The One Year Bible - Day 21

Genesis 43 in the middle of this incredible story about Joseph's brothers and the way in which they are being tested and perhaps punished for previous sins. Joseph has asked to see Benjamin, something that Jacob is unwilling to do since he already believes that Joseph is dead and Benjamin is the only other son of Rachel, Jacob's first love.

Judah, who we should remember is Jesus' ancestor (not Joseph), then makes this promise to Jacob if he would send Benjamin back with them:

Judah said to his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will be on our way. Otherwise we will all die of starvation—and not only we, but you and our little ones. 9 I personally guarantee his safety. You may hold me responsible if I don’t bring him back to you. Then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we hadn’t wasted all this time, we could have gone and returned twice by now.”

There are a couple of interesting analogies to both Jesus and our Christian life. Firstly, Judah as a reference to Jesus puts himself and his own life on the line for Benjamin since he knows that they need food. In the same way, Jesus guaranteed us with his own life since we were in need of life - we would have died likewise. He also says about bearing the blame forever, something which Jesus has also done and something we cannot begin to understand - that Jesus bears our scars forever!

Secondly, in terms of our Christian life, we read about the importance of getting things done quickly. Not dithering and worrying about things which won't make any difference but using Jesus as our guarantor of 'success' in our ministry.