moves you? What is it that you are intensely passionate about? Joseph was passionate about his long-lost brother… With Jesus, it was passion for a long-lost world.

Are you moved by the things that moved Jesus? Does this world every make you weep, not because of how it has wronged you, but because of its blindness? Do you ever look into the eyes of someone, and see the hopelessness there, and just wish they only knew the truth?

Our Lord was driven by a love for the lost. I pray that as we follow Him, the things that break His heart would break ours. Not just human emotion like Joseph experienced, but real God-given compassion that demands a response.