FBC Morning Light – January 23, 2023

Well, good Monday morning to you. Let's get the week off to a different kind of start. Usually every day I look at the passage, one of the passages that we read in our Bible reading plan for the day. But today I want to kind of run up to that and look at something that's really not even directly related to what I want to focus on in today's passage.

And that is, I want to do a little tracing of Judah. And I want to do that because of what we're going to see in a day or so. All right? So to do this tracing regarding Judah, one of the sons of Jacob, we have to go back to Genesis chapter 38, or chapter 37.

Genesis 37. Now that's where we are introduced to the Joseph story, is what we call it. Chapters 37 through 50, you know, those chapters are affectionately called the Joseph story, because they're really, you know, it's all about the life of Joseph and how he gets sent to Egypt and so on and so forth.

All right? So the young Joseph, 17 year old young man, gets sent by his dad Jacob to go check on his brothers who are taking care of the sheep. The brothers don't like Joseph at all. He's dad's favorite son.

Dad shows his favoritism all over the place for Joseph. Joseph had a couple of dreams that don't bode really well for the brothers in terms of their pride, but they do exalt Joseph. So, as Joseph approaches his brothers, they look at this as an opportunity to get rid of him, and eliminate dad's favorite son whom they despise so much.

So initially they plan to kill him, but here's where Judah comes into the picture. For a while they put him down into a pit. Reuben convinces them, hey, let's not kill him, let's just put him in a pit and let him die there, and they're all good with that.

All the rest of the brothers are good with that. But then the brothers look up and there's this trade caravan coming by, and here's where Judah comes into the picture, in verse 26. It is Judah who takes the lead here, and he says to his brothers, what profit is there if we kill our brother and conceal his blood?

Let's do this, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he's our brother in our flesh. So, this selling of Joseph into slavery is Judah's idea. It's his idea. All right, hang on to that.

Then you come to chapter 38. If you follow these broadcasts every day, then the other day we talked about Genesis 38, and how it seemed to be so out of place. All of a sudden we have this story in chapter 38 of Judah and Tamar, his daughter-in-law, by whom he births a couple of children.

That seems to have been a bit of a breaking point for Judah. It seems to have brought him to a place of great humility. Why do I say that? Because of what happens as the Joseph story continues to unfold.

So, in chapter 43, or chapter 39 and following, you have the story about Joseph being sold into Potiphar's household, he's into slavery, he eventually ends up in prison, he's in the prison, he gets out of prison, and he interprets the dreams for Pharaoh, and he's then made second-in-command, if you will, in all the land of Egypt.

And this famine comes, and finally, in chapter 43, Joseph's brothers come to Egypt because the famine has afflicted Canaan as well. So, in chapter 43, chapter 42, the brothers had gone to Egypt, they got food, they went back home, and you remember they had the money put in their bags, and now they were afraid to go back to Egypt.

When they were there before, Joseph, whom their brothers didn't realize was Joseph, said to them, you can't come back here until you bring your younger brother, meaning Benjamin, with you. So, now they really are in a quandary.

They get back home, and they tell Dad, Jacob, we can't go back there and get any more food unless Benjamin goes with us. Jacob says, absolutely not, because Benjamin has become the new favorite son. Now that Joseph is gone, and Jacob thinks Joseph's dead, Benjamin, Joseph's little brother, becomes Jacob's new favorite son.

So, Jacob says, absolutely not, you're not going to take Benjamin back with you. That's how chapter 42 ends. But then in chapter 43, they've got a problem. Their food has run out, and they don't have any way to get any, unless they go back to Egypt.

So, the opportunity is presented to Jacob, and Jacob says, no, no, no, I can't do this, and it is Judah, watch, it's Judah who speaks up in chapter 42, verse 3, and he says, look, we can't go back there unless Benjamin goes with us.

Jacob replies and says, why in the world did you have to tell him about your younger brother? Joseph responds and says, he really pried this information out of us. Finally, in verse 8, here's where I want you to see some progression in Judah's life.

Remember, Judah was the one whose idea it was to sell Joseph into slavery. Then you've got this sordid thing with Tamar in chapter 38, which really seems to have humbled Judah quite a bit. But now in chapter 43, verse 8, Judah says this to his father, he says, send the lad with me, Benjamin, send him with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.

And he says this, I myself will be surety for him. From my hand you shall require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. Let me bear the responsibility for that.

Sometimes, and here's a principle, sometimes it takes a crisis to break a man and bring him to a place of humble and sacrificial service. And here is Judah and the rest of his family in a time of terrible crisis.

And we see this brokenness, if you will, come out again in chapter 44. Jacob says, okay, take him, what have I got to lose? If I'm gonna die, I'm gonna die, you know, take him. Joseph and his brothers go back to Egypt, or Jacob and Judah and his brothers go back to Egypt, they've got Benjamin with him, they go get more food, they're sent back, sent to go back home, and remember how Joseph put that cup, his cup, in Benjamin's sack, and sends his steward, the steward of his house, to track them down, he catches up to them, finds the cup in Benjamin's sack, and the steward says, this is the one, the one who stole the cup, Benjamin, has to come back with me and be the slave in my master's house forever.

And it is in that context, in chapter 44, verses 18 through 34, that once again, Judah steps up, he steps forward, and it's in a place of brokenness that Judah says, no, let me take his place, let me stay, I'll be the servant, I'll be the slave, you let him go home to our father.

So what's happening here? What's happening here? What you're seeing is the transformation of Judah, and remember that there's going to be a blessing come upon Judah, we're gonna see that in a few days, and it's going to come as like the climax of this transformation in the man Judah.

All right, I wanted to point out just one thing in the reading for today, which is in chapter 45 and verse 5, this is when Joseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, and you know, they're scared to death, they're scared to death.

But Joseph says this, and this is the perspective that we need to have. Joseph says, do not be aggrieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

This is the hand of God in our behalf. And in verses 7 and 8, he says, God sent me before you to preserve a posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. Now, he says, listen, it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

This terrible, sinful act on the part of you, my brothers, was the instrument that God used to bring me here so that we might be spared. The point is that it's incredibly important for us to trust in the hand of providence, trust in God's hand of providence.

When we're in that prison experience, where we're in that a false accusation experience, when we're far isolated from where we want to be, let's realize that that is where we are right now, and the hand of providence is working in our lives to accomplish some purpose that we may not see right now.

We may not see it right now, but in his time, God will make it plain. God will make it plain. We may not know it, the plainness of it all, we may not see the plainness of it all, as Joseph did in this life, but God is providentially working and accomplishing his purpose.

So our Father and our God, we thank you that that is indeed the case. You are at work in our lives. We thank you for your providential work, and so we even see this not only in Joseph's life, but in Judah's.

You worked to bring him to a place of humility and brokenness, which is desperately needed on his part. So Father, thank you for your providential care. Bless these thoughts now to our hearts, we pray in Jesus' name.

All right, sorry if you're a little long or devotional today. Try not to make it 11 or 12 minutes for the rest of the week, okay? Have a good Monday, and may the Lord bless you.