Daily Devotion – August 4, 2020 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Genesis 37:18-27
37:18 They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him.
37:19 They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer.
37:20 Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.”
37:21 But when Reuben heard it, he delivered him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.”
37:22 Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but lay no hand on him” –that he might rescue him out of their hand and restore him to his father.
37:23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the long robe with sleeves that he wore;
37:24 and they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it.
37:25 Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt.
37:26 Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?
37:27 Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed.
Joseph was his father’s favorite, born late in Jacob’s life. At least at the time of this story, Joseph was the favorite. Later on, Benjamin is his favorite, probably as an even later-in-life boy baby. This “favored son” status is a problem wherever it crops up – here, and also in the parable of the prodigal son. The long-serving, hard-working elder children do not like the special treatment and love showered on the baby brother. Today we just say those children are spoiled by doting parents.
If you are an older sibling of a younger, doted-upon child, you may be able to identify with the older brothers, wanting this younger sibling to realize how pampered he has been by depriving him of that status. “Teach him a lesson,” we might say. “Let him know what high parental expectations are like,” we might think, “by getting him away from this doting parent and, well, selling him into a different life.” They would never actually have killed him. But they would have put him away for a while.
Humans. It’s a good thing we are not the ones meting out rewards to people for their earthly existence. We would be pretty vindictive. And we would think we were justified. We would assume anything we deem “fair” would pass God’s justice as well.
While we do have a God who is interested in justice, there is a reason we address God in prayer as Gracious God, or Loving God, or “our Father/Mother/Creator.” We want to name and claim from the start that God is every bit as merciful to people who don’t really deserve it, like maybe us at times. At least each of us needs to hope God is as merciful as God is fair. Otherwise a goodly number of us would be in big trouble. We make mistakes. We lose our patience. We wish something very bad would happen to people who make our lives miserable. We don’t fear, love, and trust in God above all things. We put our own needs and ideas first. We forget, even, that we are but creatures. And that God is our creator.
Just as Joseph’s brothers, guilty of planning and allowing him to be sold into slavery, were at the end reconciled and forgiven for their failure to be good brothers, may we receive mercy and reconciliation from God. Because I really believe we are going to need it.
Gracious God, Help us to remember that we are all your beloved children. All of us. Amen
