“Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.”
Genesis 37:26-28 ESV
Of all the points to make about this particular passage, let us suffice with two. Two major points, that is.
The first is that Joseph’s brothers are doing here something so vile as to boggle the mind. In a day when many Christians hold grudges against brother or sister for the slightest provocation, over a word misspoken, a favor not sufficiently appreciated, a broken promise that was more of an expectation of the offended party than actual promise – this episode batters our senses. When many atheists chide Christians for not being Christ-like enough, at least by the world’s standards, and use the rudeness of this or that church-goer as a pretense for unbelief, we pause to consider the downright evil of this whole thing. The point? How is it that we’re shocked by sinful behavior, much less weaknesses such as earthiness, tardiness, and a host of other social sins, if we’ve actually read our Bibles?
God sees this whole sordid affair. Not only that but he knows the putrid thoughts that inspired it. Joseph is in a pit, agonizing over such an appalling betrayal, probably in all sorts of shock – maybe in tears, maybe stunned into a comatose-like silence. But these are all God’s people, aren’t they? Judah speaks and pours a rancid gravy of self-justification over the spoiled and maggot infested meat of hot sin but God waits. The Lord moves, yes…almost imperceptibly…with small actions lost in the moment’s trauma and only known for their power, and their wisdom, in the glorious hindsight that is in prayerful thanksgiving. The deliverance from all this will come in the years ahead. But it isn’t, we must know, merely deliverance from famine. No. The famine and the suffering of the house of Jacob is the discipline that God sends to get his people to repent.
As they used to say in the old days, “Hear ye!”
God disciplines those He loves. This means that sudden judgment falls tragically on those who refuse to repent. We usually see it backwards and grow angry at how sin is often times rewarded in this world. In contrast, we often see our trials as His hand heavy upon us. He disciplines us to bring us to Himself and to teach us the consequences of sin. There is no other way. If we dabble in some sin or another do we really think that the holy One will just say, “Oh, well…no big deal…justification only cost me my Son…?” Many Christians move from trauma to trauma, because they refuse to heed the Lord’s call to repentance. But the correction of His children is a guarantee in Scripture and if we won’t come to Him gently, He will bring us with greater severity. He will not fail.
So, as Joseph is trapped in the pit and his tormentor/captors’ eat their meal in peace above him, the path to the correction stretches out before them. They just can’t see it yet. Judgment for sin is always coming or else God is a liar.
The second point flows from the first.
And point, as it were, is actually a vitally important question.
How do we know we aren’t Joseph’s brothers in this life of conflicts and sin? You see, if we aren’t asking the question at all it probably means that we are. And that’s a frightful thing, indeed. Sin is a trickster. Sin lies waiting at the door (Genesis 4:7). Self-examination and confession of sin to the Lord in prayer must mark the pattern of our lives or else we’re very likely to be Judah, not Joseph. Why? Because it’s the law of sin. The jealousy that sprung in their hearts wasn’t checked by humble repentance upon self-examination in prayer and so it grew to this horrible monster.
If we find ourselves thinking mostly about the sins of others and not how we personally need grace from the Lord, if we obsess about the wrongs we perceive done to us and what others owe us, we’re on the path to hearing the Lord say, “depart from me, you worker of iniquity. I never knew you (Matthew 7:23).” The murder of Cain and the kidnapping/enslavement of Joseph, and all other conflicts great and small, stem from our sinful hearts demanding that our neighbor owe us. In the case of Cain and as well here there’s the whining. Whining – or grumbling and complaining – is what happens when we aren’t praying through our frustrations and bringing them to the Lord. Whining is the demand that others and/or life do what we demand they do. Whining is what happens when we seek our own glory, comfort and guarantees rather than see life’s goal as faithfulness to Him.
Whining is the most acidic form of self-justification. It sees frustration as the cardinal sin in life – as a crime against its own goodness. In this way, whining is the surest example of man’s self-worship. Just as Adam blamed both his wife and God for his sin, whining is the self setting up a cross and trying to crucify others and/or life (the system). Whining and jealousy are kindred spirits that lead to all forms of conflict, political discord, and even war.
But being frustrated is not a violation of our rights.
And no one owes us anything (Romans 13:8).
If we’re angry at our corrupt government it doesn’t give us the right to be rude, offensive, or bitter. Do we think that the Lord doesn’t know what’s happening? Psalm 73, amongst others, will help us in our prayers if we find ourselves in such a state and many of us need to go there. We can’t get so angry at politics and society that our love is swept away in a horrible tide of bitterness.
Many of us are so conformed to this world that we miss completely the Bible’s definition – and, thus, its solution to the problems of our lives and culture. Woke-ism and Marxism all focus upon the (alleged or real) sins of others; the Bible focuses on the sinful heart full of insecurity, greed, lust and covetousness. Marxism is a system of blood…of political revolution over against all those who stand in my way of getting what I think I want. Christianity is also a system of blood…that of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sin. If we think that covetousness and jealousy are small things, the Bible disagrees. Our children study politics and history in school without mention of sin as man’s motivator and therefore end up with false idols as their god. White privilege and racism become, to the atheistic left, the replacement of original sin.
What we think is wrong with our world/life will determine how we seek to fix it.
That’s why Cain killed Abel.
That’s why Joseph ended up in that pit.
And chillingly, that’s why in the midst of the horrible evil perpetrated upon their brother, Joseph, Judah reasons that there’s no profit in murdering him. He’s our brother, after all, he says! Sin is pragmatic! We need to be careful because we know that sin is a liar (John 8:44; 2 Peter 2:19). When we catch ourselves talking like Judah, about practical things that excuse our sin against our neighbor, rather than speaking of God’s glory, and faithfulness, and love, we have evidence that we’re in danger.
Judah’s reasoning is sin’s song. He and the rest of the lot are suffering, not from COVID or smallpox or some such thing, but from life’s most dangerous virus: self-righteousness. There’s a way that seems right to a man (Proverbs 16:25) and it seems right only because we forget that our goal in life – our true one, and the one that puts all others in proper perspective – is to be faithful to Him. How would this scene have been different if Judah would have spoken boldly for the Lord by saying,
“Look, brothers, we have so many great blessings that we have never worked for. Our father and his father before him provided our path. And here we sit, wealthy and secure before the Lord. Let us rejoice in Him who has provided for us and if our brother, Joseph, has sinned against us we will forgive him because surely we’ve sinned against the Lord ourselves. Even now, we can’t do this evil thing that the Lord hates and will cause us to lie to our father whom we love.”
If any of this would have been said, the event would have been halted more than likely. But, again, God will be praised and Judah and his brothers will be brought to the bar of truth later. After much suffering and pain.
The lesson is clear: let us walk humbly with the Lord always, repenting of our sin and thinking of others only in our service to them through the gifts God has given. And if we find ourselves grumbling and complaining, whining and moaning, full of bitterness, gossip, and slander, we must turn back to God and pray. No…we probably won’t throw someone in a pit and sell them into slavery, but our tongue, fueled by our heart’s hate, will do damage that must be dealt with either here or in the age to come.
Blessed be the peacemakers (Matthew 5:9). How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news (Isaiah 52:7; Romans 10:14-15) of reconciliation to God through Christ! As always, we must discipline ourselves to ask in every event, every challenge, every conflict and controversy, where is Christ in this? The only path to peace is in Him.
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