Israel asked, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man you had another brother?” – Genesis 43:6

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 28, 2015): Genesis 43

Steven Hawking once commented that he understands the workings of the universe much better than he understands human behavior. In his own words “while physic and mathematics may tell us how the universe began, they are not much use in predicting human behavior because there are far too many questions to solve. I’m no better than anyone else at understanding what makes people tick, particularly women.” Hawking is right, at least most of the time. Our behavior is simply too complex to predict well. We never really know how we, or any other person, will react to a certain set of circumstances. And personally, I think that we not only can surprise a genius like Stephen Hawking, but that sometimes God looks down on this planet and can do nothing but shake his head and mutter to himself “I didn’t think that they would do that!”

Most of the time this is true. But the exception might be when we are suffering under high levels of stress. There seems to be a quite accurate mathematical model for behavior under stress. The mathematical formula is actually quite simple. It is CB = OB + BC(SI) or Current Behavior (CB) is equal to Original Behavior (OB) plus any Behavioral Change (BC) times the Stress Indicator (SI), where the Stress Indicator is measured with a number between 0 and 1 – and the as the individual situational stress rises, the Stress indicator approaches zero. Confused? It’s okay. All that formula really tells us is that the higher our stress, the more our Current Behavior reverts back to our Original Behavior patterns because Behavioral Change is minimized by the increased stress level. In times of stress, our whole behavioral system seems to reset itself to the patterns that used to work for us – our Original Behavior. Stress always minimizes Behavioral Change.

And it would seem that this is exactly what is happening in Jacob’s life. He has learned and he has changed. Jacob is no longer the young man who stole his brother’s birth rite and his blessing. He is no longer the devious worker who had engaged for more than a decade in a battle of wits with Laban. Jacob the deceiver has been subdued of late, but he is not totally gone. And now as his family is threatened one more time, all of the behavioral change Jacob had achieved disappears and the deceiving Jacob returns. His question to his sons is a simple one. Why did you have to tell the truth about your family? Why did you even bother mentioning your younger brother? As far as Jacob was concerned, the Egyptian official would have never known if his sons had lied to him.

Of course, we know that that was not the case. Joseph had a keen interest in the way that his half-brothers had treated his younger – and only full – brother. The omission of Benjamin could have signalled to Joseph that his brothers hadn’t changed and that they had done away with Benjamin after they had gotten rid of Joseph. In Joseph’s mind, the fate of Benjamin was a key element in the drama that was to follow. Jacob’s plan of deception would have most likely resulted in the destruction of the family. The only thing that could save them in this moment was the truth – a truth that Jacob’s sons had been willing to offer.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 44