Before we leave the book of Genesis, we need to talk
about Joseph.
Joseph survived and succeeded under circumstances
that would have destroyed most people. Though
betrayed and forgotten, he maintained his personal integrity and phenomenal work
ethic. Through the trials and temptations of slavery and the quite different
but equally perilous trials and temptations of rapid success, Joseph never
abandoned faith in God. Joseph modeled
the principles of love your enemy. He
forgave his brothers for the unforgiveable.
He fed them when they were hungry, provided them a home when they were
strangers. He lifted them up when he had
the power and justification to grind them into the dust. In doing so, Joseph saved the covenant line from
extinction. He was a prophet, a natural
leader, and a really, really smart guy. He
was a hero. I’d argue with you that
Joseph is THE most genuinely heroic figure in the entire book of Genesis.
But. . .
(Of course, but. . . )
But, we have to talk about what Joseph did to the Egyptian
people during the famine.
Read DON'T
TRUST PHARAOH
for the details, but basically Joseph used the crisis to
strip the general populace of Egypt of their wealth, property, and
freedom. By the 14th year of
Joseph’s appointment as prime minister, the average Egyptian citizen was basically
a slave to the state. Specifically, a slave
to Pharaoh. All by the very deliberate
plan and administration of Joseph, the Hebrew hero.
Now, if your response is, “So what? They were Egyptians. All that matters is that Joseph saved the Jews,” pump the hate-brakes and think.
The Egyptians hadn’t done anything to deserve being bankrupted
and exploited by their own government.
They had not enslaved the Hebrew people.
In fact, the Egyptians saved Abraham from a famine (Genesis 12), Isaac
from a famine (Genesis 26), and Israel and sons from famine (Genesis 46-50). Now that you think about it, maybe you’re
remembering that Abraham and Isaac went down to Egypt lying and causing plagues
but Pharaoh blessed them anyway.
Maybe you think that Joseph was repaying the
Egyptians for enslaving and incarcerating him.
But when you stop and think, you'll recall that Joseph was bought and
imprisoned by the noble-elites of Egypt.
It was the working people (cooks and butchers) who shared his cell and, after a while, remembered and recommended him for parole (Genesis
40, 41).
Maybe you want to say that Joseph only did what he
had to do to save the Egyptians from starvation during the famine. You know, “Desperate times, desperate measures”
and all that. “Somebody had to make the
hard choices” blah-blah-blah. But come
on. It was THEIR grain taken from them
by a tax that Joseph invented just for that purpose. Joseph set the price. He didn’t have to set it so high that it took
ALL of EVERYBODY’S money. No he didn’t. That wasn’t market capitalism. They didn’t even have market capitalism.
So, we have to talk about the fact that Joseph the
hero was directly, deliberately, and personally responsible for the economic
ruin and subjugation of millions of innocent people. Joseph’s
actions were neither justified nor necessary.
So why did as nice and as smart a guy as Joseph do it?
Because his boss.
Because his boss.
Joseph understood (quite correctly) that his first
and final loyalty in his job wasn’t to the country. It was to Pharaoh.
This is how a genuinely good person in a powerful
position finds himself/ herself doing genuinely horrible things to people who don’t
deserve to have horrible things done to them:
through misplaced loyalty.
Loyalty is a virtue, a necessity among friends and family
and colleagues fighting for any cause.
But loyalty is a dangerous virtue. Joseph bankrupted millions of innocent,
hard-working Egyptians because he was loyal to Pharaoh instead of to the
people.
Honorable soldiers commit war crimes not usually
because every soldier in the company is a terrible human being but because they
are loyal to the terrible human being who gave the order. Lovers do foolish things not always because they
are fools but more often because they love and are loyal to a fool. Innocent clergy protect predatory ministers
because the innocent ones are so blindly loyal to the institution and to the
brotherhood of ministry. Partisans
become so loyal to their party designation that they find themselves aggressively
supporting the very policies and practices they joined the party to
defeat.
We need to talk about Joseph because we are each equally
capable of atrocity in the name of loyalty.
The antidote to misplaced loyalty is to look
beyond Joseph and make Jesus our final example. Jesus loved His people, the Jews.
But He
answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel” (Matthew 15:24).
He loved His companions, the disciples.
No
longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is
doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My
Father I have made known to you (John 15:15).
He has faithful to His religious tradition, the Temple-synagogue
system.
. . . And as
His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to
read (Luke 4:16).
He was present and selflessly engaged for the good
of the community, especially the poor, possessed, and sick. He gave His life for them and for us.
When the
sun was setting, all those who had any that were sick with various diseases
brought them to Him; and He laid His hands on every one of them and healed them (Luke
4:40).
But when any of those to whom Jesus was loyal tried
to turn Him against what He knew was the Father’s will ---- Jesus rebuked
them.
But He
turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for
you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men”
(Matthew 16:23).
Joseph-style loyalty is a dangerous virtue. Jesus-style loyalty is the solution.
Jesus-style loyalty is built from a moral-center
that’s independent of all other relationships.
Jesus-style loyalty is built on a clear sense of
personal identity that doesn’t change when the people around you change.
Jesus-style loyalty is built within a clear sense of
mission and purpose. You know why you’re
here no matter who else is or isn’t here with you.
Jesus-style loyalty exists where you have a personal
relationship with your heavenly Father, a relationship that does not depend on
any other associations.
Joseph was loyal, but misguided. Don’t be like Joseph.
Be like Jesus.
--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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