Devotion for Wednesday, December 30th
Kevin Peterson
Devotional Text: Genesis 42 (To read and even listen to this text for free, click here.)
Verse in Focus: And Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. And he said to them, "You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land." They said to him, "No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies." He said to them, "No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see." And they said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more." But Joseph said to them, "It is as I said to you. You are spies. By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies" (Genesis 42:9-16).
Related Verse: A wise king winnows the wicked and drives the wheel over them (Proverbs 20:26).
Devotional Thought:
So the time for revenge has finally arrived. Here they are, standing before him—the brothers who had grabbed him, hurt him, threatened to kill him, and then sold him into slavery. And the beauty of it all is that they don’t even recognize him. In all honesty, who would? I mean, given the circumstances, I think the boys can be excused for not recognizing the brother they mistreated so long ago. Seriously, the last time they saw him was probably hog-tied on the back of a camel. As human beings we tend to only see what we expect to see—and they certainly did not expect this #2 man in all of Egypt would turn out to be Joseph.
Yep, perfect spot for a bit of payback. So is that what Joseph does? He does charge them with being spies, after all, and pretty much taken them into custody. But before we conclude that our good buddy Joe is dishing out a nice cold helping of revenge stew to his brothers, let’s take a closer look at the facts. First, let’s consider the matter of espionage. Does he have any evidence to suggest that they might be spies? Not really—the only thing being that they are foreigners in Egypt. On the other side is the fact, not only does he know them, he’s related to them. So charging them with espionage does seem to fall on the revenge side, don’t you think?
But ... (you knew that was coming, didn’t you?) ... could the charge of spying be seen from another direction? (Obviously, the answer is “yes” or why as the question, right?) Let’s consider Joseph’s behavior over against his brothers from the perspective of his vocation—his job. Joseph is now, as we well know, the most important man in all of Egypt, second only to the Pharaoh himself. And Joseph is not Egyptian. How would it look if Joseph were to allow foreigners special treatment when it came to food distribution? No challenge of their credentials. Free wander across the border at will, whenever they needed something to eat—no questions asked?
And not take the next step. How would it look, when it was revealed that these foreigners were actually Joseph’s family? Ahhhh. Now you get the picture. What Joseph is doing with his brothers is actually rather wise. He is distancing himself from any charges of favoritism that might be made by those jealous of his power and position. Plus, we also need to remember—from Joseph’s perspective—the character of his brothers is still in doubt. They need to be tested before they can be trusted. Blessings on your day!
Vaya con Dios!
Pastor Peterson
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