Great Moments in Bible History
Number 47
Judah Steps Up to Lead
As we begin our story today, the terrible famine has been going on for two years. While I would not say that Jacob’s family was dysfunctional, it certainly lacked the leadership that a family needs. For years Jacob had shown an unhealthy favoritism for Joseph, the oldest son of his favorite wife Rachel (who died giving birth to her second son, Benjamin). Once Joseph was out of the picture, Jacob became even more clingy to Benjamin. His favoritism was bad for Benjamin, bad for his family and bad even for Jacob himself.
We saw at the end of Genesis 42 that Jacob was willing to leave his son Simeon in prison in Egypt and risk having the entire family starve rather than allow Benjamin to go to Egypt with his brothers. Perhaps he had guessed that his sons had something to do with Joseph’s disappearance. Or maybe he was just paranoid. In any case, the situation was at a stalemate until the family finished eating the grain the brothers had purchased in Egypt. At that point, Jacob said, “Go again, buy us a little food.” He conveniently ignored the requirement to take Benjamin along on that trip!
We saw in the previous chapter that the oldest son Reuben had tried to convince Jacob to send Benjamin by promising that he could kill Reuben’s two sons if Reuben failed to bring Benjamin back. That was not a comforting promise to the grandfather of those sons! Furthermore, years earlier Reuben had lost his father’s trust when he committed adultery with one of his stepmothers (one of Jacob’s wives). Levi and Simeon were the next two sons in order of age. Simeon was in prison in Egypt, but even if he had been present, he might not have been able to help persuade his father. He and Levi had lost Jacob’s trust when they used trickery to take violent revenge for the rape of their sister (Genesis 34).
So that brings us to the fourth son Judah. Jacob did not know it, but Judah was the one who came up with the idea of selling Joseph into slavery. After that sad story there was an entire chapter (Genesis 38) devoted to the story of how Judah wouldn’t keep his promise to his widowed daughter-in-law, so she tricked him into having sex with her so that she could have a child. None of those stories encourage us to think that he will succeed where his older brothers couldn’t. Nevertheless, he turned out to be the man of the hour in today’s story. When his father told them to go buy some food, as if it were a trip to the grocery store, Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you’” (Genesis 43:3-5).
“Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” Sadly, all Jacob could see was himself.
They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”
At this point Judah stepped up. “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.” Judah did not make any over-the-top promises like Reuben, but he was certainly willing to risk a lot with the guarantee that he gave his father.
Apparently, that promise made the difference. Their father replied, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds” (verse 11). Jacob had sent a present to his brother Esau back when he was afraid Esau was going to kill him. No doubt, that present helped. He is going to try the same approach with the Egyptian official. That must have been an expensive present in the middle of a drought like they were experiencing. Then he added, “Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved” (verses 13-14). Jacob recognized that he had no choice but to take the risk of sending his favorite son. He finally resigned himself to whatever God would choose to give him. What he did not realize was that that was actually the only path to a blessing beyond anything he could have imagined. But he will have to wait until his sons return to find out about that.
Dining with Royalty
As soon as Joseph saw that Benjamin was with his brothers, he instructed the steward of his house to prepare a banquet, because he was going to eat with those foreigners. When the brothers learned that, they were afraid. Back on the return trip from their first journey, they discovered that the money they had just paid for their grain had been put back into their sacks. They, of course, did not know that the Egyptian official was actually their brother and that he had ordered their money to be returned to them. When they found out they were to eat with the Egyptian official they assumed they were going to be arrested for theft. They went to the steward and explained about their money mysteriously appearing in their sacks. They explained that they had brought the money back along with more money to buy food this time. He, of course, knew all about that money, since he was the one who put it back into their sacks, but he replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money” (Genesis 43:23). It must have seemed strange to hear an Egyptian telling them about their God, but there is no question that God really was working behind the scenes to bless Jacob’s family.
Then the steward brought Simeon out to them. That is all we are told about it. I would have loved to have been there to hear what he said to his brothers. I can imagine him asking, “What took you guys so long?” and hearing their reply, “You have no idea. Just be thankful Dad finally let us bring Benjamin!”
They got the present ready for Joseph’s arrival. When he arrived, he asked them how their father was doing. “They said, ‘Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.’ And they bowed their heads and prostrated themselves” (verse 28).
“And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, ‘Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!’ Then Joseph hurried out, for his compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and wept there” (verses 29-30). This was the first time he had seen his little brother in 20 years. This is the second time Joseph wept during his interactions with his brothers. It shows us that his harsh statements to them were an act. I believe he would have loved to have revealed himself to them earlier, but before he could do that, he needed to learn one more thing. Have they repented of what they did to him 20 years earlier? He can never learn that if he tells them that the powerful official who is selling them grain is actually the brother they sold years earlier. So instead, we read, “Then he washed his face and came out. And controlling himself he said, ‘Serve the food.’”
During the meal they received two more surprises. First, they were amazed to discover that they were seated in the exact order of their ages. Second, the food that was dished onto Benjamin’s plate was five times as much as anyone else’s. I’m sure they were used to that kind of favoritism from their father, but it must have been a surprise to see it coming from an Egyptian. Joseph was trying to set up a situation with Benjamin that matched as closely as possible his own situation with his brothers 20 years earlier. They had sold Joseph out of envy, so he set them up to be envious of Benjamin.
In the next chapter Joseph will bring the test to a conclusion and give his brothers a chance to show whether they will give Benjamin up like they did him. It will be a chance for them to show what really is in their hearts.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible.