https://esv.literalword.com/?q=genesis+43
Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Thursday, 19 December 2024:
Genesis 43:2, 3 – And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’
Jacob and his brothers did not go back to retrieve Simeon until they were out of food again and only when they had to go. This was a very selfish family. How often do you place your own interests over the benefit of others?
- Philippians 2:3-4 — Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
- John 15:13 — Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Genesis 43:6 – Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”
Israel (Jacob) blamed his sons for what happened and made it all about him. Jacob was a very self-centered, self-absorbed person who saw himself as the center of everything. Yet, God did not reject Him. Nonetheless, while Jacob was focused on self with a victim mentality, he was not only living miserably, he was treating those closest to him miserably. If you are complaining, you aren’t proclaiming and displaying the truth of the gospel. A lack of gratitude is an incredible insult to God.
- Exodus 16:8 — And Moses said, “When the Lord gives you in the evening meat to eat and in the morning bread to the full, because the Lord has heard your grumbling that you grumble against him—what are we? Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord.”
- Philippians 2:14-15 — Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world….
- James 5:9 — Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.
- 1 Peter 4:9 — Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Genesis 43:32 – They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.
Prejudice is nothing new, but God’s word says that there are only two types of people, saved and unsaved. Nothing else matters.
Genesis 43:8-9 – And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. I will be a pledge of his safety. 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.
“Judah steps forward as the leader of the clan and refuses to go back to Egypt without his youngest brother. Twice he tells his father that they have been “warned” not to return without Benjamin, and so if all of the brothers do not go into the land of the Nile, none of them can go (vv. 4–5). Judah is the oldest son still in Jacob’s favor (29:31–35; 34:30; 35:22) and the logical choice to head the expedition.
Yet Judah’s age is not his most important qualification to lead the others. Seeing that his father’s concern to preserve Benjamin alive must be satisfied, he steps forward and makes himself the guarantee of his brother’s safety (43:8–10). This is a risky and chivalrous move for Judah to make, for he is putting his life on the line for his brother. It is model behavior for the righteous ruler, seen most prominently in the life of Jesus, Judah’s greatest son through King David (Matt. 1:1), who laid down His life for His brothers (John 10:11).
Judah’s actions show him to be far different from the man who rejected Tamar and sold Joseph into slavery (Gen. 37–38). Now he is a servant of the living God. Matthew Henry says Judah, to show his repentance, “would make some amends for the irreparable injury he had done him [Jacob] by doubling his care concerning Benjamin.” Those sorry for their sin try to make amends for the harm they have done. Is there somebody to whom you need to make amends?” (Ligonier Ministries)
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 19 December 2024: Today, focus on joyfully placing other above yourself as an act of love for, worship of, and gratitude to the LORD.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 