From My Heart to Your Heart

For the last three portions we have been seeing the story of Joseph unfold. Up until now we have learned the main events of Joseph’s life. We learned about Joseph’s descent into Egypt through the seemingly unfortunate circumstances initiated by his brothers’ hatred toward him. But then we saw how God used this for his own purposes, placing Joseph in a strategic position to be not only the savior of his own family, but of the world as well. We read about the reunion of Joseph and his family, and how he moved his father and all of his brothers down to Egypt so that he could take care of them. Now, in our final portion from the book of Bereisheet (Genesis), we learn about the final days of Jacob and his desire to bestow his blessings upon his children before his passing. The focal point of this portion is the individual blessings he gives to each of his sons, with the adoption and blessing of Joseph’s sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, being an unexpected turn of events.

Within this narrative there are numerous lessons we can learn from a detailed reading of the text. There is, however, one lesson tucked away toward the end of the portion that may easily be glossed over by a surface reading of the text. After Jacob dies, Joseph’s brothers realize that up to this point Jacob may have been the only buffer between them and their brother’s vengeance. They knew how bad they had treated him and fully expected retaliation after their father’s passing. So, they devised a plan. They told Joseph that before Jacob had died, he told them to convey a message to Joseph that he was not to harm his brothers or take revenge on them. When Joseph listened to his brothers, however, he wept. It hurt him to realize that his brothers believed he had malicious intent towards them. He quickly cleared up the matter:

Can Bad Things Be Good?

After several months of playing cat and mouse with his brothers, the moment of truth arrived for Joseph and his brothers. Joseph’s plan of ensnaring Benjamin worked to put his brothers in a vulnerable position where he was able to put them to the test. Joseph had laid the bait, set the trap, and it had sprung upon his brothers. Would they abandon their father’s favored son as they had done to him, or had these twenty-two years given them time to think over their actions and have a change of heart?

When his brothers had plotted against him some twenty years ago, Judah had spoke up and told his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh” (Genesis 37:26–27). Although he, along with Reuben, had kept his brothers from killing Joseph, he had not gone far enough to stop the actions of his brothers altogether. This time, however, Judah redeems himself and takes personal responsibility for the life of Benjamin. This act of self-sacrifice and responsibility was what Joseph was looking for in his brothers, and he could not hold himself together any longer. He breaks down in front of his brothers and sobs uncontrollably.

In that emotional and dramatic moment, Joseph reveals himself as their long lost brother. He tells them, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” (Genesis 45:3). His brothers are completely bewildered and terror gripped their hearts. They cannot even muster a response to their brother’s confession. And before they can gather their senses, Joseph tells them not to blame themselves for what they did to him: