After hearing this week about the dysfunctional family that Joseph
was assigned to by God, I have a feeling you may look at your family
dysfunction through a different set of lenses, I know I do. I won’t go into detail about the challenges
his family had because we have talked about it for the past three days. If you want more insight or want to catch up
on his family you can read my blogs on “Forgiveness” at: http://dailyflicker.blogspot.com.
To our dismay we learned yesterday that Joseph’s idiot
brothers, full of envy now turned to hate, sold him into slavery to a band of
merchants headed to Egypt. Joseph pleaded
with his brothers for mercy but his cries were as effective as pleading to a
brick wall. Slave trading was legal
during ancient times so they technically didn’t commit a crime, but morally and
ethically they broke every law in the book.
The upside is that they could have killed him as they originally planned
or left him to die alone of starvation, exposure to the elements or depression,
but God… How can I mention God and
Joseph in the same paragraph? I’m glad
you asked. Obviously I know the ending
but I also know God’s character. We’ll
talk about that a little later in the story.
For now, I just ask that you trust me.
We will pick up today:
Later Reuben came back and went to the cistern—no Joseph! He
ripped his clothes in despair. Beside himself, he went to his brothers. “The
boy’s gone! What am I going to do!” Genesis 37:29-30 (The Message). As the eldest, Rueben had more responsibility
than the other brothers, he was technically the next in charge from a
hierarchal perspective and he had influence over them, at least while they were
in his presence. The bible does not say
specifically where Rueben was when Judah, the idiot brother that suggested they
sell Joseph into slavery, but I would imagine that he was out tending to the
flock. Remember, they were away from
home because they were shepherds and had travelled to this distant land for the
rich pasture and plentiful water. Joseph
was sent alone by his father to check on the status of his brothers and
everything went to hell in a hand basket.
I don’t believe Rueben ever intended for his little brother to be harmed
and he certainly had not thought of selling him off. He probably made the other brothers think he
was going along with their cockamamie scheme to appease them and to allow them
to let off some frustration. In all
honesty I believe Rueben was also trying to teach Joseph a lesson about his obnoxious
behavior even if it was innocent. Joseph
was excited about the dreams he had and in his excitement, rather than seek direction
for obtaining the interpretation from his mentor (his father, Israel) he blabs
it to his brothers completely uncensored.
Nothing wrong with that if your folks love and tolerate you, but he was
so naïve and inexperienced he didn’t realize he sealed his own fate. If you
know people don’t like you and you share two separate dreams in which they are
bowing down to you, that’s a little cocky, but he was a kid. His brothers were grown men starting their
own families but they were insecure.
Again, we are vague on who came up with the plan to kill a
goat and smear blood all over Joseph’s coat but they were all in cahoots with the
plot to tell their father that they “found” the coat and allow him to draw
conclusions about Joseph’s death. I can
imagine that Rueben was irate with all of them and probably went so hard in the
paint on Judah that he felt like he was two years old. Now he has to clean up the mess. Going after the merchants was out of the
question, but why? Was he somewhat
relieved that Joseph was out of their hair; were there too many merchants to
fight to get their brother back or was it all a part of God’s plan. It was the latter and the more we get into
the specifics of the story you will understand why.
Tania Not Tanya Nugget: Is it possible for God to stand back without intervening when we go through the type of hell that Joseph was facing? Absolutely. Is it because he is mean and really doesn’t love us? Absolutely NOT. God was not punishing Joseph he was setting him up as a step up. Stop thinking that everything bad or unfortunate that happens to you is punishment. How will you ever have a testimony without a test? How will you ever know God as a healer, restorer, deliverer, etc. if you never face any challenges related to the above? News flash: You won’t. Where there is no growth there is death, plain and simple and God wants us to grow and live vibrant lives. The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life. John 10:10 (NLT).
Let’s continue with the story: After they rehearsed the
story over and over and over on the way home, they swore each other to secrecy
and then most likely Rueben shared the bad news with their father, Israel and
presented the “circumstantial evidence”, the coat smeared with blood. They go into the story about when, where and
how they found the coat, possibly wondering why Joseph would have been out
there alone given the dangers, blah blah blah blah, skillfully shifting part of
the blame to the father. I am sure that
Israel accepted the blame eagerly because it all appeared to make sense. He knew there was a little tension between
his sons, but I am sure he felt he had no reason to suspect his sons as treacherous,
conniving, murderers capable of killing their brother? He accepts the news and is overwhelmed with
grief. He tears his clothes and puts on
sackcloth (very coarse black fabric or camel’s hair cloth wound around the
waist) worn during mourning periods or penitence, all of which was a common
practice for Middle Eastern mourning.
Meanwhile, Joseph is among people that speak a language he
is not familiar with. He is bound most
likely to
The brothers never calculated the full cost of deceiving their
father. It was 12 kinds of hell all
around their
household. When Poppa was
miserable, everybody felt it. He
wouldn’t eat, there were no celebrations, the only conversation he had was
about his son Joseph as he mourned his loss day in and day out. Can you hear him? “GOD, WHY ME!!!!? WHY DID YOU TAKE MY SON!!!? I SHOULD HAVE NEVER LET HIM OUT OF MY SIGHT!!!? JOSEPH I AM SO SORRY!!!!!; MY SON, MY SON, MY
SON!!!!!; I WILL NEVER FORGIVE MYSELF!!!!, etc.” The raw emotions of: grief,
sadness, anger, hurt, frustration, blame, confusion, guilt, must have permeated
the atmosphere based upon the lies and deceit that filled their air space. I can
imagine the deadly stares that Rueben gave his idiot brothers every time they
heard their father wailing or lamenting over Joseph. I can also imagine Rueben himself for going
along with this plot or catching Judah alone and just slapping him upside the
head like: “you see what you’re putting the old man through, you idiot!!!” Tania Not Tanya Nugget: One lie led to another, which led to another and now the brothers are worse off than when Joseph was in their presence. Envy and jealousy will kill you. You have to deal with it at its core and get rid of it. That nasty foul spirit festered like nasty cancerous cells that spread quickly throughout their family. Lies and willful deceit eventually catch up with you and when they do, you better be prepared to pay the price and sometimes it can cost you your life. It’s so much easier to forgive and move on.
Joseph finally arrives in Egypt. He has more than likely heard about it but
this is his very first trip. He is sold
to one of Pharaoh’s officials and at the young age of 17 is quickly elevated to
the position of Manager of household affairs.
Without even knowing it Joseph was being prepared for this very position,
but he’s a slave.
In closing, we are all slaves to our circumstances if that
is the position we chose to take. Joseph was a
slave physically but clearly he didn’t carry himself as one. I don’t need to know all of the details to
understand why he would be appointed as the "Manager of Household Affairs" and he was only 17! Remember, he was trustworthy, responsible,
dependable, resourceful, tenacious, and a problem solver, etc. all of which was
instilled in him as a very young child by his father and on top of that he had the
favor of God over his life.
This is a great place to stop because I’m out of time. We will pick it back up on Monday.
In His Excellent Service
Tania not Tanya
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