Blogging Genesis 42-44
ACT 1: LISTENING
[SHOUT OUT: I'd been blogging through the book of Genesis but some weeks ago I hit a block. Actually, it was more like falling into a well. I was drowning in thoughts about the story of Joseph and his interaction with his brothers. So many ideas that every blog draft came out a 10 page paper. In those weeks of rewriting and overthinking, my cousin Tiffany Williams started posting about healing. Tiffany is an actress, scholar, entrepreneur, and all around awesome woman; and her posts helped me order my thoughts into a 3-part series within my blogging Genesis series.
So, shout out to my lil' cuz!
You inspire us all.
Now. Read my blog.]
So, shout out to my lil' cuz!
You inspire us all.
Now. Read my blog.]
Genesis 42. Crops the last 2 years
had been so miserable that a loaf of bread was rarer than gold. If not
for their stash of dates and almonds, Jacob’s entire clan might have
starved.
So, when Jacob (aka Israel)
learned that the Egyptians had warehouses full of grain, he called all of his
sons and told them the news. They didn’t
believe it. Or, maybe that didn’t trust
each other so they were trying to plot out which brother would go to Egypt and
which would stay behind. Either way, their
hesitation got on Jacob’s nerves and Jacob
said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another; . . . go down to that place
and buy for us there, that we may live and not die.” (Genesis 42:1-2)
In Egypt the 10 oldest sons of
Israel met Zaphnath-Paaneah (Genesis 41:45), the handsome, rich, and powerful “Egyptian”
in charge of grain distribution.
They fell on their knees before
him and then Joseph remembered the dreams
which he had dreamed about them . . . (Genesis 41:9).
The Lord had delivered his enemies
into his hands. He could throw THEM into
a pit. He could sell THEM into slavery.
Now, I know that the Sunday School-VBS
version of the story is that Joseph saw his brothers and forgave them, but the
real life version told in the actual Bible is more complicated.
Joseph was rich, successful, and
powerful. Every day he saved lives and grew
richer with every life he saved. Meanwhile
his brothers were starving to death in Canaan.
Joseph had won.
Joseph had won, but he was still
wounded. And he might not have known it
until he saw his brother again, but, success had not healed his trauma.
The stitches on Joseph’s emotional
wounds broke and anger bled out.
Hitting all your career benchmarks
doesn’t fill the void in your soul. Even
seeing your childhood dream manifest may not be enough to erase the scars on your spirit from what they
did to you.
Joseph didn’t respond to his
brothers with compassion. He reacted
with vengance and deception. He charged his brothers with espionage, which
typically carries the death penalty.
Jospeh said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of
the land!”
And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to
buy food. We are all one man’s sons; we are honest men; your servants are not
spies” (Genesis 41:9-11).
“Honest?!” Joseph thought. “Do honest men attack their little brother
like a band of thieves falling on a traveler?
Do honest men toss him into a pit where he simultaneously languishes in
darkness at the bottom, roasts in the heat of the sun-baked walls of the well, and
half-drowns every few seconds from
sinking in the miry clay around the fountain head pouring water up up to his
feet, his waist, threatening every
moment to rise above his head, all while listening to the echoing voices of his
own brothers laugh and debating how to cover up his murder?
“Is that,” silently seethed the 2nd
most powerful man in Egypt “what ‘honest’ men do?”
But he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness
of the land.”
And they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one
man in the land of Canaan; and in fact, the youngest is with our father today,
and one is no more.”
But Joseph said to them, “It is as I spoke to you, saying, ‘You
are spies!’ (Genesis42:12-16).
“Prove it,” demanded the prime
minister of Egypt. “Bring me this alleged little brother living with your
so-called ‘father.’ But let me give you some time to think about it.”
So he put them all together in prison three days (Genesis42:17).
Ahh! Sweet revenge!
Then Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I
fear God: If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined to your
prison house; but you, go and carry grain for the famine of your houses.
And bring your youngest brother to me; so your words will be
verified, and you shall not die.”
And they did so.
Joseph---- sweet, compassionate,
save-everybody-from-famine, what-you-meant-for-evil-God-meant-for-good,
Joseph ---- was gonna rescue his baby brother and then extract 15 years of
payback from the rest of his siblings.
But then, Joseph started listening.
His brothers didn’t know who he
was. They thought he didn’t understand
their language. So the conversation he
overheard was completely honest. Joseph learned that they were
genuinely sorry for what they’d
done to him. Joseph heard them talk
about their daily guilt over betraying him.
He heard them accept every past and present misfortunes divine
punishment for crimes against the brother they didn’t know was hearing their confession.
Then they said to one another, “We are truly guilty concerning our
brother, for we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, and we
would not hear; therefore this distress has come upon us” (Genesis 42: 21).
Joseph listened and learned that
their betrayal hadn’t been unanimous.
And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying,
‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen?”
Joseph listened and learned that
they hadn’t come looking for him because they honestly thought he was dead.
“Therefore behold, his blood is now required of us” (Genesis 42: 22).
Joseph listened and his hatred began
seeping away, and he turned himself away
from them and wept (Genesis 42:24). Those
tears marked the beginning of his healing.
Hurt narrows our vision and stops
our ears, but if you’re going to heal, you have to open yourself up to see and
to listen.
I hear you saying, “I don’t need
to hear any more.”
But look at it like this: If all that you know isn’t enough to give you
peace, then maybe you need to know more.
Maybe what you won’t hear remorse. Maybe you won’t hear guilt and confession
from those who hurt you. Maybe you and
they will never reconcile.
But maybe you hear enough to finally
get free.
Joseph didn’t go to his brothers
and beg them to talk it out with him. He didn’t cry in front of them (at first), and
he didn’t lead with a group hug.
In the first act, Joseph just listened and focused on healing himself.
In the first act, Joseph just listened and focused on healing himself.
Your job isn’t to relieve their guilt
or to grant them closure.
Listen TO them, but listen FOR
you.
Healing is a 3-Act play.
Stay tuned for the 2nd act.
--Anderson
T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education,
ministry, and rural leadership development.
Rev.
Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama. He
writes a blog called A Word to the Wise at
www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com
Email atgravestwo2@aol.com
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