Day 14: Genesis 43-45
The Youngest is ALWAYS Spoiled
Okay, being the youngest child, I have to say that today’s passage makes me really think that something may be up with being the youngest child.
The other sons are afraid to return without their brother, and finally stand up to their father.
Even Joseph seems to focus on the youngest child. Joseph provides bigger portions to Benjamin. At first, Joseph also seems to provide Benjamin with more of a gift, the silver cup. Yet, with a twist of events, Joseph uses the silver cup as a way to keep Benjamin with him in
See, this shows us all that the youngest IS the best child. Joseph could have kept any of the brothers he wanted, but he chose Benjamin, the youngest. So the lesson to be learned is that we should honor the youngest child.
Okay, maybe not, but I can dream…wait, isn’t that what started this whole thing.
Drama Queen
During my past life as an elementary school counselor I thought I had some stories to tell about people with out of control emotions. I was wrong. Throughout our readings thus far we have read about people wailing and crying. One of my favorites is the whole imagery of “tearing of clothes.”
In today’s reading we see an Oscar-worthy performance by Joseph. Personally, I love verse 30 where Joseph has to run from the room before he cries at the site of his brother. The assigned three chapters today are filled with tears and crying out.
I can just picture Joseph’s confession to his bothers. For those of us with siblings or close relatives and friends, I am sure we all have stories in which we told a “tall tale” that never seemed to end. The excitement and anxiety grew each time we added to the story and each minute the story was believed by another. Here we have Joseph, surely filled with anxiety, a little revenge and a big “I told you so” in the near future.
No matter what stories we tell in our lives, or what tales we tell those close to us, we long for the unification that comes with honesty. Joseph, after much time, finally feels that rush of honesty. How about you? Have you been hiding something? Have you been telling a “tale tail” in your life?
What will it take for you to finally cry out and tell the truth? As we read today, only through truth can healing occur. Only through honesty can we be brought back together with our family, and I am not just talking about our family of origin.
At my age, I've told just about all there is to tell. And, having great grandchildren and being a teacher of thirty plus years , I have seen just about it all. Humans are just about the same from generation to generation. And, as much as we all screw up our lives, it always works out. These chapters are so affirming. In spite of revengeful jealousy, bad things happening to good people, God turns every event toward good. In spite of ourselves and our bad decisions God is a rescuer.
ReplyDelete45:5 "for God sent me before you to preserve life." And, here the brothers are smarting with guilt over their attempt to do harm to their brother. Yet, they are unconsciously cooperating in God's plan.
45:8 "So it was not you who sent me here, but God." It is so refreshing to know that as much as I mis-micro manage my life, Yahweh will turn it all to good in a loving way.
44:5 "Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and by this that he divines?"
Even when Joseph is tinkering with tea leaves and practicing Egyptian ritual God is there. Yahweh seems to blur the lines of religion even then.
Here I think the writer is trying to give us confidence in making decisions and validating human-ness. We all make mistakes. We all do the right thing for the wrong reason. He or she is saying get over yourself. Don't take yourself so seriously. There is a Plan, a Big Picture that Yahweh controls. You can't mess it up!
I found it interesting that the youngest child are so prominently displayed in these chapters. It is my understanding that the oldest child inheirted all and the youngest was left with nothing during this time.
ReplyDeleteSo, perhaps we are to be reminded that all are worthy (?).
Connie, some say that this is another example of how God takes the low and makes them the high...much like what Jesus does later in his minsitry.
ReplyDelete