John Calvin Commentary Psalms 105:17

"He sent a man before them; Joseph was sold for a servant:" — Psalms 105:17 (ASV)

He sent a man before them. This whole passage graphically teaches us that whatever befell that people was by the hand and counsel of God. The simple account would have been to say that the famine came upon the land after Joseph had been sold by his brothers and carried into Egypt.

But the prophet speaks emphatically, declaring that Joseph, by divine counsel, had been sent ahead into Egypt to support his father’s household; that afterward the famine was called; and that then, by God’s providence, a remedy was presented beyond all hope. This, indeed, is generally true in human affairs, but here a special care is commemorated which God took in governing and nourishing His Church.

Moreover, the prophet mentions that as second in place which was first in the order of time. Accordingly, regarding the word send, the pluperfect tense would better express the sense: He had sent. This implies that before God afflicted the land of Canaan with famine, He had prepared a remedy for His servant Jacob and for his household by sending Joseph ahead as a steward to provide them with food.

Here, two apparent contraries are stated, as it were, to make God’s overall superintendence more conspicuous. How was Joseph sent by God? It was in this way: when he was doomed to death, it happened that his brothers preferred selling him to leaving him in his grave. This selling, if considered merely by itself, like an interposed cloud, obscured and concealed divine providence.

When the decision was made to put Joseph to death, who would have expected that he was to be the sustainer of his father’s household? Afterward, a less cruel kind of death was devised for him; but then he was cast into a well or pit. In that situation, how could he help others? The last hope was that, eventually, being sold, he came out of the pit. But again, he was nearly rotting all his life long in prison.

Who could think that such intricate and circuitous processes were controlled by divine providence? The prophet, therefore, addresses this difficulty by saying that from a human perspective, Joseph was indeed sold, but that he had nevertheless been previously sent by divine purpose. The passage is noteworthy, admirably vindicating, as it does, the providence of God against the perverse stupidity of our corrupt nature.

Relying on the secondary causes that meet the eye, or attributing whatever is done in this world to human direction, or thinking that all things happen by chance, very few trace them to God’s appointment. And yet, the selling of Joseph is not presented here as a veil to hide divine providence. Rather, it is set forth as a clear example of it, teaching us that whatever humans may undertake, the outcomes are in God’s hand.

Or rather, it teaches that by a secret influence, He bends human hearts in whatever direction He pleases, so that by their agency, whether they will it or not, He may bring about what He has determined should be done.

Consistent with this, Joseph said to his brothers, “Now, therefore, do not be grieved or angry with yourselves that you sold me hither; for God did send me before you to preserve life” (Genesis 45:5). Furthermore, God so governs human affairs by His secret controlling influence, and overrules men’s wicked schemes to a right end, that His judgments are nevertheless uncontaminated by human depravity.

The brothers of Joseph wickedly conspired to kill him; they also wrongfully sold him: the fault is in themselves. Contemplate now how God directs and controls all. By the hand of these brothers, He provides for the good both of themselves and of their father Jacob, and indeed for that of the whole Church. This holy purpose acquires no defilement or stain from the malice of those who aimed at an entirely opposite end, even as Joseph testified afterward:

“But as for you, you thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass as it is this day, to save much people alive” (Genesis 1:20).