Psalms 105:18 Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron:
Psalm 105 is about God’s promise to the nation of Israel concerning the Land he had before given to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob and their seed forever. The Psalm covers their history through that time when God delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians. Our verse today comes from that period when Joseph was sold as a slave in Egypt. This was not an accident or oversight on behalf of God but through this, He would bring Joseph from slavery in Egypt to bearing the Scepter in Egypt thus saving God’s people from famine and extinction and fulfilling his Promise to them.
Joseph suffered great things at the hands of the Egyptians—much greater pains than an iron shackle could do to our feet. We think of the years as a slave, the lies told on him in Potiphar's house, and the years spent in the dungeons and in comparison to all of this what is a fetter? Although a fetter may be the least of the hurts that Joseph felt he felt it all the same and God did not miss it. He mentions even that seeming small and insignificant hurt. So it is, When we review our lives there are those deep valleys of despair, those things that we have passed through that were horrendous, and every other hurt seems like just an inconvenience in the light of those glaring trails. Yet, God notices even the smallest of hurts, If he did not miss even the small pains of Joseph’s then-friend he has not missed the smallest of the tears of one of his saints. The Lord sees the daily, small hurts and keeps a record of them. Sure he will remember and repay those extreme hurts but he will also remember and repay those small ones.
Further still, we can see a shadow of our Lord, who suffered on the Behalf of his people. Christ suffered terribly on the Cross of Calvary but he also “suffered being tempted,” and “Suffered in the flesh.” He bore not just the heaven burden of sin and suffering but all the burdens, both small and great. He was laid in iron for me and for you. He rose from the shackles of death and today he bears the Sceptor. Like Joseph, the beloved Son, was betrayed by his brethren and cast out to the Gentile nation, So was Christ. The Gentile nations have known him as King and are still coming in to receive their provision from the storehouse of Grace. Soon and very soon there will be a band of starving Jews who will come to know him as well. “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends.” [Zec 13:6].
I wonder if Joseph’s wrists and ankles were scared of the shackles he wore in the days of his suffering. I wonder if when Joseph revealed himself to his brethren that day they could see the wounds he bore to feed and save them. One day Israel will see how he was “laid in iron" for them. Not bound by fetters of Iron to a post, but bound by spikes of iron to a tree. He has bore our griefs, our sorrows, our sins, Jesus was Laid in iron for us and Joseph is a like shadow. This was not an accident or oversight but it was all part of God's plan to save the World from the famine of righteousness, even the very ones that placed those spikes in his hands and feet. Dear reader, he was hurt with your fetters, he was laid in iron for you, But "what we meant for evil God meant for good." "There is corn in Egypt!"