Respect

DEVOTION

GENESIS

RESPECT

Gen 37:21-30

21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said. 22 "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father. 23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe — the richly ornamented robe he was wearing —  24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt. 26 Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood? 27 Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed. 28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. 29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"

NIV

It appear Reuben and Judah had different plans for Joseph. For some reason Reuben felt a certain responsibility toward his brother or a respect for his father, that he did not want any harm to come to Joseph. His plan was to return Joseph to his father, but was that the plan of God? We already saw how Israel sent Joseph into a known dangerous situation, knowing the jealously and hatred his other sons had for Joseph. We made that parallel to our living in a dangerous world. But now an attempt to rescue him by Reuben is thwarted by Judah. He decides to sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites. His life was spared by Reuben, but he is still gone from the family. His brothers will no longer have to put up with their younger brother, the dreamer. We know God used Joseph in a mighty way in Egypt and ultimately was the salvation for Israel and all the clan during one of the greatest famines in the land. But want about Reuben? Why was he on the side of Joseph? Why was he so upset about Joseph being sold? It certainly appears Israel had placed a great deal of responsibility on him being the firstborn. He was the oldest brother, the one who would inherit all that was his fathers as well as receive the blessing of the firstborn. Although he felt the same way about Joseph as the rest of his brothers, he might have been thinking about his position in the family. He knew his father would hold him responsible for this outcome. Reuben overcame his jealously and hatred for Joseph out of respect for his father and his responsibility as the firstborn or it may have been a self-preservation decision to plan to return Joseph to his father. Either way the idea is that even though there was no love lost between Reuben and Joseph, he was going to do the right thing as the firstborn. Outside the plan God had getting Joseph to Egypt and saving his family, we still have a lesson in the character of Reuben. There may be times we are faced with situations in life when we have a choice. We might find ourselves in uncomfortable situations as Reuben found himself. He was torn between his feelings against Joseph and his responsibility as the firstborn. We might find times when we are uncomfortable with our life. When we want to rid ourselves of a situation. That might be in a personal relationship or in a current place we are in, such as a job, or a home or neighborhood, town or state. This state of discontentment might cause us to take extreme measures such as Judah and the other brothers took in selling Joseph. We have to believe Reuben's motivation was responsibility. This should be our motivation as well. Those decisions we face should always be treated with respect, motivated from our responsibility to God, and thus our responsibility to our family. Judah and the others were only thinking about themselves, with no respect for their father. Whenever we are motivated out of self-centeredness, we act without respect for God and thus our family. Just as Reuben had to set aside his personal feelings about Joseph in order to do what was right, we need to set aside our personal feelings to do that which is right. Jesus always showed respect for the Father, should we do any less?