Jerry Gill's Enduring Questions

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL : ESAU AND JACOB

            A couple of generations after the Isaac and Ishmael division among the children of Abraham, along came Isaac’s sons Esau and Jacob. Jacob had twelve sons and their descendants became the twelve tribes of Israel. The youngest of Jacob’s sons was Joseph and he was favored by his father over all of his brothers.  At one point his brothers’ jealousy of Joseph came to a head and they sold him down the river to some passing Egyptians. To make a long story short, Joseph lucked out and became the favorite servant of the Egyptian Pharoh. The brothers lied to their father about what had happened to Joseph saying that he was killed.

            Years later when a severe famine came to the land of Israel Jacob sent his sons, all except for Benjamin his favorite, to Egypt seeking help. When the brothers appeared before Joseph to plead their case they did not recognize him since many years had passed since they disposed of him. Joseph sent his brothers back to their father with the stipulation that they return with their missing brother, Benjamin, before he would be willing to help them. Their father, Jacob, refused to follow the brothers’ lies and directions but finally agreed to allow Benjamin to return to Egypt with them in order to receive the help they needed.

            By this time the trust amongst the sons and their father had completely eroded. They had multiplied their lies to their father and he was completely distraught. Nonetheless, the brothers returned to Egypt to appear before the Pharoh’s representative, Joesph in disguise, once again to plead their case. Judah, one of the brothers, once again pleaded their case on the basis of the degree of anguish their father had experienced over the prospect of losing his favorite son. He continued by offering to take his brother’s place and remain in Egypt as a slave.

            Finally, after all this time pretending not to be their brother, Joesph broke down and revealed himself to his brothers: “I am Joseph” he said. He even indeed claimed that God had sent him to Egypt ahead of them in order to prepare for this famine. Even further, he claimed that God had had him sent down the river by his brothers in order to be in the right place to help them when the famine came. He straight way sent them back home to bring their father Jacob to live in the land of Goshen with together with his family.  As The Bard said: “All’s well that ends well.”

            However, it still remains to sort our way through the evil and deception that besought this family throughout the entire episode. Perhaps the entire saga began with the favoritism that Jacob had allowed himself to show toward Joseph in the first place. Then there was the smallness of the brothers toward their brother and the dastardly deed they committed toward him in selling him down the river. Then there was the deception on Joseph’s part in initially keeping his identity from his brothers. He actually seems to have deliberately strung them along over a period of many months. I am not sure I can agree that “All’s well that ends well.”

            Overall, perhaps the gratuitous grief that Jacob experienced because he initially thought his youngest son was dead was the worst result of this entire episode. At the same time, the initial evil of the brothers in dispensing with Joseph, even perhaps leaving him to die in the pit in which they had placed him, was perhaps the most heinous deed of all. That was, of course, followed up by the  flat-out lies to their father about what had become of Joseph. Also, the squabbles about how they should respond to Joseph’s demands among the brothers and father reveal a lack of real sensitivity to the latter’s distraught agony over the possible loss of his son.

            Perhaps the most difficult aspect to understand of the whole episode is the seeming disparity between Joseph’s behavior toward his brothers’ dire requests and his supposed love for his family, especially his father. It seems almost evil on his part to string his brothers along the way he did before revealing his identity. Also, perhaps even worse is his ultimate claim that it was all part of God’s plan: “You meant it for evil to me, but God meant it for good.” After the fact claims and explanations hardly ring true, especially when attributed to God’s providence.

            All in all, this entire episode, while ending well for most of those concerned, reeks of various types of evil and hypocrisy from start to finish. Post-facto happy explanations and endings somehow sound entirely out of place in an honest effort to sort out such events as those that transpired in this story. If however things will come out determines what will pass as God’s will then there is no need for any fancy theological explanations. Take what comes and try to deal with it as best you can without bringing references to “God’s will” into the conversation at all seems to be the best course of action.