Today’s Scripture Reading (August 2, 2018): Genesis 42
Thriller
author Michael Connelly in “The Black Echo” writes that “you can't patch a
wounded soul with a Band-Aid.” There are things
that happen in this life that take a toll on who we are. There are still
nights that I wake up in a fright because
of things that have happened decades ago. I am wounded. And there is no
Band-Aid that can help my healing.
The
bad news is that I suspect that you are broken
too. Oh, I have weekly conversations with people who argue that they are not broken. They will tell me about the
educational level which they have attained, or cry out about the horrible way
that other broken people treat them. But at the end of the conversation, the
message is usually the same. They are not the broken ones. They are fine; it is the rest of humanity that is broken. But deep down we really believe that it is the other way around.
We are the broken ones, and the rest of the world is fine. But that isn’t true
either.
In
reading the Joseph story arch, we often seem to believe that the victim of the
story is Joseph. And there is no doubt that he is a victim of his brother’s
evil intent. But he is not the only victim of the story. Reuben is a victim.
His intended salvation of this brother fell short; an event for which it is
doubtful he was ever able to forgive himself. Benjamin was a victim. His only
full brother was stolen away from him,
and Joseph’s mysterious disappearance meant that dad refused to allow Benjamin
out of his benevolent sight or away from his area of protection. But even the
rest of Joseph’s brothers were not free from the damage caused by the sale of
Joseph into slavery. Something that was done
in the moment
caused damage that would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
And
so, decades after the event, the brothers are forced to watch a graphic
depiction of the sin they committed toward Joseph be carried out against
another brother, Simeon. Commentators are often quick to mention that Simeon
may not have had a large role to play in the sale of Joseph, but the truth is
that we really don’t know who instigated
the plot against Joseph among the brothers. We know that Joseph was sold, that Reuben tried to save Joseph and
return him to his father, and that is was Judah that argued that Joseph be sold into slavery rather than killed. But
beyond that, the origins of the incident are unknown to us.
So,
maybe Simeon was the ringleader of the
attack on Joseph. And here he gets to atone for his sin against his brother by
finding himself a slave to this mysterious Egyptian official. Or maybe he
volunteered for the post. It was likely that the brothers felt that Reuben
could not stay in Egypt. He would be responsible, as the oldest of the brothers,
to get the rest of the family home safely with the food they were bringing from Egypt. But Simeon was the second
oldest. He would stay in Egypt, hopefully ensuring freedom for his brothers.
As
a result, Simeon would live out his broken soul in Egypt, while his brothers
would return home to nurse their brokenness with dad and Benjamin. But the one
thing that is certain is that life had broken every one of the brothers – just
as it has broken us.
Tomorrow’s Scripture
Reading: Genesis 43
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