Episode 314 - "Judah's Change" - Genesis 44

Gen. 44:1 Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

Gen. 44:3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his steward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? 5 Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”

Gen. 44:6 When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 Behold, the money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 9 Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants.” 10 He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” 11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

Gen. 44:14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me can indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Gen. 44:18 Then Judah went up to him and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

Gen. 44:24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One left me, and I said, “Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’

Gen. 44:30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

We left off this story with Joseph’s brothers returning to Egypt to buy more grain. Only when Judah told Jacob that he would take full responsibility for Benjamin and bear the blame for the rest of his life if he did not ensure Benjamin got home safely, did Jacob agree to let them return to Egypt with Benjamin.

Recall that Joseph had fed them all in his home, but he made sure Benjamin got more than the brothers. Besides the fact that Benjamin was Joseph’s full brother, I suspect Joseph did this in part to see if the older brothers would be jealous of him as they were of Joseph.

In the process, the brothers acknowledge the sin they committed against Joseph and believe that the money they found in their sacks of grain was the LORD’s way of punishing them. Yet, when they told Joseph’s steward their story and that they’d come back with that money, he told them not to worry. He insisted that their God and the God of their father had given them a treasure. The theological point in this is that, in contrast to people’s perception that God is always ready to discipline them, the opposite is true. The apostle Paul asserts this in Romans 2:4 when he tells his readers that God prefers to use kindness to lead people to repentance. That’s precisely what he’s doing with Joseph’s brothers.

Joseph has one more test for his brothers. Once again, he has the steward put their money in their loaded sacks of grain. Yet, this time, he has his own silver cup hidden in Benjamin’s sack. A short time after sending them away, he has his steward pursue them and accuse them of stealing his silver cup. They are certain this isn’t true, and they suggest that the one with whom it is found may be put to death, and the rest of them will be Joseph’s servants. When the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack, they tore their clothes in grief and returned to Joseph’s house.

When they got there, Judah took over as he had when Jacob had told them to return to Egypt to buy grain. It was Judah who put his own life on the line before Jacob, promising that he would make sure Benjamin returned home safely. Now that Joseph is telling them that Benjamin will remain as his servant and the rest of them can return home, what will these men do? Judah is not going to make that mistake again. He had suggested selling Joseph. He wanted to get rid of Joseph and make a buck in the process. Judah had been all about himself. Now, Judah speaks to Joseph, and though it does not appear that he gives all the details of what they did, he tells Joseph that God has “found out” their guilt. But this isn’t just a confession. Judah begs Joseph to let him bear the full punishment for the crime they are accused of. Judah has a family. Yet, Judah will not put his father Jacob through the pain he’d helped cause with Joseph’s disappearance. In short, Judah is a different person than the one who was eager to sell Joseph so many years earlier.

Joseph’s test of his brothers is working, revealing that the LORD is changing their hearts, who had dealt with him so treacherously. Like Paul, we can see in this story that God’s kindness and patience can truly lead people to repentance.

It leaves us with the question of how we think about God. Do we think of God as some great, angry, superpower that is always ready to smack us down? Or do we trust that the LORD is kind and gracious to lead us away from our pride and self-centeredness?