I was thinking early this morning about Jacob and Joseph his son.
Jacob had four women in his life, but he only really loved one of them. The other three were put upon him. The woman that he loved was Rachel, and although the times were such that a man could have multiple wives, I don't believe that he ever would have went down that path if not for the treachery of Laban, his father in law, who changed brides on Jacob's wedding night. I always felt bad for Leah, Rachel's older sister, who was forced to marry Jacob through subtlety, rather like the subtlety that Jacob used to obtain the birthright from his father, Isaac. I think that Leah loved Jacob, but I believe her heart was dashed to think that he truly loved her sister. Yet it was through Leah that the Messiah would come. God has His Providences.
So, Jacob began to have children which was considered a blessing from God. Truth be known, his children were not all that great. They were actually kind of mean. I think today we would call them hellions.
Reuben, his firstborn who would have received the blessings of the firstborn, lost that privilege by committed incest with Jacob's concubine[1], Bilhah.
Dinah, his only daughter, went into the land of Shechem to check out the local women and ended up in the bed of the prince of the city[2]. This temptation never would have occurred if not for the fact that Jacob tried to put down roots in that area, against the understanding passed down to him that he was a stranger in that land passing through, even as Christians today will sing, "This world is not my home," then proceed to take on the world and its customs. As an aside, I'm not sure what the morals may have been back then, but doesn't it strike you that whenever the patriarchs travelled into a foreign city, that the local rulers ended up wanting to sleep with their women? Abraham and Isaac weren't all that much of a help because they told their wives to lie and say to the authorities that they were their sisters, and it was only Divine Providence that stopped the women from being molested. Not so Dinah, and why not? I believe it was because Sarah and Rebekah were put in that position by circumstance, whereas Dinah chose to be in that position.
Simeon and Levi banded together to enact vengeance on the entire community of Shechem by lying to them, then killing all the males. The rest of the brothers availed themselves to the spoil, so it wasn't like they didn't profit by it all[3]. And get this; when they took their wives and children captive, they were in effect assimilating this foreign culture into their own. Their conduct appalled Jacob, but it did give him incentive to realize that this was not his resting place.
In this foreign land, Judah slept with what he though was a harlot, only to find out later that she was his daughter-in-law. I find it interesting that the child born of this union was a direct ancestor of our Lord Jesus.
So far this is a very human family. They have all the upsets and intrigues that families of today have. One would wonder, if they looked at them from afar, why they would be considered "chosen." And then along came Joseph.
Isn't it interesting that Jacob was content to stay in Canaan with his family even though Laban was cheating him of his wages, but when Joseph was born he wanted to leave? I think up to that point the tribal customs and influences permeated his family, but when Joseph was born, Jacob instinctively wanted to get him away from those influences and go back to the influences of Isaac his father. He wanted to go home.
Joseph was one of those rare individuals that sometimes we meet in our lifetime; he was genuinely a good person. He was kind and considerate; he was probably the physical image of his mother that Jacob had sacrificed so much for. I think in the final analysis, Jacob must have looked at Rebekah and Joseph as the family that he had visualized having a long time ago, and his other wife and concubines and their children as having been thrust upon him. But, whatever else, Jacob was a man that honored duty, and I don't think that he would ever voice that discontent, but he couldn't help feeling that way, and it showed in his regard to his son. I think this is what made the rest of the family so jealous.
You know, or should know the story, how out of jealousy his brothers would have killed Joseph, how they imprisoned him then sold him into slavery—all pictures of Jesus among his brethren. You know, or should know, how that Joseph behaved himself righteously among the Egyptians, even through temptations and false accusations, and how he was raised to be second only to Pharaoh. What impressed me, though, was how in so many ways Joseph, just like Jesus, was the deliverer both physically and spiritually of his brethren.
When the famine came, and the children of Jacob came to Egypt for provision, Joseph understood that all that befell him was for the good of his family. It is a credit to the personality of Joseph that he didn't seek revenge, but he used the opportunity of all that happened to humble his brothers, not for his sake, but for their hard-hearted sake. These brothers had a conscience manifested by Reuben which they had refused to regard when they sought to kill Joseph, and now those words came back to haunt them with the gravity of their crime. All of a sudden they saw that their truly was a God in Heaven, and that He regarded their conduct, and they were to be held accountable for what they had done. Guilty as charged, with no hope for mercy.
Joseph made an accusation toward them; they were spies! His brothers must know what it means to be accused when they knew in their heart that they were innocent. Joseph gave them a task to do—prove your innocence and leave a hostage until your task is completed. What they must have thought when he took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. Now these brothers had the responsibility of the life of Simeon upon their shoulders. And what do you think Simeon must have thought being a hostage during that time, his fate being in the hands of those that thought nothing of killing or selling one of their own into slavery? Simeon, if you remember, was the one who plotted out the vengeance against Shechem with his brother Levi.
Joseph didn't particularly need his brothers. He found out his father was still alive, and that his brother, Benjamin, born of his own mother, was also alive. In a very real way, Joseph was the firstborn in terms of the family Jacob had intended. Joseph had the wealth of Egypt before him, he could have taken care of Jacob and Benjamin in real style. I think Joseph saw beyond that, just as in another place it is written,
Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. Mat 4:8,9
Joseph was a true servant of God. He didn't try to second-guess Him, or force His decisions, or modify His intent. I believe he was well aware through his communion with his father Jacob, and the stories he heard of Abraham and Isaac, that God had a plan for all of them that went well beyond his own understanding. Joseph had every right to exact vengeance and wrath upon those that sold him into slavery, but in his heart was mercy.
Which leads me into a final thought. When Jacob finally died in Egypt, Joseph's brothers feared that he would then take vengeance upon them. They thought that the only reason they were shown mercy was because of Joseph's regard to Jacob. Their worldly thinking made them think that Joseph was like them; that if they were in the place of Joseph, they would carry out their own vengeance with the same ardor that they had in seeking vengeance at Shechem over the incident with Dinah. They just couldn't understand that Joseph wasn't like them.
And so we come to Jesus. He is the special Son of the Father, the Son who loves his Father and always does His Will. This Son, out of love and obedience to the Father, left his estate and became one of us. We hate Jesus, because he is not like us. We can't understand him. We can't understand how someone that we murdered because of our own jealousy and pride could continually love us. We can't understand how someone would sacrifice their own standing for our good. We can't understand that in the true sense of the word, Jesus is our brother.
You are the reward of Christ's suffering. There was nothing that Joseph's brothers had that Joseph needed. Saving them didn't add one iota to his wealth, his standing before Pharaoh or to his own immediate family. What Joseph did was out of love for his father, and his love toward his brothers. He was the instrument that God used to humble Israel and his descendants and make them to acknowledge their own sin that was most grievous. But it was not with the intent to destroy, but rather to deliver.
This is most assuredly the contrast between heaven and earth. God's ways are not our ways.
(Al Bacon)
[1] Gen 35:22 And it came to pass, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine: and Israel heard it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
[2] Gen 34:1 And Dinah the daughter of Leah, which she bare unto Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land.
Gen 34:2 And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, prince of the country, saw her, he took her, and lay with her, and defiled her.
[3] Gen 34:27 The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister.
Gen 34:28 They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field,
Gen 34:29 And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house.
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