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15 January. Genesis chapters 43-45
All three chapters of today’s reading are about the dealings of Joseph with his brothers. The obvious question to ask is why he did not reveal himself to them at once? Instead he plays cat-and-mouse with them, alternating kindliness and generosity with threats and even imprisonment, before eventually revealing all in a very emotional scene of reconciliation. It’s the sort of psychological behaviour used to break the wills of prisoners of war (though at least he stops short of using physical torture). Is it because they did the same to him so many years before, threatening to kill him, then leaving him for dead, then pulling him out of the pit only to sell him into slavery?
Before the second journey of the brothers to Egypt, in which they have been instructed by Joseph to bring his only full brother Benjamin (the others being half-brothers), Judah offers himself as a substitute – a ransom – if anything should happen to Benjamin. It is of course through Judah, rather than Joseph (whose only children were by an Egyptian wife) that the history of salvation works itself out, so once again (just as with Abraham nearly sacrificing Isaac) God’s plans are hanging by a thread in human terms. To serve God is to put oneself at his disposal, even when that is very risky.