Welcome to today’s Daily Scripture Reading and Meditation covering Genesis 44:32-34 wherein we see through Judah a picture of the coming Lion of the tribe of Judah.
For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”
Judah was far from the perfect model of integrity and self-sacrifice throughout his life, but in this moment he shined as much as the best of men. To appreciate the change that has taken place in Judah, we need to look back at some of his past actions. In Chapter 37, it was his idea to sell Joseph into slavery (which was, to be fair, perhaps a little better than the others’ idea to simply kill him). Back in 38, we see him living as a slave to his sensuality on multiple occasions. But more recently we’ve seen him promise to father Jacob that he would keep Benjamin safe, assuming full responsibility if any harm came to him. And now, in the present text, we see him doing everything that he can to make good on that promise. It’s reasonable to assume that he was horrified at the thought of introducing another sibling into forced servitude, especially one so close to his father’s heart.
Judah’s words before us here are ones that should grip Christians everywhere. Please let your servant remain instead of the boy… He was choosing to give himself up for the freedom of someone else with a motivation of love for his father and brother. Sound familiar? Ever heard of the “Lion of the tribe of Judah” (Revelation 5:5)? As Jesus was approaching His time of death on the cross, He told His disciples (whom He had also called his brothers), I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father (John 14:31). And then in John 15:9, He made clear His own love for them: As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you. Judah had a mission to fulfill of keeping Benjamin safe and bringing him back to Jacob, and he was willing to do whatever it took fulfill that mission. This is a fantastic picture of what God would bring to the world through his line by way of the Messiah.
These verses should move our hearts to praise. We should first of all be so thankful for the reminder of what Christ did in fulfilling his mission on earth and the subsequent salvation that we can have because of this. We should be blessed with the knowledge also, once again, that God works through and uses imperfect people like Judah…imperfect people like you and I. Are we growing? Are we living lives of sacrifice with joy set before us like Jesus? Every day is a good day for refocus; let us engage in such today.
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