Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said. – Genesis 44:2

Today’s Scripture Reading (June 29, 2015): Genesis 44

A few weeks ago a McKinney, Texas police officer was filmed as he physically attacked and pulled a gun on a group of teens at a pool party that had apparently gotten out of control. The attack was filmed and then placed on YouTube, inviting the world to watch and to judge the police behavior. The video is admittedly hard to watch, especially as it is yet another example of a white police officer struggling to control a group of black kids. The dust has begun to settle, so what exactly did happen. As you watch the video it is evident that the police officer simply “lost it.” Emotions were high, it was hot, he was wearing “thirty pounds of gear” (his own words caught on the tape), this was not where he wanted to be, and no one seemed to be listening to him – his sense of authority was being threatened. The result was that he let his temper rule him for the moments that he was on camera. As he talked to a couple of teens that protested their innocence and the fact that they had just arrived at the party, this became abundantly clear. The officer is upset because the kids aren’t listening. The newcomers may have just arrived, but they were guilty of not following orders and they, in the officer’s words, “got caught.” Not obeying the police officer is a crime; they had followed “the mob” and were guilty.

Did the officer have reason to react the way he did? This becomes the heart of the problem. I have been there. I have had to confront a group of kids who simply were not listening, and no matter what you do they are intent in doing something else. And at some point I have yelled at them (I had no gun to pull on them and successfully refrained from throwing any of them to the ground) – but somewhere inside of me some portion of me wondered who the idiot is that is yelling at the kids. My guess is that as the officer in question reviews the footage today, three weeks after the event, he is probably asking the same question – Who exactly was the madman with those kids. So the answer to the question of whether he had reason to react the way he did is a qualified “yes.” The reason was present, but the reality is that he went way too far. When things began to get out of control he should have removed himself from the situation, got his own temper under control, and waited for back-up. My hope is that every police officer in the past three weeks has been forced to watch this video with the clear instructions that a line is being drawn that cannot be crossed; this simply cannot happen again. There has to be another way to deal with people in these situations. And at this point, we can expect that people will be trying to set up police officers just to see how they will react.

Joseph sets his trap perfectly. His bothers had “lost it” with him. They had watched him grow up as the favored one. They were jealous, and they decided to do something against this dreamer. It was a spur of the moment thing. They were not thinking, and once the ball started rolling I am not sure that anyone could figure out how to stop it. Was it justified? I understand the anger and the jealousy, but much like the McKinney police officer, they went too far. And it is clear that Joseph realizes all of this as well. Now Joseph wants to know whether or not they truly understand what they had done wrong – and whether or not they had changed.

So he sets them up. At the dinner he gives the largest portions of food to Benjamin, his younger brother. Once more the brothers are faced with brother who has been obviously favored above them. He is the honored one, even though the boy has done nothing to earn the honor. And now, as the brothers prepare to leave, he places his own personal silver goblet, most likely covered with designs and worth much more than just the weight of the silver that the cup contained, in Benjamin’s sack. Benjamin had been honored, and now the brothers were given a reason to abandon him. It would not be their fault. Benjamin was the one who stole the goblet. They could get rid of another honored brother and there was no way that the blame could come to rest on them.

And now all that Joseph had to do was to wait and see how his brother’s would react to the trap. If they allowed Benjamin to be arrested and thrown in jail, they were the same brothers who had mistreated him years earlier. But if they came to his aid, then, maybe, they had really changed. Joseph needed to know, and he also needed to make sure that his younger brother was kept safe.  

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Genesis 45