Scripture: Genesis 44
Video Link: https://youtu.be/fZVV72MlMpM
Structure:
- Introduction
- A second chance
- A substitute
- Conclusion
Introduction:
Good morning everyone.
Many of you will remember, from childhood, the nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty.
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Humpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
couldn’t put Humpty together again.
It’s such a sad nursery rhyme. Why would you say that to a child? For years I have wondered what the point of it is. Humpty Dumpty raises so many questions.
Is the nursey rhyme a kind of health and safety warning, before health & safety became a thing, teaching kids to be careful how high they climb? Or is it saying that people who are indecisive and sit on the fence (aka the wall) end up worse off than those who pick a side?
Who is Humpty Dumpty anyway and what does he (or she) represent? Did Humpty fall by accident, or was he pushed? And if he was pushed, who pushed him and why? (Robyn says I tend to overthink things. She may be right.)
Whatever the answers to these important questions, I just wish the consequences for poor old Humpty Dumpty were not so fatal and final.
I wish Humpty Dumpty was given a second chance.
Today we continue our series in the life of Joseph. Joseph’s brothers certainly needed a second chance. They pushed their father Jacob off the wall by selling Joseph into slavery and lying about it. And they cannot undo what they have done.
But through Joseph, God gives them a second chance to make things right and put Jacob together again. From Genesis 44, verse 1, we read…
1 Now Joseph gave these instructions to the steward of his house: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s silver in the mouth of his sack. 2 Then put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” And he did as Joseph said. 3 As morning dawned, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. 4 They had not gone far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Go after those men at once, and when you catch up with them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? 5 Isn’t this the cup my master drinks from and also uses for divination? This is a wicked thing you have done.’ ” 6 When he caught up with them, he repeated these words to them. 7 But they said to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do anything like that! 8 We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found inside the mouths of our sacks. So why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? 9 If any of your servants is found to have it, he will die; and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.” 10 “Very well, then,” he said, “let it be as you say. Whoever is found to have it will become my slave; the rest of you will be free from blame.” 11 Each of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. 12 Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.
May the Spirit of Jesus illuminate God’s word for us.
A second chance:
When Thomas Edison and his staff were developing the incandescent light bulb, it took hundreds of hours to produce the first one. After finishing the bulb, Edison handed it to a young errand boy and asked him to take it upstairs to the testing room.
As the boy turned and started up the stairs, he stumbled and fell. The bulb shattered on the steps. The boy felt terrible. He knew how much work had gone into it and he felt the disappointment of everyone in the room.
He turned to face the famous inventor. But instead of tearing strips off the boy, Edison reassured him. And then told his staff to start working on another bulb.
When the second bulb was completed several days later, Edison did something unexpected. He walked over to the boy, handed him the bulb and said, “Please take this up to the testing room”.
Thomas Edison knew it was a risk, both to himself and to his staff. But he also knew the boy needed another chance. He needed the opportunity to redeem himself. And the boy did just that, delivering the second bulb without incident.
You may remember, from a few weeks ago, that Joseph needed to test his brothers to determine whether they were trustworthy. Well, so far, they have been passing the tests. When Simeon was held hostage, the brothers returned with Benjamin and Simeon was released. Also, they were honest about the silver found in their sacks.
However, these tests didn’t really prove whether Joseph’s brothers had changed. It was in the brothers’ interests to bring Benjamin to Egypt and return the silver. They would have starved if they hadn’t.
Joseph needed a test that replicated the situation (as close as possible) from 22 years earlier, when his brothers had sold him into slavery.
Benjamin, the youngest son and the only other child born to Rachel, was now Jacob’s favourite. What would the brothers do if they had to choose between saving Benjamin and saving themselves?
There was risk in Joseph’s test, to be sure. Just as there was risk in trusting the errand boy with the light bulb a second time. But, like the errand boy, Joseph’s brothers needed a second chance, a chance to redeem themselves.
Joseph set Benjamin up to look guilty by instructing his steward to place a special silver cup in the mouth of Benjamin’s sack. Then, when Benjamin was found out, the steward gave the brothers a choice.
They could trade Benjamin for their own freedom. They could go home if they gave Benjamin up as a slave.
This was a similar scenario to the one 22 years earlier when they gave Joseph up to slave traders. Only now the stakes are higher.
When the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack the brothers tore their clothes as a sign of grief. It rips them up on the inside to think that harm might come to him.
To their credit all the brothers stand in solidarity with Benjamin, even though he appears guilty. The brothers’ calloused hearts have softened.
The brothers would rather go into slavery with Benjamin than return home to Canaan without him. This was a pretty big call. The brothers didn’t know if they would ever see their wives and children again.
A substitute:
So what happens next? From verse 14 of Genesis 44, we read…
14 Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?” 16 “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves—we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.” 17 But Joseph said, “Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.” 18 Then Judah went up to him and said: “Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, though you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20 And we answered, ‘We have an aged father, and there is a young son born to him in his old age. His brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’ 21 “Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so I can see him for myself.’ 22 And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he leaves him, his father will die.’ 23 But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ 24 When we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said. 25 “Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy a little more food.’ 26 But we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother is with us will we go. We cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 “Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. 29 If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.’ 30 “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life, 31 sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die. Your servants will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave in sorrow. 32 Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’ 33 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. 34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.”
There’s a story from Japan about a man called Hamaguchi. Hamaguchi was a highly respected leader of a fishing village.
One day, as Hamaguchi looked out from his house on the top of the hill, he saw the tide receding quickly. The villagers below were running to the beach to look at what was happening.
Hamaguchi realized it was a tsunami. There wasn’t time for him to run down the hill to warn the people of the village, so he set his own crops on fire. When the people saw the smoke, they ran up the hill to help Hamaguchi put out the fire.
They were too late to save Hamaguchi’s crops but, by showing solidarity and coming to his aid, they saved themselves, for the entire village was devastated by the incoming tidal wave. Hamaguchi’s sacrifice brought people together and saved many lives.
Joseph is secretly pleased to see his brothers standing together in solidarity and not abandoning Benjamin. But he doesn’t show this, for the final test is not yet complete.
Joseph says to his brothers, What is this you have done? Don’t you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?”
Some ancients believed they could reveal secrets and predict the future by pouring oil into water and watching the pattern it makes. Kind of like some people today think they can reveal mysteries by looking at tea leaves or reading horoscopes or tarot cards.
The Bible forbids divination. But Joseph doesn’t practice divination in any case. He is just saying this to disguise his true purpose. In a way though, Joseph is using the cup to find out the truth.
Judah takes the lead and responds to Joseph. But it is a different Judah to the one that Joseph once knew. For this Judah, has been through the crucible of conversion. This Judah has lost his wife and two sons. He has humiliated himself with Tamar and been bullied by regret at what he did to Joseph and Jacob 22 years earlier.
This Judah doesn’t try to force his own way and he doesn’t try to deceive Joseph. Instead, he acknowledges God’s justice in their situation saying…
“What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt. We are now my lord’s slaves….”
Judah is making a confession. Even though Benjamin was the one found with the cup, Judah remembers his own sins and stands in solidarity with Ben.
To which Joseph replies…
“Far be it from me to do such a thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you go back to your father in peace.”
Joseph is letting the brothers off the hook. It’s like Joseph is saying,‘Go on – you don’t need to stay. No one would blame you for leaving’.
This is the second time the brothers are tempted to abandon Benjamin. But they won’t budge. They stay loyal to Ben at great risk to themselves.
Judah takes the lead again. Calling himself a servant, Judah intercedes for Benjamin with a speech, the longest speech recorded in Genesis. Much of the speech is a retelling of the plot so far.
What we notice though, in Judah’s speech, is the three things that God requires of people. To do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly.
Judah does not beg for leniency from Joseph. He doesn’t ask to avoid punishment. He accepts that justice must be done and offers himself as a slave in Benjamin’s place. As a true leader, Judah takes responsibility.
At the same time, Judah performs mercy for his brother Benjamin. The Hebrew word often translated as mercy is hesed. You may remember that hesed is a life-saving action done for someone you know who cannot otherwise help themselves.
Judah is doing hesed for Benjamin and his father. Judah is preserving Benjamin’s freedom and saving Jacob from further grief.
Thirdly, Judah walks humbly. He approaches Joseph with utmost respect, naming himself in a lower position as Joseph’s servant. Judah is honest, without being rude, and he does not presume upon any entitlement.
The other thing we notice in Judah’s speech is his affection for his father, Jacob. Fourteen times in these verses, Judah mentions his father.
Judah is motivated by deep compassion for his dad. Judah is willing to sacrifice himself not just for the sake of Benjamin, but also for Jacob.
Judah, the same brother who once convinced the others to sell Joseph into slavery, now offers to become a slave himself, in Benjamin’s place. The transformation in Judah is miraculous. Only God can bring about that sort of change.
By God’s grace (and Joseph’s wisdom) Judah gets a second chance and he makes good on the opportunity for redemption.
As Bruce Waltke observes, Judah is the first person in Scripture to willingly offer his own life [as a substitute] for another. His [self-giving] love, to save his brother for the sake of his father, prefigures the vicarious atonement of Christ, who by his voluntary sufferings heals the breach between God and human beings.
Or to put it more simply, Judah points to Jesus by being willing to sacrifice himself to save his family.
Except, Jesus did something far greater than Judah. Jesus actually went through with the sacrifice, even unto death on a cross. And the Lord did it to save not just his family and friends but also his enemies, those who hated him.
Conclusion:
Have you ever done something you regret? I’m not talking about getting a bad haircut or ordering the wrong thing off the menu. I’m talking about serious regret. Regret that haunts you for decades.
Have you ever pushed Humpty Dumpty off the wall and not been able to put him back together again? Have you ever wished you could have a second chance and do things right this time?
Jesus came to show us the way of forgiveness, to release us from our regret and self-hatred.
Have you ever felt like Humpty Dumpty after his fall? Your life, your family, the things that really matter to you, all in pieces, perhaps through no fault of your own.
Jesus came to put our Humpty Dumpty lives and this Humpty Dumpty world back together again. Jesus came to make all things new.
May the Spirit of Jesus give us eyes to see the second chances God provides and the faith to put things right. Amen.
Questions for discussion or reflection:
- What stands out for you in reading this Scripture and/or in listening to the sermon? Why do you think this stood out to you?
- What thoughts and feelings does the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme put you in touch with?
- Why did Joseph frame Benjamin by putting a silver cup in his sack?
- What stands out for you in reading Judah’s speech of intercession for Benjamin?
- Have you ever done something you seriously regretted? What happened? Did you experience God’s redemption in this situation? If so, how?
- In what ways does Judah remind us of Jesus?
- How might we recognise when God is giving us a second chance?
Tawa Baptist 