Good morning y’all. Today we in chapter 43 of Genesis. In this chapter Josephs brothers return to Egypt with Benjamin. Joseph receives them with gladness and invites them to a feast in his house. He still doesn’t reveal his identity to them.

Be blessed 🙂

Jacob in this chapter didn’t demonstrate good leadership skills at all. He had been told in the previous chapter that the only way they could go back to Egypt to get more grain was to go with Benjamin. Yet he prolonged and delayed acting on the matter until they had reached crisis point.

In v1 and 2 we are told the famine became really severe and they had eaten all the grain they brought back from Egypt the 1st time they went. Now, Jacob asks them to go back to Egypt and buy little more grain.
I ask myself why he would say such when he clearly knew what needed to be done if they wanted more grain. Perhaps he was hoping that his sons would go back to Egypt and somehow talk the governor out of the request to see Benjamin and he would allow them buy small grain and not a whole lot. Jacob was downplaying the situation at hand. He just wasn’t ready to face the issue head on.

Judah refused to give in to his father’s cowardly way of dealing with issues. He stood up to him and reminded him of what the governor requested. See verse 3-5
But Judah said, “The man was serious when he warned us, ‘You won’t see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ If you send Benjamin with us, we will go down and buy more food. But if you don’t let Benjamin go, we won’t go either. Remember, the man said, ‘You won’t see my face again unless your brother is with you.’” (Genesis 43:3-5 NLT)

Even after the reminder from Judah, we see Jacob going back to his old manipulative ways. He tried to blame his sons for putting him in the predicament he was in. Jacob the father, the one who should be making decisions and leading the family was not doing that. In fact his concern was only for himself. He was being selfish. See verse 6-7
“Why were you so cruel to me?” Jacob moaned. “Why did you tell him you had another brother?” “The man kept asking us questions about our family,” they replied. “He asked, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How could we know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”(Genesis 43:6-7 NLT)

I ask myself was Jacob expecting the sons to lie when Joseph questioned them about their family as I couldn’t understand how the brothers telling the truth was an issue. I’m assuming he expected them to do as he probably would have done, which would have been to lie.
I noticed that this lying thing in the face of a threat or predicament seems to be hereditory in the family…lol. Grandpa Abraham did it when he went down to Egypt with Sarai. He lied she was his sister. Daddy Isaac also did it when he moved to Gerar and he lied Rebecca was his sister. Now, Jacob the son, is suggesting here that he would have lied or deceived if he was the one being questioned by the governor! Seems this men struggle with trusting God to help them in the face of adversity.

Judah insisted they would not go unless Benjamin went with them. He offered himself in return for Benjamin. He was thinking about the family as opposed to Jacob who was only thinking about himself. I particularly liked his response in verse 10.
If we hadn’t wasted all this time, we could have gone and returned twice by now.” (Genesis 43:10 NLT)

He was indirectly telling his father off for delaying what could gave been a successful mission, probably done twice. They would not be starving now if Jacob had assumed his responsibility as the head and dealt with the matter as opposed to putting it off.

Judahs response finally jolted Jacob from his passive state. He reluctantly agreed for the sons to go back to Egypt with Benjamin. He asked them to take along the bestest of gifts in the land. I am assuming Jacob asked his sons to do this with the hope that they would find favour in the sight of Joseph and he will release Simeon and also not harm Benjamin. This reminds me of what he did with Esau as well. He sent along gifts in advance hoping to sweeten Esau. Was he right in doing this? could this be termed as bribery? Was this done as an act of faith? I’m not too sure but I think it was an action done in flesh as opposed to reliance on God to help with the situation at hand.

The brothers went back to Egypt along with Benjamin. They were well received by Joseph and even dined with him. Joseph was overwhelmed when he saw his brother. He couldn’t control his emotion, he had to leave their presence to cry. The brothers were afraid, while all along what Joseph wanted was a chance to see his brother again and also reconcile with the rest of his family.

Friend how often do we act like Jacob; where we know what needs to be done in  order for us to get out of our predicament but we choose not to do it. We become comfortable in the situation. We think we can manage it and procastinate until the issue becomes a major crisis. Today hear the words of Judah to his father…..stop wasting time.

Don’t prolong your waiting period when you know the right thing to do. Lets ask for grace to get up and do what needs to be done.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. We ask for the  grace to trust you more and to rely on you for help rather than our own strength. We ask for grace to do the right thing at the right time. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name.

Thanks for joining and pls feel free to leave your thoughts on the chapter.

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***