Genesis 44: ...Bad Copt

Bet you didn't know that Joseph could be just as sneaky as his father!  In Genesis 44, he continues his masquerade while driving his brothers to the brink of insanity by playing Bad Copt.  Joseph once again has their money planted back in their sacks, with the additional measure of ordering his own silver cup hidden among Benjamin's things.  Once his brothers are one their way, he springs the trap and has them arrested.  They hotly deny any misdeeds and even offer that any brother of theirs who stole the silver cup should be killed.  You can almost hear a collective gulp when Benjamin's sack is found to be the one containing the contraband.  Benjamin is going to have to pay - and he will certainly never make it back to their father in Canaan!

This chapter will bring to an end Joseph's psychological torture of his brothers.  I believe a large part of that reason is because of some selflessness finally displayed on their part, namely Judah.  Judah (an ancestor of Christ, "the lion of the tribe of Judah") had made his father Israel a solemn vow in Genesis 43:9 that he himself would serve as collateral for Benjamin.  If the brothers were to return without the youngest, then Judah promised to be held responsible forever.

Now that it appeared Benjamin was indeed in danger of never returning to Israel, Judah makes a bold proposal to Joseph: he offers himself as an exchange for the apparently guilty party.  He asks to serve as a substitute, bearing the punishment that belongs to someone else while letting that person go free.  "Now therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord in place of the boy; and let the boy go back with his brothers" (vs. 33).  Sound familiar?

The idea of a substitute sacrifice has already been seen before in Genesis (remember Abraham's near-offering of Isaac?), but here it is again.  There is something beautiful and redemptive when someone steps forward to bear the guilt and accompanying punishment of another.  We will see this culminate supremely in the atonement of Christ upon the cross.  For now, however, Judah's steps in this selfless direction are enough to melt the heart of the brother he once so terribly wronged, Joseph.