Blood Guilt
Genesis 37:25-36
Is there a limit to the violence one would bring on a brother?
Photo by Marcel L. on Unsplash
Then they sat down to eat; and looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels carrying gum, balm, and resin, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and not lay our hands on him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers agreed. When some Midianite traders passed by, they drew Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And they took Joseph to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes. He returned to his brothers, and said, “The boy is gone; and I, where can I turn?” Then they took Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat, and dipped the robe in the blood. They had the long robe with sleeves taken to their father, and they said, “This we have found; see now whether it is your son’s robe or not.” He recognized it, and said, “It is my son’s robe! A wild animal has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.” Then Jacob tore his garments, and put sackcloth on his loins, and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and all his daughters sought to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted, and said, “No, I shall go down to Sheol to my son, mourning.” Thus his father bewailed him. Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the captain of the guard. - Genesis 37:25-36
Why does Judah step in when his brothers are about to kill Joseph?
The easy answer is that there is no profit to be gained by killing him. Selling him brings a profit.
But that may be only part of the answer.
It is at moments like these that we assume God steps away and lets us humans do what we choose to do because of free will. I tend to think God found a way to let us act on our own free will and still question those actions.
Guilt.
By giving us ten commandments to follow, God planted the seeds of doubt and guilt, not to mention fear.
What will happen if I do this?
Will I be able to live with myself if I do?
But for these seeds to sprout, we need to believe in God and wish to follow His commandments.
Without a foundation in faith, we have no yardstick against which to judge our own actions. We become renegades and free radicals.
Bad influences prey on fear to get us to forget God exists. If we become more afraid of the gang or other evil influence than of God’s wrath, we abandon our faith, and so guilt, shame, and compassion disappear.
The brothers ganged up on Joseph and one brother’s guilt kept them from killing him.
Maybe it was God planting that seed in Judah’s head, or maybe it was planted years before by his teaching.
Either way, God was in the decision to hold off and sell Joseph rather than kill him.
God’s presence in that moment will not be apparent for years, but we will see that God never abandons us.
We are the ones who abandon God.
More to come...