Reading the Bible 38 Genesis 44 – The Test

Joseph again puts his brothers to the test.  He has his servants plant his cup in Benjamin’s belongings and then pursues and catches them red handed with the proof of their apparent dishonesty.  As a result of this the thing that the Jacob and the brothers feared most comes to fruition.  Benjamin will be kept in Egypt as Joseph’s slave.  Judah now steps up to the plate and pleads that Benjamin be allowed to return home.  If he does not return with the brothers he is afraid that it will kill Jacob. 

This action seems unnecessarily cruel on the part of Joseph.  A kind-hearted reader might think that Joseph has put his brothers through enough to pay them back for their treachery towards him.  After all he is aware that they apparently were actors in enabling God’s grand plan for Joseph and his chosen people to fulfill the covenant he made with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  However, this test was to determine once and for all if his brothers had been transformed in the years since they betrayed him.  If Joseph had not gone through the transformative experience in Egypt it might have been reasonable to expect that at least a small part of him would have been pleased to put his brothers through a bit more torment as pay back.  However, I believe that Joseph, being the person he is now, had only pure motives in this act.  Sometimes been soft-hearted is not what is required.  Sometimes we all need a bit of iron in our souls to travel the journey that God calls us to. 

Reading the Bible 36 Genesis 42: 26-36 – A Father’s Love

The brothers have returned from Egypt with the food they sought.  However, Joseph has held Simeon in Egypt as surety for the brothers return with Benjamin.  Here we have the question of fatherly love.  What will Jacob do when faced with the possibility of losing the one remaining son of his true love Rachel and the supposed certainty of never seeing another son – the second born of the unloved Leah?  There is no question in Jacob’s mind.  He vows that Benjamin will never go to Egypt for if he lost Benjamin it would “bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol”; he would die from sorrow.

As a subplot to this inquiry into fatherly love, we have the declaration by Ruben that if he allows Benjamin to return with them and Benjamin does not come back, Jacob may kill Ruben’s two sons.  This amazing declaration by Ruben seems an incredible disregard for his own progeny and his own future as his sons were indeed his future in that time.  Perhaps he hoped that if the worst happens Jacob would never carry out the sentence and kill his own grandchildren.  However, it does illustrate the question about where a father’s loyalty and love resides.  Ruben held his duty to his father and to his brother Simeon ahead of the lives of his own sons.  Jacob certainly held his love for Benjamin above the life of his son Simeon.

This leaves us with the question about how we love our children.  Can it be equal?  We say of course it has to be.  However, some children are easier to love than others.  Modern parenting says that we should treat all our children equally but most, if not every parent of more than one child, knows that this is often not possible.  Some children, as with people in general are easier than others to like and love.  As children we have probably agreed at some point with the eternal cry of Tommy Smothers, ‘mom always liked you best’.   We believe that God loves all His children equally but secretly we hope that He likes/loves us more than the difficult neighbour we have trouble liking much less loving.  That is the challenge of both being a parent and a Christian – to do what seems at times to be impossible – to love one another and ourselves as Jesus loves us.  We are told that with God all things are possible but thank God we can be forgiven our shortcomings and our sins. 

Reading the Bible 35 Genesis 42: 1-25 – The Intricacies of Forgiveness

The events that had been foretold in Joseph’s dreams of stars and moons and sheaves of wheat are now coming to fruition.  The prophecy is not yet complete as only his ten brothers are there to bow down to him.  This fulfills the prophecy of the first dream in which the wheat sheaves of his brothers bow to his.  However, the dream of the sun and moon and eleven stars bow down to him remains to be fulfilled.

In reading this account I wonder if Joseph might not have shown compassion to his brothers and immediately revealed himself to them.  After all their actions in selling him into slavery lead to his ultimate triumph that was foretold in the dreams.  He might have realized that their actions were part of God’s plan for not only Joseph but all of his chosen people.  However, we can hardly blame him for wanting some payback and make his brothers suffer for their evil deeds.  But were his actions just the acting out of his natural desire for revenge or did he have a greater purpose in his actions?

First, Joseph must have known the distress his action in demanding Benjamin be brought to Egypt would have caused his father.  So why did he take this action?  I believe that his actions were necessary for there to be true reconciliation between Joseph and his brothers and his father.  If Joseph had immediately identified himself and welcomed them with open arms there would have always been a barrier between the brother and him and perhaps the brothers and their father.  They would have always wondered if Joseph had truly forgiven them and human nature being what it is they might eventually have secretly or not so secretly resented his good fortune in Egypt just as they had resented the dreams that foretold these events.  

True forgiveness and reconciliation for even minor offenses much less major injury done to a person’s body and spirit is a process which cannot be taken lightly or avoided.  It is very easy to say that you forgive someone – even if you believe it in your head but to find forgiveness for others and for yourself in your heart does not come easily.  It is not a questions of just saying I forgive which can come early in the process for the sake of wanting to move on.  However, the resentment can and does remain on a deeper level and can come bubbling to the surface when we least expect it.  If we are truly to forgive it requires a conversion of the heart which comes from God and not from our will.  Through the grace of God true forgiveness is possible.  Thanks be to God.