Perspective: WK5 - TUE
Benjamin
Genesis 43:1-2
Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
Genesis 43:8
Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.
Genesis 43:29-30
As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.
The hunger in Jacob’s family is temporarily staved off by the grain from the returning expedition. But as the supplies dwindle, discussion turns to going back for more. It hasn’t seemed to matter much to Jacob that his son Simeon is still held captive in Egypt on the condition that the family return, this time bringing his youngest son Benjamin. The patriarch will hear nothing of it, as the stench of favoritism wafts back through this story.
There is no relief from the famine, and the last of the grain is gone. As Tony Robbins said, “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” So discussions of returning to Egypt resume. Driven by starvation, Jacob finally considers allowing Benjamin, the last link to his love for Rachel, to join the mission to save his family.
Central to this part of our tale is Judah’s role. He emerges as the family leader, urging his father to send them to seek grain and pledging his life as a guarantee of Benjamin’s safety. This fourth-born son of Jacob and Leah negotiates the family’s return to God’s path of rescue and will become the line through which salvation comes, not only for his immediate family during the famine but also for all humanity in the promised Messiah. We will keep an eye on this throughline in the days to come.
Eventually, the Hebrew caravan returns, arriving before the Egyptian prime minister. Seeing his younger brother softens Joseph’s heart, and sends him weeping to another room. Is it conceivable that the ache of betrayal can be vanquished? Have his brothers truly changed? Would they repent? Can his own resentment and anger be fully set aside and healed? Is reconciliation possible? Over the years, God has been melting the bitterness in Joseph’s heart. Every hardship has turned to success by the powerful presence of Yahweh. Shifting perspective has allowed this slave-turned-ruler to see the beauty of God’s plan emerge.
The arc of our story reaches intermission as Joseph eats on one side of the room at the Egyptian table, with his brothers on the other at the foreigners’ table. His mind whirs as threads come together to weave the cloth of a plan. He knows what he will do. And if these brothers have truly changed, he will see his father once again.
Genesis 43:1-2
Now the famine was still severe in the land. So when they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”
Genesis 43:8
Then Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy along with me and we will go at once, so that we and you and our children may live and not die.
Genesis 43:29-30
As he looked about and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” Deeply moved at the sight of his brother, Joseph hurried out and looked for a place to weep. He went into his private room and wept there.
The hunger in Jacob’s family is temporarily staved off by the grain from the returning expedition. But as the supplies dwindle, discussion turns to going back for more. It hasn’t seemed to matter much to Jacob that his son Simeon is still held captive in Egypt on the condition that the family return, this time bringing his youngest son Benjamin. The patriarch will hear nothing of it, as the stench of favoritism wafts back through this story.
There is no relief from the famine, and the last of the grain is gone. As Tony Robbins said, “Change happens when the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.” So discussions of returning to Egypt resume. Driven by starvation, Jacob finally considers allowing Benjamin, the last link to his love for Rachel, to join the mission to save his family.
Central to this part of our tale is Judah’s role. He emerges as the family leader, urging his father to send them to seek grain and pledging his life as a guarantee of Benjamin’s safety. This fourth-born son of Jacob and Leah negotiates the family’s return to God’s path of rescue and will become the line through which salvation comes, not only for his immediate family during the famine but also for all humanity in the promised Messiah. We will keep an eye on this throughline in the days to come.
Eventually, the Hebrew caravan returns, arriving before the Egyptian prime minister. Seeing his younger brother softens Joseph’s heart, and sends him weeping to another room. Is it conceivable that the ache of betrayal can be vanquished? Have his brothers truly changed? Would they repent? Can his own resentment and anger be fully set aside and healed? Is reconciliation possible? Over the years, God has been melting the bitterness in Joseph’s heart. Every hardship has turned to success by the powerful presence of Yahweh. Shifting perspective has allowed this slave-turned-ruler to see the beauty of God’s plan emerge.
The arc of our story reaches intermission as Joseph eats on one side of the room at the Egyptian table, with his brothers on the other at the foreigners’ table. His mind whirs as threads come together to weave the cloth of a plan. He knows what he will do. And if these brothers have truly changed, he will see his father once again.
- What is something you have had to guarantee? What have you used to secure that guarantee?
- Who has been especially difficult to forgive? Why is that? What helped you embrace forgiveness?
- Which relationship of yours could use reconciliation? What would you like to say to Jesus about it?
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